TRUE NORTH CHURCH DIGGING DEEP 2018 WEEK OF PRAYER

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1 TRUE NORTH CHURCH DIGGING DEEP 2018 WEEK OF PRAYER DIG DITCHES ALL OVER THIS VALLEY. HERE S WHAT WILL HAPPEN YOU WON T HEAR THE WIND, YOU WON T SEE THE RAIN, BUT THIS VALLEY IS GOING TO FILL UP WITH WATER AND YOUR ARMY AND YOUR ANIMALS WILL DRINK THEIR FILL. 2 KINGS 3:16-19

2 BOLD PRAYERS 2018 Evangelism We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don t know Christ. We will do what nobody is doing to reach people who nobody is reaching! We are not just a church in a city we are a church for a city! 2000 Visitors 700 Salvations 30% Increase in Yearly Attendance Assimilation Assimilation is the LEGO Principle: Connect first to God, others & our destiny! And like LEGOs, when the connections happen, the possibilities are limitless. 200 Water Baptisms 240 Grow Track 75 New members Spiritual Formation We grow in circles not in rows! Life Groups are our home plate! 150 Life Groups 100% of Sunday Auditorium Attendance in Life Groups 100 Holy Spirit Baptisms Ministry Involvement We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers. The church does not exist for us. We are the church and we exist for the world.

3 200+ Prayer Team 150 New Serve Team Members 150 Children at Kid s Camp 100 Students at YTH Camp 100 People involved in Missions Trips Stewardship We will lead the way with irrational generosity. We truly believe it is more blessed to give than to receive. 15% Growth in Giving Leadership Everything rises and falls on leadership. Leadership defines reality! 12 School of Ministry Students 5 Worship Leaders Raised Up 30 New Life Group Leaders Develop Leadership Pipeline Strategy Strategic We are faith-filled, big thinking, bet-the-farm risk takers. We ll never insult God with small thinking and safe living. Continue to identify Leaders & Villages for the 20/30 Vision Change the way the world looks at Christians by changing the way Christians look at the World. Lead the way in impacting church culture in Alaska

4 WEEK OF PRAYER JANUARY 2 5, 2018 TUESDAY: PERSONAL RENEWAL Genesis 26:17-22 (Digging the Wells) 17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them. 19 Isaac s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, The water is ours! So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land. WEDNESDAY: BOLD PRAYERS 2 Kings 3:16-19 (MSG) He then said, God s word: Dig ditches all over this valley. Here s what will happen you won t hear the wind, you won t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do; he will also hand over Moab to you. You will ravage the country: Knock out its fortifications, level the key villages, clear-cut the orchards, clog the springs, and litter the cultivated fields with stones. FAITH FOR BIG THINGS * ONLY GOD CAN SEND THE WATER, BUT SOMETIMES HE WANTS YOU TO DIG A DITCH! * REAL FAITH BELIEVES BIG BUT IS WILLING TO START SMALL

5 THURSDAY: INTERCESSION FOR REVIVAL IN THE HARDEST AREAS OF OUR FRONT PORCH, BACKYARD & BEYOND Ezekiel 37:12-14 (MSG) Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, God, the Master, says: I ll dig up your graves and bring you out alive O my people! Then I ll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you ll realize that I am God. I ll breathe my life into you and you ll live. Then I ll lead you straight back to your land and you ll realize that I am God. I ve said it and I ll do it. God s Decree. FRIDAY: SOULS & HARVEST Mark 2:4-5 (NIV) 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven. Acts 1:8 (NIV) 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Building Bridges to Jesus Building Bridges to Communities (Villages) Holy Spirit Empowerment

6 A QUICK STUDY IN SPIRITUAL FASTING By Gary Rohrmayer "Fasting is not about changing God. It is not a mystical exercise to gain God's approval. Fasting is not about changing my world, but about letting God realign my heart toward his purposes." Alex Gee INTRODUCTION: When is the last time you entered into an extended spiritual fast? Fasting is ultimately an expression of humility and dependence on God. Fasting is more about replacing than it is about abstaining. It is about replacing the daily intakes of food, entertainment, and human contact with focused times of prayer, feeding on large amounts of the Word of God and spiritual listening. One of the great benefits of spiritual fasting is a heightened awareness of God's presence and power in our lives. It is not that God has moved but that we have. Fasting has a great way of moving us towards a deeper spiritual dependency away from willful selfdependency. Take a few minutes this week to read through the Scriptures, insights and reflective questions to sharpen the spiritual discipline of fasting in your life.

