Prayers

Welcome

‌Opening Prayer

Acts 4:23-31

23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

26 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.[a]’[b]

27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.

28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Worship Song

Worship Song

Junior church/cans

Joys and concerns

Worship song

Apostels creed

‌I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

creator of heaven and earth;

‌

I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;*

He descended to the dead

on the third day he rose again

he ascended into heaven,

is seated at the right hand the Father

and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

‌I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic* church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Prayers

Play video

As we look at praying we need to first decide to whom are we praying. We are in the book of acts and as we look to this part of the Bible in chapter four it tells us many people react negatively to the fact that there is no other name to call on for salvation than Jesus. No the church did not decide this it is a specific teaching of Jesus himself. So if God designated Jesus to be the savior of the world, no one else can be his equal. We as Christians are to be open minded on many issues, but not on how we are saved from sin. Our focus should be on Jesus, whom God offered as the way to have an eternal relationship with himself. There is no other way. So do we realize when we offer praise to Jesus we are offering praise to God? If we look further in the book of Acts it tells us that the chief priest seen that Peter and John were untrained, they were amazed at what being with Jesus had done for them. A changed life convinces people of Christ power. One of the greatest testimonies is the difference others see in your life and attitude once you give your life to christ. This is never more evident than the when we give praise. A lot of us in our life have gotten caught up in praising our accomplishments our favorite sports teams, or even the things our families accomplish. but have we ever been noticed for how we praise and honor God? We talk about when we Christians can make a difference in Gods kingdom by the service we do. What about by how we worship Jesus. our willing ness to be seen praising God and Being the hands and feet of Jesus. I know most of us in this room have claimed to be christian. Can the proof be found in the pudding? Do the people who know you see Jesus in how you live your life? we as Christians always compare ourselves to others. That is wrong. we have talked a lot about what we as Christians are to do as we follow Jesus. But first and foremost do we allow ourselves to pray to Jesus everyday for the blessings in our life? Do we give Jesus as much time as we give our favorite sports team? There are a lot of us who, when the buckeyes are on are glued to the TV or radio and never miss a play. we dress in our favorite team colors and logo. we even have rival teams we wont even say their name. But then why do we struggle with this kind of commitment to Jesus Christ. We all claim to be Christian so lets put on the color of Jesus christ dawn his logo and give him the praise he deserves. You see we are charged with the task of making disciples of men. What better way than to offer him praise so people know where we stand with Jesus we do not have to drag people to Jesus, if we live our life publicly for him we will have people see the difference he has made in our life and become curious why and desire to learn more about this man named Jesus. What a privilege it is to know people are seeking Jesus just because the difference in us because of Jesus Christ. So as we go out this week let’s put on the colors of our savior wear his logo and not miss a minute of his love in our life. So others know the difference in us and because of who. Jesus Christ.

Amen

Doxology

final worship song

walk to the back

Benediction