For All People: On the Very Night | Part 5

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Good morning.

It's great to be with you if you're new or we just don't know each other yet.

My name's Ryan, and uh today we're actually finishing out a series we've been in.

It's part five called For All People.

And here's what we said over the last several weeks is that Jesus was actually explicit.

He was absolutely clear on this one thing that following him is actually good for all people.

Following him and his ways aren't just good for some people or a few people, perfect people, special people.

Following him is actually good for every single person on the planet.

Here's how we said it: that the gospel, which is Jesus' life, his death, his resurrection, the ways of Jesus, is good news, fundamentally good news for all people, not just some people.

And then he went further than that.

He went beyond that and he said, according to Jesus, and so if it is really good for every single person according to Jesus, then we are, as his followers, to go share it with all people.

And we've been journeying through the book of Acts, which actually chronicles the uh very origins and history of how this movement and church began.

Uh how think about this.

How did this Jerusalem centric Jewish-based group explode in the obscure part of uh the Roman Empire, this little area in the Palestinian region, into what now revolutionized and changed the world as we know it.

And in fact, how it began to spread from Jerusalem is so counterintuitive and so incredible.

It's not the way we would have written the story.

And we began all the way back in Acts chapter 7, that this spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, as Jesus said, actually began with Stephen, who was martyred or killed for his faith.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

And Saul, he's overseeing and approving this execution of Stephen.

And it says in the beginning of Acts 8 that a great persecution broke out then on all the church.

And as they went, think about this.

As they were experiencing one of the worst experiences of their life, the good news is still so good, they can't help but share it as they're going.

And as they go, persecution broke out, and then revival broke out as well.

And they began to share it with the Samaritan people in Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Amazing.

And then on Easter Sunday, we talked about this, Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

This is incredible.

That the great persecutor of the faith, Saul, who was the point leader for persecuting Christians on the road to imprison Christians in Damascus, encounters the risen Savior Jesus, gives his life, and he moves from persecutor to apostle, persecutor to preacher of the gospel.

And it moved from Samaritan people, it moved from uh, you know, persecuting, you know, those who are persecutors of the faith, then to Gentile people.

And we looked at Acts chapter 10, where many of us uh fall into that category as Gentiles, and Peter has this vision, and and God says, you know, the good news is good for all people, and I can't underscore how radical, disruptive of a concept this would have been for the Jewish believer that it would expand beyond not just Jewish people or Samaritan people, but then to all people, Gentile people, Cornelius type people, who was a Roman centurion in Caesarea, which was the center of you know Rome's power in the Palestinian area.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

And then Acts chapter 11, we looked at last week, and Chris taught on it, and it was the church in Antioch.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

It's where they're first called Christian, that they looked and sounded so much like Jesus, it was a put down and said, You're your little Christ.

And this is incredible.

This is the first picture we get this, that the first great multi-ethnic church.

There was believers from Africa to Asia in this church, Jewish and Gentile, men and women worshiping together, and we see this incredibly profound church that is not just for a certain people or a few people or the right people or anytime.

It was for all people.

Now, as we conclude, we're in Acts chapter 12, and it's actually a parentheses in the storyline for Luke, and he actually moves back from Antioch all the way back to Jerusalem, and he's gonna focus in on Peter, and he's gonna highlight something because Peter's in Jerusalem and he finds himself in an absolutely desperate, impossible situation.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

And I don't know about you today, or you this last year, or last month, but what do you do?

What do you do when you're absolutely desperate?

What do you do when it all feels hopeless?

When you have no ability to change the circumstances in your life, when you feel like you're stuck in just an impossible place.

What do you do when you're absolutely desperate?

And maybe that's where you walked in today, and personally you feel absolutely desperate, and there's been some things that have been gripping your heart.

You might have feel absolutely hopeless in the sea of anxiety or perhaps depression, or or or maybe an addiction has gripped your life.

It might be your marriage.

We've talked about COVID as being the great reveal, and it's revealed what's under the surface.

And for many, I've talked with their marriage, it's been like, man, this I'm desperate now.

This has been hard.

We're really struggling.

It might be with some of your kids.

It might be with maybe some of your parents.

