VISION: WEEK 2 | SUNDAY 16TH FEBRUARY | PS AARON MORE

fantastic if we ever got the opportunity

to sing up here which which I won't so

don't panic you'd have a whole new level

of appreciation for what we have well

this team they're fantastic I do a great

job and dance yeah that'll be even worse

so I won't do that either um I get to

share this morning a bit uh around uh

the the new upper room project the

building project that we're doing so

shortly we'll look at some 3D images

that the Architects have done for us and

just talk through some of that there but

before we get on to that I you know just

thinking about just how incredibly

blessed we are to have this facility

that we have you know and and some of us

have been around long enough to remember

where this all began and I'm talking

just over 40 years ago in a little place

in greton Cornwall Street um and it was

actually uh they became my inws um I

married their daughter Karen uh the

pastors of that church da and bu and

jackins and they came up from blenham

and started that little church and it

set less than 100 people and um they

quickly outgrew that space and um as a

result of that they did a church plant

um out into Mar and um and over the

years that um that church became uh

teranga Christian Elum Christian Center

and um and they moved around different

parts of the city and we carried on with

what we were doing and um eventually

ended up in Christopher Street as as the

church and gam began to grow um further

and and we and they ran out of space so

um you know we're we're pretty blessed

to to be in here and we've seen God's

faithfulness you know through all of

those um changes through the years and

um his Blessing on us as a church as

things have grown but you know um but

also we've seen the faithfulness of the

people that have come before and and the

pastors that have stepped into what the

words that God has given them um and to

fulfill the call on their lives and and

you know we we're here as a result of

that and just over um I think 10 years

ago um Teran elim Christian Center and

teranga um city elim um came together as

one and um and you know pulled our

resources and we were able to purchase

this building and uh there's photos up

there you can see on the screen so

Christopher Street on on the left hand

side was uh where we were before here

and um down in Amber Cresent was where

El Christian Center was so yeah so

together we've managed to um you know to

pull our resources and and come under

here but I just again just want to honor

um Pastor Trev deby for you know yeah

you know he I I know he had a word from

God Isaiah

Isaiah 54:2

54:2 um that said you know enlarge the

place of your tent lengthen your cords

and strengthen your stakes and they were

faithful to that call and you know as a

result of that we've got to we get to

enjoy what we have today so and so you

know when we started this project this

was just an empty warehouse and we would

love to have at the time um continued on

and and done the off is upstairs as well

but we had some priorities and obviously

uh one of them was making sure that we

could get the church functional and

Auditorium done and the kids program uh

rooms finished and that that type of

thing and the other priority was not to

Lumber us with a um you know an

unrealistic um level of debt and so we

decided we could leave the officers for

that reason until a later date and as

Pastor Aon said last week that that time

has has come so we're pretty excited

about um this next stage and and what's

going to happen and we know that that

God's honored and you know as Pastor

Aaron shared last week that you know

there areas uh we just want to create a

space that's inviting for people to come

to be able to share their hearts you

know and and to see people um you know

uh set free and and uh encouraged uh to

be all that God's called them to be so

you know that's that's your vision for

for that area we talk about officers but

you know that really it creates a space

for those sort of things to happen and

for the team to really connect as well

so that's that's our plan so we we're

looking forward to what God's going to

do um and the I mean at the moment what

they have essentially is just a rabbit

warrant of um cor store panels um it's

basically every room's a freezer with a

window and the window leaks so it's it's

not the most inviting inviting place to

be and so this morning after the service

and and this is pretty exciting if you

want to go for a wander through the

existing offices try to hold your

excitement

uh Nathan's going to meet you uh up on

the on the uh mezzanine or just outside

the mezanine doors um and you can wander

through and have a look at what the

staff have been sort of putting up with

and you know it hasn't been great but

you know they've shown a lot of Grace

it's been quite a number of years that

they've sort of uh you know had to work

from there so um so here we are with uh

some 3D images of what we're wanting to

do and you can see um mainly the the uh

the main area uh where the staff will

meet um it's a big open plan space and

we'll have um with high raking ceilings

basically following the line of the roof

that's see

um with skylights in there so we can

flood the whole area with with natural

light um which would be fantastic um

Pastor Aaron's office conveniently

located beside the kitchen and the

coffee machine on the end there so that

that should work well ER should work

well so um and yeah and the the youth

area um meeting room um at the moment

it's a it's a pretty mcky room to be

honest we've we've covered the ceiling

