Praise God for Gerad Hall, who preached the message “Who Is Listening?” May we remember to whom we are praying, who we are in relation to him, and how we ought to focus on God’s gory as we make our requests.

Pray for this coming Sunday’s service. Pastor Chris is back in Galatians this week.

Pray for healing for Bob and Diane in their continuing journey with cancer. 

Ask the Lord to bring new people to our Christianity Explored class. 

Pray for our Men’s and Women’s Bible Studies, our Youth Ministry, our Small Groups, and our Adult Sunday School. May we more and more become people of the Word. 

Pray for our Community Chat on January 18th. 

Pray for the Men’s Breakfast on January 24. 

Pray for our Naperville Coffee & Classics group, which resumes on February 21. 

Please pray for the following events:
Coffee & Cannoli (February 1), Discover NCC Class (February 8), Membership Class #1 (February 15), Membership Class #2 (February 22). May people be drawn into our fellowship and be given the tools they need to be joyful and productive members of the NCC family. 

Pray for our NCC Forums as we set the schedule for this semester. We need wisdom. May we settle upon events that bless our community and draw people—including us—closer to Christ. 

This morning we will be praying for Michael & Pearl Oh. As CEO of the Lausanne Movement, Michael oversees a large collection of leaders who have an impact on the work of global mission in every nation on earth. My prayer this morning will be based on Matthew 11:27–30. Please pray with me.

God, we pray to you this morning through Jesus your Son, to whom you have entrusted all things. We thank you for giving us access to you through him. We know that we cannot come to you apart from him. 

We thank you for revealing yourself to us through your prophets and through Jesus himself. His life testifies to your goodness and holiness. And his life reminds us of our failure both to give you glory and to reflect your glory in our lives, so we confess our sins to you.

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We come to Jesus to find rest because we are heavily laden with our sin, and we thank you for giving us rest from the burden of our guilt, shame, and fear due to our sin. 

We also come with many burdens on our hearts. Our bodies our broken and failing, and so we look to you for healing. For Steve Hvizdos, we pray for his health and he continues to face medical issues. 

We pray for your abundant mercy for the granddaughter of Jack and Bonnie Zaruba. We ask you to grant her healing from her rare and life-threatening blood condition. As the hospital gives her transfusions, protect her from the painful anaphylactic reactions she has experienced thus far. We pray that you would sustain her spirit and give her a heart to trust you to meet her needs. Comfort Jack and Bonnie and their son Rich. 

We pray as well for Michael and Pearl Oh. We thank you for their labors for your global mission, and we pray that you would help them to labor in dependence on Jesus, who is gentle and lowly in heart. We thank you for your sustaining grace over the last six months of travel and for working around the world following the Lausanne Congress. 

We pray for Rev. Ezra Jin in China and his colleagues, including a young mother of two small children, that you would grant them rest for their souls as they are imprisoned for their labors for you. We also pray for Michael and Pearl, as Michael already has 100 days of travel planned for this year. Give them both strength, wisdom, and your favor for their work. 

We ask for ourselves, that you would give us hearts eager to learn from you, to come to Jesus because he is gentle and lowly in heart. Even this morning, help Gerad to preach faithfully and help us to receive that word with faith and obedience. 

We thank you for the assurance that the yoke of Jesus is easy, and his burden is light. Help us to live in confidence that all you have revealed in your word is true and offers us the direction that we need, the direction that is good for us. May you be glorified in us through Jesus, we pray, amen.