A relationship.

Maybe it's with someone outside of you that you're in a desperate situation for someone else, and it's a health issue.

You know, I asked us to pray uh a few weeks ago for my friend Judy, who this last week underwent brain surgery.

What do you do when you're in that desperate situation and you feel hopeless?

Well, Peter, Peter's in an absolutely desperate situation, and in Acts 12, we discover what we are to do, what we can do when it feels like we can do nothing at all.

If you got your Bibles, would you open up to Acts chapter 12?

Acts 12 · chapter mention

We pick up the story in verse 1.

It begins this way.

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.

Now, King Herod isn't the same Herod, I want to give you a little context, as Herod the Great, if you remember the Christmas story, and he's the one that uh was so threatened by a new king that he killed all the babies.

This is actually Herod's grandson, uh, and they were a fan ruling family power in the Judean area, put in power by Rome itself.

And so Herod, he had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

Now, there's a couple James also in the Bible here.

This is James and John, who Jesus invited to be his disciples.

They were fishermen, if you know the story.

And he's walking along and said, Come follow me, and they leave their nets and their father and follow him.

Now, Jesus also has a brother named James.

Uh, and his brother named James ends up being the leader of the Jerusalem church, and we'll hear about him in a little bit later, but I want you to know that there's two different James, and this is the only place we see the clear in scripture, one of the apostles where they were killed.

Now, all eleven of the apostles were all martyred for their faith, but this this is the one where it says, James, he was put to death by the sword.

Now, notice Herod, he says, when he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.

Politically, it's advantageous to persecute the church, and so this is a political, not a religious movement.

This happened during the festival of unleavened bread.

After they're arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squadrons of four soldiers each.

Now, why in the world would he need so much guard for one guy?

Well, this is actually Peter's third time being arrested so far in the book of Acts.

And each time God has shown up and he's been miraculously delivered.

Herod's gone, ain't no way.

This time I'm gonna have four guards of four squadrons each.

We're gonna bound, we're gonna chain him.

We're not letting this go.

In fact, I have big plans for you.

Uh, because Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after Passover.

He's thinking this is going to really promote his uh good, you know, policy with the Jewish people.

He's excited, he he's got a whole campaign planned.

And so Peter was kept in prison.

But by the way, when you see butts in the scripture, pay attention to them.

I love big butts, uh, not that kind.

Um, but anyways, they're so incredible because they're the turn to you just got it.

That's fantastic.

Um, they're just these turns of phrases that should draw our attention to something's going one direction, and there's these reversals, and there's these incredible reversals in the scripture of God acting and working.

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

He's stuck in an impossible situation.

There's nothing the church can do, they have no power, they have no political pull.

There's nothing.

They're desperate.

And so, what do the desperate people do of God?

They earnestly pray.

It says then that the night before Herod was to bring Peter to trial.

Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the sentry stood guard at the entrance.

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side.

Woke him up, quick, get up, he said.

And the chains fell off Peter's wrist.

You know, that line right there the night before is where we get the title of our ser of our sermon today, on the very night.

You know, as we're praying, as we're in these desperate situations, we so long for God to show up.

And yet he rarely shows up in our timing, does he?

You know, wouldn't it be nice if he just showed up early once in a while?

And like on our schedule, in our time frame, under our expectations, and we're just waiting and wondering, and it's always on the very night.

The night before, see, God, God rarely shows up on our time frame, but he is never late.

And the night before, Peter's to go to trial and to be publicly executed.

An angel shows up and miraculously delivers him.

Now, now the angel tells Peter and says, Hey, Pete, because that was short, and that's the way angels talk to people.

Uh, hey, Pete, I need you to grab your stuff, get your cloak on, and and come follow me.

I mean, and he gets up and he literally thinks this is a vision, a dream.

He's not sure what's going on.

He gets up, he walks past the guards at the, you know, that are guarding him, he walks through the prison gate, down the street, the gate to the city opens this huge, massive gate that was built for protection of the city.

It opens on its own.

He walks down the street and then the angel's gone, and he's like, wait a second, this was for real.

I thought I was having an awesome dream, but this is an awesome reality.