because it was all moldy up there and

it's we've had some issues so um so

that's going to be fantastic for them as

well just to be able to have some

somewhere they can they can meet and and

you know discuss things and and we see

what's happening with the youth they

need they need the space you know it's

fantastic what God's doing um in this

place so so that's what we're um looking

to achieve um we're still working

through the numbers on on that at the

moment we're waiting for the working

drawings to come so we can just nail

down the the actual cost but you know

it's interesting because you know

recently we've had this building boom

and um building cost just went crazy 30

to 40% um and and uh yeah it's amazing

that that you know we've had this recent

um bit of a downturn in the building

industry but none of those process came

back so it's uh you know it seems to

have been The New Normal so we know this

is going to require you know a

reasonably substantial investment from

us to achieve what we wanted to do here

and and we um you know we're we're a

decent sized church and we're really

believing um that you know we'll all

catch that Vision um of what we wanted

to do and really um you know sew into it

um sew into it generously and and and

you know this might for some be

challenging but we believe you know

we're a large enough church that we

could actually raise a couple hundred

thousand towards this

build you know let's believe for let's

step out in faith and believe you know

that that we can achieve that and um you

know we don't want to again we don't

want to be lumbering uh a church with

with huge debt either so um and you know

yeah substantial investment means

different things for different people

but we're we're you know looking to

raise at least that amount so in a

couple of weeks we're going to have the

um the the offering towards this

building project and um yeah we' just

love it if you would you know partner uh

with us and with God and just um you

know sew into what he's doing on this

place and so there's some ways to give

um up on the screen there direct debit

uh credit sorry um uh yeah include your

um your giving number in that um and and

upper as the as the uh you need to write

that on there as well as your reference

um and there's AP direct credit as well

just the one off payment cash whatever

do we have envelopes was

envelopes oh there okay you're great so

we'll you L some envelopes and we can

can look at that so yeah look we're just

believing that God's you know God's on

this and uh we look at what we have and

where we've come from and his

faithfulness through all that time and

we know that you know this is just the

next stage in the life of this church

and yes I I'll just pray and then I'll

hand over to Pastor AR father God lord

we just thank you firstly for your

goodness Lord and Lord just your

faithfulness Lord we look on our on our

own lives as individuals and time and

time again we see your hand your hand of

provision your hand of of healing Lord

just your hand of goodness Lord on our

lives and Lord even as a church family

again father we just see your

faithfulness over the years as things

have grown as um we've stepped into uh

in faith into what you have for us Lord

You've honored that and we've just

continued to see that growth and Lord

we're excited about what lies ahead

father God you have so much more um for

us for this place Lord God and and we're

just so excited about what you're doing

in this place we just honor you Lord we

worship you and we honor you in Jesus

name amen amen amen awesome Clinton

thanks

mate uh so good Clinton uh was down with

his boat um yesterday throwing young

people off a biscuit at camp and so that

was good but his brother is actually the

one who uh who is the one that's a

little bit ruthless when they tow the

biscuit and uh reys one of our our

well-built young guys he plays Prop he

looked at Clinton's brother and said

you'll never get me off and uh Clinton's

brother turned back to to him and said 7

seconds and uh he turned out to be right

as Rees uh went into the water I must

admit there's these young guys and they

are they play first 15 rugby and they

man they are cut chiseled young men and

so I was a little bit unsure about

whether I should swim or not because I

was feeling a little bit self-conscious

but in the end I did swim I thought hey

that doesn't matter and um I got back

and eily put his arm around me and said

you were really Brave today bro and I

said why is that he said well I wasn't

taking my top off and so um I

uh so I made myself feel better by

having a cheeseburger on the drive home

you know like

uh hey we will also have a a sketch uh

next week for what our prayer room will

look like as part of the renovation so

we're also going to have our prayer room

as a designated prayer space with uh

24/7 access and so we really looking

forward to um being able to just have a

a scheme of what that might look like

that we'll be able to um show you next

week but before we get into the message

uh can we just uh we're going to show

the video that we showed last week as a

church we will be uh leaning into lent

this year and uh that starts on the

first Wednesday in March and so if

you're not familiar with what lent is I

think the video is going to come up

perfect hey Russian spies and fish fries

this coming week Christians all over the

world will observe Ash Wednesday kicking

off a season that we call

lent no lent if you've spent any time

around Church in your life you may have

heard of this season yeah isn't that the

time before Easter where we give

something up well kind of but lent is

