Called to Community: A Praying community

Good morning everyone.

Welcome to Stop 9, and we're glad you're here.

Members and guests, of course, if you're a first-time guest, you're very special to us.

We love you, we want you here and we're selfish.

Yeah, we want you here every Sunday.

Glad you're here.

Glad you're here this morning.

Please take time, everyone.

Fill out an attendance card located in the back of the pew in front of you.

Fill that out.

You can make prayer requests, you can make announcements.

Just leave it in the edge of your pew as you leave and those will be picked up later.

And we do pray about those at our elders meetings, at our staff meetings.

We do attend to those.

I want to remind you that this coming Saturday, April 27th, april 27th, at the Youth Center, there will be a cordial chorus, the cabaret cordial chorus.

We do this every year and Miss Judy Miller is in charge of getting helpers and getting volunteers to help all this go on.

She needs your help and there's going to be a meeting down front.

Be over here, to my left, to your right, as you face forward.

This morning, after morning services, there'll be a meeting down here with Miss Judy Miller and she'll be explaining what tasks she needs done and that is going to be this Saturday, april 27th.

That's when the event is.

It is the Cordial Chorus.

The meeting will take place after we dismiss this morning down front, so please plug in with that.

We do have some new babies.

Babies are being born and stop, nine is growing Boy.

That's really good.

Yes, joe and Brittany Griffith.

They have a new baby.

This is Jacob Everett James Griffith.

Five weeks early, but things are good, things are okay.

This little little Jacob was born 4-18-24 at 5-25 pm.

Brittany got a helicopter ride to Canton Hospital.

Things went fine.

Four pounds, nine ounces, 16.9 inches long.

Everything come out okay.

Fantastic.

Yes, hooray, yes, yes, very good.

And also Tanner and Brooklyn Thomas.

They have a new baby boy.

Lucas Marshall Thomas was born 4-17-24 at 9-24 pm, and he weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces.

I understand everything's fine with that.

Let's welcome.

Yes, that's hooray Good, very good, very good.

Something in the water there, I don't know what's.

Hooray Good, very good, very good.

Something in the water there, I don't know what's going on, boy, I want to keep on our prayers.

Our brother Ralph Schenkel and our brother Bob Leidner and others who are dealing with some health complications.

We pray for those Also, as we always do.

Keep on our prayers our law enforcement, our troopers, our deputies, our dispatch, our first responders, the leaders of our country, leaders of our communities.

I want to keep in our prayers all those.

And also Alex Ginsback is having a birthday on the 25th, so it's happy birthday to Alex, and we appreciate that.

Thank you so much for being here today as we continue with our worship.

Oh, thank you.

This just in, excuse me, bryce, these keys were found in this room.

Now, this is very busy.

We've had a funeral here this past week.

We've had a calling here this past week.

It's a Ford product, so it must be a Christian.

Anyway, we've got a whole bunch of tags.

If you lost a set of keys, come see me.

We'll have this, or else I'll just walk through the parking lot hitting the horn button and see what happens like that.

How about that?

Okay, now we're back.

Good morning, let's go.

Let's go ahead and stand up.

We'll start our worship.

Anybody make it out this morning to say some prayers in our community?

Wow, praise God, amen.

I know we did.

I hope God blesses the organizations we prayed over and I hope, hope God blesses the organizations we prayed over and I hope that he blesses the ones you prayed over as well.

Let's begin our worship this morning with a word of prayer Dear God, thank you for this morning and thank you for this portion of your family that we get to meet with and sing with and worship with and study your word.

And thank you for your Son and thank you for your Holy Spirit, whom we welcome in here to just cover us and encourage us and admonish us and, as we go out into the world, just let us be a light in this world, and it's through your Son's name we pray Amen.

Let the King of my heart be the mountain where I run the fountain I drink from oh, he is my song.

Let the king of my heart be the shadow where I hide the ransom for my life.

Oh, he is my song.

You are good, good Lord, good Lord, you are good, good Lord.

You are good, good Lord, you are good, good Lord.

Let the king of my heart be the wind inside my sails, the anchor in the waves.

Oh, he is my song.

Let the King of my heart be the fire inside my veins, the echo of my days.

oh, he is my song.

You are good, good Lord.

Lord, you are good good Lord.

You are good, good Lord.

You're never going to let, never going to let me down.

You're never going to let, never, never gonna let me down.

You're never gonna let, never gonna let me down.

You're never gonna let never gonna let me down.

You are good, good Lord.

You are good, good Lord.

You are good, good Lord.

You are good, good Lord.

You are good, good Lord.

You are good, good Lord, amen, and he is a good Lord, amen, amen and he is a good Lord, amen, there is an endless song.

Echoes in my soul.

I hear the music ring.

And though the storms may come.

I am holding on and to the rock I cling.

How can I keep say enough?

How amazing is your love.

How can I keep from shouting your name?

And it makes my heart want to sing.

