SUNDAY 30TH MARCH | PS AARON MORE

as a a church we have been leaning into

lent this season and uh you know I know

for have heard some reports for some

people some people are loving it some

people are finding a lint a bit of a

grind and uh all of that's okay I do

have good news for you actually within

the church calendar uh the way they

would operate was um after period of

lent you had the 50 days between uh

Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost and

there would actually be no fasting so

you weren't allowed to fast during that

period And so that might be a good news

if you are feeling like you're in the

lent grind but this morning uh we are

continuing our series called The Secret

Life and uh historically the church as

theyve practiced lent have generally

leaned into three uh areas and it's uh

giving praying and fasting and so uh

last week we talked about fasting and

this week we're going to talk about

prayer and I realize um because we've

really been leaning into this prayer

presence and Mission you know I've

spoken about prayer a few times um in

the last year but I know uh as soon as

we talk about our personal prayer life

uh for many of us there can be a Feeling

of uh like uh conviction or uh in some

cases condemnation or or like man I

don't know if that's really uh if I'm

that good I tried once to establish

patterns or I tried seven times to

establish patterns and you know I I've

struggled in it and so this morning I

hope to maybe give a framework of

something that might may be helpful to

uh establishing a new rhythm of prayer

but I want to start by saying man there

is uh no condemnation so if the idea of

prayer makes you begin to feel less than

let's just take that off the table let's

just remove that feeling that God's

mercies are new every morning and you

know even if you have struggled with

prayer in the past that doesn't mean

that you weren't created to pray do you

know there was a day when you uh tried

to walk and you fell

over can you imagine if your parents had

said wow they're just not designed to

walk I guess they're just no good at it

like it would be pretty flipping awkward

when you crawled into church this

morning

right do you know the first taste of

food that you had you spat

Out imagine if your parents had said

well I guess they're just not built for

solids it would be pretty awkward at

work tomorrow when it gets to smoko time

and your mom turns up to give you a feed

like my goodness I just go what's up

with you bro oh no solids aren't my

thing what happened well I spat out food

eight times and so I don't bother with

it anymore more like that's an awkward

moment

right hopefully bottle fed you

know too

far but here's the thing all of us rely

on eating walking simply but even these

simple things that we rely on did not

come instinctively to us we had to grow

in them and so prayer is something that

is foundational to our Christian walk

but it's also something we need to grow

in and the idea that because I struggle

means well that's just not me isn't true

it would be no different than struggling

to learn to eat or struggling to learn

to walk and the Lord wants to invite us

into something

so this morning I'm going to take us

through um The Lord's Prayer in just a

moment but it starts in Matthew 6 where

uh Jesus says when you go and pray in

your room shut the door and pray to your

father who is in secret and when your

father sees you in secret he will reward

you and when you pray do not Heap up

empty phrases saying lots of words as

the Pentecostals do oh no sorry as the

Gentiles do for they think they'll be

heard because of their many words do not

be like them for your father knows what

you need before you hear him and so

Jesus here says hey if we're to have a

secret life like we're talking about our

personal private prayer time he's like

hey you're going to need a place and a

time that you set aside and maybe for

some of us we've gone through rhythms or

maybe some of us are in a rhythm right

now where it's like yes I have my set of

side prayer time and it's going really

well and maybe for some of us it's like

man that Rhythm doesn't feel quite right

and maybe this morning you would sense

no condemnation but you would sense the

invitation of God to reestablish that

rhythm of prayer because it is our

connection point to God so Jesus uh then

taught them a prayer that is famously

called The Lord's Prayer as uh Bill

Johnson pointed out it's not the Lord's

Prayer because Jesus didn't need to pray

it because it's got confession of sin

and Jesus never needed to confess sin so

it's actually more like the disciples

prayer or our prayer um and so uh

commonly also called the Our father and

I believe it's a powerful prayer that we

can pray but also one of the things it

can do is actually help scaffold our

prayer life so we can actually use this

prayer as a way to scaffold this is what

Jesus taught them to pray and so I

believe both the prayer actually praying

through what's often called The Lord's