actually much deeper than that lent is a

season on the church calendar that

stretches 40 days from Ash Wednesday to

Easter Sunday traditionally lent is

treated as a time to reflect repent and

prepare our hearts for the celebration

of Easter and Christ's Resurrection from

the dead but where is Lent in the Bible

Well the season and observation of Lent

does not actually appear in scripture

well that's it I'm

done however just because the season of

Lent does not appear in scripture

doesn't mean that it's not founded on

biblical principles for example in Greek

the season of Lent was originally

referred to as tesser acost which means

the 40 and this period of 40 days is not

just some arbitrary number but 40 is a

number of deep significance in the Bible

this is the same duration of time that

Moses spent on Mount Si and Jesus spent

in the wilderness and in both of these

circumstances both Moses and Jesus were

fasting during these periods and because

of this fasting and prayer are two of

the main focuses for many Believers

during Lent this is why you often see

churches doing prayer journals or

challenges during Lent this is also

where the idea of giving something up

for Lent comes from because fasting

doesn't always have to just do with food

you can fast from a certain type of food

you can fast from television or social

media in this season of Lent I'm fasting

from watching the NBA it's a difficult

sacrifice but if you ever ask the

question why do we fast why do we give

something up during Lent well I'll tell

you one thing it's not because God wants

us to be sad and grumpy all the time and

it's not so that we can brag about how

we crushed lent this year I don't even

know who would be impressed by that but

the idea of fasting or giving something

up for Lent is so that we have more room

to pursue God in our lives in essence

the fasting portion of Lent means

removing something to make room for the

one thing it means removing a

distraction or creating more room in our

lives so that we can truly pursue God

and His goodness and just like Moses's

tesser costy or 40 days prepared him to

lead God's people across the desert and

just like Jesus's tesser costy prepared

him for his public Ministry our season

of Lent is meant to prepare us to

experience the full joy and celebration

of Easter so you see lent is not not

just about saying no to something it's

actually about saying no to something

for a while to prepare ourselves to

experience the full measure of God's yes

and so with the season of Lent starting

in a few days I want to challenge you to

enter into this season resolving to

pursue god with greater intensity maybe

you'll do it through fasting either

fasting from food or something else in

your life maybe you'll do it through

consistent daily prayer study or

reflection maybe you'll go above and

beyond in your giving and generosity

whatever it is for you I want to

challenge each and every one of us over

the next 40 days to pursue God like

never before so that we can celebrate

him like never

before awesome so uh yeah we're going to

lean into lent uh this year as a church

but if you've got your Bible you can uh

turn to John Chapter 2 uh as we uh

John 2 · chapter mention

continue our summer Vision Series this

morning and in John 2 uh: 13-1 17 it

says when it was almost time for the

Jewish Passover Jesus went up to

Jerusalem in the temple courts he found

people selling cattle sheep and doves

and others sitting at tables exchanging

money so he made a whip out of cords and

drove all from the temple courts both

sheep and cattle he scattered the coins

and money changers uh money changers and

overturned their tables right now you're

thinking this is a strange scripture to

use for vision Sunday right um where

Jesus uh makes a whip he he then says

get out of here stop turning my father's

house into a market his disciples

remembered that it is written Zeal for

your house will consume me now it's

interesting uh this cleansing of the

temple at the start of jesus' ministry

because Jesus actually starts his

ministry by turning water into wine and

then after turning water into wine at

the wedding he then comes in and

overturns tables in the temple and what

I've sort of discovered is that often as

humans we tend to either have a problem

with one of those two stories like it

tends to either be that we sort of have

a problem with the story of Jesus

turning water into wine uh and making

more wine for drunk people and we're

kind of like wow that's an unusual thing

that he did I don't know about that or

maybe we have like the problem of going

man I don't really know about Jesus

overturning tables and upsetting the

marketplace and even Jesus uh said in

John 4 what he would say of that that

generation was uh we played the pipe for

you and you did not dance we sang A

durge and you did not mourn and what he

says is John came eating and drinking

and they accused him of having a demon

and Jesus came eating and uh sorry uh

sorry Jesus came eating and drinking and

they said he was a glutton so John

fasted and they accused him of having a

demon Jesus celebrated and they accused

him of having a demon and so what he was

saying was like there are some people

that are like all for the celebration

and then some people that are all for

the mour and here in Jesus at the start

of his ministry we have this idea that

he both turns water into wine in at a

wedding and he also overturns tables in

the temple what's interesting is that

Jesus actually overturned the tables not

once but twice in his ministry right at

the start and right at the end so Jesus

chose to bookend his ministry by

