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Freedom
Sermon given on October 3, 2010 by The Rev. Jon Roberts
Good Shepherd Episcopal, Venice, Florida
Title
THE LIGHT
BLACK & WHITE XP Ministries
Bringing together the Beauty, Wonder & Awe Of God's Creation through Storytelling, Prayers & Art
Jesus Christ revealed yesterday, today and tomorrow
Since 2012
Prayer
Intercessions
Human beings are designed to worship God. Prayer is the technique to which we call upon God in four ways. They are Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. A balanced, harmonious life is best achieved when applying the discipline of prayer. Sometimes we do not know how to pray, so let the acronym, "ACTS" remind you not only of these four techniques to become more disciplined, but let it also remind you that prayer is to be a daily, active devotion for your life. It is very important to invite a community of others, who have faith in God, to enrich the relationship. Your purpose or "calling" is to worship God, individually and corporately because God is actively working in you and the people around you.
To have others "intercess" on your behalf, praying for you, breaks down one of the greatest barriers built without our awareness. That is the barrier of spiritual pride. We plea to others about things that are going wrong, for example, or try to keep things to ourselves, but do not trust them to take that burden and pray on our behalf. That does not help the situation, when it is a sole exchange just between you and the Almighty. It can in fact be a form of selfishness. Jesus, the Son of God was sent to "intercess" on our behalf and at the moment of His crucifixion, He even pleaded to the Father, "Forgive them for they know not what they do." His sacrifice was to carry the burdens of others and He was always in prayer with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the sake of others. By this example, Jesus' disciples were called to go forth and make disciples and it all began with prayer. Please understand that we can never have enough prayer in our life as it should be an ongoing conversation between you and our Lord Jesus, and we are instructed to invite others into our lives, to help strengthen us and guide us by corporate prayer. Trust is critical and we will do our part to hear each request and to prayerfully call upon the Lord to help you.
At BWXP, we have made our mission, not only to teach, but also to pray. We offer this short form to start the process. There is no expectation other than to be true to the course of "opening your heart" and let Jesus enter in. We are aware there are people in the world today who may not feel as though they are heard. They may not feel "aligned" with God, or perhaps do not have a worshiping community, a church to which they belong. We are not a replacement for the church. The Church is the ultimate place for all believers to worship God and are more than willing to connect you to that path and explore its importance. We want to be a sounding board, and when asked, to provide prayerful guidance from a wide multitude of prayers that have been offered to Jesus over the last 2000 years. We have resources to share with you and words of scripture that will be of great assistance.
All correspondences will ultimately be through email to blackwhitexp@gmail.com
If we feel that you are encouraged by the dialogue and if you wish to pursue a more personal route of exchange, we may utilize social media, phone or zoom to assist. To succeed in our mission, we always appreciate donations to keep this website and all of our social media platforms engaging and accessible.
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