I will lift my eyes in the darkest night, For I know my Savior lives, and I will walk with you, knowing you'll see me through and sing the songs you give.

How can I keep from singing your praise?

How can I ever say enough?

How amazing is your love.

How can I keep from shouting your name?

I know I am loved by the King and it makes my heart.

How can I keep from singing your praise?

How could I ever say enough?

How amazing is your love.

How can I keep from shouting your name?

I know.

I am loved by the King and it makes my heart I am loved by the King and it makes my heart Want to sing.

Amen, there's a stirring deep within me.

Could it be my time?

See my gracious Savior face to face when all is done?

Is that His voice I am hearing?

Come away, my precious one.

Is he calling me, calling me?

Is he calling me?

I will rise up.

I'll rise up.

Then I'll bow down and lay my crown at his wounded feet.

There's a stirring deep within me.

Could it be my time has come when I see my gracious Savior Face to face when all is done?

Is that His voice I am hearing?

Come away, my precious one.

Is he calling me?

Is he?

calling me.

I will rise up.

I'll rise up and bow down and lay my crown at His wounded feet.

I will rise up.

I'll rise up, then I'll bow down and lay my crown at his wounded feet.

There's a stirring deep within me.

Amen.

Our scripture reading today is Acts 12, verses 1.

Acts 12:1

Actually we're just going to do 4 through 5.

There it says Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.

Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover.

But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

So that's Acts 12, verses 4 and 5, and we'll get into that.

Acts 12:4

This morning.

I want to go ahead and we'll say a prayer and then we'll dismiss the kids to class and then we'll begin our five-minute greet and welcome.

So let's pray.

Dear God, we thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for an opportunity to get together as a family and just an opportunity to praise and to worship you.

God, we're thankful for the ways that you've worked already this morning, god, and we just pray that you continue to do that.

Be with the kids as they go to class this morning.

We're thankful for the teachers and their willingness to serve and to teach those young minds and, god, we pray that those young children will grow up to be disciples and that they'll go out into the world and make a difference.

In your name, thank you for Jesus.

It's in his name, we pray Amen.

Very good, let's begin with a word of prayer.

Dear God, we thank you so much for this morning.

God, we thank you for an opportunity to be a family, to be a community that interacts with one another.

God, we're thankful for this time right now where we can talk about our week, talk about the things that we're doing and just some of the accomplishments we've had this week.

We're thankful for this time.

God, as we enter this time, I pray that you open up our hearts and our ears and our eyes to the things that you want us to know, god, and that we can be a community that goes out and continues to pray God, thank you for Jesus.

We thank you for his example and the way that he interacted and loved people.

And, god, we pray for opportunities to see your love and to show your love to the people around.

So, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen.

All right, good morning.

Okay, if you didn't know, some of you walked in this morning and probably didn't know we titled this Sunday Praying Community Sunday and if you were here for Bible class time, what we had you do was kind of go throughout the building and pray for different parts of the building and just different things, because we were talking about being a praying community and it would be one thing to get up here and talk about how we should be a praying community and then not do it.

So we wanted to give you an opportunity to be that praying community.

So some of our church family was here this morning and they were praying over different parts of the building, like the large auditorium, praying over our worship time, praying over funerals that take place here, praying over the weddings that are going to take place over here, and then we had people in the hallways praying over the kids' ministry.

They were praying over things like divorce care, praying for in the small auditorium, praying for junior worship.

They were praying for the different meetings that take place in the small auditorium.

They were praying for elders meetings and they were praying for the deacons meetings and they were praying for the food pantry that takes place out of the small auditorium.

They were praying for the weekend bags that are prepared in there.

They were praying for the AA meetings that take place in there and just all of those different things.

And then, hopefully, some of our group made it over to the youth center and was praying for the teens, and they were also praying for things like the blood drives that take place there, praying for the election If you live in Buysville, you know that you vote over there at the youth center, and so we were praying for things like that.

And then over at the senior center they were praying for the golden 60s and praying for the celebrations that take place.

There's a lot of grad parties that take place over there, there's a lot of funeral dinners that take place over there, and so we as a church family have a facility that is used quite often for more than just what we do here on Sunday mornings, and so some of our church family spent time praying over our building this morning, but also some of our church family went out into the community and was praying for the community this morning, and so if you are a part of a group, or you as an individual, or your family went out and prayed at some spot in the community this week, will you go ahead and stand up for just a second so we can see who all participated?

Absolutely, thank you.

Thank you, and I have a challenge for everybody else.

That wasn't a part of that this morning.

We are going to ask you to do that this week, because we don't have to just pray on Sunday.

We can do it more.

Stay standing for a second.

Yeah, stretch those legs.

You're good.

I want to just take a few seconds.

I have this mic here and I'm going to pick on a few people and I'm just going to have them share where they went in the community this morning and what they prayed for.

So, doug, if you're willing, would you share where your group went?

Our group went to the red carpet.

We used to be the red carpet there and prayed with Bob and Sharon Leitner and I think I can speak for everybody that was there.

