One of the things I am believing for our region is that prayer…and answered prayer will become a hallmark of this place.
I am seeing such an increase of the corporate prayer space and it is very encouraging.
The churches of our region are beginning to come together more and more in corporate prayer. Our church has just completed 21 days of fasting and prayer and now two other churches are walking through the lenten fasting season. In addition we now have daily prayer time established in our town through THE WORSHIP ROOM HOUSE OF PRAYER
You can click that icon for more information.
That’s not all. People are gathering in churches throughout our region for congregational prayer several times a week. We are going to be taking out an ad in the local paper to make the community aware of how much prayer is going on. And we have built a web page to promote those times of prayer.
Click that icon to get more info.
In the days ahead we will see many answers to prayer and great encouragement of faith in our region.
I am sitting in the cafe at church right now on my writing day (that would be Monday). This is the day I write my sermon, pre-write a few blogs, create the worship services I am going to sing for the week, and layout plans for my upcoming weekly meetings. It’s a busy administrative/creative day which always finishes up with three hours of prayer at The Worship Room House of Prayer in downtown Winchendon
I started this morning by driving to our church treasurer’s house to get some checks signed so we could pay our contractor for a plumbing project slated to begin at the church in a few weeks. I met the contractor at the church handed him the check and after he went on to another project I sat down to finish the sermon for next Sunday.
We are in a series now entitled THE DLT REFRESHER.
Next Sunday I will be preaching on Meeting Needs which is one of five pillars in our Doing Life Together ethos. Doing Life Together has become our church’s mantra over the course of the last five years. It encapsulates the purpose for which we do everything we do.
Ministry here at Cornerstone is based around the idea of of doing life TOGETHER. This last weekend, for instance, the men off Cornerstone and several from other churches met together for a day of AWAKENING. That was the theme of our men’s conference this Spring.During the course of the day,on Saturday, we shared two meals together and talked in large and small groups about what it means to AWAKEN: AWAKEN TO THE CHERISH/ AWAKEN TO THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS/ AWAKEN TO THE BATTLE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD/ AND AWAKEN TO YOUR CONNECTION WITH GOD. It was an awesome day!
Then yesterday we had church service. You can watch the service below
While having lunch together we went through deacon nominations and a discussion about a proposed solar field on the church property. Then, we chatted about spiritual matters regarding discipleship and church growth. We planned and updated over several building projects for the church and finished up in a conversation about community involvement.
The weekend was very full. Monday has been very full. But I have gotten to spend these last days with some wonderful people accomplishing some amazing things.
In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John . Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete. 1 JOHN 1:1-4
MEDITATIONAL THOUGHT:
Sharing your personal encounter with Jesus brings complete joy to the community of faith.
MY THOUGHTS:
One of the things I am working on in the new year is in collaborating with people in my congregation to share stories about how God is showing up in their lives. I realize my role in the Sunday morning service is to bring the “rightly divided Word of truth” from the Scripture, but the part of sharing testimony can and even should come from the congregation. The body of Christ needs to see how the “rightly divided Word of truth” works out in personal circumstances. I need to see that in my own life and the lives of those around me so that I can be encouraged all the more as I see the day of Lord drawing near. That day is close now I think.
WHAT STORIES ARE YOU SHARING TO ENCOURAGE YOURSELF TOWARDS FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE LATELY?
The snow still covers the ground in great heaps. It was 3 degrees Fahrenheit when I woke up. More snow is slated to fall this evening during the homeward commute, but by tomorrow it will be 50 degrees and raining. It’s definitely a New England Tuesday in late winter. You never know quite what your going to wake up to, and yet the day has to go on regardless of what’s going on in the atmosphere around you.
Tuesdays is a long day. I generally start with wake up prayer around 2 A.M. This morning I was out the door by 4:30 A.M. so I could get the church set up for prayer and my first post written for the morning.
Now it is 7 A.M. I have finished my after report from prayer meeting and posted it to all concerned and now I am heading home to do the farm work.
At 10 we have church staff meeting and then at 1:30 P.M. I am supposed to meet some library personnel to look at alternative venues for our next Community Conversation at the end of March. We filled the room at our first conversation and people were so excited they promised to bring others to the next conversation. So today we are looking at two larger spaces in town.
If the snow doesn’t;t cancel us, tonight I have youth group and then closing off with family prayer at 8:30 P.M. There is lots to do is spite of New England’s weather.
In January our church held its annual congregational fast. For 21 days we prayed together, fasted together and meditated on 1 John together. Here are my thoughts from those times of devotion in 1 John.
DAY 1 -That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 1 JOHN 1:1
Your faith is built on the historical, physical reality of Jesus, not an illusion.
Jesus is not my subjective reality. He is not someone I made up in my mind like some imaginary friend. He is a historical figure. History attests to his life. History attests to His expanding influence and history attests to the millions of miraculous life transformations in His name. He is reality. His promise is sure. We can be sure what He said will come to pass.
Notes From the Vicarage 