By Matt Huey

This week we had between 16 men gather together to seek the Lord Jesus. Pastor Cliff led us this week, and after our weekly time of sharing about how God had orchestrated specific conversations with unbelievers, we dove into the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verses 15-23

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Reflections on this passage included 1) that Jesus Christ has not only created all things, but also upholds all things, and that without him everything would fall apart, 2) that we have a responsibility to continue in faith, thus proving to be his disciples, and 3) that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the one true hope we have, and that it should be our joy and mission to see that all people receive an opportunity to hear it clearly presented and respond accordingly.

We then turned back the clock to a few years ago when this prayer group was a handful of men that gathered to pray by walking throughout the neighborhoods surrounding the church. Likewise, we split up into groups of 3-4, and each group walked in a different direction praying for our church , those living in the homes in the neighborhood, and the needs of those in greater West Seattle. As we walked it was a strong reminder to us that there are vast numbers of those in our communities that Jesus has created but have yet to come into relationship with Him.

Prayers this week:

• Pray for the specific neighborhood in which God has sovereignly placed you (Acts 17:26,27), and for the salvation of the specific individuals that you have met in those places. Pray that God would break all forms of false worship and idolatry, and that people would place their worship focus on Jesus Christ.
• Pray for the “Dinner and a Movie” event next Tuesday - that we would love the community well, that the Body would be faithful and invite unbelievers and that they would see the love of Christ.
• Pray that all of West Seattle would know that Mars Hill exists in this part of the city. Pray that God will bring many unbelievers to our church on Sundays, into our community groups during the week, and to our summer gathering events as they are planned. Pray that each person would hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray against Satan, his tricks, and divisive attempts to hamper the mission of Mars Hill and lead people astray from the truth.
• Pray for the pastors that will be preaching the current sermon series on the book of Jonah. Pray that God will use them to boldly make known the mystery of the gospel (Eph 6:18-20).
• Pray that God will bring people before each Sunday service to pray and intercede for those that will be coming to church and hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that he will grant the wisdom of Heaven to the prayer team that prays for people during communion, and that he will bring more men to the prayer gathering on Wednesday mornings.
• Pray for the launch of the 5pm service - that God would grant wisdom to the launch team on how to prepare, and will continue to rise up volunteers to help with the logistics. Pray that God will bring many people to the service that could otherwise not attend on Sunday mornings.
• Pray that God would instill a heart of mission in everyone attending Mars Hill. Pray for our community group leaders to have strength and perseverance as they continue to shepherd and encourage their groups to be on mission by reaching out to unbelievers in their lives, and by embracing parts of their communities through constant prayer and service.
• Pray that the hearts of the believers at Mars Hill would be focused on Jesus such that it becomes a joy to faithfully and sacrificially give of their time, talents, and treasure to the mission of Jesus Christ at Mars Hill (2 Corinthians 9:7).