Transcription downloaded from https://services.pcumc.org/sermons/27409/prayer/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
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[0:00] Good morning, church.

[0:23] Good morning. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Do you kids want to come up? This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:47] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:03] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. The fifth of day. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[1:16] Good morning. Welcome to our church. We have a gift for our visitors at the Connection site. Please fill out your friendship card for any prayers or concern or just so we can get to know you.

[1:30] It's fun to be part of the welcoming committee here at Hamilton Center. We do welcome you to church this morning. God bless you for being here and God is coming to bless us too.

[1:40] Amen? Amen. We're passing a clipboard around. It's got to go. There's just one so it's got to go all the way through everybody if you wouldn't mind. It's about BBS items that we still need.

[1:52] We really want to make our BBS program the best it can be. So please help us out with the stuff that's needed for those children who are coming. BBS guide training is next Saturday and Sunday.

[2:02] You only need to attend one session if you're coming to do that. And there's more information about that in your little good news on the front. And you can sign up for BBS if you haven't done that at the welcome and information desk out there.

[2:16] And you know where it is. Hmm? Look for Julie. Yeah, look for Julie. She's got it. Okay. And I want to remind everybody that out in the sanctuary overflow, if you're facing the way I'm facing, it's to your right.

[2:29] There's a board up there where people are starting to put the bulletins from churches they're visiting when they're on vacation. So we want to encourage folks, you go away on vacation.

[2:40] Yeah, Saturday night or Sunday morning hits, hit church, please. You know, get there. Get there. Get yourself refreshed and renewed and put back a copy of the bulletin. Not because we're going to like the keeping score or something, but because we're interested in all the different places people have worshipped over the summer.

[2:57] It's amazing, isn't it? Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise for this day. We are here to worship you. Holy Spirit, we invite you into this place to be among us.

[3:12] We can't do this worship by ourselves. We need your help. And we want to bless you, Lord. So be with us and help us to worship you.

[3:24] And let our worship be a blessing to you, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Would you stand if you're able and join us in singing our opening hymn, celebrating our God who is supernatural and above all things.

[3:40] Immortal, invisible, God only wise.

[4:00] In life, inaccessible, give from our eyes. Most blessed, most glorious, the ancient of days.

[4:12] Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise. Unresting, unhasting, and silent as night.

[4:26] Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in kind. Thy justice like mountains, thy soaring above.

[4:37] The clouds which are fountains, the goodness and all. To all I've found, give us, to both great and small.

[4:51] In all I've found, give us, the true life of all. We borne some and flourish, and sweeps on the stream.

[5:03] And wither and perish, but God change at thee. Thou reignest in glory, thou dwellest in light.

[5:18] Thine angels adore thee, all failing their sight. All that we would render, will help us to see.

[5:31] Tis only the splendor of my night and thee. The Lord be with you. And wither and wither.

[5:41] Will you greet one another with the peace of the Spirit. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[5:51] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[6:13] Commen up. Come on up, kids. Here they come.

[6:24] Here you go. Good morning. Good morning. So here comes some more.

[6:35] This is good. So did you ever play peek-a-boo with somebody? Do you remember playing peek-a-boo? Yeah? What happens when you play peek-a-boo?

[6:45] What happens to your face? You hide it, right? You hide your face. When you're playing peek-a-boo with somebody who's really little, what do they do when you do that?

[7:00] What do they do? Did you ever notice it? Do they laugh? They think it's really funny, don't they? They do. Do you know why little kids think peek-a-boo is funny? They think it's funny because they really, when you're really, really small and somebody hides their face from you, you think that they're not there anymore.

[7:23] That's really what really little tiny kids think. They really think that because they can't see you anymore because they can't see your eyes and they can't see your face, that you have gone away.

[7:35] So when you come back again, it's a big surprise and it makes them laugh. Do you know that's why it works? Yeah. You know that if I hide my face from you, that I'm still here, right?

[7:49] I'm still behind you, right? But little kids forget, really, really little ones. They forget for just an instant and then they remember. Can you see God?

