Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As our new volunteers take their initial turns within the preaching rotation inside the prison, it’s a real treat to see their particular style and how God will use them to reach the men in Chester County Prison. We continue to thank God for bringing these volunteers on board to fortify the body of Christ within the prison.
Both services kicked off prayer time with a few verses from Psalm 71:
Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the highest heavens.
You have done such wonderful things.
Who can compare with you, O God?
You have allowed me to suffer much hardship,
but you will restore me to life again
and lift me up from the depths of the earth.
You will restore me to even greater honor
and comfort me once again.
Then I will praise you with music on the harp,
because you are faithful to your promises, O God.
I will sing for you with a lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
I will shout for joy and sing your praises,
for you have redeemed me. (Psalm 71:19-23)
Dan posed two foundational questions to the men in the first service – Is there a God? And if so, is He the God of the Bible? Upon studying the evidence, He discounted several popular theories on creation to ultimately support the only logical conclusion of an all-powerful creator God. Then he walked through the prophet Daniel’s very specific foretelling of when the coming Messiah would be revealed and killed, hundreds of years before it came to be, exactly as prophesied. This left no doubt to the validity of the Bible and our God who inspired it’s writing.
In the 2nd service, Jose used his first-ever message in Chester County Prison to set a scriptural foundation of how we have no righteousness on our own. We must fully rely on Christ who took our sin upon Himself and imputes His righteousness to us. This distinction is critical to understanding how God the Father sees us – on our own and subject to judgement, or clothed in the righteousness of Christ and thereby saved. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone – but only for those who repent and believe.
The inmates express their thankfulness every week for volunteers who faithfully show up with the love of Christ to bring the Word to their thirsting ears. And we want to express our ongoing thankfulness for each of you and how you faithfully pray with the love of Christ for people you will likely never meet (at least on this Earth). May God bless you and your families richly this week.
Grace and peace,
Rick
Inmate Prayer Requests from Medium Security (7:00pm service):
- Steven– all praise, honor, and glory to my savior Jesus Christ, for all of us here, for the volunteer disciples, for my family to be doing well, and for our brother Angel to be doing well outside.
- Albert– for loved ones, world peace, and the innocent victims caught in the middle of wars.
- John– world peace, my eyes that need surgery, everyone’s families, for those that don’t know Christ, for life in general, thanks Lord for waking me up today, and thanks for all those who pray for us.
- Daniel– for all the prisoners, and for the staff in this prison.
- Nathan– for upcoming court dates, and the stress that goes with that. Also for the victim in my case, that they can forgive me.
- Damien– for the sick and the homeless.
- Joel– forgiveness, God’s grace, for the people we’ve hurt, my Mom, surgery for finger, places where there’s war, for me – I feel like I’m getting away from God. Thanks for volunteers who bring the Word each week. For the people in California with the extreme weather and mudslides.
Inmate/volunteer Prayer Requests from Minimum Security (8:30pm service)
- Craig– prayers for my wife Kay and my children, my family at large, for the whole wide world, for my strength in the Lord, and that we can be not just hearers but doers of the Word.
- Martin– my family, my successful recovery, good outcome of my case.
- Alan– my little brother Ashmir is going to court – pray that it all goes well.
- Charles– all the brothers here, pray that everything goes well at my trial tomorrow. I’m Muslim, but there are Christians in my family and I have Christian friends, and I pray for all of them and for all you guys. Pray for all the upcoming cases and that we can make it through our trials and tribulations.
- Rob– my Dad (Merl) is on hospice – he’s a Vietnam vet who dealt with agent orange.
- Sam– all the sick and suffering, which is us – we are all suffering or sick in some way.
- Andy L– pray that my wife and I can continue to be a light in our community, sharing the love of Christ with people hurting from a variety of difficulties.
Prayers from Onesimus Ministries
- The prison team lifts up two of our brothers suffering with back pain, yet still coming into the prison to serve the inmates – pray that Phil and Andy D would experience God’s healing and relief from pain.
- Blessings of continued strength, endurance, compassion, and wisdom for God’s hands and feet in Chester County Prison – Chaplain Rhonda and Chaplain Heinrich, that they would continue to bless many residents, staff, and family members connected to the prison.
- For speedy recovery and healing for inmates, staff, and their family members suffering with illness or disease. In particular we lift up Pastor Jack Crans for healing from his cancer.
- For peace among the prison population and among the staff, and in the many inmate/staff interactions each day. We also lift up the understaffed situation and all those who must work long and/or extra shifts.
- For churches in Chester County (and beyond!) to be drawn to partner with aftercare programs designed to help disciple ex-offenders, building upon progress made in prison, and help them take positive steps toward reintegration to society.
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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