We were all uplifted by it and inspired by it, as well as Bob and Sharon.

We know Bob's a great guy and it was a good time.

It really was, absolutely Thank you.

Thank you, ringo, where'd you go?

We went out the red carpet.

Oh, you were at the same place.

All right, give me a back.

We went to Green City County Children's Services as well as the Child Advocacy Center, cedar Ridge, and then also over to Open Arms.

Absolutely, thank you.

Thank you for doing that.

Let's see you do it.

We went out to Meadowbrook there, to the new facility that they're building, and we prayed over the new building, all the workers out there, the community in general and all the ways that we can affect it with this new facility.

Very good, greg.

I went to the high school at John Glenn and the fire department and police department New Concord.

Absolutely.

Can we hand it back there to one of these boys in this middle row?

Yeah, you got it, Us four we were at the Cambridge.

City Park, just playing over the safety of the community and everyone involved.

Very good, thank you.

You all went to the same place, right?

Very good, gary.

We went to every school in the Cambridge system to pray for them, as well as the football stadiums.

It's not a very good football team.

Just kidding, just kidding my goodness I'm trying to stay away.

I think I'm making it crackle when I get close.

We prayed for the classrooms, for the teachers, for the special ed program they have here, for the divorced people that's going through problems and for the great use of facilities that they have here for the elders.

Absolutely Thank you for doing that.

Can you pass it down to your family?

We went to all the.

Barnesville schools and we all prayed there for the kids and the knowledge that they learned there.

Absolutely Thank you, Thank you all, for doing that.

Hope you got somewhere.

All right, here we go.

I went to the cemetery and I prayed for the people that have lost loved ones.

I went to both of the daycares in Byesville and prayed for all the kids and all the teachers.

I think I'm making it.

So it's not that I don't want to stand next to you, it's just and that's all Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Anybody else that wants to share?

Okay, can we give a round of applause for that?

That's awesome, that's great.

And so this morning we're going to continue our conversation on how to being a pray, how to be a praying community, and we're going to continue our conversation on how to be a praying community and we're going to kind of dive right into that.

But I do want to encourage you and I'll give you some homework before we even get into anything.

There are some more signs.

There's some blue signs out there that just simply say we are praying for you, and it has the church logo on it.

We encourage you.

We'd love for you to find your place in the community and go out and pray over the community, because that's what we're called to do, and so we're thankful for everybody that chose to participate.

If you didn't know about it, that's our bad.

It's kind of snuck up on us.

We tried to push it through social media a bunch this week, but we're glad that many of you got out and we hope that the rest of you would would, would participate in that as well, and so this morning I wanted to just start with just a little learn, a little bit about yourself, okay, and so I'm gonna go through a list of things here and if any of these apply to you, just put a tally on your, your outline.

We'll see you kind of keep score and see who gets the highest score.

Okay, your spouse or your friend or your brother or sister might nudge you and say, hey, that's you.

If you don't pick up on it, okay, these are things that you do without thinking.

So I'm going to say something, and it may be something that you do without thinking.

So here we go.

How many of you are pen clickers?

If you have a pen, you're going to click it.

Okay, so go ahead, raise your hand, if that's you.

We got some pen clickers.

Okay, put yourself, you get a tally.

You got a point, okay.

Number two Does anybody chew the inside of their cheek?

Okay, we got some over there.

We got some over here.

Put a tally if that's you.

Some people chew the inside of their cheek.

How many of you just kind of pick at your face?

Maybe you rub the mustache?

There you go, there you go.

Okay, this is one that I used to get scolded for by my mother.

You shake your leg.

We'd be at the dinner table and my mother would be like Josh, would you quit shaking your leg?

We'd be at the dinner table and my mother would be like Josh, would you quit shaking your leg?

I just do it out of habit, I don't even think about it, it's just like it just gets going.

It doesn't stop.

So if that's, you, go ahead and put another one.

How many of you bite your nails?

Hey, nail biters.

Okay, give yourself a tally, give yourself a tally Very good.

Hey, nail biters.

Okay, give yourself a tally, give yourself a tally Very good.

This might be one where you need the assistance of somebody else.

Okay, how many of you are the person that says okay, after every sentence?

Do we need you to pick up the house?

Okay, we're going to go to Walmart.

Okay, my dog died.

Okay, Right, oh, okay at the beginning?

Oh, okay, at the beginning.

Okay, that counts too.

So if that's you, if you're an okay person, go ahead and give yourself a tally.

Okay, oh, that's good.

How many of you smack your gum?

Okay, rigo.

Rigo's winning, I think.

Very good, all right.

Tapping your nails how many of you are a nail tapper?

Riggo?

Again, we're figuring out who's the most annoying person in the room.

Is All right, here we go.

How many of you hum when you listen to music?

You may even have ear pods in, but everybody else knows what you're listening to because you're humming and singing.

Okay, very good.

Here's one.

I got into this habit when I first got married.

