brianpetersen

This shot was taken from the Alabama Hills overlooking the Owens Valley and the White Mountains.

This was my first nature shooting expedition with my new Canon 50D using a Sigma fisheye 17mm film lens.

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com
Download the full size image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/3166104976

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com

After each scene during a 2003 Good Friday service a dancer would appear to extinguish one of the remaining candles on stage. Eventually all of the lights were dimmed and the audience left the church in a quiet and dark mood to replicate the feeling of the the first Good Friday when Jesus died for the sins of the world. Three days later Jesus physically rose from the dead in what we now celebrate as Easter.

All mankind has sinned against God and Jesus paid the sin debt for everyone on the cross. It is promised in God’s word that all who trust in Jesus through faith by declaring him as Lord of their life will live forever. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3.16

From a Good Friday service at Bethany Church in Long Beach, CA. This image was taken in the dark from the sound booth about 80 feet away on an old school digital camera that stored its media on floppy discs.

See all the images from this Good Friday and Easter Service
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/358771736
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/447911870
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/2281098872
flickr.com/photos/bpbp/2280308549

Photography by Brian Petersen at www.brianapetersen.com

Stain glass background image taken during a Friday morning worship chapel at Bethany School in Long Beach.

See this image used as a text background in a worship setting here
www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/408047945/

I came across this text while preparing for a prayer time with some friends. Not only is the message incredible, but I like the resulting image as the light shines from above on the textured paper.

The Crying Need of the Hour

So the truth is reaffirmed: God has given us prayer because Jesus has given us a mission. We are on this earth to press back the forces of darkness, and we are given access to headquarters by prayer to advance this cause. When we try to turn it into a civilian intercom to increase our conveniences, it stops working, and our faith begins to falter. We have so domesticated prayer that for many of us it is no longer what it was designed to be-a wartime walkie-talkie for the accomplishment of Christ’s mission.

We simply must seek for ourselves and for our people a wartime mentality. Otherwise the biblical teaching about the urgency of prayer and the vigilance of prayer and the watching in prayer and the perseverance of prayer and the danger of abandoning prayer will make no sense and find no resonance in our hearts. Until we feel the desperation of a bombing raid or the thrill of a new strategic offensive for the gospel, we will not pray in the spirit of Jesus.

The crying need of the hour is to put the churches on a wartime footing. Mission leaders are crying out, "Where is the church’s concept of militancy, of a mighty army willing to suffer, moving ahead with exultant determination to take the world by storm? Where is the risk-taking, the launching out on God alone?" The answer is that it has been swallowed up in a peacetime mentality.

We are a "third soil century." In the parable of the soils, Jesus says that the seed is the Word. He sows his urgent Word of kingdom power. But instead of taking it up as our sword (or bearing fruit), we "are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19).

This is why Paul says that all of life is war—-every moment. Before we can even engage in the mission of the church, we have to fight against the "the deceitfulness of riches" and "desires for other things." We must fight to cherish the kingdom above all "other things"-that is our first and most constant battle. That is the fight of faith. Then, when we have some experience in that basic battle, we join the fight to commend the kingdom to all the nations.

Let The Nations Be Glad! by John Piper
The Supremacy of God In Missions through Prayer: page 51
www.desiringgod.org/

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Here is the text from the Prayer Time

Team Missions Prayer

:: Confession of Sin and Burdens / Repentance

Personal Prayer and Silence
Ask the Lord to search your heart for any areas of sin
Confess any sin (1 John 1.9, James 5:16)
Bring your burdens to the Lord in prayer (1 Pet 5:7)
Ask the Lord to give you an open heart
Ask for the Spirit to lead you and the group in prayer for the glory of God (John 14)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1.9 NIV

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7.14 NIV

:: Worship by Praising God

Group Worship with Singing and Prayer
God alone is worthy of our praise!
Begin in prayer with thanksgiving
Rejoice in the Lord!
Praise God for all the blessings He has provided for us
Thank God for our salvation and the new life we have through the blood of Jesus Christ

In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Rev. 5.12 NIV

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Psalm 100.1-3 NIV

Prayer for the Team and Ministry

Group Prayer for the Ministry
Bring team needs before the Lord (Phil 4.6-7)
Pray for team unity in serving together with different gifts and roles, yet one body (1 Cor 1:10)
Pray that our team would be prepared for the ministry to the best of our abilities but continually rely on Christ’s strength while we are there.
Pray for divine appointments; pray that the Holy Spirit would direct us in ever move for the sake of the salvation of the souls of his people in the world
Ask for financial provision through the support process
Pray for the health and safety of our team
Pray for boldness of speech in proclaiming the gospel (Eph. 6.19-20)
Pray that we will utilize the power from the Holy Spirit to withstand trials and temptations

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4.6-7 NIV

Prayers for the field

Prayer for the growth and strength of Christian churches and missionaries
Pray that God would raise up nationals to evangelize their own people
Pray for the health of the missionaries being under severe strain and burden for the work
Ask the Lord to send ministers into the nations for the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Mat 9:37-38)

Helpful Bible Verses

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Eph. 3.14 – 21

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4:16

Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened". Matthew 7:7-8

2 Thessalonians 3:1, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” The word runs and triumphs by means of prayer.

Matt. 26.41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Ephesians 6:19, “[Pray] for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” Paul’s boldness in the gospel came from God by the prayers of simple Christian believers.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 1.9-14

Acts 1.14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Col. 4.12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.

Romans 15:30, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.” The wrestling of Paul to be faithful in all his sufferings was sustained by a wrestling in prayer by the brothers in Rome.

Acts 2.42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Colossians 4:3, “Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.” Open doors for the spread of the gospel come in answer to prayer. Therefore, in the life of Paul it is plain that prayer is God’s way of gospel victory.

Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name. Daniel 9.17-19

This image and text is also viewable at my flickr page here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bpbp/485984140/