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In Luke 11, Jesus’ disciple wants to know how He petitions the Father. Imagine that…one of Jesus’ disciples was conscious in himself of human weakness, which falls short of knowing how we ought to pray. Here’s a man who was brought up in the instruction of the law, who heard the words of the prophets and did not fail to attend the synagogue, but who also did not know how to pray until he saw the Lord Himself praying “in a certain place“? The disciple prayed according to the custom of the Jews, but upon seeing Jesus approach the Father in prayer, the disciple recognized that he needed more understanding about approaching God the Father in prayer.

Over the next several weeks I’ll be blogging on Jesus’ teaching on prayer. I invite you to join the conversation as we wrestle with advancing our communion and intimacy with God through praying Jesus’ model of prayer.

In the meantime, here’s our Hope Church Prayer Agenda for September/October 2010.

Worship

Ephesians 2:4-8 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

• Praise the Father for His love, mercy, kindness and grace.
• Thank God for His fierce determination to crush evil and injustice in the Clayton / Henry area and beyond.
• Thank God for rescuing you from spiritual death.
• Praise God for salvation & for the incredible blessings that come to us through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 1:3-14).

Repentance and Assurance

Ephesians 2:13-16 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.

• Praise Jesus that we are no longer separated from God because of our sin.
• Consider times that you have allowed any difference – racial, ethnic, educational, economic, etc. – to be a reason for sin or separation from others. Confess them and repent.
• Consider areas in your life where you’ve resisted renewal and/or transformation from the gospel. Confess and repent.
• Consider the times you live in the flesh and do not exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. Confess and repent.
• Read and pray Scriptures that remind us about God’s promises to forgive the humble sinner.

Intercession

Ephesians 3:16-21 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

• Pray for our government, our schools, our military, and our president.
• Pray for gospel renewal in our city, that God will use Hope Church to increase His kingdom and advance His gospel in the Clayton / Henry area, and that Jesus would get all the glory.
• Pray for our pastors and their families, and for all the elders and leaders of Hope Church.
• Pray for all the families, individuals, needs, and ministries of Hope Church. Mention names where appropriate.
• Pray that our gospel community groups [grace groups] will continue growing in authentic biblical community, growing in the gospel, and growing in reaching their unchurched friends and neighbors.

Click the comments button in the top right corner to post your thoughts.

• This past Sunday at Hope Church was absolutely incredible!
• We opened the service with a God-centered, Christ-exalting devotional prayer from The Valley of Vision.
• Then we flowed right into our worship set: Doxology, Everything (our own revised version), Happy Day, and Let The Redeemed of the Lord Say So. Later in the service we did Kristian Stanfill’s “I Need You“.
• …Worship was absolutely amazing!
• The message I preached was pt 4 of our expositional journey through the book of James, (James 2:14-19). Preached hard on how a life poured out in deeds of mercy is a sign of genuine faith in Jesus, and how the gospel requires that we show mercy and provide real help to the poor.
• At the end of my message, I had our entire congregation break up into their Grace Groups and engaged in gospel conversations to flesh out how their small groups can demonstrate acts of mercy in meeting some of the urgent needs of hurting people in our communities.
• As I walked around and listened to pockets of conversations, my heart melted as I heard folks practicing repentance and fleshing out how they can help poverty-stricken people in their communities.
• We closed the service with youth pastor Joseph Hyde praying for all of our students, school teachers and educators.
• Praising God for all He’s doing in our city through Hope Church…To Him alone be all the glory.
• Click the comments button at the top to post your thoughts & comments.

On yesterday afternoon, me and a few men from our church went up to visit Joseph Hyde, youth pastor here at Hope Church. (Meet Joseph by watching this video). Joseph just got back home from several days of hospitalization because of a very serious staff infection in his left foot. In addition to the staff infection, he’s is also fighting his second battle with cancer. That fight coupled with his chemo treatments reduces his own body’s ability to fight of infection and sicknesses.

So around 2pm, shortly after Joseph made it back home from his first dr’s visit since his hospitalization, we sat down with Joseph in his living room and began to talk. Once the conversation ensued, we realized that although we went there to encourage Joseph — he was the one encouraging us.

Joseph never complained about how a simple splinter in his toe could lead to a staff infection so severe that the dr’s only gave him a 60% chance of recovery. He never complained about their initial mis-diagnosis which cost him valuable treatment time that could have reduced the severity of the infection and sped up recovery time. And he never complained about how or why God would allow this to happen to him while he’s already suffering from cancer.