Then Peter, the text says, came to himself and said, Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.

When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.

John Mark's home, the house of Mary was Jesus' base of operation when he did ministry in the Jerusalem area.

Many people believe this is where uh the upper room discourse and time with the Last Supper was.

Uh, this is uh many where people believe where Pentecost took place, and where the 120 were praying.

Peter knows this is the place that people are praying, and he shows up and he knocks on the door, and a servant girl comes to the gate and hears his voice so excited, leaves them at the door, runs in, tells everyone, Peter's at the door.

They're praying for a miracle.

She tells them, and they go, No, no, no, that can't be right.

And she's insisting, and they're trying to explain up.

Maybe it's his angel, and we don't even know what that means.

And she keeps insisting, and Peter's just still knocking.

He's going, Come on, come on.

And eventually they go to the door, open it up, and sure enough, there's Peter.

And he begins to tell them all how God had worked and how he showed up and saved and how he miraculously delivered.

And he says, Go tell James, the brother of Jesus, and the other disciples.

And then Peter high-tailed it out of there and got away from Jerusalem quickly.

Now, you can imagine the next day, Herod was not so pleased when he came to find out his high-profile uh public trial is now canceled.

And so he does what any disgraced uh public person does, he holds accountable those he wants to hold accountable, and so he executed the soldiers right then and there.

And what I love about the way Luke masterfully tells this story is then he zooms in on Herod now.

And he zooms in on the end story of Herod, and he picks it up, and he says, This, then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

Why?

Well, he had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they now joined together and sat in audience with him.

Verse 21 On a the appointed day, Herod, wearing his royal robe, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people.

They shouted, This is the voice of God, not a man.

Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

That is a terrible way to go, I think.

And then verse 24, Luke's gives us this incredible summary statement.

But the word of God continued to spread and to flourish.

I love how John Stott, theologian, summarizes chapter 12.

He writes, the chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison, and Herod triumphing.

It closes with Herod dead, Peter free, and the word of God triumphing.

What do you do?

What do you do?

When you're absolutely desperate, when it all looks hopeless, when you have no power to change the circumstance.

The key verse, the thing that Luke wanted us to like highlight is Acts chapter 12, verse 5, where he says, So Peter was kept in prison.

Acts 12:5

And the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

Luke's connecting Peter's dramatic, miraculous release with the church earnest prayer.

Peter doesn't want us to miss this.

Because I think sometimes we just go, well, Pete's a good guy, and God would do that.

And he's saying, you know what?

The church earnestly was praying, and because of their prayers, then Peter experienced this miraculous release.

That there's this connection point between the activity and what we see in our physical world and what we do in our private prayer life.

And what I love about this, what I love about chapter 12 is Luke doesn't try to answer the mystery that so many of us wrestle with when it comes to prayer and especially unanswered prayer, or when God shows up or when he doesn't.

Chapter 12 opens with James, an apostle, being executed, and Peter being miraculously released.

And honestly, the wise in many of these areas will never know this side of eternity.

And and Luke doesn't try to resolve it for us.

Here's what we do know from scripture as you study it.

The first is you see God delivering us out or from something.

The way Peter was delivered out miraculously from this.

And many, that's your story, maybe even from addiction that God delivered you.

Like you were addicted one day, God showed up, and you were completely free.

Or maybe you were healed physically.

That's one of the ways that God delivers.

Another way that God delivers is not just out, but sometimes he delivers us through.

Like Psalm 23, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

That this process of God walking with you and walking through that situation, and many that is your story as you walk with him, and he delivers you through that circumstance, and you experience such a deeper understanding of who God is, his care in the moment.

And finally, we see that sometimes God delivers not just out or through, but unto.

And this is where James's experience.

And that to be absence in the body is to be present with the Lord, and that sometimes, and we don't always understand the whys, but sometimes it is so better for God to bring his loved one home.

And he does that as well.

And in this tension, Luke doesn't want us to miss something really important.

Because we can get sidelined on the questions of why.

He wants us to see the connection here.

It's a simple point, really.

It's one that many of you probably intellectually agree with.

It's really more the practicality of it, isn't it?

