神的话临到（拿1：1-3）

1. 经文描述：约在公元前800多年前，神的话临到亚米太（“信实”之意）的儿子约拿（“鸽子”之意）。约拿住在靠耶稣长大之处拿撒勒约十里的迦特希弗。神吩咐他到亚述国首都尼尼微城传悔改的信息，那里的恶达到主的面前。尼尼微人十分邪恶，以残忍著称。从迦特希弗到约帕96公里。约拿没有听从神的吩咐去距离约帕东北1100公里的尼尼微，却恰巧买了船票（尽管当时一票难求），逃往距离约帕3200公里的他施。约拿宁可选择远两倍的路躲避神，也不愿去距离较近的尼尼微去传道。
2. 学习教训

1. 要寻求神的话语临到（1：1）。我们要每日读经查考神的话（约5：39，徒17：11）。有神话语的指示，我们才敢行动。
2. 要寻求明白神的心意（1：2）。神是圣洁的神，神恨恶罪恶，喜愛良善，他恨恶尼尼微城的罪恶。先知要传讲指责罪恶、劝人悔改的信息。
3. 要顺服神的心意（1：3）。约拿的意思是鸽子，这里他是一只不听话的鸽子，他对神“放鸽子”，他不仅逃避神的工作，更是逃避神的面。求主怜悯我们，借着禁食祷告寻求神的面，不要与主的心意背道而驰，而要借着耶稣的宝血时刻就近神。

祷告项目：为教会2025年未来事工
包括：小石城教会（未来聚会场所）、伯特利教会（未来方向）及众牧者同工的服侍

祷词：
亲愛的天父，我们感谢你将约拿书赐予我们。求你一路带领我们祷读经文，禁食祷告的过程，使我们放下自己的意思，专心寻求你，一心归向你，见到你的面，好过讨你喜悦的生活。
主阿，神的话是我们脚前的灯，路上的光。求你帮助我们每日坚持读你的话，在读经中有亮光，并靠主遵行主的话，将主的话活在我们生命中。愿你的话通过我们读经、默想和祈祷临到我们。只要有你话语的指示，我们就有勇气敢于迈向前进。
主阿，我们要将小石城教会2025年的事工交托在你的手中。

• 求主为我们预备未来的聚会场所。我们自己住在天花板的房屋，神的教会却还没有长久的居所（该1：4，9）。我们要向主认罪，求主赦免我们的自我中心。求主为我们教会开出路。我们为神家焦急如同火烧的心，求主按着你圣善的美意为我们预备合你心意的居所。求你按着你时候，赐予我们完全合一的心，让我们全然摆上，在这件事上遇见你的大能和作为。主阿，我们等候你。当你将“云彩从帐幕收上去，我们就起程前往”（出40：36）。
• 我们要为2025年具体事工代祷，求主带领举牌传福音事工；求主预备暑期圣经学校（VBS）日期、联络人、选用材料、能有45个儿童和青少年参与，并有足够的成人义工。求主预备儿童青少年沙龙营地的报名和安排；求主预备秋季特会讲员、地点等；求主预备能将每季度守主餐礼调整为每月一次；求主安排常青团契的带领同工和日期；求主赐福教会不浪费每次节日（新年、受难节、复活节、父亲节、母亲节、感恩节、圣诞节等），利用机会大大为主传福音。愿主的名在我们中间得荣耀，使更多人归到主的名下。

我们要将中国的伯特利教会 2025年事工交托：

• 求主带领以圣灵所赐智慧和恩赐服侍
• 求主安排聚会的安全和平安，各聚会点都兴旺
• 求主带领牧者、同工有能力和权柄，继续大大作主圣工
• 求主赐福学习乐器同工有智慧聪明
• 求主兴起更多弟兄火热事奉主
• 求主带领开展下一代圣工，将我们的子孙带到主面前。

我们要为每一位主的仆人和同工代祷：

• 求主使我们凡事将上帝放在首位（路17：5-10），从主领受使命和异象
• 求主使我们愛慕真理、学习真理、坚持真理、宣讲真理（箴2: 3-4，约8：32）
• 求主使我们关愛群羊（结34章）
• 求主赐我们口才，将福音尽都传明
• 求主使我们不做瞎眼守望者，不作哑巴狗不能叫唤、不贪食好酒寻求自己的利益（赛56：10-11），使我们天天死于旧我，活出基督，高举十字架救恩，竭力荣耀主的名。以上祷告是奉基督之名，阿门！

The Word of God Comes (Jonah 1:1-3) 

Last week, December 1-7, was the church’s second fasting and prayer week. I would like to share with our church family the excerpts of the spiritual meditation and intercession on December 1.