Instead, he talked about how God is sovereign over all things, and he thanked God for the privilege of being trusted with such a test. He expressed his gratitude to God for the things he is learning through his trials. He praised God for His sovereignty over every aspect of his current trials, including God’s providence in not allowing him to have married prematurely or of having children too soon — which would have made this season even more difficult. He praised God for blessing him with parents who are loving, kind, generous and supportive. He thanked God for a loving, God-fearing girlfriend who loves Jesus more than she loves him and who covers him in prayer.

And then, it happened… Joseph reached over to his left and opened the little brown box on the coffee table.

He sat the lid down next to the box and said, “Every night I sit in this chair and I journal my prayers. I pray for friends and relatives to come to know Christ. I pray for mother who would be hurt the worst if something were to happen to me. I pray for God to continue blessing our church, and I pray God’s continued blessing over you, pastor.”

Then Joseph reached his hand inside the box and randomly plucked out a folded up piece of paper, and he said, “Each night as I pray, I write those prayer requests on a piece of paper, and I put ‘em in this box…” And as he unfolded one of those random prayer prayers journals and showed me the paper, I saw a place where it had my name on it.

While we were there to pray for Joseph in the midst of his sickness and trials ~ Joseph has been going before God, every single night, praying for us and for gospel transformation in the lives of others.

Joseph, if you’re reading this — I want you to know that you are a huge encouragement to me, to our community of faith here at Hope Church, and to the Kingdom of God at large. Your faith inspires me. Your fidelity to Jesus in the midst of tough trials is an example to us all. And I want you to know this — there’s now a new little box sitting beside the chair at my place of prayer.

Click the comments button above to post your thoughts!

This past Thursday seemed no different than any other Thursday, until I got back home that evening. After dropping my wife off at the ministry center for worship team rehearsal, my 2yr old son & I headed home to eat our take-out and to get some late evening rough-housing in before it was bedtime. But as soon as I stepped in my front door I immediately noticed something was wrong. When I looked across the kitchen I saw that my back door was ajar… it had been kicked in and the door itself was busted. I can’t even begin to describe the sick feeling that hit my gut at that moment, as I thought to myself, “My home has been invaded — and the intruder could still be in my house.”

Immediately I grabbed my hand gun, took my 2yr old son to safety, and swept the house, garage & attic several times to make sure no intruders were still inside.

I called Damita and told her what happened, and needless to say, she was very shaken up by this. It was one year ago this month that we moved here to plant a new church, and in that time we’ve had a church trailer stolen from the parking lot of our church offices location, and now — our house broken into. Thankfully, not many things were taken. The stuff they took were things they could walk away with on foot without drawing too much attention to themselves. All in all, I’m most grateful that we weren’t home and that my family is safe and well.

We called 911 and the police came and made their report. Several families in our church offered to allow us to stay over at their homes until we got our back door replaced the next day. I left it up to my wife see how she felt about staying home that night or not. My wife is a strong, godly woman; but at the same time, I knew she felt very violated by this situation. Ultimately she said she was fine with staying home that night.

Let me tell you, sleeping in our house on Thursday night after the home invasion — with a partially secured, “busted” back door — was very awkward. When my wife walked to the bathroom, I was right there with her. When my children left the living room to go to their rooms, I went in before them and did another security sweep under their beds and in their closets (that was probably sweep 9 or 10). I assured my family that we were safe and that by God’s grace all was well, but quite honestly, it was still a night of sleeping with one eye open.

I went through a million scenarios in my head… What if I had been home? What if I had been playing on the floor with one of my children when the intruder kicked the back door in? How would my family respond if I had been killed? How quickly could I have gotten to my hand gun to protect my myself and my family? What if I had killed the intruder, how would I have slept that night? (that answer is easy ~ I would have slept REAL good!) What if my wife was there alone? How would she respond, find safety, or protect herself?

After a few hours of running scenario after scenario through my mind, I found myself boiling with anger. I thought to myself, “Next week I’m gonna take a few days off, park my vehicle in the garage and silently sit in my house — gun in hand — praying that they come back.” Thankfully, God’s prevailing grace overtook me and I banished that thought from my mind.

Ultimately, Damita and I knew this was an opportunity for us to practice the gospel. Our faith is rooted in Jesus Christ, not in the accumulation of possessions. Our joy is sustained through the love & faithfulness of our great God and King, not by the absence of adverse circumstances. And so with pure hearts we pray for those who broke into our home, and we continue to pray for gospel renewal of our city, not because our home was invaded, but because our great desire is to see God glorified throughout Clayton and Henry counties — and beyond.

