Southwest Church » Pray! http://swchurchonline.org "Ordinary people, empowered by an extraordinary God, building the community of Christ in West Orange County" Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:08:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Copyright © 2010 Southwest Church tom.c.welch@gmail.com (Southwest Church) tom.c.welch@gmail.com (Southwest Church) New Sermons 1440 http://swchurchonline.org/media/images/album_art144.jpg Southwest Church » Pray! http://swchurchonline.org 144 144 Messages by Pastor Tom Welch At Southwest Church our vision is to be a community of believers who love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and make Him known in our community and around the world. Our mission is to develop fully devoted followers of Christ who will meet the spiritual needs of our church and our community. We are a part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a movement described as, \"Ordinary people, empowered by an extraordinary God, building communities of Christ around the world\". Southwest Church Southwest Church tom.c.welch@gmail.com no no What makes our prayer acceptable to God? « Of First Importance http://swchurchonline.org/2009/08/13/what-makes-our-prayer-acceptable-to-god-%c2%ab-of-first-importance/ http://swchurchonline.org/2009/08/13/what-makes-our-prayer-acceptable-to-god-%c2%ab-of-first-importance/#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:03:08 +0000 Tom Welch http://swchurchonline.org/?p=675

“What thing is that that maketh our prayer acceptable to God? Is it our babbling? No, no; it is not our babbling, nor our long prayer; there is another thing than it. The dignity and worthiness of our words is of no such virtue.

For whosoever resorteth unto God, not in the confidence of his own merits, but in the sure trust of the deserving of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and in his passion; whosoever doth invocate the Father of heaven in the trust of Christ’s merits, which offering is the most comfortable and acceptable offering to the Father; whosoever, I say, offereth up Christ, which is a perfect offering, he cannot be denied the thing he desireth, so that it be expedient for him to have it.

It is not the babbling of our lips, nor dignity of our words, but the prayer of the heart is the offering that pleaseth, through the only means of his Son. For our prayer profiteth us, because we offer Christ to his Father. Whosoever resorteth to God without Christ, he resorteth in vain. Our prayer pleaseth because of Jesus Christ, whom we offer. So that it is faith, faith, faith is the matter. It is no prayer that is without faith, it is but a lip-labouring and mockery, without faith; it is but a little babbling.”

—Hugh Latimer, Sermons Preached Before King Edward the Sixth (1549), Sermon #7

]]> http://swchurchonline.org/2009/08/13/what-makes-our-prayer-acceptable-to-god-%c2%ab-of-first-importance/feed/ 0 Giving Prayers to Those in Need http://swchurchonline.org/2009/08/07/giving-prayers-to-those-in-need/ http://swchurchonline.org/2009/08/07/giving-prayers-to-those-in-need/#comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:29:46 +0000 Tom Welch http://swchurchonline.org/?p=665

« Story: Oct. 28-29 Near Chicago | Main

August 7, 2009

Giving Prayers to Those in Need

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

One church in Michigan is skipping the giveaways, glitz and glamour. The LA Times tells the story of a church in a Michigan town, hit hard by the recession. They set up a prayer booth at their local city hall, offering a prayer to each passerby.

At first it might sound a bit cheesy or ineffective, but they’re seeing around 175 people per week dropping in for a prayer. When a third of a town find themselves jobless, prayer becomes a bit more of a felt need.

Any worries of ineffectiveness or general heavy-handedness are eased by this paragraph from the article:

Word of the prayer station has spread as the City Hall crowds have grown. The manager of a 7-Eleven wants a station set up next to his soda machines. So does the owner of a ConocoPhillips gas station.

It’s easy to get caught up in making church more sexy when a lot of people simply need the church to be more available.

]]> http://swchurchonline.org/2009/08/07/giving-prayers-to-those-in-need/feed/ 0 A breath of fresh prayer… (you know what to do!) http://swchurchonline.org/2009/07/22/a-breath-of-fresh-prayer-you-know-what-to-do/ http://swchurchonline.org/2009/07/22/a-breath-of-fresh-prayer-you-know-what-to-do/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:15:51 +0000 Tom Welch http://swchurchonline.org/?p=651

Sandee: Jordan, Nichole and Brett keep focus on God and be in His Word.  Praise the Lord for the comfort He continues to provide in stressful times.  Leya- personal problems.