How many of you twist your ring?

You play with your ring.

I feel like it's a guy thing, because we're not used to wearing rings.

And then you get married and it's like we were on our flight to our honeymoon and I just got like twisting it and I'm pulling off more.

He's like what are you doing?

I'm like I don't know.

It feels weird.

So if I get nervous, you may see me twist my ring.

How many of you play with your hair?

Play with your hair, rigo.

Yeah, you get the study.

You cherish it right.

Very good, very good.

How many of you turn every chair into a rocking chair, so it doesn't matter if it's meant to rock, you're just leaning on that thing and it's going.

Okay, james, you got a few people there.

Give yourself a tally.

How many of you talk to yourself out loud and the whole room says, okay, my wife does that.

She'll be walking through the house like we need to do this.

I'm like what?

And she's like nothing, just talking to myself.

All right, this one's interesting.

I don't know, maybe this is somebody.

How many of you, without thinking, clear your throat all the time?

Okay, I got a couple people.

I do it.

Right before I get up to speak.

I'm always like I have this irrational fear that my voice is going to go out right at the moment.

So you may catch me right before Sunday going.

It's me trying to save my voice.

All right, this is me, this is 100% me.

Two hands here Interrupt people mid-sentence.

You got kicked, you got another one, so you may be talking to somebody and they say, yeah, we went down to the forum and immediately they're like we went to the forum, we had steak, it was great.

Now, on the way to the forum, we got a flat tire.

We got a flat tire once.

We were on our way to Cincinnati.

Right?

You ever been around that person?

Maybe that's you.

Interrupts mid-sentence.

Let's do anybody in here just laugh without cause.

That's on the list of top 20 things.

Okay, we got one.

If it's awkward, you don't know what to do.

You're just going to start laughing or nothing happens.

You just laugh because you think something's funny.

And last one how many of you roll your eyes?

Roll your eyes, anybody?

All right, tally those up.

Let's see who the winner is.

We already know it's Rigo, but we'll go.

Rigo got 52.

All right, very good.

Those are all things that we do without thinking.

It takes no thought.

Those are just things that you do.

My biggest one, probably, is shaking my leg at the dinner table.

I don't even think about it.

You know people have to point it out to me.

Hey, you're doing that.

Okay, this morning, as we talk about praying and being a praying community, I hope that we can get that way Without thinking about it.

We just start praying when we find out a brother and sister's in need.

Instead of thinking about it, we just pray.

The early church was really good at that, the early church, when they were experiencing things and going through life, the first thing they did was they turned to prayer.

I think as a community, we probably could agree that we've gotten away from that a little bit, that, yes, many of us probably, hopefully, have a good prayer life.

We're going to talk about our prayer life here in just a second.

But we want to be a church community that, without even thinking, we say let's pray.

You know, a brother or sister walks in here and is dealing with something we need to be praying, we don't need to think about is it the right time, is it appropriate?

Let's just do it, let's just pray.

That's what the early church did, and so we're going to talk a little bit.

I found a research from the Pew Research, which they do some studies on churches in America.

They were asking questions about people's prayer life.

They asked the question how many Americans pray daily?

What do you think the percentage is?

What do you think the percentage is?

Americans that pray daily?

50.

I got a 50.

Can I get a 51?

I got a 20.

40%.

What did you say, lee?

54.

Add one 55% of Americans say, hey, I pray daily, I pray every day.

55%.

Is that more or less than you thought More.

That's encouraging to me that 55% Additionally 21% of Americans say hey, I pray weekly.

It may not be every day, but once a week I will pray.

I'm not an everydayer, but I do have a prayer life.

21%, 23% of Americans say they pray once a month.

So it's not every day, it's not every week, but maybe once a month.

Do you think women pray more or men?

Women, men, men.

What did you say?

One of them is right.

64% of that number is women.

Doesn't surprise me at all.

So that leaves 46% being men.

Does that shock anybody or does that tell it?

That's 110%.

I did the math wrong.

They interviewed 110%.

All right, I don't know.

That's all right, we're going to roll with it.

Either way, men was less.

That's what we need to focus on.

So, men, we've got to step it up.

Ladies, great job.

Here we go.

Oh no, I don't want you to see that one yet.

You already saw it.

It's okay.

Of that percentage of those who pray daily, you think it's mostly older than 50 or younger than 50?

Without seeing that most of you, I would assume.

The 830 service said oh, the older generation is praying more.

It's 50-50.

It's 50-50.

That's encouraging.

That's encouraging to me.

I wonder, if that under 50, how many as parents who are praying with their kids?

Because if I'm being honest about our prayer life, our prayer life got more serious when we had kids.

There are times where we forget and one of the boys looks at us and says we gotta pray.

That just happens.

That's just me being honest.

So I'm curious of that 50% where, like, what age group I don't know, but 50-50, that was interesting.

When you say you pray every day, how many of you would say it silently by yourself?

Okay, 82% of people pray silently by themselves 82%.

