Bound With Them Series

One thing that I want to share with you today is that we need to be praying for our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned for their faith. We need to stand with them and lift them up before our Father in heaven who can comfort them.

Inside your bulletin there is a card to remind you to pray for our fellow Christians around the world. Would you please take that card out? Today after the service I would invite you to come up here and look at this map. See the names of the countries that are listed? I would encourage you to write down the name of one country and commit to pray for the persecuted Christians this week.

Also, we are going to be taking a special offering the next two weeks that will go to organizations committed to spreading the message of Christ into countries like this. Would you please take out your special offering envelopes? Over the next two weeks we would invite you to participate in the chains of our brothers and sisters in Christ through giving to this area of need. Please pray about what you are able to do and give as God leads you. These offerings will go to provide Bibles and Christian educational materials to believers in closed countries.

What’s the point? Why do we need to focus on this and participate in this?

One reason is that we are called by God to help those who suffer. We are called to be healing agents to those who are in the deepest of needs.

The second reason is that we need to get our eyes off of our own lives for a while and think about the lives of others. In American churches, we live in abundance, prosperity and freedom. We have all the benefits of openly worshipping Christ. However we also pay a price for that worship.

We get isolated and complacent. We get focused on our needs and our desires. We view everything that is spiritual through the lens of what it has to offer me. It is times that we being to look out for the needs of others rather than ourselves. It is time that we develop a “World View Christianity” that allows us to move beyond ourselves and into the ministry to those in need.

Today I want to invite you to take your prayer cards out and hold them as we pray for the needs and the safety of our bothers and sisters in Christ who are held in chains.

Prayer

Closing: Today, we want to help you remember the needs of others as you leave here. During our offering time, if you desire you may give of finances to help the persecuted church. Also, there are some items on the table in the lobby that we would like to share with you to help raise your awareness of the needs around the world.

Bracelets

Bookmarks

Stamps

Magazines

Please take only one of the items.

My challenge to you today is that we as fellow believers would stand with the persecuted church, “Bound with Them” until the day we are all brought form this dark world into the Marvelous Light of Jesus.

Sing and collect offering.