7 SCRIPTURE: "Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD." Joel 1:14 "So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:23 They repay me evil for good and leave my soul forlorn. Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother." Psalm 35:12-14 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Mathew 6:16-18 "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'" Acts 13:2

8 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. Acts 14:23 INSIGHTS: Like all the Spiritual Disciplines, fasting hoists the sails of the soul in hopes of experiencing the gracious wind of God s Spirit. But fasting also adds a unique dimension to your spiritual life and helps you grow in Christlikeness in ways that are unavailable through any other means. If this were not so, there would have been no need for Jesus to model and teach fasting. ~ Donald Whitney QUESTIONS: When is the last time you called your family to a time of spiritual fasting? What in your life keeps you from practicing spiritual fasting? What else could you fast from beside food? How does fasting humble a person? Do you have a fasting testimony?

9 TYPES OF FASTS: The Normal Fast: In this type of fast the person abstained from food but not water. The duration can be that which the individual or group feels led to set. Jesus fasted for 40 days (Matthew 4:2). However, the more common practice of a normal fast appears to be from one to three days. The Partial Fast: In this type of fast, the emphasis is placed on restriction of diet, rather than abstaining completely from eating. Examples are: Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego eating only vegetables and drinking only water (Daniel 1:15) and later on when Daniel alone practiced a partial fast for three weeks (Daniel 10:3). The Absolute Fast: An absolute fast is one in which the person refrains from both food and water. This type of fast is not to exceed three days. Exceptions to this three day limit (1 Kings 19:8; Deuteronomy 9:9-18 and Exodus 34:28) were based upon direct, divine guidance and care. Examples of the absolute fast are: Moses (Deuteronomy 9:9-18 and Exodus 34:28); Elijah (1 Kings 19:8); Ezra (Ezra 10:6); Esther and her household (Esther 4:16); and Paul (Acts 9:9). RESOURCES: The Power of Prayer and Fasting: 10 Secrets of Spiritual Strength by Ronnie W. Floyd A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer by John Piper The Transforming Power of Fasting: Personal Accounts of Spiritual Renewal by Bill Bright Fasting for a Spiritual Breakthrough: A Guide To Nine Biblical Fasts by Elmer Towns

10 EIGHT BASIC GUIDELINES FOR FASTING By Gary Rohrmayer Eight insights that will guide you through a spiritual fast. 1. Fast SENSIBLY. Don t feel that you must fast many days to be effective. Many biblical fasts were until evening (Judges 20:16; II Samuel 3:35; Acts 10:30). 2. Fast SENSITIVELY. When Israel fasted before a crucial battle, the Bible says they inquired of the Lord. (Judges 20:23; I Samuel 23) When we fast we should take special time to hear God speak. (13:1-2) 3. Fast SYSTEMATICALLY. When Jesus taught His disciples about fasting, He began with the words when you fast (Matthew 6:16). He was suggesting that believers should have regular times of fasting, whether one day a week or a portion of a day each week. 4. Fast SACRIFICIALLY. If we normally do not eat breakfast it is not really a sacrifice to fast breakfast. A true fast must be a sacrifice. David said, "My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt" (Psalm 109:24). True fasting must have an humbling effect on us (Ps 35:13).

11 5. Fast SPECIFICALLY. God said to Israel, Is not this the fast that I have chosen? (Isaiah 58:6). We must ask God to direct us in the focus of our fasting. 6. Fast SUPERNATURALLY. The very nature of fasting requires dependence on God s supernatural power to see us through. When the early church fasted before sending out workers, the Bible says, The Holy Spirit came (Acts 13:2,3). We need God s Spirit as we fast. 7. Fast SOBERLY. Jesus cautioned His disciples not to make a spectacle out of fasting like the religious leaders did. This type of fasting only gets the attention of men and not of God. (Matthew 6:16-17) 8. Fast SECRETLY. Jesus cautioned His disciples never to boast about our times of fasting but rather to keep our times of fasting as a personal commitment (Matthew 6:18).

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