13% say I pray by myself, but I do say it out loud.

Do we have anybody that prays like that?

Okay, we got a few people.

I got into the habit of praying when I drive.

I don't close my eyes, but when I was going to school, driving back and forth on the weekends, that 35-40 minute drive to Parkersburg, that was kind of my prayer time and I would pray out loud.

People probably thought I was crazy at the red light, but that's what.

That was what I would do.

That's kind of my habit.

So 13% say by themselves.

2% and say I pray out loud with other people.

Is that number surprising?

Is it less than you thought?

It's way less than you thought, right.

Is it less than you thought?

It's way less than you thought, right.

This one's interesting, and I tried to explain to the 830, I'm not exactly sure what they meant when they said this one, but only 2% says with the church, and so I tried to reason with that number, because that number's terrifying to me.

Wait a minute 2% is with the church.

That's not good.

I tried to reason with it.

Maybe those are the percent of people that say they pray in church.

Maybe that's like 2% people get up in front of the church and pray.

I don't know.

Either way, I want that number to go up right, and hopefully you do too.

And so here's where we're at.

That's kind of the Americans today.

That's our prayer life, and so we could probably all agree that we could use some improvement.

And so today we're going to be in Acts, chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

We're going to start in verse 1.

And what I want you to understand is that the early church is going really well.

They received the Holy Spirit in Acts, chapter 2, and things.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Church is going really well.

They received the Holy Spirit in Acts, chapter 2, and things started to go really well.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Outside of the stoning of Stephen, things have really not been too controversial, actually.

In fact, they're preaching the gospel and hundreds and thousands are being baptized daily.

So I want you to think about that.

Once Jesus went back to heaven and the Holy Spirit came, acts got really exciting.

The book of Acts life in the new church, or at the early church, was really exciting.

People were giving their lives to Jesus and giving their lives to Christ.

But there was some moments where life got hard.

It says about that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church.

He had the apostle James, john's brother, killed with a sword, and when Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he then wanted to arrest who Peter.

So King Agrippa begins in a position of power.

Agrippa begins in a position of power, and oftentimes what happens when someone gets into a leadership or power position?

They begin to stop thinking about what they really care about and they really start to care what other people think about them.

Does that make sense?

And so King Agrippa is starting to get this mindset of.

I need everybody to like what I'm doing.

I need everybody to think what I'm doing is great.

And so he finds out when he has James killed, everybody starts cheering and everybody, the crowd erupts, basically.

And so then King Agrippa is now searching what's the next thing I can do to get the people going, what's the next thing I can do that gets the crowd to be excited?

And so his target is Peter.

We've studied Peter quite a bit.

Peter's the guy that always had something to say.

Peter's the guy that always did something.

If nobody else would, peter would.

He's the guy that jumped out of the boat when Jesus was standing on the shore.

Peter would.

He's the guy that jumped out of the boat when Jesus was standing on the shore.

He was always the one to kind of take the step.

And so King Agrippa knows and understands that's my next target.

The people will love it, all the people that want the apostles to have a hard time.

They'll cherish this if we can just get Peter.

And so he has Peter arrested.

It takes place during the Passover celebration, so they imprison him.

He doesn't want to kill him over the Passover, because he's afraid that too many people will get upset, that he won't actually win over the crowd, and so instead he waits.

He says we're going to wait until the Passover's over.

What we're going to do is we're just going to have him arrested.

I want you to notice what they do.

It says they imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.

So do I have a math teacher 16.

Very good, isn't that funny?

This is a guy that they, you know, and I think when we go back and we read about the resurrection, we read about Jesus.

They wanted Jesus dead because they didn't think Jesus was who.

He said he was right.

Think about how much security they put on Jesus in his death.

Right, they put the guards outside of the tomb, they put the big rock there, all these things.

It's funny to me that they don't appreciate Peter and the boys and the disciples and the apostles.

They don't want to hear their teaching, they don't want to know what they're talking about.

But they respect who they serve, don't they?

Peter's on high security.

It was typical for a prisoner to be handcuffed to a soldier.

That was typical that you would have one soldier handcuffed to one prisoner just to keep, you know, an eye on them.

You know where they're at.

In this situation.

They're so worried about Peter and what Peter's God can do that.

They say we're not going to just arrest you, we're going to put handcuffs on your right side.

We're going to put handcuffs on your left side.

We're going to put two soldiers just outside of your cell watching in.

We're going to put handcuffs on your right side.

We're going to put handcuffs on your left side.

We're going to put two soldiers just outside of your cell watching in.

We're going to put extra soldiers on the outside of the perimeter of the prison who are watching what Peter's going to do next.

They're worried about what God has in store, but King Agrippa doesn't care, because he wants the next applause.

He wants everybody to cheer for him.

And so here's what happens Peter is now in prison.

They're intending to bring him out after the Passover, but while Peter was in prison, the church did what Prayed, and so the first thing that we can learn about the early churches and their prayer life is this Just because we feel stuck or we feel trapped, it doesn't mean that we're not free to pray.