overturning table

in a temple both uh start of his

ministry and the start of passion

week so it's interesting how do we

interpret this

story you're always suspicious of a

Christian if this is their favorite

picture of Jesus right what's your

favorite idea of Jesus I like the one

where he whipped got made a whip like

you kind of a little bit funnily enough

that doesn't make it to too many worship

songs does it we don't kind of um we

don't sort of sing about the Jesus that

overturns the uh tables within the

temple and sometimes it there are

pictures of Jesus that are challenging

for us

right like if you read the gospels

really honestly you will find somewhere

a picture of Jesus that is challenging

for you and and if we don't ever find a

picture of Jesus that's challenging for

us then we are in danger that we have

actually created a God in our image

rather than um understanding who the

true God

is and I do understand this morning that

there will be people here that have

experience toxic anger in their lives

and so maybe when you read about Jesus

overturning tables it's like that

doesn't make much sense for us if we've

experienced that through an imperfect

human who has done those things in our

lives and has made it feel like a very

unsafe

story so sometimes what happens is when

we uh find something that makes us feel

unsafe the thing about Modern Life is

you can always find an interpretation

for that scripture that makes you feel

better and I believe we do need to read

scripture in the historical context I

believe we need to understand the

culture that it was written in I believe

that we need to uh you know read it

within the context of the scripture and

and not just the isolated verse but in

what it tells us about Jesus as a whole

but I also know there can be a

Temptation sometimes to try and use

cultural context to excuse a picture of

Jesus that makes us

uncomfortable so with this passage I

actually some theologians um write and I

I I was reading something that said a

cultural understanding of Temple

practices shows the following about

turning over the

tables Jesus understood the customs of

the day and the temple protocols and it

was custom for a rabbi who wanted to

teach in the outer courts to let some of

the Traders know he needed to use their

space he would do this by turning the

tables over Jesus was clearing an area

of trading because he wanted to step up

and teach and needed some space for

people on their congregants to hear it

goes on to say whoops used to clear the

animals out of the area so it is more

likely that Jesus made the whip for that

purpose or as a sign of power not to use

an anger against people which I do agree

I don't think he was using it in Anger

against people he would not have dead

strike the animals so they would blemish

them and make them unfit for sacrifice

Jesus was wanting to address the whole

unfair Temple system and this is why he

was doing that and

so I would suggest to you the this

morning that that's actually an

interpretation born not out of scripture

and actually not out of cultural context

but out of someone feeling uncomfortable

about a picture of Jesus and saying hey

how can I make this picture of Jesus

more palatable for me well maybe it was

just a cultural norm maybe he was just

doing what everyone else did the issue

is the disciples noticed something in

what he did and they said they were

reminded of Psalm 69 where and realized

it was actually a prophetic song about

Jesus where it says

Zeal for your house will consume me and

when you look at that word zeal actually

uh in the Hebrew word used in the psalm

its most common in uh interpretation

within the scripture is actually

jealousy to be zealous or jealous so

here we have Jesus overturning the the

the the tables within the temple and it

says he was doing it because he was

consumed with jealousy you ever been

around a jealous person ever seen

someone who was consumed with jealousy

well here Jesus is consumed with

jealousy and we can kind of think well

that's a little bit strange isn't

jealousy a negative thing but the truth

is it depends what you're jealous for

and what you're jealous about so I don't

believe this was just normal cultural

practice even if that did happen in

those days clearly something else was

going on because the disciples looked at

it and they said wow there's something

going on here he seems to be consumed

with

jealousy what on Earth is he jealous

about and so in John Chapter 2 sorry it

John 2 · chapter mention

doesn't give us the answer but in the

other gospels with his second

overturning of the of the at the temple

uh and passion week it tells us that

Jesus says my house will be called a

house of prayer for all nations but you

have made it a den of robbers you see

it's one thing that they were trading a

a and and violating things within the

house of God but Jesus wasn't just

motivated by the fact that they were

trading he was actually jealous for

something else it wasn't just a matter

of him not wanting them to sell things

or money change in in the temple it was

also the idea that he was actually

jealous for something else and and what

he says is he was jealous for the temple

to be a house of

prayer as a a church leader I can tell

you I read scriptures like this very

seriously because I

wonder what would Jesus overturn in our

church what would Jesus overturn in my

life and sometimes we have a picture of

Jesus that that's not what he does but

he actually book ined his ministry with

it he started and he finished by

overturning Temple uh tables in the

temple not because he was angry for the