Prayer is really helpful but also using

this prayer as prompts for what we can

pray so Jesus started with our Father in

heaven and so the language of father is

great because it it it draws us to the

closeness of God the problem with the in

heaven makes us think of someone who's

far away so we can easily be drawn to

think that the start of the prayer is

actually we are praying to someone who

is far away but if you actually look at

the Greek you could translate it like

this because uh Heavens is talking about

atmospheres and you could actually some

Scholars translate it to Our Father who

is in the very air that we breathe now

now we we we don't believe that God is

everything but he is omnipresent and

he's in the very end a that we breathe

so this first step to praying The Lord's

Prayer is an awareness that God is Not

distant he's actually close and even if

we don't feel that he's close that's

actually the reality and we are invited

into a father who's in the very air that

we

breathe

um I went out for dinner the other night

and um the person was asking asking us

when we were married Sarah and I and I

showed um the guy the photo I showed him

this photo here and um he he was

um he was from another culture and

obviously was a culture that um didn't

get the social cues that you don't

go and he just laughed and laughed and

laughed for about five minutes at this

photo like um I think he uh with the

gift of interpretation I think he was

saying w and his age poorly you know was

uh kind of the feeling that I got but

this is SAR and I when we've been

married uh just over a year and this is

us outside Buckingham Palace and so

obviously you can kind of see a little

bit in the background there that the

guards are there guarding the palace and

we went to Buckingham Palace but I can

tell you they didn't let us in and uh

you know what an awesome God we have

that is in the very air that we breathe

that when we come to to prayer there's

actually an awareness that we are close

to God and he is close to us so we start

from a place of connection and realizing

that he is closer than maybe we think he

is Jesus then goes on to teach them

Hallowed be your name and this is an act

of worship you see here's the thing God

is so so close we could easily forget

who he is like he's so intimate his

heart towards us is so loving and so

kind and he brings us in that that Jesus

then taught his disciples that our

posture in coming to this one who is

close to us is actually to come with a

posture of worship that we come

remembering who he is so Step One is a

prayer of awareness and for me that

looks like most of the time I pray uh

starting prayer is God thank you for

your love I'm just pulling in that

awareness of the love of God into my

life and then from that place step two

is that we acknowledge Him in worship

and that our hearts are

drawn to worship him see God is close

but he's also the king of the universe

and so we can uh enjoy his closeness but

we also remember who it is that we are

praying

to Jesus then taught them your kingdom

come your will be done on Earth as it is

in

heaven we would say that that's we're

praying for God's will or we're praying

for intercession and of course what that

tells us is if we are praying something

God's will is not automatically being

outworked in the world he actually

chooses to partner with us and our

prayers to see his will done and see his

kingdom come upon the

earth I think Brian Houston said this if

all your prayers were answered would it

change your world or the world you know

if everything we were praying for was

answered would it just simply be that my

life was improved or would the world be

a different place because we're invited

into this intercession to believe for

God's will that that we would come and

contend for on Earth as it is in heaven

that we would be people of prayer and

man we live in such a materialistic

secular world that we need to be able to

pray that that Veil would be broken and

that the Kingdom of Heaven would be

poured

out Charles finny was a famous

revivalist in the 18 hundreds they say

in some weeks he saw over 50,000 people

come to Christ he would literally go

into towns and uh he would go in some

cases go into factories and the factory

would stop working and people would come

under conviction and people give their

lives to Jesus but you know po post his

his ministry the story of Nash began to

get told and uh Daniel Nash was actually

the prayer supporter of Charles finny

and before Charles finny would go to a

town uh Daniel Nash would go uh two

weeks before him and begin to pray and

in one case uh this lady uh Charles

finny turned up in town and she said hey

I've got some real concerns and and

Charles F said what's that and uh she

said well I I rented that room to your

guys but they haven't come out for food

at all and they hadn't I hadn't seen

them in two weeks I was a bit worried so

I just opened the door and peaked in and

they were lying on the ground wailing