Peter was trapped, wasn't he?

I mean, he had all eyes on him.

He had the handcuffs on both sides.

He was stuck.

He probably was a little uncomfortable to pray out loud in that moment, right, all eyes were on him.

Now I do think he was praying.

He probably had the guts to pray out loud.

But even if he didn't, I know that he was doing that silent prayer with God, so I'm guessing Peter did that.

But there are often times where my shame and my guilt keep me from reaching out to God.

If we're being honest, sometimes the way that my life goes and the way that the guilt and shame falls on me, I don't feel comfortable praying.

I feel stuck.

You ever been in that situation?

You can shake your head.

Yes, I think we've all been there.

Okay, shame and guilt oftentimes will make me feel a disconnect from God, and so when I feel that disconnect, guess what I don't do?

I don't pray.

And so if you and I know that, if you and I sitting here this morning know that there are times in people's life where they don't feel like they can pray to God, then we know there's people in our life that are in that same situation.

There are people that you know this morning that feel trapped, that feel stuck and feel like they can't.

But the truth is is that the church is what?

Free to pray?

The church is free to pray.

Peter was in prison, he was locked up, but the church was free to pray.

The church is free to pray.

Peter was in prison, he was locked up, but the church was free to pray.

And guess what they were doing?

They were praying, the church was free to pray.

There's someone that you know right now who is trapped in their situation and we could be praying for them.

There's an addict that's struggling with their addiction and they don't feel like they have the words to say that we could be praying for.

There's someone struggling with depression who doesn't feel worthy to even utter the words to God that we could be praying for.

There's a struggling mother or father who is dealing with all kinds of things in this world that doesn't feel like they can connect with God that we, as a church, are free to pray for.

There's a widow who is alone for the first time in a long time, who maybe was married to a husband who did the praying, and so now she's sitting unsure of how to connect with God.

Guess what we should be doing.

We are free to pray for them.

There is a child who is going through a broken family situation, who doesn't know what to think, doesn't know what to say, doesn't know how they feel about God, that we as a church are free to what To pray.

If we experience it as the church, if we experience it as the church, there are so many people in our world that need us to pray and that's what the church did.

They began praying for Peter.

Peter was in this situation where he didn't feel like maybe he could pray, but the church steps in and they start praying.

Number two is this prayer is constant.

If you continue to read different versions of this passage that we just read, the version I put up there says that they prayed earnestly.

We'll get to that in a second.

Another version says that they prayed constantly.

They prayed consistently and constant.

I love this morning.

I think this morning was great.

The fact that so many of you went to different places that mean something to you.

The fact that you went to a school where you know there are students, that's great.

The fact that you went to the nursing home, where you know people, that's great.

The fact that you went to children's services and wherever you went, it's great, it's awesome.

This morning was amazing, but it doesn't have to just be today.

We don't have to plaster social media and say we're doing a Sunday of prayer.

That doesn't have to happen once a year.

It's my hope and it's my prayer that this morning what started was a prayer for the year, for whatever place you went to.

It's my prayer that your prayer life will begin each and every morning.

You'll pray for those students at Matterbrook and the workers that are building that school, because that's what happened here the church began to constantly pray it wasn't a one and done Oftentimes.

That's my prayer life.

God, I need you to get me through this situation.

Or God, I know so-and-so is sick.

Please be with them.

I say it one time and I've crossed it off the list it's my hope that our prayers can become constant.

Jesus knew what he was doing when he said hey, don't push the children away.

In fact, let the children come to Me and in fact, you should model your faith after children.

You ever heard a child pray?

We did this thing you guys, hopefully, are all participating in it the back to school Sunday where you got given a student or a faculty member and the idea is that you were supposed to be praying for them every day.

And the idea is that you were supposed to be praying for them every day, we can't go to bed.

I'll be done, I'll say amen, and Jameson or Drew will say well, we didn't pray for Ms Bradshaw.

Or Drew will look at me and say we didn't pray for Cammie.

We've got to pray for Cammie every day.

It can be constant.

God's not going to get tired of hearing Cammie's name.

God's not going to get tired of hearing Mrs Bradshaw's name.

Kids are the kids that sit down to pray and they say God, thank you for the room, thank you for the chair, thank you for the chair, thank you for the lamp and I think sometimes they're avoiding bedtime Thank you for the mac and cheese I ate three days ago.

Thank you for the clouds.

Right, that's the kid's prayer, but they don't worry about.

Hey, did I already say that once this week?

Let's continue praying, let's continue that prayer.

I don't want to bore you, but in the Greek, in the original language that this passage was written, there is a word in the Greek that is called ektinos and it's a medical term that describes the stretching of a muscle to its limit.

That's the word that they use in the book of Acts when they say the church was earnestly praying for Peter.

They were stretching everything they had in prayer for Peter.

They used every ounce of their energy to pray for Peter.

