By Matt Huey

This week we had between 12 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, he exhorted us to pray that God would increase our heart and desire to consistently share the gospel, and that He would open our eyes to specific opportunities to do so. We then continued in the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verses 24-29 (below):

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Reflections on this passage included 1) that Paul was called to steward the gospel to the Gentiles, and that God has called us to the same mission in our spheres of influence (Matthew 28: 16-20), and 2) that Paul constantly worked through the energy God gave him to forcefully advance for the kingdom of Jesus Christ. In light of this, Cliff encouraged us to reflect at the end of each day on how we responded to the situations that were presented to us.

Prayers this week:

• Pray for the Alki baptism next Tuesday – that many people would choose to be baptized, that people in our church would invite unbelievers to the event, and that many (even those passing by) would hear gospel, be cut to the heart by the truth (Acts 2:37), and respond to God.

• Pray for the upcoming “Clean and Green” event on September 13th, in which Mars Hill will be partnering with the city of Seattle to clean up the “gateway to West Seattle,” the 5 blocks of green space on the West Seattle Bridge between the “Walking on Logs” sculptures and 35th Avenue SW. Pray that Seattle would recognize the love of Jesus Christ through this event.

• Pray for a spirit of unity in the Church and that people would respond to the Mission of our church out of an identity in Jesus. Pray that the believers at Mars Hill would take tangible steps to continue to mature in faith and bear fruit (2 Peter 1: 5-9).

• 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 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 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 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).