Sermon: You're Not Dreaming - God Answers Prayer!

Julius: you Good morning. Wonderful together, together with all of you. Happy Mother's Day to all of our moms out there. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. She might be watching this morning too. On Mother's Day, you often think about what kids are asking for from moms. You get used to them tugging on you. Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. And that actually fits really well with what we're talking about in the service today, which is prayer. Prayer, we pray, our Father in heaven, how should we pray to God? Like a little kid, Mom, Mom. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. We're praying persistently. We're praying with faith because we know this person loves me and has to answer. So we'll talk about prayer today. But first we'll start with a good Easter hymn, hymn 442. May God bless our worship together. Please stand. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Christ is with a joyful voice declare and announce this. Sings it out to the ends of the earth. Say the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob. Shout praise to God all the earth, make music to the glory of his name. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. God is faithful and Let us confess our sins to the Lord. sinful by nature and has sinned against you in my thoughts, words, and actions. as I should. I deserve your Jesus my Savior, aid for my sins with this innocent suffering and death. Trusting in him I... Our gracious Father in heaven has been merciful to us. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, who gave His life as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ and by His authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In peace, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord. the peace of the whole world. For the well-being of the Church of God and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord. For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord. Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord. The Lord be with you. Let us pray. Father of lights, every good and perfect gift comes from you. Inspire us to think those things that are true and long for those things that are good, that we may always make our petitions according to your gracious will. Through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. You may be seated. The first reading, will serve as the sermon text this morning from Acts chapter 12. At about that time, King Herod laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter during the days of unleavened bread. After arresting Peter, Herod put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. Herod intended to bring him before the people for trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church earnestly offered up prayer to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains while sentries were in front of the door guarding the prison. Suddenly, An angel of the Lord stood near him and a light shone in the cell. The angel woke Peter up by striking him on the side saying, quick, get up. The chains fell from his wrists. Then the angel said to him, get dressed and put on your sandals. So he did so. Then the angel told him, put on your cloak and follow me. Peter went out following the angel, but he did not realize that what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed through the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city. It opened all by itself for them. They went outside, walked down one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting. When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark. Many had gathered there and were praying. When Peter knocked at the entrance gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. She recognized Peter's voice and was so overjoyed, she did not open the gate. Instead, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They told her, you are out of your mind. But she kept on insisting it was so, and they started saying, it's his angel. Meanwhile, Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, They were astonished. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Our psalm for today invites the entire world to cry out to the Lord in prayer because He is good and because He answers. I'll sing the first refrain and the verses. I invite you to join on the rest of the refrains. Let all the earth cry out to the Lord, cry out to the Lord with joy. Sing to the Lord, all you on earth, sing praise to the grandeur of God, proclaim his glorious name. Let all the earth cry out to the Lord, cry out to the Lord, with joy. Let the whole world worship and sing, acclaiming his wonderful deeds. The might of God is at hand. Let all the earth cry out to the Lord, cry out to the Lord with joy. Listen now, all you who trust in the Lord. Our God has done great things for us, answered our prayers with his kindness. Let all the earth cry out to the Lord, cry out to the Lord with joy. In the second reading from James chapter one, the brother of Jesus tells us not just to be people who hear God's word, but also people who listen to it and obey it and do it. And one of the ways you can tell that you are a Christian, that you believe in Jesus and you're listening to His words, is the way you use your mouth. It's the way you use your tongue. James talks in another place about how difficult it is to use your words properly. And today we're thinking, well, we can use our words properly when we pray. James chapter one. Be people who do what the word says, not people who only hear it. Such people are deceiving themselves. In fact, if anyone hears the word and does not do what it says, he's like a man who carefully looks at his own natural face in the mirror. Indeed, he carefully looks at himself, then he goes away and immediately forgets what he looked like. But the one who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continues to do so, since he does not hear and forget, but actually does what it says, that person will be blessed in what he does. If anyone considers himself to be religious, but deceives his own heart because he does not bridle his