They used every ounce of their energy to pray for Peter.

One of my favorite stories takes place in 2 Kings.

There's a king by the name of Hezekiah in 2 Kings, chapter 19.

2 Kings 19 · chapter mention

And Hezekiah is dealing with some trouble.

He's being threatened.

The king of Assyria, the army of Assyria is coming.

Threatened, the king of Assyria, the army of Assyria is coming.

Their idea is that they're going to destroy Hezekiah and his people.

That's what they want to do and their track record is great.

They've went through the cities just demolishing and taking out everybody in their way.

Hezekiah receives a letter You're next, I'm coming to your land, I'm taking out your people.

And Hezekiah goes to God in prayer and says God, I'm nervous, I'm scared.

To your land, I'm taking out your people.

And Hezekiah goes to God in prayer and says God, I'm nervous, I'm scared.

God says I got this, just trust me.

But Hezekiah keeps receiving the threats.

One day the messenger comes and he brings a scroll and he says here's everything he's saying.

He's on his way, that we're getting ready for it's going to happen soon.

I want you to notice what Hezekiah does with that letter?

It says Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, he read it and then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord and Hezekiah prayed to the Lord.

Hezekiah said here's all my doubts, here's all my doubts, here's all my struggles, here's all my worries.

God, right here, it is Everything.

I'm dealing with.

God, everything that I need you to intervene with is right here.

When's the last time we've done that?

When's the last time we took the doctor's results, took them home and said God, here's what I'm dealing with.

When's the last time we took that important document that you had to sign and laid it out before the Lord and said God, here's what I'm dealing with.

When's the last time we took that important document that you had to sign and laid it out before the Lord and said Lord, be with this.

When's the last time we took our child's acceptance letter to the school that we're unsure if that's where they really should go and said Lord, here it is, be with them.

He physically did it.

He said here's the scroll, here's the letter.

God, here's everything, it's in your hands, be with me.

What if, every time we opened the mailbox and we got one of those letters we didn't want to see.

We said, hey, god, be with us.

What would happen?

The last one is this Pray earnestly.

The word earnest just simply means to be intense and of serious mind.

And so you ask what did?

What did the church pray?

Peter's in prison.

He can't help himself.

What are they praying?

Well, they started to pray that God would work in only a way that he could work.

Oftentimes, my prayer become pretty selfish, right.

Oftentimes our prayer life can become selfish.

God, get me through this situation and I'll do this for you.

Well, that's not how it should work.

The early church was praying that, not that Peter get out a certain way, that Peter be safe, but instead that God would work in only a way that he could work and that they trusted him in whatever way he was going to help Peter.

They were just praying that he was going to do it.

And so the earnest prayer demonstrates that our heart cares passionately about the thing that God cares about, which fulfills Jesus' promise.

Jesus wrote this and said this in John 15, verse 7.

John 15:7

It says if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

Doesn't that sound fantastic?

It's like a make a wish right there ask whatever you want and you will receive it.

Is Jesus saying that I can pray for that 2023 Ford Bronco that's yellow and I'm going to get it?

Is that what he's saying?

No, in fact, what he's saying he's saying, guys, if you fall so in love with Me that your desires and your passion align with what I want, when you pray, you're going to see it happen, because you're praying for what God wants to happen.

The people in the early church were praying that God would move.

They didn't care how he would move, but just the fact that he would move.

Does that make sense?

Here's how the rest of the story unfolds.

They pray for Peter.

It's the night before the trial.

It's the night before he's going before the judge and he's more than likely going to be ruled to have him killed.

What's Peter doing?

He's asleep.

How in the world is he asleep?

When I have a busy day the next morning, I don't sleep well.

When I have a doctor's appointment that I'm a little unsure about, you don't sleep well, do you?

When you have a trip that you're getting ready to take and you're a little anxious about it.

You never sleep good the night before a trip, do you?

I don't, at least.

You can't let your mind settle right.

You can't get relaxed.

You're worried about man.

Are we going to get the luggage?

Are we going to get the kids?

We've got to get the kids on the plane.

And then how are they going to be on the plane?

And then you're running through the airport on one hour of sleep and you're cranky.

Peter's asleep.

Why is he asleep?

How is he asleep?

Somebody said he has faith, absolutely.

I think Peter trusts that God's going to take care of him, but I also believe that the prayers of the church give him a little peace.

I believe that Peter's sitting in that cell knowing that his brothers and sisters are praying for him, and that peace and calmness comes over him.

In the middle of that sleep, the angel of the Lord comes and wakes Peter up, says hey, peter, come with me.

The angel begins to lead Peter out of the prison, past all 16 guards.

The gates start to magically open and Peter walks right through.

Guess where Peter goes?

He goes to the church, right when the people are.

He doesn't go to stop nine, he doesn't go to the building, but he goes where the people are.

He knocks on the door.

Probably if it was me, probably like pretty anxiously like open the door.

I got out, open the door.

A young girl comes to the door.