like are they okay and Finny said well

yes they're okay they're just travailing

and praying and so everywhere finny went

Nash proceeded him in prayer asking for

God's kingdom to come such was Nash's

influence in the ministry of finny that

uh once Nash passed away 6 months later

finny stopped traveling because his

prayer partner was gone and he actually

moved and pastored a church somewhere

and went I can no longer do this

itinerant Ministry because the one who

broke up the ground for me is no longer

here and or we may not all be called to

be uh Daniel Nash but all of us can pray

for the Kingdom of Heaven to be released

all of us can pray for situations and

things to turn all of us can intercede

that God's will would be

done give us this day our daily

bread praying for your

needs so once we've interceded we can

then take some time and pray over our

needs and it's interesting because he

says give us this day our daily bread so

part of what we're praying for is maybe

that that we would have actually

received

anyway like you pray for your daily

bread you pray for your provision and

actually your neighbor didn't pray that

prayer but they got it anyway but what

we're doing is yes partly we're praying

for our needs we are there are things

that we are asking God that we need for

but part of the other thing is we're

actually acknowledging that he is the

source of everything so we're actually

bringing ourselves in prayer and

acknowledging I get it looks like that

my employer is my provider and looks

like these things are going on but the

truth is God is actually the ultimate

source of everything he is the one who

provides my needs and so I reorientate

myself to that

reality and at the same time we bring

needs before him where we need to see

breakthrough where we have these needs

and God loves to meet our needs you know

it says my God shall supply all your

needs according to his riches and Glory

I want you to imagine that you were

somewhere and you met a really

successful business person and they uh

turned up in their car and you thought

wow that car is worth hundreds of

thousands of dollars and you knew they

had a mansion and they said to you do

you know what I just really enjoyed

meeting you I've got a gift for you that

I want to give you can you come by my

office and you know so you're pretty

excited um and wondering what kind of

gift you're going to get so you go by

this business person's office and you go

in and you meet them and they give you

an envelope and you're polite enough to

know that you don't open the envelope uh

in the office but you're impatient

enough that as soon as you get to the

car when you can't be seen you rip the

envelope open you rip the envelope open

and you look inside and inside is a $5

note you would kind of be a little bit

disappointed what's happened is that

person has given you something out of

their riches so they've given you $5 out

of their riches what the scripture says

is that God gives meets our needs

according to his riches how rich is God

so he meets our needs according to his

riches and so we can bring our requests

boldly before God without the things

that we need I always remember when we

were

at Faith bible college and we just made

the decision to move to Tura um and

become youth pastors at elim and we're

like wow we need to move all our stuff

up and uh so we we went and got a quote

and the quote was like it was going to

be $4,000 to move our things up and we

we did not have $4,000 we had a very

small multiple of that and we're like

wow what do we do and so I remember um

like giving rebates were just coming up

and we were getting our giv rebat but

because we' both been students we

weren't getting very much giving rebate

and it certainly wasn't going to make a

dent in this

$4,000 and um I remember praying and uh

you know I don't believe that giving is

a way that we manipulate God to get what

we want but in this instance I just felt

challenged hey what are you going to do

with that giving rebate why don't you

give it and I was like okay so we made a

decision we're praying so we made a

decision to give this giving rebate and

we're praying God um we can't afford

this $4,000 and it would be really nice

to have our furniture moved from Christ

Church to toonga and So within 24 hours

we made the decision to give we'd been

praying and asking God to meet our needs

and then all of a sudden someone else on

College was moving from Christ Church to

toer as well they come over to us and

said to us hey we've actually achieved

um we've found a shipping container that

we can self pack it will move up and

it's only going to cost

$2,400 and I was like okay well that's

pretty good but I still don't have

$2,400 and then they're like but you

guys don't have much stuff we don't have

much stuff so we can share a shipping

container and it's going to be $1,200

each and I'm like well that's great I

still don't have $1,200 but you know

it's it's nicer not having $1200 than it

