Facilitated
by: Dr Sam Tillery
Opening prayer
Sam Tillery
If you have your Bibles you could turn
to first Peter chapter 2 beginning with verse 9? As
I read this really listen, because this is the frame
work that we will be praying in within the next few
moments.
It reads, " You are a chosen people",
think about that for a moment.
Do you remember back when you were
young and playing a game where there were two different
captains and they had to choose who was to be on their
team, when it gets down to the end and if you were one
of the few people left, your feeling a little bit like,
"Well, I didn't get picked first, second or even
third and if they do pick me it is probably because
I am that is left over".
It's not that way with our God. We
are a chosen people. So, when we go into prayer we want
to pray into that.
Now, being chosen isn't because we
are worthy or that we have accomplished so many good
deeds, but it is a demonstration of incredible love
and it tells us of His glory that He has chosen us.
In this scripture He goes on to say, " a royal
priesthood, a Holy nation, a people belonging to God".
We live in a world where people are longing to belong
and God calls us out and says that we belong to Him,
" that you may declare the praises of him who called
you out of darkness into his wonderful light".
See, there is a reason why he has chosen
us. We want to pray tonight that God would release us
into a greater understanding, we being the church. It's
not about us tonight as individuals, but we are here
to represent the body of Christ tonight, to represent
the whole body. We are here praying on behalf of the
city and it's needs and it's cry. So, when we think
about our prayer, let us not think so much about ourselves,
but what we represent as different and diverse parts
of the body of Christ, coming together in answer to
his prayer in John 17.
As a royal priesthood, chosen by God
that we may declare, we as a church, God would you release
us as your church to declare in this place. Amen. Probably
not a week goes by that I don't spend time with a pastor
from another church, on a one on one time, praying,
talking and strategizing. When I was with Pastor John
Strong from Redwood Covenant Church earlier this week,
we were sitting and talking about difficulties in overseeing
different ministries, one of us from a large church
and the other from an average size church and we were
able to bless one another in conversation and give each
other ideas that we hadn't thought about in the fellowship
as one, not in competition.
We are co-laborers together bringing
a blessing on a personal level and what we bring back
to our congregations. Continuing in the scripture, 1
Peter 2:10 - " Once you were not a people, but
now you are the people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world",
now that is something that you might want to pray into.
Some of us have got the idea that this is our home.
We are strangers, we are foreigners, we are passing
through. Don't settle in so much, your still in your
suitcase. We are passing through, so we can take up
with us the place that God has prepared for us.
Continuing in verse 10, "I urge
you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain
from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live
such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse
you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and
glorify God on the day he visits us."
What's happening in the body, is that
we have been coming together, serving together, they
are observing the good deeds and now they are calling
us to the table. I am referring to very specific things.
They have seen our acts of kindness, things like Spring
Cleaning, by the way that is coming up again on April
29th. If you want to rally your church and start to
put together some teams, we are looking to have over
a thousand people participating in Spring Cleaning this
year.
I was blessed this last week at a meeting
at Finley Center with 17 city and county officials as
we were around the big conference table talking to us
and planning and strategizing the body of Christ laboring
together to bless the city. They are observing, talking
with us and listening to the things of Christ, because
we have walked in good deeds and we need to continue
to do that.
Let's take a few moments now and thank
the Lord. If you have have your Bibles, lets key off
of some of these things that we've looked at and pray
that God would release us and make us aware of these
things. When we continue to walk in and live out, as
we have read in scripture here, good deeds. The way
that the world sees our good deeds, is not because they
are coming to church on Sunday morning, but that we
are going out and living it out where we work, where
we live, where we play.
So I would like you to get with two
or three people that are near you and if it is someone
that you don't know then that is good, because it will
give you a chance to meet with someone new and then
take a look back at 1 Peter 2:9-12 and pray through
these things. After this, Harry Skandera will be coming
and sharing some further things with us.
(Prayer)
(Harry Skandera)
It's always a blessing to come together
with different parts of the body from all over the county.