She peeks through the little peek hole and notices it's Peter.

And guess what she does?

She runs back into the house.

She doesn't open the door.

She's so excited that Peter is standing at the door, she doesn't even allow him to come into the building.

She runs into the room and says guys, it worked.

Guess who's standing at the door?

They're like who.

And she says it's Peter.

And guess what?

They say You're crazy, you're out of your mind.

There's no way, guys, they were praying constantly, they were praying earnestly and God still blew their mind.

He blew their belief right through the roof.

Now, eventually, she goes back and opens the door and proves to everybody that Peter is there.

But if we pray constantly and we pray with a desire that God can do anything, that it's His will, I believe we'll be like that young girl at the door going.

There's no way.

God did that.

God did that.

We as a community.

God has given us the communication to talk to Him.

He's allowed it to be every day, every moment.

There's no long distance.

He says you can communicate with me at any time, any moment.

I'm listening.

I don't care if it's the same thing over and over again.

I'm listening.

There is a community that we live in right here that we need to pray for.

There are children who are going through things that we can't even imagine, that we need to pray for.

There are adults who are going through some of their hardest moments in their life that we need to pray for.

We are called to be a community that prays, and not just in these four walls for an hour.

We're a community that's called to pray constantly.

Let's pray, dear God.

We thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for this moment, an opportunity to get together as a family and be reminded of your great love and reminded of the great things that you do in our life.

God, it's my prayer that we can be encouraged, that we can be motivated to go out into the world and to pray for our community.

God, I'm so thankful for the people that have went out already and prayed for the different locations and, god, I know I truly do believe that you're going to do unbelievable things through those things and in these moments.

God, I pray for every person that's sitting here this morning feeling like I don't deserve to connect with God.

I've done this and I have that, and I have this shame and this guilt.

God, I pray that you remove that.

God, I pray that each and every person here knows that you want a relationship with them and that you want to hear from us.

And, god, I pray that this week that you will open up opportunities for us to pray with one another and for one another.

God, I pray that this week that you will open up opportunities for us to pray with one another and for one another.

God, I pray that this week that we will be a community that continues to flood the outer community with prayers.

God, we're thankful for the example of Jesus and the way that he did life and the way that he communicated with you.

God, I pray that we can take that example and run with it.

I'm thankful for the example of the disciples, of even in the best moments, they were praying and in the worst moments they were praying.

God, I pray that we can be like that as well.

God, we're thankful for everything you do for us.

We pray for opportunities to see your love and to show your love to the people around.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen this morning, if you need the prayers of the church family I truly do believe this we would love to pray with you and for you, or this morning, if you'd like to give your life to Christ and be baptized and have your sins washed away and start that journey, we'd love to do that as well as we stand and we sing Sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer that calls me from a world of care and bids me, at my Father's throne, make all my wants and wishes known.

In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief and oft escaped the tempter's snare by Thy return.

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer, thy wings shall my petition bear To Him whose truth and faithfulness Engaged the waiting soul to bless.

And since he bids me seek His face, Believe His word and trust His grace, I'll cast on him my every care and wait for the sweet hour of prayer.

Amen.

Let's all bow our heads today for a closing prayer.

Dear Father, thank you for this day, thank you for this Lord's Day, thank you for this time that we could spend together in the assembly here and the prayer time before, with an emphasis on centering our hearts and our minds more on prayer and how that's needed in our world today.

Lord.

I thank you, lord, for the hearts that participated in the special prayers out in the community today and how much of an encouragement that is to the rest of us.

Father, we ask and we go out into our week that we would take the blessing of being together and the attitude of prayer that we've talked about today with us, so that we can show the world that we love each other and that we would take the blessing of being together and the attitude of prayer that we've talked about today with us, so that we can show the world that we love each other and that we love them.

Father, most of all, thank you for salvation that comes through your son, christ, and it's in his name we pray.

Amen.

Who else commands all the hosts of heaven?

Who else could make every king bow down?

Who else could whisper and darkness tremble?

Only a holy God, come and behold Him.

The one and the only Cry out sing holy forever.

A holy God, come and worship a holy God.

What other?

beauty demands such praises and worship a holy God.

What other beauty demands such praises?

What?

Other splendor outshines the sun.

What other majesty rules with justice?

Only a holy God.

Come and behold him.

God, what other glory consumes like fire?

What other power can raise the dead?

What other name?

remains undefeated.

Only a holy God.

Come and behold Him.

The one and the only Cry out sing holy Forever a holy God.

Come and worship the holy God.

Who else could rescue me from my failings?

Who?

Else could?

Offer his only Son.

Who else invites me to call?

him.

Father, only a holy God.

Come and behold him.

The one and the only Cry out sing holy forever a holy God.

Come and worship Him.

The one and the only Cry out sing holy forever a holy God.

Come and worship the Holy God.

Amen.

God bless you everybody.

Have a great week.

Pray for somebody this week.

Pray all week, every morning.