tongue, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled in the sight of God the Father is this, to take care of orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Today in place of the children's sermon, we're going to have another one of our mini confirmation reviews. So we're reviewing a little bit of what we studied this last semester, which includes the first article of the creed. But we also studied the books of the Bible and Dylan was very excited to recite the books of the Bible for everyone. So we'll start with you, Dylan. Give it a whirl. The books of the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd. Second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Domas, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Son of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Ahim, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Acts and Romans, first and second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossalonians, first and second Thessalonians, first and second Timothy. Tias, Laman, Hebrews, James, 1st, 2nd Peter, 3rd John, Judean Revelation. Well done. Thank you for doing all those. He volunteered to do all of them, and then the others were very disappointed that we only had time to split up the meaning of the first article, so they'll only get a little bit of the explanation to the first article of the creed, which is, believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And let's see, who's starting? Aidan, you start. What does this mean? I believe that God created me and all that exists and that he gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my mind and all my abilities. Awesome. And on to Beckett. I believe that God's soul preserves me richly and daily by providing clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, land, cattle, and all I own and all I need to keep my body and life. All right. Very good. On to Ethan. God also preserves me by Defending me against all danger guarding and protecting me from all evil all this God does only because he is my good and merciful Father in heaven not because I earned or deserved it for all this I ought to thank and praise to serve and obey him and all together we get to say This is most certainly true. All right We also had some memory verses and Dylan again wanted to challenge himself with John 3 16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Wonderful. All right, and I'll just stay in order here. Aidan, you've got Ephesians 4.24. We learned about the image of God, and so Ephesians 4.24 taught us about that. "...put on the new self which has been created in the image of God in true righteousness and holiness." All right, created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness. So the image of God is that we are created perfect. We lost that in the fall into sin, but the Lord restores it. And he tells us how in the scriptures. So, Ethan, 2 Timothy 3.15. From infancy you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Awesome. So that's how the image of God is restored. The scriptures tell us about Jesus and we come to faith and we are saved. Another thing we learn in the first article is that the Lord protects us with angels and Psalm 91.11 tells us about that. concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Alright, and I'll let you keep the microphone. Now we'll just ask a couple questions. We don't have time to cover everything they've learned, but Beckett, we'll stay with you. What do we mean when we say that God is triune? He's three beings in one God. Alright, so three we'd say persons in one God, three in one. Even though we can't comprehend this great truth, Beckett, why do we believe that God is triune? Because the Bible describes that He's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Okay, Bible describes it, we believe it, and what are some characteristics of God? is kind, is holy. Awesome. So the Bible reveals so many wonderful things about God. about what he has made and how he takes care of us. So let's go on to Ethan. Why do we, believers, label the first person of the triune God the Father? Because he created us and adopted us through baptism. Alright, he's the creator, made us, but also he's our father in a special way through baptism. Very good. And how did God show his almighty power in the creation of the world? By creating it with his word. Creating it just with his word. Amazing! And how long did it take him to do this? Six 24-hour days. Awesome, six 24-hour days. And finally, what does the Bible mean when it says that God created humans in his own image? He made them like himself. All right, made them like himself. Not that they match the nose or the ears, but true righteousness and holiness. All right, we'll go on to Aidan. What are some things that God does to provide for his creation? Gives you food and drink. Okay, food and drink, house and home. Now we talked about two different ways God can provide for What are those? Natural and supernatural, like miracles. All right, natural means and supernatural means that are miracles. And what are those beings, those special creatures that God sends for our protection? Angels. Angels! And what are some things the Bible tells us about angels? They are to serve and protect us. All right, God sent them to serve and protect us. And so we'll see that actually in our sermon today. Finally, who am I on to? Dylan, the fall into sin. What does the Bible tell us about the evil angels? That they turned away from God and rebelled against Him. All right, turned away from God and rebelled against Him. How did the devil then ruin God's creation? By turning people to sin. All right, turned people to sin then. He wanted Adam and Eve to follow Him. So, what is the devil's goal now as he continues to work in God's creation? To murder people into sin. Alright, murder people by leading them into sin. Now why didn't God destroy Adam and Eve after they sinned? Because he loved them. Because he loved them. He's a good and gracious God. He didn't destroy them and said he sent the plan of the Savior. So much more that we could ask but thank you for doing just a brief review here for everybody else and you guys can go back