Belong

November 25December 1

Welcome Our God is a personal God. And one of the primary ways we commune/communicate with him is through the gift of prayer. Resultantly, praying to God serves as an essential aspect of our spiritual growth and intimacy with Christ. Opening Prayer Make copies of the disciples model prayer from Matthew 6:9-13. Pass them out to each person as they arrive. Then, as a group, recite this together before the opening meal. This will also be of benefit to the adult time questions below.

Become
Family Time The passage today indicates that God likes for us to pray TOGETHER (note us/we in vv. 3, 4). Read the disciples prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. With copies they received when they arrived, have the HG break into groups of 3-4 people. Lead the groups to take about 2 minutes for each movement throughout the prayer. So, first, encourage them to spend about two minutes praising God for who he is. Follow this up by leading them to acknowledge that God is our ultimate provider; thank him for his faithful provision. Then call the groups to ask God to forgive our transgressions against him and his will for our lives. Have the ask the Lord if there is someone they need to forgive as well. Lastly, have each groups leader pray that God would guard them from temptations of the enemy and keep them on a path that honors Jesus as we await his return. Kids Time In todays passage, Jesus gives an example of the man who persisted in his requests for bread to a neighbor. He also shares how a father typically responds to a childs request for their needs. Pair the kids up with adults to act one of the two stories out. Keep it light-hearted and fun. Then have the kids share how these relate to prayer? Bonus question: does this mean that if we ask for something repeatedly God will eventually have to give it to us? (since the answer is NO...the request has to be honorable and according to what God knows is best for you). Psalm 23 tells us that we will not be in want (lacking what we need). We are called to trust God to provide for us based upon what he know we actually need and/or will be good for us. Exercise: Blindfold one child, (have everyone be very quiet so that the child can hear only your voice) without touching the child guide them from one area of the room to another, when they arrive where you what them to go, (with the blind fold still on) give them a treat (candy, money, brownie). Explain that God enjoys providing us with good things. Yet, it is our responsibility to trust him to give us these what he knows is best for us (as well as when!) Adult Time Before our meal we recited the disciples prayer as a group? What did you like about this? What did you not like about this? Do you think Jesus intended for prayer to only consist of the items he mentioned to the disciples? How is your prayer life similar/different from this Matthew 6:9-13? The New Testament has many excellent examples of prayermost notably from Pauls epistles. Divide the group up. Have each look up one of the following passages and identify as many requests as they can find: Rom 15:5-6, 13; Eph 1:15-20a; Phil 1:9-11; 2 Thess 1:11-12. After about 5-7 minutes bring the group back together and have them discuss their findings with the rest. Prayer Time Spend some time praying for Pantego Bible Churchthe elders, staff and congregation as a whole; that God would give us wisdom and power from the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13) to honor and glorify him in the year ahead.

Beyond
Community Calendar
Christmas Invitations Available. Invite a neighbor to join you at PBC this Christmas season. Special invite cards are available on the tables at the back of the Worship Center.

Church Calendar
Our annual Congregational Meeting will be from 5:00-6:30 pm. We will present our 2013 budget, affirm Elders and discuss our ministries. A quorum of all voting members is required. Non-members are also welcome. Reserve childcare for birth-6th grade at childcare@pantego.org or ext 211 by November 28. Please present questions at the forum on November 28 at 7:00 pm in MB102. Contact: Maria Delap ext 124, mdelap@pantego.org

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