And the point is simply this prayer is powerful.

Prayer is powerful.

Let me say it again.

Prayer is powerful.

What do you do when you're absolutely desperate?

Pray.

That word earnest that Luke uses here, by the way, is only he uses it one other time, and it's in his gospel, and it's at the end of Jesus' earthly uh ministry.

It's on the night he was to be betrayed and the next day executed, and it says in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus is preparing for the what's next, it says that Jesus earnestly prayed to the point where he was sweating drops of blood.

That earnestly, persistently, focusedly, that he was praying, there was an intensity of prayer, there was a fervency of prayer.

See, prayer is not just sending, you know, good thoughts out, or you know, just sending something out to the universe.

Prayer is coming before your perfect and good heavenly father who has invited you in, longs to hear your voice, and to bring the needs and concerns, the desires of your heart before him.

And just as you would to perhaps uh someone that you know is all good for you, that has your best interest for many and for some, it would be a paternal figure, whether it's a literal family uh paternal figure, or maybe just someone that you've experienced in your life that you know, I'm gonna go to them and they're gonna bring help in this season.

Prayer is when you bring that before him and you say, God, would you help?

God, would you help?

And it's this earnest type prayer, this focused prayer.

Why?

Because prayer is powerful.

Prayer changes things.

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote it this way that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Like when you pray, it's powerful.

I just want Later on, he just he writes about you know Elijah and when Elijah prayed and the heavens stopped uh with rain and praise God there's no rain today.

Uh and then he prayed again and the heavens poured down in rain.

But I just wonder when he pinned that, if he he was brought back reminded when Mary came and brought the news of Peter's release, when John Mark stopped by and said, Guess what?

We were earnestly praying, and as a group, we were praying fervently, and God showed up and he says, Yes, the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

What would change?

Friends, if we really believe that prayer is powerful, what what would change in your life if you truly believe that when you pray, uh things change?

Like I don't fully understand it.

God's fully sovereign and he works, and he said in his sovereignty that when we pray, he moves and he works and it changes the outcomes.

I love how Richard Foster, in his book, um, celebrating the disciplines, he writes this we are working with God to determine the future.

Certain things will happen in history if we pray rightly.

That there are some things in your life that can only come about by prayer.

That there is no king more powerful than a believer on their knees in prayer.

There are no chains too strong, no guards too great, no prison too impenetrable, no gate too massive for the power of prayer.

Let me ask you.

Where in your life do you need the power of God to fall?

Where in your life do you need the power of God to reside?

Wherever prayer focuses, the power of God falls.

You know, there's some things that will never change.

God says, unless we pray that he longs to work in cooperation with us.

In fact, Jesus one day, he sent out his disciples to do ministry, and he gave them the authority to heal and to cast out demons, and and they're having this incredible ministry time, and God's, you know, they're just flying high, and they come across a man who's possessed by an impure spirit, and they're going like, All right, we got this, and they, you know, try to cast out this demon, and it's not, it ain't working.

And then Jesus comes and they say, We need your help, and he and he and he he cast out the demon, and then later they ask Jesus, what happened?

And he goes, This kind can only be cast out by prayer and fasting.

Like there's some things in your life, there's some things like in your marriage with your kids, with some circumstances, with your job, like like that you would really believe that prayer is powerful and that it changes things, and that you get on your knees and you go, Okay, I'm gonna come earnestly, fervently, persistently, I'm coming to you no matter what.

Well, how do we begin to pray like that?

You know, Jesus, as he was teaching his disciples how to pray in the um Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter six, before he gets to what we know as the Lord's Prayer, he gives some instruction on how to pray, how to pray earnestly, how to pray effectively, how we can partner with God and what he wants to do.

And here's what he says he says, when I when uh hang on, here's what he says, and I don't have the right page.

There we go.

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogue and on the street corners to be seen by others.

True I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your father who's unseen.

Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like the pagans, for they think they'll be heard because of their many words.

Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him.

When you pray.

How do we pray earnestly?

Let me give you three aspects of effective prayer or earnest prayer from Jesus here.

And the first is simply this it's a perspective shift that you would begin to view prayer as something that's necessary and not just a nice idea.