[8:02] You can't, can you? You can't look up. People oftentimes, they look up and they say, God, except you can't really see, you don't just all of a sudden see God's face or something, do you?

[8:14] Yeah? It's almost like God plays peekable with us. Even the song we sang this morning said that the light hides God from us. We can't see God because when we look and see God, we only see light.

[8:27] We have to remember that God is always with us, even if we can't see God, right? That's important. People forget. They go through their day and they forget that God's with them.

[8:40] And it's because they can't see them. Yeah? It's hard to forget somebody you can just like see, right? It's hard to forget someone like that. But if you don't see them, it's easy to forget.

[8:52] So we have to pray and ask God to help us to remember who God is and that God is with us always, even if we can't see him, right?

[9:03] All right. What do you have to be thankful for today? Who wants to share? I knew some people would want to share. My mom and dad. Friends and family. My mom.

[9:17] My dad. My family. Anybody else? All right. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father, we know that you're always with us.

[9:35] We pray that you would help us to remember that, even when we can't see you. We ask that you would help us to see you in the faces of other people who know you, other people who are being good Christians and following your ways, the way you teach us to be.

[9:52] Help us, Lord, to remember to pray for all of the other people, too, who need to remember that you're there. Help us to share your love that's in our hearts wherever you go.

[10:08] Be with us and bless us. Bless our families. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. You can go to church school, I think. Right? Yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[10:18] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[10:29] Yeah. Yeah. This morning you'll find in your bulletin an envelope for a donation, an offering for the victims of the West Virginia flooding.

[10:39] It was particularly severe and there's an awful lot of help needed with cleanup and with restoring people's, just what people basically need. We want to help them and support them and our United Methodist Committee on Relief, otherwise known as UMCOR, is going to be leading the way in that effort to help those folks out and so we want to lift them up and support them in that effort as the Lord leads.

[11:08] Let's bring our gifts, tithes, and offerings and whatever offering God has called for this effort for the flooding in West Virginia through UMCOR. For more, please just pray for theenfreale as well.

[11:22] Bye. Good work. .

[11:36] Ciao. Ciao. Thank you.

[12:07] Thank you.

[12:37] Thank you.

[13:07] Thank you.

[13:37] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[13:49] Thank you.

[14:21] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. you, and how to best allocate all of the gifts that you have blessed us with.

[14:36] Lord God, bless especially the offering for the folks in West Virginia who are so in need, and bless the people at UMCOR who are doing the work of ministry.

[14:48] Let many come to faith in Jesus Christ as a result. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. And this morning, I want to try something a little different with our prayer time, and that involves all of us as the Spirit leads.

[15:11] I want to invite you, as the Spirit leads you, to come forward and join me at the prayer rail. You can feel free to just stand, or you can feel free to kneel wherever there's a place.

[15:25] I know there isn't enough room for everybody, but we can pray from our seats. We can pray coming forward. What's the difference, you might ask? What's the difference if I stay sitting in my seat or if I come forward?

[15:38] Well, if the Spirit leads us to come forward, it's an act of faith, isn't it? It's an act of faith getting up and coming to really just open our hearts up before the Lord in a way that's different, in a way that maybe challenges us a little bit.

[15:57] We come forward to receive Holy Communion, don't we? I'll tell you the reason for that. It's not because it's a more convenient way to serve bread and juice.

[16:08] We could just serve it in the pews. It would work just as well. But we come forward to receive Holy Communion because we want that action, that faithful action of people coming forward to take the bread and the juice, to come and receive Jesus.

[16:29] And if the Spirit leads you to come forward and pray, that is also an act of faith. You are welcome to come forward.

[16:40] When I go to kneel, if you are feeling led to come forward and join me anywhere up front to offer up our prayers to God, feel free to do that. This morning we want to particularly pray for Mackenzie, who just came in on crutches with her foot in something.

[16:57] I don't know what she did, but we're going to pray for her. Okay? And Melissa Rada and her family, her grandmother, Isabel Rada, passed away on Thursday. And it's a sad time for that family, although it was time as well.

[17:13] Donna Swain is going to be having surgery this week to take care of some things that she needs taken care of. And she is also offering a praise report. She is blessed that the doctors have found relief for her back pain.