was not having 4,000 like 14 hours ago

and then as best I recall the same day

we get a phone call from someone a

couple who said you know those were the

days when your giving rebate was limited

to a certain amount they said hey no

you're moving from Christ Church to TOA

we want to give you our giving rebates

and it worked out at

$1,200 and so in the space of 24 hours

I'd gone from needing

$4,000 to needing $2400 to needing

$1,200 to having $1,200 gifted to us and

needing nothing and you know we need to

be remembered that God does meet our

needs does he do it in that way every

time no not necessarily but we do need

to have an expectation that God wants to

meet his children's needs and we are to

have a prayer life will we bring our

needs before God yes I know sometimes

we've talked about uh you know bringing

our needs and that that shouldn't be the

entirety of our prayer life and that's

absolutely true our prayer life should

not just be a list but at the same time

we are his children and we are supposed

to come before him with our

needs and even the morning I just wonder

if uh there are people here and you're

like man I I have a need in my life I

know there'll be many many people maybe

there's a financial need maybe it's a

need of healing maybe it's a a need of

restoration I don't know what it is but

even if that's you this morning right

now in this moment I'm just going to

encourage you if that's you why don't

you just stand to your feet where you

are we're going to just say a prayer but

if you've got needs I know there'll be

many many people and I realize it's the

middle of the service like well you're

not meant to do this here but but we're

just going to pause and if you've got a

need in your life why don't you just

stand to your

feet

wow yes Lord you taught us to pray that

you would give us our daily bread so

Lord I I bless each person standing Lord

their faith to put those need into your

hands and Lord I pray Lord that you as

our father would be the provider in the

name of Jesus Lord where Financial

breakthrough is needed Lord we release

financial breakthrough Lord where a a

miracle of health is needed we release

that in the name of Jesus Lord where uh

just uh Clarity to thinking in a way for

what is needed Lord I bless them to know

that God in jesus' Name Lord we commit

these things to you asking that you

would meet our needs as a good father in

jesus' name amen amen

awesome Jesus in goes on to say in

Matthew 6 and forgive us our debts

forgive us our sins

and and uh some of the study I was doing

for for this looking at the Lord's

Prayer again um I actually came across

someone and their theology what they

wrote was that this was an old Covenant

prayer not a New Covenant prayer because

of the work that Christ has done on the

cross we no longer need to confess and

uh you know that that would make us sin

conscious and can I say I totally don't

believe that confession is an awesome

thing it is a gift from God like

sometimes uh confessing our faults uh

you know the the argument against it was

well it just makes us sin conscious I

don't know about you but I already

struggle with being sin

conscious like I'm already living under

that uh from the things that I've done

and so confession is not about me

looking inside myself and seeing how bad

I am it is reminding myself wow I may

have fallen short about how good is

Jesus I may have fallen short but Jesus

wow he is my righteousness forgive me my

debts and you know I I I don't believe

you're saved because you confess every

single sin like if you have to confess

every single sin so that you can go to

heaven we're in a lot of trouble right

I I sort of say it a little bit like

this we don't confess sin so much to be

forgiven we confess sins because we have

been forgiven it's it's reminding us

before the father wow your goodness

covers me it does not make us sin

conscious it actually makes us Grace

conscious and can I encourage you

confession is actually an incredibly

lifegiving thing and when we make it

part of our daily prayer practice it

actually sets us free in all kinds of

ways it allows us to live in that

reality of God's grace it reminds us of

his righteousness and what he has done

for us confession is a powerful

thing he then goes on to

say as we

have forgiven our

debtors interesting in this prayer that

Jesus teaches this is how you should

pray he reminds us that we need to

forgive other

people and when you looked at what the

priority that the New Testament puts on

forgiving others and

unforgiveness when you see how Jesus

talks about it it's not surprising in

that in his moral prayer He is wanting

to uproot anything within us that would

cause us to have unforgiveness to

another

person like he even says that you know

if one of you is presenting a gift at

the altar and remembers someone has

something against you go and put it

right and then bring your

gift you know he's even saying hey

worship actually needs to express

itself in releasing other people from

