From September 21-23. Los Angeles held the annual Fall Retreat. Pastor Pearl Xu delivered the opening sermon that focused on praying with a humble heart in order to get healing from the Lord.
The sermon was based on 2 Chronicles 1: 6-10, 7: 12-15 and Matthew 5:3. King Solomon prayed to the Lord and after his prayers, the Lord showed up to him in his dream and promised him, "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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Study on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) continued throughout the three-day event.
During closing service on Sunday, Pastor Andrew Lin delivered the sermon from Matthew 6:9-15 and encouraged all members to pray and realize how much we need God every day.
Quoting from Ecclesiastes 5:2, Pastor Lin said, "God is in heaven and we are on Earth. We need to listen to God. How limited are we. We need to realize how much we need God. If we live earnestly, we will know how much we need God every day. Our existence itself depends on God. When we realize this, that's when our faith is mature. We need to learn to depend on God more. It's only through word we are sanctified."
Focusing on getting deeper in prayers and having them answered, pastor Lin said, "When it comes to prayer, we need to pray in such a way that our prayer goes as a priority to God. This will happen if our prayer focuses on the kingdom of God and saving souls. Such a prayer is most powerful prayer."