What has been on our hearts as we were thinking and
praying about our being at Hope Chapel Church tonight
is how this is the perfect environment for what He wants
to do among us. We were just here in October, within
the last few months, but you see, there is a hunger
here. There is a hunger of faith here.
The last time we were here, some of
you may remember, we commissioned intercessors for our
county and laided hands on them, it was a very significant
night. I believe that the faith in a place has everything
to do with what can happen. I believe that when Jesus
went in to pray for the dead man and he asked everybody,
but a few to leave, you know he asked the mourners to
leave the room, I believe that there is a reason for
that, because the mourners were investing into death.
Their focus was, this guy is gone and
Jesus was getting ready to resurrect the guy, and so
you see, there is something about place and about the
atmosphere in the place, I say that, because we are
in the right place tonight. There are a couple of things
that we need to do in this next season, one of those
things is that we need to declare the year of the Lord.
2006 A.D. (the year of our Lord), but usually as a church
we focus upon the year of the people of the Lord.
Let us pray for God's people to do
this and the like. Certainly that is a good thing, but
I believe that 2006 is meant to be the year where it's
about God's glory and not about the people's glory.
I was sitting there with Dr Sam and you know you can
hear the sound of many voices praying, but tonight I
happened to hear a specific prayer. One of the brothers
here was praying the theme, that when the city leaders
see what we are doing that they wouldn't see us, but
that they would see God and sense the Holy Spirit, that
is really what we want.
Ok, now here is where it gets a little
tricky, because we are all going to be a part of declaring
the year of the Lord, but we are going to start with
something simple. Looking from Genesis to Malachi, it
gets a little heavy there into the old testament, a
lot of judgment, hell-fire, things like that, and you
know we tend to dance around those scriptures a little
bit, but a particular one stood out to me. "They
will be mine, says the Lord Almighty, in the day when
I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them,
just as in compassion a man spares his son and serves
him, and you will again see the distinctive between
the righteous and the wicked.
Between those who serve God and those
who do not". First of all, what we are talking
about here, is having the heart of God for other people.
Forget the label of whether they are a christian or
not a christian, because as you know, all of us having
been christians for some time, have had periods in our
lives, sometimes scarily long periods of time where
we failed to carry the heart of God.
There are other times when we actually
recognize the heart of God in somebody who doesn't claim
to know Christ. I hope you've been out there enough
to see that, and you always wonder, well how does that
happen. Well, I don't know, but I know how it happens
in me. I know that one of the reasons why it is so important
to be in fellowship with people, is that you are able
to carry God's heart for them. I am going to give you
an example.
Somebody asked me once, (You know I've
got three daughters and the youngest one is married,
but the oldest and second oldest is not), we have been
praying for our daughters' husbands for over thirty
two years. One of the girls is 32 and the other one
is 28 and they are not bad looking, that is not the
problem for them, it is not that people are not interested.
Some people think that it is because they have a strict
set of parents and they have chased everybody off, but
we're not. What we're looking for is what I have found
in my first son in-law. Who is the man who can declare
God's heart for my daughter in the same degree or maybe
greater than me.
I've got God's heart for my daughter
and when I find the man who can call God out of my daughter,
she will be his. She will know, she will respond and
will pick him, because really that is what every person
is looking for, man or woman.
There is a lot of talk today about
how God is re-vamping the church, so why do we actually
need a church? This is why we need a church, because
we need relationship. Who is going to declare God's
heart over you?
Why did we march around for 6 years
all over this county, because we were trying to get
God's heart for this place and when we have God's heart
for the place. We then have the authority to declare
what God wants for the place. We are not in judgment,
we are in blessing, we are calling it forth, so we're
going to pray into some of that tonight.
Some of you are here with somebody
that you know and some of you of you may know someone
here well enough to have some inkling in your heart
for what God's heart may be wanting to say to them and
if you do and can speak it over them, you need to remember
the story of Elisha and Elijah?
It is all about the transfer of something
from one person to another, from one generation to another,
there are a lot of inner applications that you can make
in that, but the bottom line is that when Elijah was
going up to heaven, Elisha wanted double portion of
his blessing. He wants, really, the heart of God in
a bigger quantity in him than was in Elijah.
