Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
With the Eagle’s season in the history books, we seem to have a few more takers for Monday night services. We are always thankful for whoever God may call to come to the worship services. We’re still running below our pre-covid levels, but as Dan reminds us each week – everyone that’s supposed to be there is there.
As we’ve said many times, the transient nature of Chester County Prison has us focus on delivering the gospel message each and every week, and like last night, it often gets woven into the fabric of the entire service – through prayer time, song time, and testimony time as well as in the message itself. And no matter how many times we talk about it, God’s promise of salvation through Christ’s offer of new life by the shedding of His blood in our place never gets old. I sure hope the inmates don’t get tired of hearing it, because Lord-willing we won’t get tired of preaching it!
Prayer time kicked off last night with Psalm 70 – a short passage that packs a punch!
Please, God, rescue me!
Come quickly, Lord, and help me.
May those who try to destroy me
be humiliated and put to shame.
May those who take delight in my trouble
be turned back in disgrace.
Let them be horrified by their shame,
for they said, “Aha! We’ve got him now!”
But may all who search for you
be filled with joy and gladness.
May those who love your salvation
repeatedly shout, “God is great!”
But I am poor and needy;
please hurry to my aid, O God.
You are my helper and my savior;
O Lord, do not delay! (Psalm 70)
During Testimony time in 2nd service, we heard again from an inmate who identified himself as Muslim last week (but not tonight), and this week revealed how he used to live his life in fear, then quoted from memory Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Please continue to pray for John – God is doing a work in him.
And despite debilitating back pain, Phil delivered the message in both services, driving home the purpose of every Christian – to be a disciple and to disciple others. And how do we measure ourselves to know if we’re growing as we should? In response, He walked us through a list of Biblical Christian traits scoured from scripture by Dr. Charles Stanley that we could reflect upon. Phil added a few nuggets of wisdom from his own walk of faith, and encouraged the men to take that ultimate step of faith and trust in the Lord.
We are consistently blown away by what God is doing inside the prison, accomplishing His purposes through volunteers, our wonderful chaplains, and a host of faithful brothers and sisters on the cell blocks. And we always appreciate how God works through each of you and your prayers to lift up this ministry, the inmates and staff, their families, and our chaplains. May you be blessed in special ways throughout your week!
Grace and peace,
Rick
Inmate Prayer Requests from Medium Security (7:00pm service):
- Dave– thankful for the volunteers, and pray for my 5 children, for my significant other and her super support, and for my case to be wrapped up Friday and get sent home after being here over a year (case got delayed a week due to snow storm closing courthouse). God showed me the sign I was asking for when 2 more witnesses stepped up in my defense so my case should get thrown out.
- Angel– also grateful for the volunteers and their servant hearts, thanks that my fiancé Danelle is getting help she needs in her addiction- pray for God’s power to overcome, for my brother Mike with a bad kidney, my older brother Louie, for my court date on Wed – hoping for release with time served, for world peace, for all the children, and for the guys not in church tonight.
- Angel (same name, different guy)- thanks for volunteers, I want to lift up the pastor and congregation of Oxford Church of the Nazarene, for peace in the world, and for everyone in here.
- John– God’s mercy, grace, and love for all of us, for my eyes that are in bad shape, and to be released soon for injections/eye surgery before I lose my sight, for my kids, family, and grandmom.
- Steven– all glory, honor, and praise to our heavenly Father, and thanks for volunteers, for my family members, and for all those who don’t pray for themselves.
- Brandt– for my situation with a really bad court-appointed lawyer who is doing a poor job on my case, not talking to me, not knowing charges, yet telling me what to accept – I feel stuck on what to do, wrote letters to Judge, DA, the bar, and others about her conduct in this corrupt system (pray for his anger, this was all in a very angry tone), for a single mom friend with kids whose house was flooded before Christmas and everything was ruined/lost, my brother died last month and we’re all having a hard time with that, and for my thinking – I need God’s help how to handle so many issues at once.
- Phil T– for my son Kyle who walks with the Lord but is moving too fast in a relationship with his girl, pray the lord would help him slow down and have wisdom.
- Dan T– for our brother Phil still in lot of back pain.
Inmate/volunteer Prayer Requests from Minimum Security (8:30pm service)
- Craig– continued prayers for my wife Kay in Georgia, and for my 2 kids (Brianna and Brielle), my family at large – keep them safe, and for the world.
- John (Muslim gentleman)- for understanding of self-worth. Also for forgiveness and the power to forgive.
- Martin-the volunteers, my family, my 97 year old grandmom, safety for my Mom travelling, and for my successful recovery (from addiction) – please restore me.
- Devan– for family, especially my grandma since my grandpa just passed away yesterday, may the Holy Spirit’s love descend on my family.
- Jeremiah– my family, my court date this week or next – I’ve been in here for 38 months and it’s time to go.
- Phil T– my church has the Alpha course kicking off, pray God would bring the right people, He would bless them and change their lives forever.
- Logan– my wife, my kids, and that God would show His great grace and mercy to us all..
- Dan T– God help me work out a problem I’m struggling with.
- Thomas– my mother, my 3 daughters, and thanks for all the volunteers coming in..
Prayers from Onesimus Ministries
- Please continue to remember the Burnett family upon the homegoing of Doug (the fore-runner of this ministry).
- Continual thanks to our great God for our two wonderful servant chaplains – Rhonda and Heinrich – may they continue to be inspired, energized, and motivated by the Holy Spirit of God to minister compassionately to the inmates, staff, and families connected with Chester County Prison.
- Ongoing prayers for strength and healing within Pastor Jack Crans, may his cancer be put in check and added to his testimony of what God continues to do through him week after week in his multiple ministerial capacities.
- We always want to remember the oft-overlooked aftercare ministries that focus on the forgotten men and women released from prison – may they work with God’s power to help these folks rebuild their lives on the firm foundation of Christ with the goal to not only become godly and productive members of society, but to never see the inside of another prison (unless as a volunteer). God bless these ministries doing the work that so many of us would rather not do nor even think about.
If you’d like to find out more about mentoring and discipling a man or woman coming out of prison, drop us a note at outreach@onesimusministries.org.
These weekly prayer requests are also posted on our website – https://onesimusministries.org/category/weekly-prayer-requests/
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