the bondages that we may behold over

them because the reality is as we walk

through life there are going to be many

people that will hurt us that's true

right right now throughout Tera

throughout the country there are tens of

thousands of Christians that aren't in a

church because they got hurt genuinely

hurt like in a lot of cases genuine

grievance are like I I just can't go

there anymore because of the pain that

has been caused and so it's a huge deal

for us as we navigate life that we are

going to have many many

opportunities to take offense and to not

walk in the Forgiveness that Christ

shows to us

and uh forgiving I realize there'll be

some people here there'll be different

kinds of situations where you know

someone might need to forgive someone

because they shot them with a water

pistol yesterday and embarrassed them

and someone else might have a capital T

trauma in their world where it's

something far more uh heavy that you

feel like an offense that someone has

put on you and you know what I would say

In This Moment is that forgiving others

doesn't mean that what they did was

right and in some cases forgiving others

doesn't even need mean you need to be in

an active relationship with them not

everything means you actually need to

have active relationship in some

instances with what some people have

done it is not safe to be in

relationship with them but forgiving

them means we are going to relinquish

our rights to hold that over them it's

amazing that Jesus puts this in the

prayer like in his model prayer he wants

us to remember that we are to keep quick

accounts I believe it's in the model

prayer because man unforgiveness is

something that grows like when you have

unforgiveness in your life it actually

unfortunately as time goes on it doesn't

get easier it actually just sits there

and it grows like a weed and so the

easier and the quicker you get in the

habit of forgiving the easier is to do

and the longer and the more you stew on

something time does not heal that kind

of wound it actually causes an infection

that grows over time and so Jesus makes

it a standard that for his

followers we would have a prayer

practice before the father where we

would forgive

others and I believe this should be part

of our prayer life uh regularly but

maybe you're here and even as uh I've

been saying that there's a bristle

because you can think of a person or

people where you're

like yeah not

them and maybe this morning the Lord

would actually have freedom for you in

ways that are greater than you would

know you've probably heard it said that

unforgiveness is like drinking poison

and hoping the other person

dies you know actually does something in

my life the unforgiveness actually

doesn't affect them it affects me makes

me bitter and so before our father we

can bring those things and if you want

to close your eyes this morning and

maybe

uh just allow the Holy Spirit to bring

to mind

if there is anyone that you need to

forgive you may be like I don't even

know if I can well it starts just with

that decision in prayer God help me to

forgive God would you help me to forgive

this

person and if that's you this morning

why don't you just between you and God

you can just say a whispered prayer Lord

I choose to

forgive help me to

forgive Lord I pray for each person that

has something heavy on their heart Lord

I pray that there would be a Grace that

we would be able to forgive others in

Jesus name

amen he goes on to say in Matthew 6 and

lead us not into temptation but Deliver

Us from Evil and we would say that this

is safety protection and

deliverance there's a reality that we

are in a spiritual battle I know that um

some Churches and some places see a

demon behind everything I get that but

then the sad thing is some other places

just pretend like there is no enemy and

there is no battle and we do believe

that uh scripture clearly teaches that

as well as being God there is a devil

and that we are to pray for God's safety

protection and deliverance lead us not

into temptation I remember for me one of

the real practical times where this was

so real was I went to Jamaica and I took

a group of 10 to 13 year- old pre-teens

to Jamaica I was one of the leaders on

the team and Jamaica is a rough Place

lots of people get shot in jamaer like

it's got high gun crime so um they

decided that we would go into town and

so we went into town and they're like

we're going to split up into groups and

I was like 19 at the time and I had a

group of like eight 10 to 13 year olds

that I'm um responsible for in the

middle of Jamaica what could possibly go

wrong and so so I remember we're walking

down the street and these guys come up

and they go man and I was like uh you

know and they're built they've got

dreads um and um

shars um and I said hey man and they

uh they said we're really hungry you

know uh can you give us some

money and I said oh no I can't give you

money but I do have uh uh uh we were

taking American Bree so I said you know