That is actually necessary.

Uh, you know, I think many of us view prayer the way I view flossing.

And I'm in dangerous territory because my dentist is here.

And we're I was just at the dentist and she asked me, How often do you floss?

And you know my answer was not as often as I should.

So that I could get out of answering how often that I should actually do floss.

You see, I I I know that flossing is important, intellectually up here.

But if I'm honest, it really falls in the land of the nice idea, and so I floss when I get around to it, when I think about it, and especially when I need it, when something's not quite right.

See, we have to move from this idea of prayer just being a nice idea of like, yeah, I'll get around to it, and you know, I don't pray as much as I should, you know, I really should pray more, but it but I'll get around to it, and when I really am in this desperate place, then I'll pray and it moved to necessary for life.

Notice that Jesus said, when you pray, when you pray, when you pray, not if you pray.

It's just part of prayer.

I remember when it moved from me from being a nice idea to being necessary.

Um, we planted awakening church eight and a half years ago, and it was a nice idea that in my heart and my head, I'm like, when we lead this church, I want to lead from my knees.

And doesn't that sound good?

I'm like, yes, it does.

I just, it was a nice idea, but let's be honest.

The first two years, that was not a reality, that was just a nice idea.

And then we hit some really hard times, hit some leadership challenges, hit some things that over the course of a few months of times, I was like, I don't even know if we're gonna make it as a church.

I don't even know if awakening's gonna exist.

I don't know if I'm gonna make it as a pastor.

And it was in the crucible of pain.

It was in the challenges and in the trials of my life that it prayer moved from that nice idea to necessary.

And could it be that maybe God's doing some of that in your life right now?

In the crucible of what you're walking through and what you're going through, and what he's wanting to so lovingly draw you to, that you many of us miss out on the power and the transformation of prayer, not only in our lives but in the world around us, that it's necessary.

First, we have to begin to see it as necessary, not just a nice idea.

I like how Corey Timboon said it.

She asked this question Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

Is it the thing that's directing your life, or is it just in the back and you pull it out in an emergency?

Prayer is necessary, not just a nice idea.

The second thing is to pursue the father with a sincere heart.

Pursue the father with a sincere heart.

Like, how should I pray, Ryan?

I don't really even know how to pray.

That feels so intimidating and like I'm supposed to use certain words, right?

And uh, Lord God, these thou's.

I mean, do I say thou?

What do I say, Ryan?

How do I talk to God?

Just sincerely, from the heart.

Notice Jesus said when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites and don't keep on babbling like the pagans.

Well, the hypocrites were the Pharisees.

The Pharisees made prayer performance.

In fact, there was multiple times, three times a day, they would pray.

They would stand out on the street corner and they'd be in their full garb and they would pray very loudly for all people to hear, thinking in their performance it made them holier, more acceptable to God.

Jesus says, you know, just pray with an honesty, not for other people, but for your own heart.

And he says, Don't keep on babbling like the pagans.

The pagans in their rituals, uh, they would use repetitive words over and over somehow to coerce the gods to move on their behalf.

They they thought it like there's a secret formula.

If I just use this right word, if I have this combination, you know, uh, you know, if I say this and that and these and amens, and then maybe God will move.

No, just just just come to God with a sincere heart.

God hears what's in me.

In fact, I like how C.S.

Lewis said it.

He said, we must lay before him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.

Like, what's in you?

What are the things that you're struggling with?

What are your doubts and your concerns?

What are the things that even you if you you don't want to bring to God?

You're afraid to bring to God.

You're like, I couldn't utter that before Him.

And the reality is He already knows it.

And as a perfect Heavenly Father, he says, Bring it to me.

I want to hear what's on your heart.

Just bring it to me.

The Psalms inform us and teach us how we can lament, how we can even argue and have such heartache with God and bring the full honesty to him.

And yet in that he draws us to himself.

You know, one of the prayers I pray is this is to God.

Is there anything in me that's not of you?

Is there anything in me that's just not of you?

God, would you show me about that?

By he answers that prayer like real quick.

Because I just I just want to know, like, if there's anything in me, if there's any motives, you know, in this season, just there's been a lot going on.