to your spots. I invite the congregation to stand then to acclaim the gospel. We'll do so using hymn 465, stanzas 1, 4, 5, and 6. The Holy Gospel according to John chapter 16 beginning at verse 23, where the Lord Jesus invites us to pray. In that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, amen, I tell you whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made complete. I have told you these things using figurative language. A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you using figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I'm not telling you that I will make requests of the Father on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am going to leave the world and go to the Father. Yes, his disciples said, you are speaking plainly and not using figurative language. Now we know that you know everything and do not need to have anyone ask you anything. For this reason, we believe that you came from God. The gospel of the Lord. Praise be to you, O Christ. You may be seated for the hymn of the day. This hymn is not found in the blue hymnal. It's from the previous hymnal, so it's printed for you in the bulletin as well as up on the screen. you you I still remember the time I prayed most fervently in my whole life. Second year of college and I had just received a phone call from some random number on my cell phone and they told me, signed up for this magazine subscription and you're locked in for a year. Sorry, there's nothing we can do. You owe us $1,000 so you better give us all your information. and I was stunned. Thankfully I didn't give them all my information, but I did believe them and after I hung up with them I went into an empty classroom and went full spread eagle on the floor praying. And I'd like to say that I was praying because I was so confident in the Lord that it would be fine, that God would take care of me and he would answer my prayers. But really, I was praying that fervently because I had no hope at all. I thought I was doomed. I was in college. I didn't have a thousand dollars, let alone ten dollars! When do you pray most fervently? When do you feel like, need to do it, I need to go on the floor, spread eagle, I need to pray like that. Is it when you are at your strongest in your faith, so confident, ready to go, confident the Lord's gonna take care of things, or is it more likely when something's going really bad, when you think I'm doomed. What can God do here? And you think, well, it's not that I'm not a Christian, it's not that I don't trust God, it's that God has a track record of not answering the prayers the way that I want them. You look back at your life and it's like Murphy's Law. If anything can go wrong, it is going wrong. And so you think, why should I pray for the cancer if God didn't heal it last time? Why should I pray for this marriage if God didn't save that marriage? Why should I pray to overcome this temptation when I lost to that temptation just yesterday. Is the Lord really going to help me? And so you pray fervently, sometimes with despair in your heart. And I wonder if that's what was in the heart of the Christians as they were praying in Acts chapter 12. They're all together in a room and it says they are praying fervently. Fervently on the floor, arms out kind of prayer. And why are they praying so fervently? Well from their reaction when their prayer actually is answered, I think it's because they don't expect this prayer to be answered. And you really have a hard time blaming them considering what had just happened. Acts chapter 12 started like this. What was going on at about that time? King Herod was persecuting the church. About ten years after Jesus went to heaven, the grandson of the Herod who tried to kill baby Jesus is persecuting Jesus' church and he seized one of the twelve disciples, James, the brother of John who wrote the Gospel, John who wrote Revelation. James, the brother of John, he seized him and he put him to death with the sword. And when he saw that everybody really liked that, especially the Jews, Herod thought, hey, this is working out pretty well for me. I can become the Messiah. I can save the Jewish religion. I can persecute the church." And so he sees his Peter now. And he says, he's next. I'm going to kill him. And he throws him into prison and he's got all his plans laid out. I'm going to have Peter in here for now and after the Passover festival I will kill him. The time is booked, scheduled, confirmed. And all of the believers believe that too. What's going to happen? It seemed hopeless. We read, after arresting Peter, Herod put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. Herod intended to bring him before the people for trial after the Passover, so Peter was kept in prison. But the church earnestly offered up prayer to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains while sentries were in front of the door guarding the prison. The church was praying, but they also had to be realistic, right? What's going on with Peter? It says he's chained between two guards. That means this arm was chained to a guard, and this arm was chained to another guard, and there's two more guards outside his cell door, and two more guard posts, and three more squads of four soldiers waiting to make sure he stays in. This is hopeless. For Peter to get out. It would take a miracle. It would take an angel maybe appearing in the cell in glorious light but not waking up the soldiers, only waking up Peter. And it would take that angel waking up Peter and somehow releasing him from those two guards sleeping to his right and left. And then getting him dressed and getting his cloak on without knocking anything or waking anybody up. And then they'd have to get Peter past the cell door with two more guards. And then they'd have to get him past two more guard posts. And then he'd have to come to the iron gate of the fortress and it would have to open by itself and Peter would have to get through without anyone noticing and get into the city. ⁓ wait, that's exactly what happened. An angel came in answer to prayer. An angel came and the chains came off and somehow those guards didn't wake up. And Peter got dressed and