[17:26] And she's just so blessed that she is not in pain right now after many years. Peggy Schultz, who is the sister-in-law of Amy Colby, is seriously ill.

[17:40] And we want to keep her and that family in our prayers as well. And we do have another praise report. Sally Accord has been declared cancer-free. Amen? Amen.

[17:52] She is needing no chemotherapy, no radiation, or anything like that following her surgery. And we are just blessing and praising God for that. So with these concerns and those on your heart, whether you are feeling led to remain in your seat or to come forward, let's turn to the Lord in prayer.

[18:11] Gracious Heavenly Father, we give you thanks.

[18:39] Thanks. Thanks that we have a God who hears and answers our prayers. Who desires that we come together and connect in order to see your kingdom come on earth.

[19:01] So Lord, we lift these things up to you. We lift up to you those folks who are sick and infirm, who are in need of a healing touch from you, and we ask that you would touch them and bring healing into their lives.

[19:18] Give wisdom to their doctors and their nurses and the folks who care for them, Lord. Lord, give them patience and compassion. At whatever stage of life they may be, whether they may recover and continue to minister in this place, or they're being called back into your arms, Lord.

[19:43] Lord, we just pray for peace for all involved. Lord, we pray in Jesus' name for those who are grieving losses of all kinds.

[19:55] Lord, we pray for them for all kinds of things. Bring them comfort, Lord. Help them to remember the beautiful and blessed things of their relationships with those folks that they're missing.

[20:09] help them to heal in their spirits Lord Father we pray for all of the people who are continuing in all parts of the world to be affected and afflicted by violence we ask Lord for peace your peace to come into your world but we know it can only come as you come as you come into the hearts of people and change them that's what brings peace Lord so we pray in Jesus name for all of those who know you that they will have boldness to share your message that you will remind us here who are not directly under those kinds of threats to pray and to lift up holy hands remembering that there is trouble in this world and that we are the body of Christ called to stand in the spirit against them against all that violence

[21:30] Lord and that we are called not only to pray for victims but also to pray for those who cause destruction and violence that their hearts will be changed too we pray Lord God for the circumstances that we're in right now it has been many many many months since we've had any significant snow or rain Lord your word says if my people who call on my name will humble themselves and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and I will come turning to them and I will heal their land Father we pray for healing and recovery of this area that is under such severe drought we pray for all areas

[22:37] Lord in our nation that are under severe drought but especially where we are living right now we pray for protection for the trees for the plants for all of the ground we pray that you will send healing rain Lord Father we just lift up the rest of the service to you and ask that it would be a blessing to you we ask that your word would wash over us and transform us we ask in Jesus name Lord God that you would bypass the inadequacies of all of us who are ministering from the front today and all of us who minister to one another during the worship service and following help us Lord you minister through us because we can't do it alone in Jesus name we pray

[23:44] Amen shall we hear from the word of the Lord here we pray how does this we pray and hear from him we pray we pray well we're going and we pray for you we pray after we pray good long abortion and lotta nope they Good morning.

[24:39] Good morning. This morning's scripture reading is taken from 1 Timothy, 2nd chapter, verses 1 through 8. I urge then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made to all people.

[25:00] For kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

[25:11] This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

[25:23] For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind. The man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

[25:38] This now has been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose, I was anointed a herald and an apostle. I'm telling the truth.

[25:51] I'm not lying. And I'm a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. Therefore, I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

[26:08] And this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Chad. Isn't it a blessing to be part of a church that is so devoted to prayer?

[26:25] That understands the importance and the necessity of prayer. What a blessing to serve here. Lift up holy hands in prayer.

[26:40] Without anger or disputing. This passage from Paul's first letter to Timothy seems to be indicating that the church Timothy was left to pastor was in a state of arguing and disputing over something.

[26:58] After establishing this church and leaving Timothy in charge, Paul found out about some problems that had developed among the people there.

[27:10] Paul's letter to Pastor Tim is intended to encourage him and give him some helpful hints about how to lead this congregation of Jesus Christ's church.