There's been a lot of leadership challenges.

There's been uh, you know, a lot of friends and people that we love going through difficult times, and something that I've done more in the last several months than I've probably done in the last several years is just fast.

Like you said, there's some things that just won't happen unless you fast.

And so, like for me, just the sincerity of heart is just going, God, I'm gonna bring all of me to you.

And so I'm fasting and I'm fasting in this area for this outcome, for this person or for this situation.

But let's be real, I recognize by fasting I'm gonna lose a few pounds, and I like that.

And so, Jesus, I bring that before you too.

I just bring that dual motive there, and I just confess that's in me.

I want my heart to be full of here, but I have this too.

And he meets you there, and where you just bring your heart before him.

I love how Anne Lamont said it the most important first prayer is help.

Sincerity of heart, where you just bring the most important first prayer, and it might be the only words that you can get out of your mouth right now is just help, and he meets you there, he meets you there, he meets you there.

Just bring and pursue the Father with a sincere heart.

And finally, recognize the ground where you stand is holy.

Go into your room, close the door, and pray.

Did you know your room is holy?

Did you know your couch is holy?

Did you know your bathroom is holy?

I know some of you spend a long time on your phone in your bathroom, me too.

And maybe, just maybe it's a holy place that God wants to do something there.

Did you know your car is holy?

Did you know on your walk you're walking on holy ground, you're running on holy ground?

Did you know your office place is holy?

Do you know your campus is holy?

Your dorm is holy, your apartment, like like you're presently right now on holy ground.

Wherever you're at.

Like if you just have that awareness, like I don't have to go anywhere, I don't have to do anything, like right now, this place is holy, and God wants to meet me, and I'm on holy ground, and he wants to have a holy conversation with me.

Oh, that will draw us to him when we recognize that we're standing on holy ground before a holy God that welcomes us in and loves us.

Three aspects of effective prayer.

It's necessary.

Come with a sincere heart, and where you are standing is holy ground.

What do you do when you're absolutely desperate?

Earnestly, earnestly, prayer.

Why?

Because prayer is powerful and it changes, it's not just throwing things up into the sky.

You have a God who welcomes you in and lovingly responds and moves on your behalf.

Are you needing to experience the power and presence of God in your life in a particular situation?

Pray.

You know, I shared about uh Judy and her surgery and her recovery is hard.

And I'm gonna ask you to continue to pray as she's still in the process, and it's a big process.

Pray for her and Andre and the kids.

Why?

Because when we earnestly pray, God moves and God works.

Where do you need to experience the power and presence of God?

I just want to close by praying that we would pray together as a church.

You know, one of our good friends or friends, and Andre and Judy's really dearest friends, he set aside a 24-hour prayer for Judy.

30 minutes each, and covered in prayer for 30 minutes each, and and you just get to see like his hand of protection over their life and intervene and strength that he's giving to the family.

It's that fervent, that focused, earnest prayer.

And now, in this moment, would you pray and bring to him what's in you?

We just want to pray through the Lord's Prayer with you.

Lord's prayer begins this way: our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

God, we thank you that we come before our perfect Heavenly Father, that there is no problem in our life that is too great or need too small for your attentive care.

You're not distant or aloof, you're present and concerned.

Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God, we ask for your will be done in our lives, for your will to be done in this church, your will to be done in the Mariah family's life, that you would strengthen, that that there would be more of heaven taking place because of your people here on earth.

Would you give us today our daily bread?

What are the needs and the concerns?

What are the the impossible situations?

What feels absolutely desperate?

Would you bring that to him now?

He says, Bring it to me, bring it to me, bring it to me.

God, we pray for Judy right now as a collective church with one heart and one.

You would continue and bring healing and restoration, bring her to full health.

God, we ask that you would strengthen, you would encourage, that your loving arms of comfort would bolster and hold their family.

That your peace would surpasses all understanding.

God, it just would be that supernatural peace for them that can only be the presence of God.

And God, we ask as a church that you would forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, that we would be a people of grace and mercy.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

That you would protect us and allow us to walk closely with you.

For yours is the kingdom and the power forever and ever.

Amen.

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