Herb & Jo:  Thank you Lord for our health, safe travels and answers to our prayers.

Susan F.:  Please pray for two very difficult decisions that I need to make.  That I will consider the right things and make the right choices to God’s glory.  Thanks and praise for Alais’ continue recovery and for all the loving and giving people that are helping the family deal with difficult times.

Nancy: Ask the Lord to give Tom a wonderful, relaxing vacation this week with his family (and Stephen) at the Lake house.  Pray for continued recovery and strength for Jonathan as well as decisions that need to be made regarding school in the fall.  Janna needs peace and strength in the Lord this week.

Eloise: Please Lord send your might Holy Spirit to work in Pam and Trent’s hearts to draw them to your Holy Spirit.  Thank you Lord for answered prayers, peace in my heart, and enough of all I need.

John D.: Thank you for my wonderful family.  Pray for the 99 people living at the women’s homeless shelter where my company renovated two emergency rooms.  May those women keep or find faith in the Lord in these hard times.  Pray for a personnel problem that is creating backlash issues for me personally.  May God fight this battle!

Julie: Thank you Lord for being the Light of my life and thank you Lord for filling my heart with Your Love.

Barbara B.:  Praise for a wonderful time of refreshment with my family this past month.  Prayer for Edgewood Ranch staff training this week: 1) New filling of the Spirit of God.  2)  Unity.  3)  Encouragement.

Deborah T.: Thank God for a certified kitchen.  Pray for guidance for Deb & Jim.

Lindsey:  Pray for a good completion to her Missions Internship in Indonesia this week and a safe journey home next week.  Pray for Whitney to look to God for all she needs in her new job in Auburn, Alabama.

Maurice: I am thankful for the cross which leads me to salvation, a loving fellowship at my church, and an ever ready help in time of need.

Anon.: Thanks for calmness and being surrounded by people with positive attitudes.  Pray for people who are less fortunate.
]]> http://swchurchonline.org/2009/07/22/a-breath-of-fresh-prayer-you-know-what-to-do/feed/ 0 Imagine that your prayer is a poorly dressed beggar http://swchurchonline.org/2009/07/10/imagine-that-your-prayer-is-a-poorly-dressed-beggar-%c2%ab-of-first-importance/ http://swchurchonline.org/2009/07/10/imagine-that-your-prayer-is-a-poorly-dressed-beggar-%c2%ab-of-first-importance/#comments Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:59:18 +0000 Tom Welch http://swchurchonline.org/?p=641

“Imagine that your prayer is a poorly dressed beggar reeking of alcohol and body odor, stumbling toward the palace of the great king. You have become your prayer. As you shuffle toward the barred gate, the guards stiffen. Your smell has preceded you. You stammer out a message for the great king: ‘I want to see the king.’

Your words are barely intelligible, but you whisper one final word, ‘Jesus, I come in the name of Jesus.’ At the name of Jesus, as if by magic, the palace comes alive. The guards snap to attention, bowing low in front of you. Lights come on, and the door flies open. You are ushered into the palace and down a long hallway into the throne room of the great king, who comes running to you and wraps you in his arms.

The name of Jesus gives my prayers royal access. They get through. Jesus isn’t just the Savior of my soul. He’s also the Savior of my prayers. My prayers come before the throne of God as the prayers of Jesus. ‘Asking in Jesus’ name’ isn’t another thing I have to get right so my prayers are perfect. Is it one more gift of God because my prayers are so imperfect.”

—Paul Miller, A Praying Life (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress 2009), 135

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Update from SE Asia

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Hello Everyone! Disclaimer: some of the vocab has been changed for safety purposes, if the spelling is butchered- use your imagination!