[27:23] It has a powerful message for us today as we consider divisions in the church among some members of the same denomination or even congregation and how that reflects on how the world we are supposed to be helping to see Jesus Christ actually sees us.

[27:48] This summer sermon series is all about worship. As Christians, worship is our first most important task.

[28:02] Because simply coming to God is an act of worship and participating in worship together regularly sustains our relationship with God.

[28:14] And it empowers and informs us as we relate to other people. In the passage we read, Prayer is held up as a primary necessity for worshiping God.

[28:33] Paul writes, Prayer is held up as a primary necessity for worshiping God.

[29:33] But over time, Prayer is held up as a primary necessity for worshiping God.

[30:03] Prayer is held up as a primary necessity for worshiping God. Prayer is held up as a primary necessity for worshiping God. Other people, some Jews and some Jewish believers in Christ, were trying to teach Pastor Tim's church that they had to follow the Jewish law to really follow God.

[30:22] But God's people had been trying to do that for generations and they couldn't. The most basic commandments found in the law are love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

[30:42] And love your neighbor as yourself. And no matter how hard they tried, they could not obey those commands.

[30:53] Not completely in every way of their lives. Well, unless maybe we're talking about somebody like a prophet, maybe an Elijah or somebody, came really close.

[31:05] The only power they had was their own human strength. And human strength alone couldn't do it.

[31:16] That's why Jesus came. He came to do what they couldn't do for themselves. What we can't do for ourselves.

[31:28] There was another group that had infiltrated the church too. These people believed that everything that was matter, like the stool or the chair or your shirt, even our bodies, physical things, material things were bad.

[31:53] Only the spirit was good. So they were teaching people that Jesus wasn't really a human, physical person.

[32:08] Only a spirit who looked human. That message deceived a lot of people into believing that what they were doing in the world didn't really count.

[32:22] Whether it was good or bad, it didn't matter. Only spiritual things. Counting. So, some of the people in the church had shipwrecked their faith.

[32:37] Some were trying to follow the law and forgot all about God's grace. And some didn't understand who Jesus really was. The church had lost track of what they were supposed to believe and do because they were not coming together to listen for God's voice.

[32:56] The anger and disputing among them came from deception and division that was caused by relying only on their human reason rather than listening for God's direction.

[33:14] They were not connecting with God. They were not connecting with God the way they needed to. And so they opened themselves up to all kinds of problems.

[33:25] Their lack of unity in their beliefs and practices in their beliefs and practices in the church led to problems between the church itself and the surrounding community and even the government.

[33:38] The advice in Paul's letter to fix that was prayer. Paul called them to pray.

[33:50] He knew prayer was the only way to create the unity in the Holy Spirit that God had intended. Together, they needed to seek God in prayer to rediscover the truth of their faith and return to it instead of relying on their foolish human reasoning about God.

[34:11] That would be the only way they could continue to draw others to true faith in Jesus Christ. Do you want to draw others to true faith in Jesus Christ, church?

[34:30] Do you want to draw others to Christ? We pray as part of our worship. In fact, if you notice, most of what we do in worship is some form of prayer or another.

[34:47] We pray to invite God into our midst as we begin to worship. We sing prayers of faith and faithfulness to God. We pray for blessing on the gifts we bring to God.

[35:00] And then we express our joys and concerns before God, knowing that he hears and answers our prayers. We pray together because unity in the Holy Spirit is powerful.

[35:19] We pray the Lord's Prayer together because Jesus taught us to. We pray together because it teaches us thy will be done, not my will.

[35:39] None of these things are merely human actions that we perform as a matter of church ritual. If that's all it is, it's powerless.

[35:53] True prayer involves supernatural encounters with God. No, really. Supernatural encounters with God.

[36:04] That's what prayer is. Prayer involves actions Christians do here in the natural realm that produce a supernatural response from God that impacts on us and allows us to impact the world around us.

[36:24] Prayer is participating in the supernatural connection we have with God. Let's get a picture of that in our minds. Just kind of remember what it feels like and experience it.

[36:38] In fact, close your eyes. Close your eyes. And try doing some of the things I'm talking about.