What's the rule? He said, " You've
got to see me when I go up". This is not a name
it and claim it deal, this is if you see it, you can
have it.
I want you to break up into three's
or four's, just make sure that everybody gets somebody.
There is a time a little bit later when we are going
to be talking about breaking cycles, breaking off some
negative things, but I feel like as much as there is
a place for that, sometimes in the body of Christ, we
spend too much time trying to get somebody's life cleaned
up. So then they can be free to go and do something
good or whatever, you know what I am saying? It is a
bad focus ultimately, because too often we settle for
breaking the addiction or whatever it is and then we're
just left there fat and happy. But we haven't been released
into why we got tied up in the first place, it was to
keep us from what we were supposed to be into.
So why we are declaring first tonight,
is we've got to have that picture of where we are going
and who we are in God, right? So, why don't we confess
and speak that first and then we will deal with other
things. Some of you may be sitting there thinking, "Oh,
gosh, I don't know what to say over someone, or I've
never done this before, I don't know what to do",
but that's ok and this may not be smooth, but it is
something that we must do.
Because it is on us to declare the
heart of God over this city and we've got to at least
start, do you know what I am saying? This needs to be
a regular practice, that's why we are here. So, if you
believe that you know enough about someone, that you
know something to declare over them, speak over them
and speak over them, please do so. If you are not sure,
them ask them. "What is one thing that I could
pray over you to release you into what God is calling
you to?"
(Prayer )
(Harry Skandera)
In American christianity, we have tended
to be so focused on the individual confession and personal
relationship with Christ, which has been a tremendous
blessing and a historical milestone which goes all the
way to our foreign policy in everything else, to the
rights of the individual and the blessing on the individual,
etc. But where we are really hurting is when it comes
to consider that God's heart reaches out to a nation
or to a city. If you look at the way God talks through
the who and what the prophets speak to. The times that
they speak to an individual, you could count with your
hands.
A massive percentage of what God speaks
to are to cities, nations and people's. Big, big, big,
big. We are talking about transforming our city or transforming
our family or church, neighborhood, or family, but it
is hard for us to get a hold of that. We tend to just
see individuals. We tend to see a lot of problems, but
can we declare what this city or what your church looks
like from the heart of God? It is harder, but it is
meant to be.
When we pray for the city it's not
just a religious exercise. We are entering into God
to get ourselves transformed so we get His heart for
Santa Rosa, or Hope Chapel West, or for your neighborhood
and really you'll begin to see your neighbors, neighborhood,
church and your city if you ask for it. If you can see
it, you can have it. Why did Hugh Codding call Santa
Rosa, "My town", I'll tell you why, because
he saw this town as his town and he shaped a lot of
it. That man has an incredible Godly heritage, either
his grandfather or his great grandfather traveled here
in a covered wagon, not in a wagon-train, but by himself.
Why? Because he started in a wagon-train and they wouldn't
stop to honor the Lord's day and he would. He said to
himself that these guys were wrong, that it was the
Sabbath and that he going to stay here and worship the
Lord, and so, he made the whole trip by himself through
all of the perils and that is faith.
You know what?, that inheritance went
to Hugh Codding
and this town reflects that faith. I don't know if I
would meet him in a church, but he captured something.
We too should be declaring this to be God's town, but
we are going to have to look and see, so we are going
to break up into a little bit larger groups this time
and I want you to just be quiet for one thing that you
may want to declare over Santa Rosa. Let it be positive,
not what you would like to see gone, but what you would
like to see in it.
(Prayer)
(Harry
Skandera)
I want to just give you one thing to
take home personally tonight. Some of you here feel
like your father left you nothing of value or maybe
that you never knew your father well and what you do
know of him, is better left unspoken.
Well, my father died in 1983 and I
know my father better today than I did when he was alive.
My father was an orphan. His father was a mad drunk.
As I looked at my father through God's heart, I began
to get to know my grandfather and realized that the
frustration and the things that happened to him to frustrate
God's intention for his life. I no longer had a bad
focus, because I got in on God's side of things with
my granddad and began to give thanks.