we got a peanut butter and jelly

sandwich you can have that if you like

peanut butter and jam gross happy to

give it away like you know you can take

this American food and they said oh no

we don't want your food we want some

money and I was like oh sorry I can't

really give you any money and then the

guy said to me look at look at me and I

I looked at him he said we are the kind

of people who have to rob people for a

living

you don't want us to Rob have to rob

people so you should give us some money

so that we don't have to rob people now

sometimes the elevator doesn't always go

to the top floor but I think what he was

saying was if you don't give me some

money I'm going to rob

you there was sort of a subtle

undertone and so I remember just saying

oh hey sorry I can't give you any money

um you're welcome to a sandwich he said

I don't want your sandwich and so I'm

like okay guys let's go and so we begin

to walk walk and you know I'm sure you

can imagine I'm walking away cool calm

and clicked you know I'm

like and uh these guys begin to follow

us and they follow us for a block and

I'm like um freaking out and the kids

are going they're still following us I'm

going shut up look ahead let's

go follow us for two blocks you know and

uh they dreadlock swaying in the wind

and I'm like oh Jesus

Jesus sh

Bashi and I I'm just praying your safety

your protection your deliverance over me

and these kids and I'm you know having

to rebuke the enemy as I'm seeing

headlines Flash before my eyes of

American pre-teens murdered in Jamaica

over a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

you know and so man after about four

blocks one of the kids is like they

stopped following us and then I was just

like oh thank you Jesus thank you like

man you don't know the Liv of anxiety as

a 19-year-old when you have a

responsibility for pre-teens and you're

like man I don't know if this is safe

and in that moment crying out to Jesus

made such a difference but can I tell

you we may not be in a situation like

that every day but we are actually in a

battle we're in a spiritual battle that

we need to be aware of there is a

reality to the fact that there's forces

in this world of evil that do not want

the kingdom of God to advance that do

not want the blood of Jesus applied to

people's lives that do want to Rob kill

and destroy and so Jesus teaches us to

pray lead us not into temptation but

Deliver Us from Evil that we would pray

protection over ourselves and our

families and it is an important thing to

do so you might struggle in your prayer

life and be like man I don't know quite

um how to

pray well those seven

steps there you know literally you might

if you're struggling to pray for 10

minutes you might decide that you're

going to sit an alarm that goes for one

minute and for one minute you start

praying God make me aware of your

presence thank you that you're close God

thank you that you're in the air that I

breathe

and after a minute you go to worship and

you begin to start thanking Jesus for

how good he is start beginning to praise

him and you know if you're like uh many

of us you know all of a sudden you'll

find yourself thinking about tacos and

then you're like no not tacos back to

Jesus that's okay after two you know the

alarm goes and you can go on to praying

for God's will interceding for his

kingdom to come and you can take you

know a minute

on each of those and you prayed for

seven

minutes and then maybe after a week of

doing that you decide set the timer for

two minutes and you begin to pray for 2

minutes and then you know a week later

you sit the alarm for 3 minutes and

before you know it you're praying for 20

minutes every day and and covering these

things that Jesus taught were

foundational to being his followers

the Lord is

wanting us to sense his invitation into

a fresh Grace of prayer not a

condemnation but this invitation of

Heaven his mercies a new Every

Morning in AA uh when they're dealing

with people with a addiction it's

interesting because they say you know if

they've got someone who's been sober for

40 years and someone who's been sober

for a week and they ask who's been sober

longest the answer is whoever got up

first that

day because it's actually a daily

invitation to overcome addiction and

actually it does not matter if you've

prayed every day for 30 years and then

get into a season and just find I'm not

praying so regularly now hey there's no

condemnation but the invitation is into

a fresh

day and maybe you're like man I haven't

been praying and and and and I've never

had prayer Rhythm the beauty is that

God's mercies are new every morning that

that that your prayer connection he

gives you daily bread in the place of

prayer and the beauty of that is that

all of us can have a fresh start each

day one day at a

time to receive his

grace and we are going to close the

service soon by praying for some people

but just before we do that we always

like to give the opportunity maybe

you're here and you've never been

