Lord’s Day Meeting – 9:30 AM
- In-Person at the Bellevue meeting hall: 1835 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA 98004
- Zoom
Announcements
- The Thanksgiving Conference messages and outlines can be viewed at: https://www.lsmwebcast.com/Conference.cfm
- Conference outlines and message recordings are available at: https://pugetsoundblending.org/
- The December video training registration is now available at: https://www.cognitoforms.com/Churchinbellevue1/Bellevue2025DecemberVideoTrainingRegistrationDueByDecember15th
- The parents of the middle school boys will meet after the LD meeting on December 7th.
- We will continue with week 34 in Volume 6 from the Holy Word for Morning Revival from the July training on “Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (3)”. Copies are available in the bookroom.
- Please refer to the prayer meeting schedule below:
| DATE | PRAYER MEETING LOCATION (7:30 PM)Prayer Burdens, Zoom |
| December 2 | Bellevue Meeting Hall (all languages) |
| December 9 | Bellevue Meeting Hall (all languages)Redmond/Sammamish/Issaquah (English), TBD |
| December 16 | Bellevue Meeting Hall (all languages) |
- The Wednesday night ministry meeting starts at 7:30 pm (https://www.lsmwebcast.com/MinMeeting.cfm)
- We will read the Life-study of Ephesians messages 55 and 56 this week.
- The website (https://500lifestudies.org/) provides great resources for how to get into the Life-study messages; the Life-Study mobile app is available for download
- To join a Life-study reading group, use the link below: https://www.cognitoforms.com/Churchinbellevue1/LifeStudyReadingGroupSignUpChurchInBellevue
- The Life-Study of the Bible radio broadcast is every Lord’s day at 8:30 pm, KGNW 820 AM
- Please refer to the table below for the cleaning schedule.
CLEANING SCHEDULE
| TIME PERIOD | CLEANING GROUP (Zip Codes/Cities) |
| November 30 | 98008 |
| December 7 | 98052 |
| December 14 | 98074, 98075, 98027, 98028, 98029 |
| December 21 | Medina, Clyde Hill, Kirkland, Kenmore, Bothell, Woodinville, Marysville, Carnation, Mercer Island, Seattle, Newcastle, Renton, Federal Way |
| USHERING SERVICE SCHEDULE | LORD’S TABLE SERVICE SCHEDULE | |||
| Date | Team | Date | Team | |
| November 30 | B | November 30 | 1 | |
| December 7 | C | December 7 | 2 | |
| December 14 | D | December 14 | 3 | |
| December 21 | A | December 21 | 4 |
Schedule
Thanksgiving Conference, November 27-30
Prayer Meeting Reading (Prayer Ministry of the Church)
Matt. 18:20 For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.
And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, enter into your private room, and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And in praying do not babble empty words as the Gentiles do; for they suppose that in their multiplicity of words they will be heard. Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows the things that you have need of before you ask Him. (Matt. 6:5-8).
Ordinarily, when we speak of prayer, we are concerned about answers to prayer. The Lord Jesus’ emphasis in these verses is not on answers to prayer but on the reward of prayer. Based on what do we say this? It is based on the word “reward” in verse 5, which is the same word as the “reward” of almsgiving in verse 2 and the “reward” of fasting in verse 16 . If the reward of prayer refers to answers to prayer, what do the rewards of almsgiving and fasting refer to? According to its context, “reward” refers to the reward one receives in the kingdom. This shows us that having our prayers answered is secondary; the main thing is receiving reward for our prayer. If our prayers are according to God’s will, they will not only be answered, but they will also be remembered and rewarded in the future before the judgment seat. Hence, the prayer mentioned in these verses brings not only an answer today but righteousness as well. In other words, our prayer is our righteousness.
However, the righteousness of prayer does not come from careless prayers, half-hearted prayers, routine prayers, or prayers that issue from impure motives. On the one hand, the Lord teaches us not to pray the way that two kinds of people pray. On the other hand, He shows us a pattern for prayer. First, let us consider the two kinds of prayers which we should not follow.
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners, so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, They have their reward in full.” Prayer is for the purpose of fellowshipping with God and expressing His glory. But hypocrites utilize prayers that are for the glorification of God to glorify themselves. Consequently, they like to pray in the synagogues and on the street corners. They do this in order to be seen by others, because synagogues and street corners are public places, places that men pass by all the time. They do not pray in order to be heard by God but to be heard by men. They want to show themselves off. This kind of prayer is very superficial; it cannot be considered as a prayer to God, and it cannot be considered as fellowship with God. These men cannot expect to receive anything from God, because the motive behind this kind of prayer is to receive glory from men, and because there is no supply reserved before God. They have already received their reward; they have received men’s praise. Therefore, in the future kingdom, there will be nothing to remember.
The Lord taught us not only to shut ourselves up in secret when we pray; He also taught us not to “babble empty words as the Gentiles do; for they suppose that in their multiplicity of words they will be heard.” The expression “multiplicity of words” in Greek is used to describe the monotonous and repetitious sound that a stammering person makes. Some people repeat the same words monotonously in their prayers. This kind of prayer has sound only; it has no meaning whatsoever. When you stand beside such a person and listen to his prayer, it is as if you are standing by a stream listening to the repetitious and monotonous sound of water tumbling against the rocks. It is like standing on a pebbled street and listening to the repetitious and monotonous sound of wheels rolling across pebbles. They repeat the same words over and over again. They suppose that their prayers will be heard through much repetition. But this kind of prayer is useless; it is not at all effective, and we should not pray in that kind of way.
Brothers and sisters, your prayers should not be sound only, which do not have meaning. The prayers of many people in the prayer meeting are meaningless. If you do not say Amen when they pray, they condemn you for not being one with them. But if you say Amen to their prayer, they will repeat the same words over and over again. They do not pray to fulfill some goals but to generate some commotion. Their prayers are not for the purpose of releasing the burden but for finishing up their speech. Many prayers are offered as a result of man’s influence, and many words are uttered which are This kind of prayer has sound only, and it is meaningless. We should not be like those who pray this way.