Lesson from Sunday February 7th, 2010

Download Lesson: pdf / doc

In the middle of the week we read from Joshua, chapters 1-4.  This is the transition to new leadership in the person of Joshua.  God repeats the promise to Joshua, the same one that he gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (v. 1-5).  He also says to Joshua three times in the first chapter, “Be strong and courageous!”  The last time he says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go?” (v. 9).  And, we read that as they are taking up Joshua as their leader when they tell him they will follow him they also say, “only be strong and courageous” (v. 18).  Joshua tells them that they are to be people of the book: “do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful” (v. 8).  We too are to be strong and courageous as we rely on God’s promise and we too are to be people of the book.

Lesson from Sunday January 31, 2010

Download Lesson: pdf / doc

Breath Prayer

A form of contemplative prayer linked to the rhythms of breathing:

1. Breathe in, calling on a biblical name or image of God
2. Breathe out a simple God-given desire

“Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Lesson from Sunday January 24, 2010

Download Lesson: pdf / doc

Intercession is not prayer. Intercession is something a person does that he or she can do in prayer. To intercede is to go or pass between; to act between parties with a view to reconcile those who differ or contend to interpose; mediate or go between (like an attorney re-presents a client). It involves delegation, authority and representation.

Lesson from Sunday January 17, 2010

Download Lesson: pdf / doc

Discussion centered on God’s sovereignty and the reasons we are called to pray with regard to His ultimate plan for creation and mankind. Sheets referenced the teachings of other well known prayer warriors who contend that God’s plan “needs” for us to pray, not because God can’t complete the task on his own, but because God chose to limit himself in this way in order that mankind may have choice in the matter. God chose from the time of creation to work on the earth through humans, not independent of them. My asking of God is an exercise of my choice—it releases Him to do something in my life and the lives of those for which I intercede.

Lesson from Sunday January 10, 2010

Download Lesson: pdf / doc

Discussion focused on reasons why we pray. Sheets teaches that no one is born a prayer hero. They are shaped and refined on the practice field of life.

In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill tells about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village who walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, “Were any great men born in this village?” The old man replied, “Nope, only babies.”

Sheets makes his claim based upon Galatians 6 which says to pray for one another and to be persistent in doing so.

• 2Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (NASB)
• 9Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. (NASB)