I realized where God had stepped in.
My dad was not a church goer and he drank a lot
of beer and abused his wife. I realized that I
didn't abuse my wife and that I didn't drink beer and
although I could become angry. It wasn't something that
you would consider a serious problem, but what I did
have was a quiet passion and what I knew was part of
my inheritance. If you can see it, you can have
it.
Many of us have closed our eyes because
of what the Devil has done in our family and so we are
not able to see what our inheritance is and it will
be passed down to your children. Whoever the Lord sends
to you to point out and call forth your mantel. We all
have a mantel and this being the year that we declare
the year of the Lord, it is necessary that we know our
mantel so that we can declare, pray and walk in it.
(Sam Tillery)
I was sharing with Harry a few moments
ago, talking about how if you can see it then you can
have it. A man many of you may not know personally,
but may have read his book called the Purpose Driven
Life, Rick Warren. Wrote down very early in his ministry
principals that the Lord had shown and taught him and
now thousands upon thousands of churches and believers
are so grateful that he did. He saw it and documented
it and now it is coming to pass into churches all over
this nation.
We have been walking around for the
past 6 years or so praying for this city and county
with City Reach Prayer. Whether we realize it or not,
there are many things that we have claimed and declared,
God has brought forth these things in many dimensions
and we haven't really been able to connect all of the
dots.
Recently you may have read in the paper
and you have maybe heard how the city of Santa Rosa
was divided by the Hwy 101 being put in and what was
a big controversy it was back then. That had some of
those things has a spiritual consequence in our community.
We in City Reach Prayer and the united body began a
campaign to pray that God would bring it back together.
So, we have prayed it and walked it
and in various locations it has begun to happen. The
city is recapturing that which the Devil has taken away.
through the power that is being released through the
united expression of the body.
What we need to begin to do, as Harry
has expressed, is to obtain a greater awareness and
sensitivity to hearing God. That does not mean that
as individuals that you begin to run out there and declare
things that you haven't really heard from the Lord,
and you will know, because often it is going to be confirmed
by two or three witnesses that are convinced that they
are hearing the same thing.
We are seeing that happen worldwide
in cities that are being transformed. As we are all
beginning to hear the same thing which is: come together,
unite and pray. I know that I have declared it. Seeing
it for years and it's unfolding.
One church, many congregations united
in Christ in Sonoma County. Transformation is here and
it is a process. When we think about things that are
happening in our midst, we need to put our hearts to
the ground and say, "God, what is this"? We
need to move from prayers of deliverance to prayers
of declaration. Deliverance comes in a greater way through
declaration than it does through chasing the enemy through
the woods or running around playing the hide a seek
game when God has already declared in His word that
we have it and are to live and pray Be as one so that
the world may believe and that is happening.
For example let me give you one quick
testimony. Through the acts of kindness and the unity
of the body through spring clean, we have connected
with the city and have been meeting with them once a
month.
One of the administrators that we have
been working with and about two months ago, he and I
got into a conversation and he was intrigued about the
fact that my congregation was going through the book
40 days of community, which was the follow up book to
Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life book. Our small
group was finding ways that we could bless and serve
the community and so this gentlemen goes, "Wow,
I would really like to read that book." I said
that I wasn't going to give him that book, but that
I would recommend him starting with The Purpose Driven
Life book. So, I said that if he would read it that
I would give it to him and so he said, "Sure".
Another time after one of the meetings
that we were in, he was coming with me to go to my car,
because I was going to give him a video and he was a
non-believer. As we were walking out he said, "
Hey, I finished the Purpose Driven Life book. It was
a great book. I don't know everything that he means,
but I believe what I did get and I wanted to commend
you on standing for what you stand for. I believe too,
I just can't be as bold as you are, because of my position.
I can tell when I look at you sometimes that you are
right on, because I can see a glow about you and a confidence
that you are doing what is right".
I see that as an answer to prayer.