sake of anger but because he was jealous

for what the temple was supposed to be

and so it wasn't that for for for a

negative reason it was actually he was

jealous that the temple was to be a

house of

prayer and in doing that he actually

quotes Isaiah

567 and uh he he quotes um this second

part of it but the full verse says this

I will bring to my Holy Mountain and

give them joy in my house of prayer

their burnt offerings and sacrifices

will be accepted on my Altar for my

house will be called a house of prayer

for all

nations as a church we're leaning into

prayer presence and Mission and it's

always been a church that has had a

culture of prayer but we believe we must

continue to focus on being a house of

prayer or the very Jesus that we serve

may be the one who has to come and turn

over some tables within our Ministries

to make us realize that he actually is

burning with a heart for something

now it's always interesting to talk

about this because when we start talking

about prayer probably the most common

feeling for a lot of us is guilt right

we kind of think oh that and uh you know

we might have the person we look up to

who we see as a PRI a warrior and the

rest of us kind of feel like oh that's

not really me I don't really fit with

that I I've tried and yes I do have my

prayer times but I've never really been

able to push through and get into it or

is

um that just

me prayer is not always

easy but what's beautiful is this GES

the the the Aaron Isaiah that Jesus

quoted was this I will bring to my Holy

Mountain and give them joy in the House

of Prayer that Jesus actually wants to

give us joy in the place of prayer and

this is actually talking about corporate

prayer that there is an invitation to a

place of

joy in the in the House of Prayer or in

the place of prayer and in the place of

corporate prayer there is actually a joy

of the Lord that is released and there

is something that shifts in our lives I

remember in alexandraa we had a a guy

who had just started coming back to

church he his uh he hadn't been going

for a long time and his wife said hey I

really want you to come back and so in

the end he agreed and he started coming

back to church and then one night he

turned up at the prayer meeting and I

was like oh that's uh I'll be honest it

wasn't in my frame that he was going to

come and so he came to the prayer

meeting and he sat through didn't um say

a prayer which is fine I I was fine with

but I kind of thought and then got up

and left and I kind of thought oh wonder

if we'll see him again turns up the next

week turns up the next week turns up the

next week and so uh I think at about

week seven he maybe prayed like a one-

sentence prayer and so he came for about

12 weeks and the leader said hey just

before we start the person who was

leading the prayer meeting what I want

us to go around and and do is share what

prayer meeting means for us and so I'm

standing there thinking oh no you're

putting this guy on the spot like he's

only just started coming he doesn't pray

like don't make him verbalize in front

of everyone you know we want a safe

environment is what I'm thinking and so

he was like third in lines only two

other people have gone and he goes and

he says well I don't know if this is the

right language for it or not but what

prayer meeting is like for me it's

basically like a

drug and he said I come in with

uh so much pressure he had a high

pressure job I come in with so much on

my plate and I sit and I feel all that

pressure go and a joy

come you know that guy continued to come

to our prayer meetings for the remainder

of his time before he left

town the number of words that he prayed

out loud didn't radically increase but

there was something for him that he

found by being in a place of corporate

prayer where something shifted off his

life and Jesus is quoting Isaiah where

the Prophet says I will give you Joy In

My House of Prayer there is something

about the corporate place of prayer

where Joy is

released if you've been to enough prayer

meetings you'll know not every time

not sometimes it's hard

work sometimes it's pushing through

sometimes there are hard weeks but when

we commit to the priority of what

Christ's priority was there becomes this

joy in the place of prayer and that

which was once only discipline now

actually becomes

delight and so Jesus over turned the

tables in the temple because he was

jealous for God's house to be a place of

prayer and can I say I am jealous for

our church to be a place of prayer I'm

jealous that we would be a community

that would be known as a people of

prayer how good was Tuesday night seeing

thousands gather for a prayer meeting in

total

and so my hope is that

2025 will be a year where we experience

joy in the place of prayer where we

would come and you might think I don't

go to prayer meetings because I don't

even know how to pray out loud or I feel

so self-conscious do you know you can

come and just sit in the presence of God

do you know you can come and agree with

someone else's prayer do you know you

can come and set that time aside to be

in his

presence so as we come into 2025 there

are some ways to engage with corporate

prayer in the church um so during term

time we have Revival prayer meeting the

first one is is this coming Tuesday from

7 to 8 it's in our prayer room you've

got to come around the back and and head

up the stairs but from 7 to 8 we pray um

every Tuesday night during school term

and um it's an amazing time together and

we we always say hey this is obviously

an invitation not an expectation where

we're like we know different people have