Soli Deo Gloria.

On this past Sunday, 27 June 2010, it was my proud privilege to officiate the marriage ceremony of Jason & Lakaii Johnson. Conducting their ceremony on Sunday morning during our worship gathering was a beautiful demonstration of the gospel, and our entire community of faith was overjoyed to share that moment with them. Jason and Lakaii are both deeply in love with Jesus and I’m very confident that through God’s grace they will enjoy a strong, healthy marriage.

Congratulations Jason & Lakaii!

• Mother’s Day at Hope Church was absolutely incredible!
• Our worship set: Mighty to Save, How Great Is Our God, Hosanna by Hillsong, and Revelation Song.
• We playing 2 short Mother’s Day videos at different points during the service; both video clips were hilarious! People loved them and they really encouraged all of our moms.
• One of my favorite moments was when we gave out a few special gifts in honor of our oldest moms present (oldest mom present was 86, second oldest was 83).
• I took a break from our series through Galatians to preach a special Mother’s Day message (2 Kings 4:8-37). The title of the message was, “Take Him to Momma ~ She Knows What to Do!” You can listen to it HERE.
• We had a beautiful time of altar prayer for all moms near the end of the service, which culminated with Communion. I’m still receiving reports from so many different mothers whose hearts were healed and mended by God during on Sunday.
• We set up a free photo station for folks who wanted to take pictures as a parting gift on Mother’s Day…Thanks Kayla!
• Feel free to click the comments button near the top to share your thoughts…enjoy!

Joseph Hyde Introduction Video from Maurice Stargell on Vimeo.

An introductory note from Joseph Hyde, HC’s new youth pastor…

Hello everyone!

I’m so excited to come on board as Hope Church’s new youth pastor! Here’s a little bit about me… I’m 33 yrs old, I’m a native Georgian, and I love GA Tech sports, the Atlanta Braves, Hawks, and Thrashers (sorry Falcons…I’m a NY Jets fan!). I have a BA in Christian Ministries and a minor in History from Palm Beach Atlantic University, an MA in Christian Education from Columbia School of Theology, and an MA in Political Science from Georgia State University. But most importantly, I’m a laid back, goofy guy who loves Jesus and who has a huge heart to reach, teach, and serve youth!

I’m so excited about the opportunity God has given me to partner with parents in ministering to your teens, and I look forward to all that God is preparing to do in our midst!

Joseph Hyde

Click the comments button near the top of this post to welcome Joseph or to comment on this post!

• This was our 4th week at the Morrow Center, our new Sunday worship venue, and we’re loving every minute of it!
• This Sunday was also the first week that we adjusted the arrival times for various teams within our service ministries. Band & tech teams, children’s workers, and coffee bar crew still arrived at 8:15am, while ushers, greeters, and parking lot teams didn’t arrive until 9:00am. The set-up of all environments didn’t miss a beat and the folks who got to arrive a little later really seemed to appreciate it.
• Technical problem. The Morrow Center director took the day off and his assistant worked with us. She was unable to get the grand ballroom projector to power up so we were unable to use it to display words during worship or during the message. She was really upset that she wasn’t able to power it up for us (she was actually crying, and she called her boss and asked him to come and assist her) but we were just fine. In fact, Sunday turned out to be one of the most powerful worship gatherings we’ve ever experienced in the life of our new church.
• Sunday’s set list: Lord You Are Awesome, Better Than Life, Glorify Your Name, and In This Place.
• At the end of worship, we prayed for Joseph Calhoun, our 17 yr old acoustic guitar player, and his family. Joseph’s mom passed away last Friday night. His dad, brothers, and a few other family members came down front as the Holy Spirit ministered to them powerfully during that time of prayer.
• The message I preached was part 3 of our exegetical journey through the Book of Galatians. We walked through the first 25 verses of Galatians 3, Paul’s defense of Justification by Faith Alone (sola fide).
• We closed the service with Communion and altar prayer, while the band and worship team sang Everything.
• This upcoming Sunday we move into part 4 of our “Free at Last!” series, Galatians 3:26-4:7.
• …Hope to see you Sunday!

Click the comments button at the top to post your thoughts!

Hope Churchers,

This video speaks to our core value that lost people matter to God, therefore, they matter to us. Let it inspire you, as it does me, to fill it this Sunday… Who will you invite?

I am a chair from buckheadchurch on Vimeo.