HOUSE OF PRAYER
We aren’t very good at running our own lives. We fail. We say the wrong thing. We burn out.
As you study the patterns of Jesus in the Gospel stories, you quickly find that Jesus had a different approach to living. His life was marked by dependence, surrender, and prayer. In 2021, God is calling our church back to that life. Prayer can no longer be seen as a luxury item in our self-made spirituality. Prayer is more than private activity separated from our communities. Prayer can radically reorient daily life.
So, we are making prayer central again. Join us this Sunday to reclaim our calling from Jesus to be a house of prayer.
WEEKLY GIVING STATISTICS
(Fiscal Year Began June 1, 2021)
Last Week Weekly Need YTD
$2,716 $3,558 ($1,726)
JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
IN PERSON OR ONLINE:
2149 84th Street SW Byron Center MI 49315
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14 AT 10:00AM
VISIT centergr.com/live OR centergr.online.church.
INFO, UPDATES & OPPORTUNITIES:
Join us for CHILD DEDICATION this Sunday!
Curious? Check out centergr.com/child-dedication for more information.
New to The Center Church?
We’d love for you to join us for NEWCOMERS’ LUNCH, Sunday November 21.
Interested? Please contact office@centergr.com to sign up.
Any questions? Please contact centergr.com/new for more details.
Looking forward to getting to know you!
‘WOMEN’S FITNESS CLASS AT THE CENTER’
Ladies, have you been thinking about trying a fitness class? Look no further-
Lori’s got you covered!
Join us Saturdays for
8:15am WERQ and/or 9:00am Weights, Cardio & Abs
at the church.
Questions? Contact office@centergr.com
Looking forward to see you!
‘CENTER GROUNDS- Coffee & Community’
Made you look? Join us for coffee and a chat at the church!
When: Thursday mornings 8:30am-10am
Where: The Center Church foyer
Please check for updates on The Center Church’s Online Calendar.
Ready to serve on a team?
Check out centergr.com/serve for more info.
MINISTRIES:
CENTER STUDENTS MINISTRY
Join us for YOUTH GROUP on Wednesday evenings, 7-8:30pm!
Contact jon-michael@centergr.com for more details.
Interested in serving in our Center Students ministry?
Jon-Michael would love to hear from you!
CENTER KIDS MINISTRY
CENTER MOMS is meeting on Tuesdays (bi-weekly) from 6:30-8:00pm at
the church focusing on BUILDING COMMUNITY WITH LOCAL MOMS.
-Kids Care Provided-
Next meet-ups: Tuesday 11.9. and 11.23.
Look for other important updates in your inbox, Dani loves to keep everyone up to date on what’s happening in our Center Kids Ministry :)
Questions for Dani? Ready to serve? She’d love to connect with you at dani@centergr.com .
SMALL GROUPS:
Looking to get connected?
Additional groups have been forming!
Please check out our online resources and visit centergr.com/discipleship for updates.
Looking for resources to ‘dig deeper’?
Interested in leading a Bible study but not sure where to start, what to study?
We can help! Just contact office@centergr.com and we can introduce and connect you to RightNow Media.
Check it out- it’s well worth your time.
BRIAN BLOOM II LEAD PASTOR AT FRONTLINE COMMUNITY CHURCH
‘Need for prayer’
Key Passages:
Isaiah 56 NLT
Blessings for All Nations
56 This is what the Lord says:
“Be just and fair to all.
Do what is right and good,
for I am coming soon to rescue you
and to display my righteousness among you.
2 Blessed are all those
who are careful to do this.
Blessed are those who honor my Sabbath days of rest
and keep themselves from doing wrong.
3 “Don’t let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say,
‘The Lord will never let me be part of his people.’
And don’t let the eunuchs say,
‘I’m a dried-up tree with no children and no future.’
4 For this is what the Lord says:
I will bless those eunuchs
who keep my Sabbath days holy
and who choose to do what pleases me
and commit their lives to me.
5 I will give them—within the walls of my house—
a memorial and a name
far greater than sons and daughters could give.
For the name I give them is an everlasting one.
It will never disappear!
6 “I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord,
who serve him and love his name,
who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest,
and who hold fast to my covenant.
7 I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem
and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer.
I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices,
because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.
8 For the Sovereign Lord,
who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says:
I will bring others, too,
besides my people Israel.”
Sinful Leaders Condemned
9 Come, wild animals of the field!
Come, wild animals of the forest!
Come and devour my people!
10 For the leaders of my people—
the Lord’s watchmen, his shepherds—
are blind and ignorant.
They are like silent watchdogs
that give no warning when danger comes.
They love to lie around, sleeping and dreaming.
11 Like greedy dogs, they are never satisfied.
They are ignorant shepherds,
all following their own path
and intent on personal gain.
12 “Come,” they say, “let’s get some wine and have a party.
Let’s all get drunk.
Then tomorrow we’ll do it again
and have an even bigger party!”
Jeremiah 2:13 NLT
13 “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!
Matthew 21:13 NLT
13 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”
John 7 NLT
Jesus and His Brothers
7 After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. 2 But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, 3 and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! 4 You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” 5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
6 Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. 8 You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 9 After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.
Jesus Teaches Openly at the Temple
10 But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view. 11 The Jewish leaders tried to find him at the festival and kept asking if anyone had seen him. 12 There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.” 13 But no one had the courage to speak favorably about him in public, for they were afraid of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.
14 Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. 15 The people were surprised when they heard him. “How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?” they asked.
16 So Jesus told them, “My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me. 17 Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. 18 Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies. 19 Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it! In fact, you are trying to kill me.”
20 The crowd replied, “You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?”
21 Jesus replied, “I did one miracle on the Sabbath, and you were amazed. 22 But you work on the Sabbath, too, when you obey Moses’ law of circumcision. (Actually, this tradition of circumcision began with the patriarchs, long before the law of Moses.) 23 For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath? 24 Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”
Is Jesus the Messiah?
25 Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem started to ask each other, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him. Could our leaders possibly believe that he is the Messiah? 27 But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from.”
28 While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he called out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I’m not here on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you don’t know him. 29 But I know him because I come from him, and he sent me to you.” 30 Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time[c] had not yet come.
31 Many among the crowds at the Temple believed in him. “After all,” they said, “would you expect the Messiah to do more miraculous signs than this man has done?”
32 When the Pharisees heard that the crowds were whispering such things, they and the leading priests sent Temple guards to arrest Jesus. 33 But Jesus told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. Then I will return to the one who sent me. 34 You will search for me but not find me. And you cannot go where I am going.”
35 The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement. “Where is he planning to go?” they asked. “Is he thinking of leaving the country and going to the Jews in other lands? Maybe he will even teach the Greeks! 36 What does he mean when he says, ‘You will search for me but not find me,’ and ‘You cannot go where I am going’?”
Jesus Promises Living Water
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
Division and Unbelief
40 When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others said, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born.” 43 So the crowd was divided about him. 44 Some even wanted him arrested, but no one laid a hand on him.
45 When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded.
47 “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. 48 “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? 49 This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!”
50 Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. 51 “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked.
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!”