Peter got out and the iron gate opened all by itself and he's one street down the road before he even knows what's going on. Is Peter dreaming? You think so? This is a vision. This can't really be happening. And we don't always expect prayers to be answered just like this. What an answer to prayer. But just an aside on that, isn't it interesting exactly how God answers this prayer? How would you have done it? The Lord can do earthquakes in prisons. He's done that before. He could have destroyed the fortress with a word. I always think it's funny that the angels' light shines on all of them and nobody wakes up. Peter must be a heavy sleeper. Remember the mountain of transfiguration? Jesus is shining with all his glory and Peter takes a while to wake up. What's going on? Peter, wake up! So the angel has to hit Peter in the side to wake him up. And then he says, quick! I'm thinking, what's the rush? You're an angel. The Lord can stop time if he wants. But quick, let's go! This is how God wants to answer the prayer. So he's rushing out. And then my favorite little detail is they went outside, walked down one street, and immediately the angel left him. The Holy Spirit definitely wanted you know that. They made it down one street before the angel said, okay, that's how far I'm going with you. You're going to have to figure out the rest from here. I'm thinking, why didn't the angel just take him all the way to his destination? The Lord answers prayers in very specific ways, and we don't really know why. But the point here is, is that God was answering this prayer. And Peter thought it was a dream. We read, thought he was seeing a vision, but when Peter came to himself, he said, now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting. Now I know for sure. The Lord has answered our prayers and saved us. What does he say? From what Herod and the Jewish people were expecting. And here's what I think is maybe the disappointing part of the account is that it doesn't seem only Herod, and the Jewish people were expecting this, it seems like the Christians who were praying were expecting this too. Maybe we would have been in that group. Lord, please save Peter. ⁓ but I know you're not going to. They're praying. And what happens when Peter comes to the door? It's clear they don't expect him. We read, when Peter realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who is called Mark. Many had gathered there and were praying. When Peter knocked at the entrance gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. She recognized Peter's voice and was so overjoyed she did not open the gate. Instead, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They told her, you are out of your mind. But she kept on insisting it was so, and they started saying, it's his angel. Back then they thought your guardian angel looked just like you. Well, maybe it's his angel. Meanwhile, Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Astonished. They tell the servant girl, she's out of her mind. This makes me think of, I know it's an old movie now, the third Indiana Jones movie. If you haven't seen it, you just gotta watch it. It's one of the best. And in that movie, we got Sean Connery in Harrison Ford, and Sean Connery is Indiana Jones's dad. And of course they're fighting the Nazis like any good movie. And Indiana Jones is on this tank and is hurdling through the desert towards a cliff. And they watch and they see the tank fall off the cliff and smash and roll. And Indiana Jones' father runs up to the cliff and he looks down and he thinks, no, my son. ⁓ I wasn't ready to say goodbye. If only I had five minutes more. ⁓ look at down. And while he's looking down in despair, hoping, wishing that his son was alive, then right over here, right to the side, right in his peripherals, Indiana Jones is climbing up the hill. And he makes it over to him and he stands right next to his dad and he starts looking down the cliff with him. And the father looks over at his son, and then he looks back at the cliff. He's right there, but he doesn't see it, he doesn't believe it, he never believed he could be alive. And then finally he looks over and ⁓ he gives him a hug and he's filled with joy. That's what happens here. They're praying, please help Peter, please save Peter, Lord. And Peter's knocking on the door and the little servant girl comes and says, Peter is here. And they say, shh, you're crazy. We're praying for Peter to be here. And they keep praying and they keep praying and he's still knocking and they're like, Peter, can you be quiet? We're praying for your release. And finally, ⁓ they open the door. The hardest door for Peter to get through in this whole account. is that one. The door, I think, of doubt. Door, maybe even of unbelief. They can't believe their prayer would actually be answered. He makes it through the cell door. He makes it through the iron gate, but there. There are doors, we'll call them doors in our lives. Boy, seems difficult. Can the Lord really help? Through this door of cancer, through this door of marriage troubles, through this door of temptations, I don't know, it seems locked. God is not having a hard time getting through any of those doors, taking care of any of those things, you know? The only door maybe he's having a hard time getting through is this one. of doubt and unbelief. But here, of course, is the good news of this text and the good news of the gospel, is the Lord answers prayers even when we're not asking perfectly. Even when we're filled with doubt, we memorize in confirmation class, thy will be done. What does this mean? God's good and gracious will is done even without our prayer. In other words, even though they, I think they should have seen it coming, at least should have said, of course when Peter knocked on the door, even though they left him standing there, Peter was still standing there. The Lord had still answered their prayer. Because that's how gracious our Lord is. His will is going to be done. His kingdom is going to come. His name is going to be hallowed. The only other place in the Bible where we have these words, they prayed fervently, words like that, is