[36:50] I know you can't do all of them, but do some of them. Ready? Nighttime. And you're in your jamming.

[37:02] And all the lights are out downstairs. Everybody's quiet. And you kneel down beside your bed.

[37:15] You fold your hands and bow your head. And peacefully, reverently, you begin to pray. Go ahead.

[37:28] Peacefully, reverently, you begin to pray. Oh, wait a minute.

[37:42] Come on. Wait a minute. Open your eyes. Who are you talking to? Where is this God?

[37:52] What are you thinking? Talking to someone you believe is in the room, but that you can't even see. And he's not on your speakerphone. Who is it that you expect to hear you?

[38:07] Let alone answer you. You're kneeling there by your bed. Expecting to hear from someone who isn't really even there.

[38:17] Foolishness. There. Foolishness. Foolishness. But God is really there.

[38:32] We know that, don't we? We know it. Like Pastor Tim's church, today's church is filled with anger and disputing, isn't it?

[38:45] Local churches like this one argue over service times and storage space and what kind of seats the sanctuary should have. You know, every week, people leave local churches over stuff like that.

[39:01] Really? Entire denominations, like the Episcopal church, have split because of arguments over, get this, arguments over whether the Bible is the bottom line authority that tells the church what's right and what's wrong.

[39:24] And there are similar arguments going on now in the United Methodist Church. I don't know if you're aware of that. The root of the problem is always a difference of opinion.

[39:39] Seems to be, doesn't it? I think one way about the Bible, you think another way. I think one way about worship, you think another way. I think one way about prayer, you think another way.

[39:50] People have opinions. Unfortunately, most people's opinions really come only from their human reasoning and what they've learned about the world through their limited, natural experiences in this life.

[40:12] It's hard to trust in something you can't see or touch. Even if we did kneel down at our bedside and believed God was with us for real.

[40:26] Many of today's churchgoers don't want to deal with the reality of supernatural encounters with God. They like the idea of God.

[40:37] And they like what they think it means to be a Christian. But they would really rather use their human reasoning to figure God out. They would really rather use their human abilities to try to live the Christian life.

[40:53] And they would really rather use their human being. The fact of the matter is, the only way to connect with God is through supernatural encounters because God is supernatural.

[41:07] In Jesus Christ, the natural and the supernatural came together so that people could see the image of God in a way they could relate to.

[41:19] In Paul's letter to the Colossians, Jesus is said to be the image of the invisible God.

[41:31] That's what Paul taught about him. Jesus is the image that we can see and connect to of the invisible God.

[41:44] So the people of Paul's day who believed that only spirit is good were wrong. And so were the people who believed we could worship God in our own way and out of our own understanding and out of our own strength and get it right.

[42:05] God brought the natural and the supernatural together in Jesus Christ. That's why our connection with God is both natural and supernatural.

[42:19] We can't have one without the other. The natural and supernatural come together in every aspect of our worship experience. When we pray over the waters of baptism, that God will be present in that water, in that action of blessing that child or that young person or that adult.

[42:48] The bread and the juice. What are we about to pray over that? Every week we do it. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.

[43:03] Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ. Not a natural thing that we expect when we receive the bread and juice.

[43:18] And here's a good one. God has joined together. What God has joined together, let no human power have the right to separate.

[43:36] Because supernatural God came together with natural human beings in all these expressions of God's love for us. We can see that we expect that we are worshiping a supernatural God.

[43:48] Let's take a look, church, at what we, the church, claim to believe about God. We're going to read through our familiar, creative.

[44:00] Notice all the things about our Christian faith. About how we know God that are supernatural. Will you read it with me?

[44:14] We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

[44:25] And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.

[44:41] He descended to the dead. The third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

[44:56] We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son, is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

[45:12] We believe in the Holy Spirit, we believe in one holy, Catholic, and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

[45:24] We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. Amen. So, God made everything.

[45:39] Some of it is seen. Some of it is not. Supernatural. Jesus was supernaturally conceived.

[45:52] He came into Mary, not the way that naturally babies get conceived. Supernaturally.

