 Good morning and welcome to morning prayer. I want to welcome those of you joining us online as well as here in the room. I just invite you to stand to your feet as we enter into a time of worship. We're gonna open by praying out of Psalm 92. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name almost high. To declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night. On an instrument of 10 strings on the lute and on the harp with harmonious sound. For you, Lord, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. Lord, we just come before you today and we say that it is good to give you thanks. It is good to start our day with praise and thanksgiving, Lord, for you are worthy. Lord, I ask that you would call our minds to just remember times where we can give thanks even if we don't feel like we have a reason to right now. God, we just come before you and whatever our circumstances are, we just choose to start our morning, to start our day by giving you thanks because you are good. You are holy, Lord, that is truth. So Lord, we just give you thanks. But you are good, you are merciful, you are righteous, you are sovereign, you are loving, you are kind, you are caring towards this Lord. Give you thanks in Jesus' name. We have our love worthy of our trust, worthy of our surrender, of our song worthy of our dance, worthy of our praise. No matter where we are, no matter if we have a relationship with a God who is worthy of our love. Pick from the song we were just singing that really stuck out to me. Destroy the root of unbelief. God, we come before you today and we acknowledge that no matter how long we've been following you, that there are still things that are sinful in our hearts or there are still human desires, fleshly desires in us, things that are preventing us, whether it be hurts, pains, lies, whatever it is that prevent us from seeing you rightly. That prevent us from believing that you are who you say you are. So God, we just pray out of John 15 today, Lord, that you would come and you would prune us. Father, you are the vine dresser. We don't wanna abide in any other vine but the vine of Jesus. So God, I ask that you would prune us, prune those areas of our hearts, Lord, that prevent us from believing that you are who you say you are, that you are holy, that you are a good father, that you are our savior, that you are sovereign, whatever it is, whatever we struggle to believe, Lord, would you come and would you prune and would you root us deeper into the true vine, the vine of your son, Jesus. God, we wanna bear fruit. We wanna bear fruit for you. So God, I ask that in Jesus' name that you would prune us, that you would send our roots deeper into the vine of Christ. Allow us to live a life in that vine. In Jesus' name, Lord, would you prune us and send our roots deeper into the vine of Christ. To the truth of who you are, help us, Lord. Abide in us as we abide in you. Abide in our hearts, Lord. Let it go deep and closer to you, Lord. Help us, Lord. Help us to abide in you. Lord, we acknowledge that we can't do it on our own and we just ask for your help, for your grace to abide. Lord, we willingly accept your pruning. Help us, God. We're gonna transition to a time of intercession. We're gonna be praying out of Ephesians 4, Paul writing to the church in Ephesus. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord will teach you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. With all loneliness, gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. God, we come before you and we ask, Lord, that as believers that you would help us, Lord, to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called. We were called to be men and women of Christ. Those who stand for righteousness, those who do justly, who live holy, who come before you humbly, serving one another. Lord, with loneliness, gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, God, we ask for your help to do these things. God would fathers walk worthy of the calling to which they were called to serve their wives and to love their kids, to lay down their lives and desires for their families. God would kids walk worthy of the calling with which they were called to honor their parents, to honor you. Would mothers walk worthy of the calling to which they were called? Lovers and caretakers, mighty, powerful women of God, just ask that in Jesus' name that you would help us to walk worthy of the calling with which we were called. We acknowledge that we can't do it on our own, but would you help us in Jesus' name? We'll continue on in this passage and pray for the church here in Kalamazoo. In verse four, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all in indigest. Jesus, we come before you today and we ask, Lord, for the church in Kalamazoo, that there would be unity between the churches in Kalamazoo and the big C church of Kalamazoo, Lord. The denominational difference is not getting the way of the unity of the spirit, Lord. Would we all come under the authority of Christ and bear with one another in love, Lord? Would we recognize that there is one body in many parts, Lord? Would we honor one another? Would we support one another? Would we strengthen one another, not look to tear down or to judge or to criticize, but would we support and strengthen one another? Lord, do we lock arms, we pursue you, Jesus? Or do we call ourselves blessed because of our differences, Lord, but blessed because we are all under the authority of Jesus, God, I ask for a humble spirit to be over the church in Kalamazoo, Lord, that differences, whatever it would be, would not hinder the love of Christ. God, would your church be unified? Would your bride be unified, Lord? God, I just pray for these churches here in Kalamazoo. God, the any bitterness that may be there towards other churches, other denominations, Lord, would you just come in with your spirit and just uproot it, uproot that root of bitterness, God? Replace it with one of honor. Lord, would churches bless other churches? Would pastors bless other pastors? Pastors from different denominations, pastors from different churches, Lord? Would we not try and make our brother look like us, Lord, but would we be more focused on looking like Jesus and making others look like us? God, we ask for your help, Holy Spirit, this has to be done by you. Lord, we acknowledge that we are weak, but if we go about this as man, it simply won't be accomplished, but it's only by your Holy Spirit through your grace that this can be accomplished. Lord, I ask that you would bring unity between the churches. In Jesus' name, God, would you bring unity between the churches in Kalamazoo? Unity in the church, it's of our differences, Lord. We have you in common. When we submit to you, Jesus, it's our one Lord, our one God. If your unity, Lord, would