John 15:1-7. If a fruit tree isn’t pruned, the “suckers” take away from the fruit. If we are to bear fruit, we need to cut some things off. Your life will change when you prune it. If we abide in Him, we’ll bear much fruit. The root of failure is our lack of daily time with God. Get into the Word to know God’s will. When you abide in Him, you can trust your desires. Prayerlessness is a sin. Pastor Dale tells about almost losing his wife and son and how it changed when they prayed. There are turning points of answered prayer or negligence. Someone’s life could depend on your obedience to pray. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was at a breaking point, but He knew the Father’s will and obeyed Him. We need to have the Word in us and be prayed up, so we can handle the pressure when it comes. During the Finney revival there was the prevalence of prevailing prayer, spontaneous prayer, and intercessory prayer groups. Be hungry after God

(Kevin Burrows shared a vision the Lord showed him, and there was an altar call for repentance of unforgiveness. Kathy Neff told about a picture she had about receiving our inheritance.) Sermon: John 15:1-7. The goal of our Christian walk is to abide in Jesus. Don’t get your eyes on the fruit but on abiding and seeking God. The first indication of fruit in a disciple’s life is answered prayer. If you’re abiding in Him, then ask what you desire. The only reason Jesus prayed, “If it be Your will,” is that He didn’t know the Father’s will. We can know what His will is by reading His Word. Abiding is being at home with God, thinking like He does, seeing things like He does. When we know His will, we can be confident that we’ll get what we pray (1 John 5:14). Don’t pray, “If it is Your will,” and if your prayers failed, don’t say it was God’s will not to answer it. Don’t blame God if your prayers failed, but agree with God’s Word (Mark 9:14), Abide, let the Word get in you, and stand in faith. You should have a daily time of prayer. Get into the presence of God. Consecrate to unite with the will of God. Ask for your daily bread. Forgive.

Offering message: Realize: Jesus is alive! Heb. 7:4. Pastor Dale prayed over Gene English, and Kevin Burrows had a word for him. Sermon: The disciples raised up a crippled man on their way to prayer (Acts 3). They had the discipline of praying at certain times in the day. Don’t let go of your prayer life. We need the discipline of prayer. When you keep your eyes on the goal, the discipline needed to reach it isn’t drudgery. Pastor Dale explains discipline from the perspective of desire, such as saving for a trip to Hawaii. Discipline is not drudgery if you keep the desire. Have the desire and discipline for prayer in your life. The devil hates prayer because he’s afraid of it. Discipline in doing natural things takes time and money. Acts 16 tells how prayer changed things. If we want to see things happen, we need to bathe and birth them in prayer. In Rev. 3:15 God says that He will spew out of His mouth those who are neither hot nor cold for Him. Prayer avails much (James 5:16-17). Christianity is a relationship of love and prayer with God and the Holy Spirit. Let your desire for prayer determine your discipline for prayer. As you go through your day, “see” the call to prayer. Be a people of desire. Desire brings you into prayer. Fasting is putting away carnal desires for spiritual ones, which results in spiritual fervency.

Offering message: Matt. 6:1-2. Never let tradition steal from you that God wants to reward you. He wants us full and overflowing so we can bless others for His kingdom. We need to believe God is a rewarder. Sermon message: Eph. 5:23-2. Do we love the church and are we ready to give ourselves for it? How committed are we? God gave us Jesus, who gave His life for us. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The individual has value. When Jesus left the ninety-nine to go after the one, they had to make it on their own. Follow the Holy Spirit. Pastor Dale told about rescuing children who lived in the sewers and how the former “sewer rats” ministered to the young new additions. This is a picture of what the church is to be: the ones who have been set free ministering to the lost and the newly saved ones. Comparing it to the role of a coach, the five-fold ministry (Eph. 4:11-13) is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body. The saints are to do the work. We need believers who are servants.