I know this letter has taken forever, sorry! Internet access is rare, and even now that we’ve found it its impossibly slow! Ok, so I’ve been here for two weeks and I’ve already experienced so much. I’ve been to an Indonesian fellowship, eaten a ton of spicy food including a chicken foot, stayed in a Mussalem home alone one night, hiked to a waterfall, hiked to what used to be a volcano and swam in its massive crater lake, been on a pig hunt!, taken a lot of dipper baths as showers, and have seen a lot of lost people. It’s hot here, and the work is hard. The fruit of our labor here will never been known about until we get to heaven. We’ve driven all over the island of Sumatra not without car sickness, and all of us have been suffering in the intestinal region as our bodies adjust to the crazy diet. I’m already a little sick of rice! haha. Ok I wish I had time to say more, but we’ve got a 10 hour bus ride today, and it’s time to go. But I’m having so much fun and I love you all!!
Ashley (on behalf of the Kantoli Team)

What is an unreached people group?

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An unreached people group is a group of people who have little or no access to the gospel. The population of Christ-followers is 2% or less of the population. In a number of locations, there are still no known believers in the entire area or island. One Edger writes about her experience:

“As I went prayer walking through cities with zero believers out of populations of hundreds of thousands of people. Walking through the center of the city and realinz that out of the 100 or 200 people there might be one believer among them tugged at my heart.”

“Looking at those faces around me, I realized that these were unreached people, right next to me, around me, beside me. I remember one city that was particularly dark, and just wanting to run through the city streets shouting the name of Jesus as I walked past storefronts with red lights signifying prostitution. I had never experienced such an unreached place before, and it simply didn’t make any sense for me to live away from those people any longer. It was that summer I knew that the redemption of the world didn’t just require short term commitment – God didn’t just want two months of my summer; He wanted my entire life.”

The Edge

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel… Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” ~ Ephesians 6:19

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© 2008 PIONEERS
The Edge, a short term ministry of Pioneers, is mobilizing and mentoring this generation to passionately follow Jesus and discover their role in God’s mission. For more information, please visit www.pioneers.org/edge. Also, we invite you to check out our core values at www.pioneers.org.

]]> http://swchurchonline.org/2009/06/26/news-from-indonesia-lindseys-group/feed/ 0 Day 10 toward the Global Day of Prayer http://swchurchonline.org/2009/05/30/day-10-toward-the-global-day-of-prayer/ http://swchurchonline.org/2009/05/30/day-10-toward-the-global-day-of-prayer/#comments Sat, 30 May 2009 12:38:52 +0000 Tom Welch http://swchurchonline.org/?p=583

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]]> http://swchurchonline.org/2009/05/27/day-7-toward-the-global-day-of-prayer/feed/ 0 More from Milt in Malaysia… http://swchurchonline.org/2009/05/26/more-from-milt-in-malaysia/ http://swchurchonline.org/2009/05/26/more-from-milt-in-malaysia/#comments Tue, 26 May 2009 12:32:44 +0000 Tom Welch http://swchurchonline.org/?p=555

Greetings Praying Friends,

Thank you so much for all your prayers for us!  God is doing so much and it is hard to communicate all that is happening.  God is encouraging our staff here to focus on Him and depend upon Him as it comes to reaching their countries with the Gospel.

We have had many opportunities to pray with a number of these dear brothers and sisters.  We received word on the first day of the conference that 22 more of our staff in indo-kneesia have been released from prison.  That makes 35 out of 41 have been released now – please keep the last 6 (only men now) in your prayers.  They are praying they will be released by the end of the year.  Please keep this in your prayers!

Ben & I have been very engaged in the program so far in this conference.  The first night I led the entire group (over 100) in prayer around their tables to ask God to send his presence to meet with us all week long.  Each morning we are starting the day with 6:30 prayer.  We have been part of the morning worship & prayer time (this morning was a special time focused on “Listening to God”).  As mentioned before we also have had many times to interact with our dear brothers and sisters and have had many opportunities to pray with many already.

Pray that the Lord, by His grace, will continue to use us to encourage these dear beloved saints of the Lord!  Some of these dear brothers & sisters live in very difficult places across Southeast Asia.

We so appreciate your prayers for us,

Milt Monell

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