That as God begins to move in this city that it is influencing
and changing the lives of those who are influences in
the city and when the Mayor of our city, who is not
a believer that I am aware of, but loves the city, says
to me on the side, " We are dealing with so many
gang issues. What we need and what I want in this city
is a Christ centered program". We are looking at
a specific one (program) that we are looking at now,
called Hope Now.
So, here is God is answering prayer
through the united body to bless our city officials
and this is what our prayer has been. We have been praying
that the Lord would have favor on our church and the
people, the united churches of sonoma county. So, you
see the power of even a group like this. There is something
in the declaration, we need to listen very carefully
as to what God would have us to declare as His heart.
We need to arm ourselves and be ready to suffer for
the sake of the Gospel. (Reading of Psalm 33:8-11 as
a declaration)
(Prayer)
Lord would you stir the body of Christ
to take their extra time to go and sit by the lake and
to spend time with you, so that we can really listen
to you and get your heart, walk in victory and declare
your purposes and promises across this land of ours
in Santa Rosa and in Sonoma County. Amen.
We want to shift gears and ask our
host ministry to share a little bit about some good
news and some ways in which we can pray and declare
into the ministry here.
(Pastor Russ)
I think that it was November that last
time that we had you guys here to pray and I had asked
specifically for prayers regarding the church. One of
the things that I had asked prayer for was for the people
to be motivated to actually get up and out of the box
and want to love the people in and around here with
the love of Christ. Well, within a week and a half we
met a young couple that the Lord had put on their heart
to, " Feed my children (sheep)". It started
with 5, maybe 6 people in their kitchen to last night
they passed out about 105 bags of groceries to this
community, the Apple Valley community.
Last night was actually the first night
that we went into the Apple Valley community. The people
were so blessed just knowing that we were there. If
you are not familiar with the place, you should just
go down there and get a feel for it. It is not the most
comfortable place. It was tremendous for us to see the
look on their face when they received this free bag
of groceries with no strings attached and that we were
just simple letting them know that God loves them and
that He cares and hears their prayers.
So, that is our victory and we just
want to let you guys know that that is an answer to
prayer quite immediately in this church, so we would
like to just continue to ask for favor in that area.
We know that the provision is already
there, and we are calling it God math, because it just
doesn't add up, we literally delivered 3000 pounds of
food for 200 dollars! I mean, you do the math, it just
doesn't work. I am a financial planner outside of my
work in the church and it just doesn't make sense.
Praise God, He is doing stuff and
making a difference in a community. The police stopped
us last night and asked us what we were doing and when
we told them they said, "Ok, good. Glad your here.
Be careful, but glad your here", then they left.
I was sharing with the team last night as I was walking
from one court to the next, that the families were getting
excited saying, "No, the food is over there",
or "Hey, the food is coming over here".
We have been criticized for going in
there and not knowing the language, but we know that
there is hunger, we know hunger and I think that when
we go in there with a bag of groceries that we have
a chance to speak into their lives.
God has given us many opportunities.
A month ago, which we go in once a month and if you
want to come we will be out there tomorrow at one o'clock.
We have a barbeque and we bring clothes and food, but
a month ago there were three young men who are gang
members and they had an opportunity to meet with one
of the ministers out there and the 3 men gave their
lives to Christ. Praise God!
There was a young man a few weeks ago,
you may have read about it in the paper, who was attacked
and stabbed in Apple Valley. Well he was one of the
three that gave their life to Christ at the outreach.
Every week he comes back still praising God and proclaiming
his decision. Last night I kind of threw him into the
fire, because while we were ministering, we couldn't
find our translator anywhere, so I said to him, "Could
you please come over and translate for us? Because we
can't speak spanish and our translator is not around"
So, here it is a month ago the young man is asked, "Are
you going to heaven if you were to die tonight?"
And he said that he would be going to hell, because
of what he has done and end up giving his life to Christ.
So we know where he is going and a month later he is
proclaiming Jesus in the translation to this whole community.
He brings his friends with him and says, "Come
on, where going to pray." That is a victory. Praise
God.