you lock arms with our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the church in Kalamazoo? Would you give us a grace, Lord, to serve each other humbly, to strengthen one another, not to tear one another down, not to criticize, not to strengthen the church in Kalamazoo, Lord? As God, we ask that there would be unity among the churches in Kalamazoo. We're going to go back into a time of worship, so just to invite you to pass your heart ready to worship the king of kings. In Jesus' rest right now in His presence, just take a deep breath in in His presence. King is the Lord of Lords, the one who has come to meet with us. Friend Jesus, our king Jesus, your attention, your worthy of our affection. Everything else just fade away. Everything else just fade away. Everything else but you right now in this moment. Let's just rest here in this moment. Meditating and thinking about the beauty, 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, drones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through Him and forth. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body in the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that everything and 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. This is who you are. King Jesus, Lamb of God, are you? Holy are you. We join with the song in heaven. We say, let it be on earth as it is in heaven. So we join on earth with heaven right now. And we sing, you are worthy, you are holy. Mighty are you, beautiful are you. Cast our crowns before you. Everything that we are, everything that we have, we lay at your feet because our song and our praise belongs to you. So right now in this moment, just begin to let your song arise. As it's inside of you right now, let it begin to bubble up and let it come out of you. Whatever words are coming up, whatever song is coming up, whatever phrase or thoughts or prayer, let it begin to arise like a fragrance before the Lord right now. A pleasing fragrance that arises before Him. Just sing, He's beautiful. Just sing, thank you. Just sing, you are worthy. Offer your song and your praise to the King of kings, the Lord of lords. The only one who is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. The only one who is the firstborn from the dead. The only one who has dominion over all creation. Lift your song up right now. Join in with heaven right now. The song of heaven right now. Open our Bibles to Ephesians 3. Through this vein of the worthiness, the glory, the power, the might of Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I want us to pray for ourselves, pray for our church in this city that we would understand the glory and the riches and be strengthened with His power, that we would feel His delight and love over us. That He is not some distant king, but He is close and He is near. That the worthy lamb loves us and sees us. Starting in verse 14 of chapter three. It says, for this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. That according to the riches of His glory, He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His spirit in your inner being. So that Christ, the worthy lamb, the King of kings may dwell in your hearts through faith. That you would be rooted and grounded in love. You would have the strength to comprehend with all the saints, with the church, what is the full dimension, His breath and length and height and depth of His love. To know the love of Christ as surpasses knowledge. That you may be filled with all the fullness of God. So Father in heaven, we come before you. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we ask that our hearts would be opened. That the church in this city's hearts would be open. That we would experience your strength and your power by your Holy Spirit. That Christ would dwell in our hearts through faith. That we would hear and obey and listen to the words of God, the word Christ Jesus. That it would dwell in our hearts, that we would abide with Him. That we would abide in the vine. That we would believe that He is near, that He is close, that He is our King and Savior. That we just sang of His worthiness and His holiness. We just sang of His great power, of His rulership and dominion. But do we believe that He is King of our heart? Do we believe that He dwells in our heart? Do we believe that He prays for us? That He strengthens us through the power of the Holy Spirit? And what would the church be if the church believed this? If the church knew that He is the head of the church and we're His body, that He is not separate, that we don't come and visit Him every Sunday when He dwells within us? What would that do in the church of our city? So God, we fix our eyes right now on you as you look to and fro through the city of Kalamazoo and you see every church, every church member, every church leader, every senior pastor, every worship leader, every kid's pastor, every student's pastor, you see them, you see their hearts, you care for them. So God, we ask that right now through the power of the Holy Spirit that you would open their hearts and let Christ dwell in their hearts in faith in Jesus' name, be strengthened with power. Let them know the love, verse 17 says, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and you would be rooted and grounded in love. God, we ask that the church in our city would be rooted deep like a tree planted by streams of living water, that they would not have shallow roots that would be easily uprooted when wind and waves come, when flooding comes. God, we ask that the word of God would dwell richly within them, that it would cause their roots to go deep, that it would cause their roots to be strengthened and grounded in the truth of God's love for the church and God's love for the city and God's love for his people. God, that their hearts would not be tossed to and fro, that the wind and the waves would not push them away, that culture would not come and push them away, that they would not fear man, that they would fear the one who could cast their souls into hell. God, that they would be in love. So right now we ask in the name of Jesus, root and ground their hearts in love. In your truth, Holy Spirit, we thank you that you care for the church, that you dwell among us and that by your spirit we can experience the fullness of God. By your revelation, we can experience the fullness of God. So we ask that you would rest upon us in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Thank you for those who are here in person for joining us here at the city center for those of us who joined us online for this last hour. We're gonna be continuing to pray this whole week, Monday through Friday, morning, noon, and night. You can join us here in person or you can join us online at Monday or during the eight a.m. times. Thank you for joining us. God bless.