January will be a CWI month of fasting. Matt. 6:16 tells about fasting. During this time, turn your ear to the Lord and be open to take a step and spend time in the Word of God. Fasting connects with repentance.  Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive (Matt. 21:22). Do you have a prayer life? Are your prayers being answered? We are called to be disciples. Ministry starts with prayer and will take you to limitless places. God wants your prayers answered. James 4:2 says that prayers aren’t answered because we lust, covet, do all kinds of things to get what we want, when what we need to do is ask- pray! DON’T BE A TAME CHRISTIAN. We need prayer and revival and a revival of prayer. Cry out and put energy into prayer by lifting up your voice (Prov. 2:1-3).  Prayer begins with devotion to Jesus. The seven basics to how to pray are: 1. Pray to the Father. 2. Pray in the name of Jesus. 3. Pray through the Holy Spirit. 4. Pray in faith. (John 15:7) 5. Persevere. 6. Find someone who knows how to pray and get together with them. 7. Pray until you have His presence, assurance, release, and then praise Him.

Holy Communion was also one of the early church’s way of experiencing God. Another way the believers connected with God was through liturgy in which the church body would confess and/or repeat the Scriptures that were read. In Hebrews 10 it’s recorded that Jesus said when He came into the world that God didn’t desire sacrifice and offering, but He desired a body prepared for Him. The Last Supper was supernaturally revealed to Paul, since he wasn’t there at the time and no one else told him about it. Do you give thanks to God for the privilege of serving and being a sacrifice to Him? Rise up because your price was paid by Jesus Christ. Sin is costly; Jesus died that your sin would be washed away. Judge yourself before the consequences come. The CWI body received the sacrament of holy communion.

Dale’s sermon from Yerevan, Armenia. When the woman with the issue of blood touched Jesus, He didn’t say, “God healed you,” or “I healed you,” or “My power healed you,” even though all of these were true. He said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.” She touched Jesus with her faith. Pastor Dale told of how his son reacted when he was little when he told him that he was going to get him a bicycle for his birthday. His son was thanking him and showing joy, even though he didn’t have the bicycle. What he did have was his daddy’s word. Faith is when you can thank God before you see it. Faith is when you cannot be made to doubt. Faith is exercised with a voice of praise. If you can’t act on it, it’s not faith in your heart. Faith is when you cannot stop yourself doing something, such as praising God for your healing. Good news will make you do something. In Acts 14:7-9 Paul perceived a lame man, who heard Paul’s speaking the Good News, had faith to be healed, but he still wasn’t healed. Paul yelled at him to stand up, and he jumped up and started walking around. The man needed to act on his faith in order to release it. God has never failed us. God’s Word is that by His stripes I am healed! You have faith, but it has to touch Jesus. You can’t doubt. Release your faith and act on His Word. God’s Word says that all my needs are met; I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Have you heard the Good News, but you’re still sitting in your problem? The greatest way to release and act on faith is to praise the living God. (There was time for healing and salvation ministry.)

Offering Message: Gal. 6:7-10 and Eph. 6:8. Don’t be deceived. Reaping what you sow is a positive thing. Whatever good each one does, he will receive back from the Lord. God meets your needs on the basis of your sowing. Manifestations of the flesh steal from you, such as not acting on the Word, being deceived into thinking that there’s only one opportunity, and you missed it, and giving up too soon. Sermon notes: Prov. 4:20-23 and Mark 4:13-19. “Keeping” your heart is strategic,  because it’s where battles are won or lost. Your heart is a garden; the seed is the Word of God; the soil is your heart. Satan comes to steal the Word with persecution and affliction immediately after you’ve heard it. He doesn’t care about you; he just doesn’t want the Word to grow and produce fruit. God comforts those who suffer to make them able to comfort others who need the same comfort (2 Cor.1:3). Distractions, such as cares, the deceitfulness of riches (materialism), and the lust of other things (being driven and feeling pressure) suck the life (the Word) out of you. The Word will not work in a heart of care, materialism, and lust. Let your heart be good soil: hear the Word, receive it, and do it.