different things on doesn't suit

everyone but can I encourage

you if Tuesday night's your TV

night my

goodness something will shift when

we swap TV night for Revival prayer you

know um we have pre-service prayer on a

Sunday um 9: 20 in here we pray for 10

to 15 minutes and just pray for the

service and you know it's always such an

encouraging time we start off by just

walking through and praying over the

cheers and it always just stirs

something in me when I see you know

203 35 people walking through just

declaring God's blessing over the

meeting over the chair over you over uh

our city and something begins to shift

you know obviously all of our life

groups um have prayer within them one of

the awesome thing that's just happened

is Street reach has just started our

Wednesday night homeless uh feeding

program they've actually started

receiving prayer requests and letting

people write down their prayer requests

and how many did they have the first

week Scott it was a lot right like a

dozen or something like that I think

Adam said they had about a dozen

requests the first week where people

were just like man we want you so these

aren't the entirety of prayer that goes

on um but what we are going to do in the

lead into lent is we're actually going

to have 72 hours of rostered Prayer in

the prayer room so uh what that means is

um the QR code that we are um really uh

promoting is a great way to be able to

um connect in with what we're doing

you'll see on that that there is an

option to sign up for 72 hours of prayer

that doesn't mean you have to sign up

for 72 hours that means you sign up for

a 1 hour slot within it and um can I say

that for some of us I know an hour

praying will be a

challenge and that's a wonderful

Challenge and for some of us it might be

that signing up for a 2hour slop was a

challenge and and that's a great

challenge but what we're wanting to do

with that is give an opportunity and so

we realize some people won't be able to

come into the building so you can uh

sign up and pray from home but what

we're trying to get as many people as

possible if you can make it in come in

and we'll make sure there's access

and sign up for a time to say wow maybe

just maybe Jesus is saying to us that he

wants his house to be a House of Prayer

maybe it's not just for those who uh

feel called to be an intercessor maybe

it's for all of us children a a and

maybe we just need to reorientate

ourselves even further to that reality

that jesus' Ministry was punctuated by

this act of overturning tables and the

reason why was he burned with

jealousy that his people would be people

of prayer do you know I think it's

Romans 4 I think uh certainly somewhere

in Romans where it tells us that Jesus

is still interceding right now isn't

that amazing that when we decide to go

into the place of prayer we are actually

mirroring the actions of our savior in

heaven isn't that

amazing and so I think you know if if

One Hour of Prayer you're like man I

don't know how I can do that do you know

the beauty is you sign up and then you

find a way to make it work Tyler Staten

says this we learn to Pray by

praying it's pretty simple that's how we

learn to pray and so we may feel like

wow I don't know if if I can do that

that's

okay we can sign up and learn to Pray by

praying and so we're really excited as a

church as we just lean in to uh this

aspect of prayer as we lean in we know

that God is calling us to

this that we would be a community that

would be

known as a church that prays it has been

for decades been known as a church that

prays and I want to honor uh Michelle

for the prayer line and the work that

she does can we just show our

appreciation for that

um you know there's a whole team behind

her and um you know when there's needs

they get sent out and and they'll

they'll send out by text and so it means

in real time when someone's in need we

have a an army of Prayer Warriors who

pray and believe for breakthrough and

that's been happening for decades under

the leadership of dor and Debbie and um

it's just been amazing so you know we we

we have that culture but we want it to

continue and we want us to shift this

idea that prayer is for a particular

person or it's for someone else and we

want to invite you as part of the church

family that there is actually a mantle

on our church to step into this place of

prayer there is a mantle to see break

through in the place of prayer why don't

you place your hand on your heart Lord

Lord thank

you Lord that you didn't turn over the

tables in the temple because you were

angry about something as much as you

turned them over because you were

jealous for

something and Lord I pray for each one

of us that our heart would be gripped

with what gripped Your Heart Lord that

our heart would uh sense the invitation

of you

into this place of prayer and Lord that

would be for us individually and it

would also be for us corporately as a

church Lord I bless each person hearing

my voice that they would know that sense

of uh your presence with

them Lord they know that sense of Grace

Lord that they wouldn't look internally

to their limitations but Lord all of us

would look to you and your grace and

believe that you would be empowering us

to pray in Jesus Jesus mighty name amen

I'll just hand over to Sarah who's just

going to give us some final notices you

will also see on the door out there is

an envelope um if you're wanting to uh

take an envelope away for the upper room

project we will be creating an offering

moment on the 2nd of uh March so you may

want to fill in a uh envelope and we'll

have an opportunity to uh present those

but