That is some of what God is doing through
the small hands that we have here. Continue to pray
for the blessing that we are able to continue to pass
on, that is really what I would ask for. We prayed here
that we would see a unified church and Sam showed us
a video about Hawaii, I think it was in 1850 that it
was 95% christian, and that was the word that we had
here about Santa Rosa, that we would have a united body
of christian believers, not 95% that don't go to church,
but 95% that are active. I am not talking about the
church the building and walls, I'm talking about the
church that consists of the people.
(Harry Skandera)
What a blessing! What we are talking
about here is not just bags of food. We are talking
about relation of one heart and city that is completely
alienated from the rest of it. I believe that if we
can see it, we can have it.
I want to read something to you that
I think that the Lord wants us to carry in our heart
as we continue living in the spirit. We are in a season
of breaking cycles. What is a cycle? It is interval,
in which a reoccurring sequence of events happens. A
cycle can also be a periodically repeated sequence of
events or something that happens over and over at a
certain time. A cycle can be linked with time or event
and can be orchestrated supernaturally. So a repeating
a wound or injustice occurs from generation to generation.
What we are talking about in this
year is going beyond meeting needs or talking about
restoration. We are talking about breaking a cycle.
As we pray for our brothers here, we need to support
them as a part of us restoring this part of the city.
We want to pray that every old cycle
that would bring our family, us as individuals or our
city, that would bring decrease or destruction in the
future, is being broken. We want to declare that we
enter into God's restorative power. Restoration is the
power of returning any place to where God's best covenant
plan was deviated from.
I have done a lot of thinking about
this. The latter part of the nineteenth century, they
used to post the Sunday school attendance in the newspaper.
In the years like, 1895 to 1900, we were well over 95%
of the entire population, that doesn't mean that everyone
acted like a Christian, but you've have to say that
more people were interested in what God was saying and
doing than what we have now.
We have had a deviation from God's
best covenant plan for our community. We need to ask
for restoration. We need to pray and empower our brothers
and sisters that this would have God's restorative power.
So, what I would like to do is to have
everybody from Hope Chapel West to get in the center
here and everybody else get around them, so that we
can lay hands on them and pray for them. Let's speak
and declare God's restorative power, that that part
of the city would know the presence of the Lord. Remember,
it's not about bags of groceries, it is about restoration.
Restoration includes reclaiming lost land, lost health
and lost joy. There is a movie out right now called,
The End of the Spear
", Well, these guys are that for us right now,
so let's pray into that now.
(Prayer)
Lord, we thank you for Pastor Russ
and for Hope Chapel. We thank you for the name Hope
Chapel and the hope that they are bringing to Apple
Valley. There are tens of thousands of people that live
there in that area and we pray from Romans, that the
God of all hope will fill them with all joy a peace
of believing that they may abound in hope through the
power of the Holy Spirit. That the hope that they are
giving those people, the harvest is plentiful, but the
laborers are few.
Lord, we pray that you would sent
workers to join them and raise up people who can speak
Spanish to come along side them and give hope to these
people. Let the resources be abundant Lord, just as
you fed the 5,000 with just a few loaves and fishes.
As Russ said, with only 200 dollars, they were able
to pass out three thousand pounds of food, we just pray
that you would continue to do that Lord. Continue to
provide abundantly for them in this ministry that they
have.
Father, we pray for transformation
in Apple Valley, not just a small move, but Father,
it is a dry desert over there, but you have planted
three seeds. That we have been talking about tonight,
and I pray that they would turn into trees, a jungle
for your spirit God. It will become a place that is
truly transformed by your spirit from the inside out.
I pray Father that you will turn that place into a brighter
light than other areas of Santa Rosa. That you Lord
will just re-birth it in entirely, that it will be a
spiritual life in total transformation from the bottom
up.
Lord, we thank you for the way that
you answered their prayer to have a heart to reach out.