in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus is doing it. And you think of what are the disciples doing when Jesus is praying in the garden? He told them to watch and pray, but they fell asleep. They're overcome with sorrow. But Jesus kept praying fervently, perfectly for them and for us. Jesus kept praying, thy will be done Lord, even if it means I'm going to die. He prayed for us and he carried out the Father's will and yes, he did die. He died for people like us, died for doubters, died for unbelievers, died for sinners. He died to take that away and take away any reason for doubt. He answered our prayers before we even asked. And then he rose again from the dead to show that even death, even death can't separate us from the love of God. He is there and he is listening and he is helping. And Jesus ascended into heaven and when he did, he promised, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and I am with you always. That's the kind of God who can answer prayers. Think about how he flipped all the expectations of Herod. Herod thought he was in control. The Christians even thought he was in control, but he wasn't. Herod thought, I'm gonna kill James. Silly Herod. Through earthly death, James was delivered from evil and received eternal life. Herod thought, I'm gonna stop the church, I'm gonna chain up Peter. ⁓ Herod, physical chains can't chain the gospel. Shortly after this, Herod thought, I am like the Messiah, I am God and he let people worship him as God and he was immediately struck dead by the true God. Everything Herod expected was foiled by the Lord and by the prayers of his people. So why, why does Jesus tell us to pray? If He's so gracious, He's gonna answer anyways, answer the prayers we should have prayed. Why? He told us in the gospel reading, ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made complete. So that your joy may be made complete. You know, Peter had no idea what was going on. The rest of the disciples in the building had no idea what was going on. Who's the most joyful person in this text? It's the little servant girl who believed that the prayers had been answered. Childlike faith, right? Peter's at the door. She didn't leave him out there because she didn't think it was him. It says she was so overjoyed she forgot to open the door. Peter's here! Peter's here! The prayers are answered and she is filled with joy. That's what the Lord wants for us. The Lord answers prayer and when he does we think, wow, this is as good as a dream but it's better because it's real. A man named Galgalo converted to Christianity in Kenya recently in a 95 % Muslim village. You're not really allowed to convert from Islam to Christianity. And he started being persecuted and he gathered a group of believers to himself and they started gathering together but people said, stop it, you're not allowed to believe in Jesus here. And eventually they punished them by saying, you are not allowed to have any water from any of the wells in this village. All Galgalo could do was pray. And this was his prayer. A very simple, sincere prayer. told the Lord, you know we need water. Make us water. Shortly after that prayer, he came into contact with a Christian group that said, hey, what do you need? I need a well, we can do that for you. So they dug a well for them and they prayed, let it be a good well, deep, pure water. And they pulled out the water and it was good and it was pure. Prayer answered, right? Hmm, God wasn't done. After that, they came a drought. And every other well in the village dried up except for one, except for the one the Christians had. And everybody else in the village had to come to the Christians for water and the Christians, they shared it. They loved their enemies. And how did Galgalo respond when his prayer was answered above and beyond what he could have imagined? He said this, we thought, we dreaming? Those people who hated us called us names. They have started now to give us good names just because of that water. They prayed for water and the Lord made his name hallowed. and made his kingdom come and made his will done and yes gave them their daily bread he gave them water too. Why does the Lord invite you to pray today? He tells you, ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made complete. pray. And when those prayers are answered, remember, you're not dreaming. The Lord really does answer prayers. Amen. Please stand. and the peace of God which goes beyond all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen. We now confess our faith with Christians around the world and throughout time using the words of the Apostles' Creed. I believe in God the Father Almighty. ⁓ from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. There we will come to judge the living. Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints, the Forgiveness of Sins, the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Everlasting. Amen. You may be seated for the Responsive Prayer of the Church. Loving God and Lord, you created the universe that surrounds us and the globe on which we live. You control all things through your Son who sits at your right hand in glory. Give your word power as it works in our hearts and minds. Clear away our confusion and demolish our doubts. Send your spirit to strengthen both our confidence in your promises and our desire to live according to your will. Thanks signs of the times warn us that the end of time is near. Protect us from scoffers who sneer at your truth. Spare us and Christians around the world from all forms of hate and persecution. still in the hearts of our children a desire to follow you as they prepare for future days. Help them distinguish between what is passing and what is eternal. Between instant thrills and lasting joy. Encourage more young people to prepare for service in the public ministry of the gospel. and Heavenly Father, today we give a special prayer on behalf of all mothers who have given life to their children and nurtured them with loving concern and faithful instruction. May their children honor them and call them blessed. When they become weary, sustain them with physical and spiritual rest. And hear us, Lord, as we pray in