Meditation:

1. Scripture description: About BC 800 years ago, the word of God came to Jonah (meaning “dove”), the son of Amittai (meaning “faithful”). Jonah lived in Gath-hepher, about ten miles from Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. God commanded him to preach the message of repentance in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, where the evil had reached the Lord. The people of Nineveh were very evil and known for their cruelty. It is 96 kilometers from Gath-hepher to Joppa. Jonah did not obey God’s command to go to Nineveh, which is 1,100 kilometers northeast of Joppa, but happened to buy a boat ticket (although it was hard to get a ticket at the time) and fled to Tarshish, which is 3,200 kilometers away from Joppa. Jonah would rather choose a twice-long route to avoid God than to preach in Nineveh, which is closer.
2. Lessons Learned

1. We need to seek God’s word (1:1). We need to read the Bible and study God’s word every day (John 5:39, Acts 17:11). Only with the guidance of God’s word, can we dare to act.
2. We must seek to understand God’s will (1:2). God is a holy God who hates sin and loves goodness. He hates the sin of Nineveh. The prophet must preach a message that denounces sin and urges people to repent.
3. We must obey God’s will (1:3). Jonah means a dove, and here he is a disobedient dove. He “released a dove” from God (A Chinese slang, meaning “stand God up”). He not only avoided God’s work, but also avoided God’s presence. May the Lord have mercy on us, seek God’s face through fasting and prayer, and not go against the Lord’s will, but always approach God through the precious blood of Jesus.

Prayer Items: Future Ministry for the Church in 2025
Includes: Little Rock Immanuel Chinese Baptist Church (future meeting place), Bethel Church (future direction), and the service of pastors and co-workers

Prayers:
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us the Book of Jonah. Please lead us through the process of praying and reading the scriptures, fasting and praying, so that we can put aside our own ideas, seek you wholeheartedly, turn to you with all our hearts, seek your face, and live a life that pleases you.
Lord, Your word is the lamp before our feet and the light on our path. Please help us to persist in reading your word every day, to have enlightenment in reading the Bible, to obey your word by relying on you, and to live out your word in our lives. May your word come to us through our daily reading of the Bible, meditation and prayer. As long as we have the guidance of your word, we have the courage to move forward.
Lord, we commit the ministry of Little Rock Church in 2025 into your hands.

• May the Lord prepare us a suitable meeting place. Almost every family of our church lives in a house with a ceiling, but the church family of our Lord does not have a long-term place (Hag. 1:4, 9). We must confess our sins to the Lord and ask You to forgive our self-centeredness. May the Lord open a way out for our church. We are anxious for the house of God, and may the Lord prepare a place for us according to Your holy will. Please give us a united spirit, so that we can give ourselves completely and encounter Your power and work in this matter. Lord, we are waiting for You. When You take up “the cloud from the tabernacle, we will set out” (Exod. 40:36).
• Specific ministries in 2025: Ask the Lord to lead the ministry of evangelism with holding sign for Jesus; to prepare the date, coordinator, materials, 45 children and teenagers to participate, and enough adult volunteers for the Vacation Bible School (VBS); the registration and arrangement of the Children and Teenagers for Camp Siloam; the speakers and location of the Fall Retreat; to adjust the Lord’s Supper from quarterly to monthly; to arrange the coordinator and date of the Evergreen Fellowship ; to bless the church not to waste every holiday (Chinese Lunar New Year, Good Friday, Easter, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas), and make a good use of the opportunity to preach the gospel for the Lord. May the name of the Lord be glorified among us, so that more people will come to the Lord.

We would like to entrust the ministry of Bethel Church in China in 2025 to our Lord:

• Ask the Lord to lead them to serve with the wisdom and gifts given by the Holy Spirit.
• arrange for the safety and peace of the meetings, and that all the gathering points will prosper.
• lead the leaders and co-workers to have the power and authority to continue to do evangelism.
• bless their coworkers who learn musical instruments with wisdom and intelligence
• raise up more brothers to serve Him fervently
• carry out the next generation ministries and bring our children and grandchildren to the Lord.

We pray for every leader and co-worker of the Lord:

• Pray that we will put God first in everything (Luke 17:5-10) and receive mission and vision from the Lord.
• make us love the truth, learn the truth, uphold the truth, and preach the truth (Prov. 2:3-4, John 8:32)
• help us to care for the sheep (Ezekiel 34)
• give us the ability to speak and spread the gospel
• keep us from being blind watchmen, dumb dogs that cannot bark, or greedy eaters and drinkers who seek our own interests (Isaiah 56:10-11). May we die to our old selves daily, live out Christ, uphold the salvation of the cross, and strive to glorify the Lord’s name.

The above prayer is made in the name of Christ. Amen!