Father, we want to remain on the offensive. We speak
to the powers and principalities over Apple Valley neighborhood,
you menacing, violent, murderous, vengeful, despicable,
nasty, demonic hoards over that neighborhood and we
pray God rebuke in the name of Jesus. We bind you and
proclaim that you stand by the helpless as food is distributed,
as relationships are born and friendships are made and
God's love flows freely, that the enemy would stand
by helpless. We pray that the spirit of the Lord be
released on that place. That it would come and cover
that place and minister to those people. Psalm 67
We pray for protection over those three
young men, Father that your Angels would be about them,
protecting them and release them in the spirit. That
they would know you as their loving Father as never
before. Lord, raise up other small churches, pastors,
etc... that would go into the other rival neighborhoods
and allow God to do the same all around. That no one
would be left out. That if we can see as you see God,
that we will act as you act. Help us to be able to do
this.
Lord, I want to thank you for the
children who are going out with us and for their example,
that when they see a hungry person they don't see someone
with excuses, but they just see a person who is in need
and they then step out to fill that need. Father, may
we be more like these children and know that that is
the heart of God. Father, I thank you that when we knock
on these doors with food and the doors are open that
you are hanging all over their homes. That we see crosses
and pictures in their homes showing that they have some
knowledge of you and that we could be a hope and reminder
to them that you do hear their prayers and that you
have not forgotten them. I pray that this would spread
all over Sonoma County Lord, to Montgomery Village,
Rincon Valley, to all four corners of Sonoma County.
I pray that each church represented here would go just
as the raven did and feed those all around the city,
proclaiming the love and message of Jesus Christ. We
thank you so much Father for the provisions and it is
almost embarrassing how easy it was to feed that many
people, that we do not do it more often, Father help
us to be more aware and step out with all that you have
given us. Amen.
A church with no walls for Sonoma
County.
(Harry Skandera)
Lord, we lift up Hope Chapel. Lord,
we pray that you would give them the honor of declaring
the habitation of your presence in Apple Valley. We
pray Lord that this place would be filled with your
presence, that those who do not know you will sense
your presence and that they will declare in wonder of
your mighty acts. We pray God, that this humble place
will be the beginning Lord of the outbreak of your presence
in our city. Be with our brothers and sisters Lord.
We uphold them tonight and stand with them in Jesus
name, amen.
Ok, let's have a seat. I want to remind
you of a few things and also ask you a question. We
broke into small groups and were declaring what we saw
for the county of sonoma. We are coming to a time where
the Jews celebrate the victory of when they were going
to be destroyed by a decree that was put out, but Esther
spoke up. It wasn't the absence of the enemy, but what
they got was the opportunity of claiming what was theirs
already. They went out and won a mighty victory.
The enemy in this county is not going
to evaporate. We are in a season where you need to pay
attention. What you have witnessed tonight is a change
in the season in the spirit. Instead of asking the Lord,
you are declaring what is yours and with authority.
Once God shows you and you know from him, if you can
see it, you can have it. One thing about restoration
is, it is claiming lost land, health and lost joy. If
you had to think about a piece of land that belonged
to God and it does not now, but it should be reclaimed
in our city, what would you think of? The Luther Burbank
Center. Bingo.
(Pastor Russ)
I just wanted to let you know about
my son that I had you praying for the last time that
you came. He is on probably about a third of the medication
that he was on when we were here in November. Praise
God. They will probably be moving him from I.V. form
of medication to just a pill, so that is really great
news. Also, if you didn't catch it, Lorie is cancer
free.
(Sam Tillery)
Well, I agree with that about reclaiming
the Luther Burbank Center. A couple of quick announcements,
you can always check the web site which is www.unitedprayer.org.
I have been in correspondence the past few days with
the present chairmen of the intercessors of Israel and
he is going to be coming through from Israel in a couple
of weeks. We are in the stages right now of securing
some locations and we will give you the opportunity
to come and hear what he brings. He is a very strong
believer, has strong beliefs and a good perspective
on a lot of what is happening in Israel. If you are
not connected with Israel, you ought to be. The scriptures
say that we ought to be and what happens there will
impact the rest of the world. We will get the word out
as best as we can.
(Closing Prayer)
Special Thanks to Christelle Eddy
who transcribed this document.
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