connected to Jesus or you're far from

him right now uh if you are in this

place and you're like I just know my

life is not connected to Jesus

then we would love to lead you in a

prayer that would help you reconnect if

you're like man I know I need to give my

life a fresh to Jesus so I'm just going

to ask everyone to close their eyes and

bow their heads

and if that's you this morning and

you're like either I'm far from God or

I've never known him and I I I want to

know Jesus want to give my life to him

then I'm just going to ask you uh well

no one apart from me is looking around

if that's you this morning you I want

want to be included in that prayer then

I'm just going to ask you to raise your

hand

now awesome I see that

hand there anyone

else

awesome and I'm just going to pray a

prayer and you know if you um raiseed

your hand you can say that prayer in

your heart just asking Jesus to come

close to you and giving your life a

fresh to him Jesus I come to you today

and I give my life aresh to

you would you forgive me of the things

that I've done wrong and would you give

me a brand new

start as your son or

daughter Holy Spirit I ask you to come

into my life and teach me to be more

like

Jesus in the mighty name of Jesus amen

amen awesome and hey if you um raised

your hand we' really encourage you to

come forward at the end and we'd love to

um just be able to help you on your

journey with Jesus but just as uh D and

the worship team come what we're going

to do is we're going to finish with a

final

song but uh I do just want to say one

more thing you know we talked about um

protection safety and deliverance and

praying that over us and this is really

important I I I just felt this week for

some of us there's actually been we've

had that experience of darkness and

actually maybe things coming against us

maybe it's been nightmares or or or or

migraine headaches that just don't seem

like they're natural and cause and as I

said we don't believe that everything's

a demon but we do believe there are

demonic forces that do try and have

influence over for us and that part of

what Jesus was teaching us is that we

actually have

authority and so this morning as we

finish with a final song I want to

invite those who have maybe had some

form of just feel like there's some form

of experience where maybe something that

you no longer want maybe it's something

that you're like man I don't know if

this is spiritual we'd love to pray for

you this morning can I say this is a

safe place

it's not uh this is in no way to

embarrass anyone or to do anything else

it's to actually set people free but the

reality is for many of us as we go

through this life sometimes it's not

even anything we've done there can be

other things that are done to us that

then actually cause a a spiritual battle

to happen and this morning we would love

to pray for some people just to believe

that the Holy Spirit and the power of

Jesus wants to set you free

nothing to be afraid of and it's nothing

to run away from it's actually something

to run to because Jesus is the prince of

peace and he wants us to live in his

Peace So the team are about to lead us

in a song and if that's you this morning

what I'd really encourage you to do is

just come to the front and um there's a

team of people we'd love to pray with

you just to believe that God would um

touch you and set you free you know it

might be

a pain in your body that just doesn't

feel like it's yours and you don't know

where it's from it might be a particular

lie that you just can't get over that

just continually recares it might be a

memory that just comes back it might be

a form of anxiety and we don't believe

all anxiety is inspired by demonic

thoughts but sometimes it can be it

might be an anxiety that's so crippling

that you're like man I would just love

prayer to be free from this this

morning so if that's you this is a safe

place and sometimes on the other side of

the courage of stepping out there is a

whole lot of freedom and I believe even

as I've been speaking about this there

are some people who uh there's something

in your world and you thought that was

just something natural maybe even as

I've been speaking you're like wow I

think it might be spiritual well we

would love to pray for you this morning

and set you free so Jesus thank you that

you are the Prince of Peace

thank you that you rule and Reign and

Lord this morning as people have the

courage to respond thank you that you're

going to meet us Lord thank you that

freedom is found in you

alone so just as a team lead us in this

song I'm going to ask you to to come and

then um once the song finishes if you're

not receiving Ministry um the service

will be over and you can head out to the

street and we'll just continue to pray

for those who have been responded

but I do just want to encourage you I

sense there might be a few that are

thinking oh yeah maybe but I don't want

to can I encourage you there's no shame

there actually freedom