silence. Whether we pray together or alone, have promised to hear and answer us. Give us patience to accept your blessings in whatever way you send them. In your love and wisdom, prepare us for the day when you will take us to be with you forever. Hear us for Jesus' sake. Amen. We gather our thanks offerings to God. you you We stand for the closing prayers. Blessed Lord, you have given us your holy scriptures for our learning. May we so hear them, read, learn, and take them to heart, that being strengthened and comforted by your holy word, we may cling to the blessed hope of everlasting life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace. Amen. You may be seated for the closing hymn, hymn 464, stanzas one, three, and four. Good morning. A joy together, together with you. It's fun when you just start picking up words of the hymns that carry all the way through, and it wasn't even intentional. I picking hymns that are all about prayer, but all of them had this undercurrent of joy. Joy in Jesus, joy in answered prayer. And sure, those go together, right? Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete. So thank you, Jesus, for answering our prayers today and giving us joy. Next Sunday is a big festival in the church here, Ascension. We celebrate Jesus Ascension into heaven. If you'd like to celebrate it on its proper day, Thursday, we have our normal Thursday 630 worship service, but we're not doing anything big or special on that. So we'll celebrate Ascension on Thursday and on Sunday, same service. And then also on Sunday, after Bible class and Sunday school, which is the last big Bible class and Sunday school, we'll have a fundraising lunch for the youth rally. So please plan on sticking around for all of that and helping gather some funds for our youth to go to the youth rally this summer. After that, we'll have Bible study in a different way. Every Sunday starting Memorial Day weekend will be a 19-minute Bible study after church for the whole family. And it'll be appropriate for everyone and we'll tackle a memory verse and connect some teachings and some Bible stories to that. and send you on your way. So plan on attending that. If you haven't been to Bible study before, if you think, ⁓ man, I can't do another hour, good news, 19 minutes. Everybody can do 19 minutes. So I look forward to seeing you there. Another way, of course, to grow in your faith is we have these Forwarding Christ subscriptions. Those magazines are back there in a self-serving way. I have to tell you to pick up this copy because I have an article in here with my world famous drawings. So, signatures at about a hundred bucks a pop, and I'll sign those back there after you pick that up. Any other announcements out there? Marcy. All right, Tuesday is election day, so any help clearing the narthex? After Bible class, they'd be appreciated. All right, then we have our Wells connection for May. Hi, I'm Wells president Mark Schrader. This month, more than 40 men will graduate from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and soon after that, begin their service as pastors. It's my prayer that these men continue to grow spiritually and professionally throughout their ministries. One way that they can do that is through the seminary's continuing education program called Grow in Grace. Early the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. Continuing education is a great benefit for any profession. If as a pastor I think, I already know it all, that's a pretty dangerous thing. Your pastor needs to be filled with God's word too, just like you do. And it can kind of be a draining thing as a pastor to be constantly sharing that word with others. And for you as congregation members to notice that your pastor needs to have an avenue for others to be filling him. In addition to training new pastors to serve our church body, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary's Grow in Grace program offers ways to help pastors continue to grow even after they've entered full-time ministry. We offer courses in a variety of modalities. We like it most when they can come in person and be with each other and with the instructor. But because we have pastors all around the country and around the world, we also offer courses online. Pastors taking these classes online or in person at the seminary in January or June can build enough credits to earn an additional master's degree in sacred theology. This degree is on top of the Master's of Divinity degree that they already have upon graduation from the seminary. Our church body is served well when our pastors are growing and the pastor has to be on board with that. The seminary and the synod are definitely on board with that. But congregational leaders also need to see the importance of their pastor having time and resources for professional and spiritual growth. What has really served me is to first of all have congregations that have been understanding and supportive. And I think the members of my churches have seen that there's benefit to having their pastor keep growing in God's word. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to take classes with professors, to learn from my classmates, and to have an opportunity to learn things that I have found to be very, very practical. As you work through the coursework, it really does force you to re-evaluate, how am I doing? How can I apply this here? What does work? What doesn't work in the context where I serve? The word of God doesn't change, but Our life circumstances, our cultural trends, the challenges that we face do change. And we need to keep growing and staying fresh as called workers. Just for me to fall in love over and over again with God's Word, that I think helps me help God's people fall in love over and over again with God's Word too. We encourage pastors and congregations to consider the value that continuing education through Grow in Grace can bring to pastors and their congregation members. You can learn more about Grow in Grace on Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary's website, wls.edu.

Acts 12 · chapter mention John 16 · chapter mention Acts 12 · chapter mention Acts 12 · chapter mention