[46:04] He rose from the dead. I don't know. Have you heard of anybody rising from the dead lately? Coming up out of a grave after?

[46:17] I understand it's happening in some places in the world. He ascended into heaven. Just after finished talking to His disciples, just kind of went up.

[46:32] They watched. Bye. And He is seated at the right hand of God the Father right now. Where is that that they're sitting together?

[46:44] It's not here. It's somewhere. You can't see it. Oh, and Jesus, somehow or other, from where He is sitting at the right hand of the Father, has the ability to come back here.

[47:01] Right? We say that. We affirm that every single week. We say, Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Christ is risen.

[47:11] And the Holy Spirit speaks through prophet. And is worshipped with the Father and the Son. And we, we are looking forward to the resurrection of the dead.

[47:28] by the way, if there's anything in this basic list of Christian beliefs about God that we just read that you have any questions about, consider the possibility of joining us for Christianity 101 or Disciple 1 in the fall, because those are the places where we're really going to be able to learn and explore what some of those things mean.

[48:03] Every time I teach about this, I find people who say, I had no idea that was what that meant. I think as a Christian, we need to know a little something about what it is that we actually say we believe, right?

[48:21] We never stop learning about God. The only way we can grow in our faith is to continue learning more and more about God together. If we want a really close relationship with God, we've got to keep getting to know God.

[48:37] just like if we want a really, really close relationship with someone here in the natural. The creed is not a prayer in itself, but it makes a strong statement about who the God is that we pray to.

[48:55] This God is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a God of unity. Jesus prayed to the Father for unity among all his disciples throughout the end of time.

[49:10] We read about it in John chapter 17. We hear Jesus' words, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.

[49:21] That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

[49:32] I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them, you in me, may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

[49:55] Father, I want those given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

[50:09] Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

[50:38] We're in God and God's in us. That's where unity comes from. Unity, church. Unity in God through Jesus Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

[50:52] that's why we come together to pray as we worship. Prayer connects us to God and to each other supernaturally.

[51:04] It is a connection among us that is beyond anything we can create out of our own reasoning or human ability. It's what we need to know what God truly wants for us.

[51:19] not what we think God wants or what seems right to us because of our human experience. We can't do this kind of prayer alone.

[51:34] When the church prays God releases God's love and wisdom into us so it can flow through us to each other and out to the rest of the world.

[51:47] Paul told Timothy the reason for holy prayer was so that Christians could live peaceful quiet godly holy lives together.

[52:01] Lives that would allow God's spirit to move in them and move through them so that all people would have the opportunity to be saved and to know the truth about God.

[52:16] God's love for us that calls us to this unity that comes to us supernaturally through prayer.

[52:32] Church, when we pray we learn how God wants us to deal with the problems and struggles of our own lives and those of our church we learn the difference between our human opinions and God's will.

[52:51] When we choose to accept God's will we'll be able to impact the world for Christ like never before. We'll be able to reach them not out of human strength and convincing reasonable arguments but supernaturally.

[53:08] from now on each time you participate in worship notice how many times you're actually praying or agreeing with the prayers that invite God to supernaturally interact with us and connect us.

[53:29] God does it so we can have God's love as a real thing in this natural world and so we can share it supernaturally with others.

[53:44] Shall we pray to God together confessing our sin? Heavenly Father I have sinned.

[53:55] I have put my own ideas and ways from my human experience ahead of your will I have not been seeking you with my whole heart soul mind and strength so therefore I have not been able to love you or my neighbor completely.

[54:32] Forgive me Lord teach me to seek you help me to believe the things that you call me to believe change my heart Lord so I may bring your good news and the truth of your love to my brothers and sisters in Christ and to a lost world.

[55:06] In Jesus name I pray Amen. God loves you so much God knew who you were before you were even conceived God has had a plan for your life from the beginning of time from before time throughout eternity God knows you every single hair on your head whether you have them or you don't God knows you God loves you God made a way for you to be set free from sin to be set free from those things all of us about ourselves that aren't according to God's will because we think we know better.

[55:57] Isn't it amazing that supernaturally by the power of God we can say to one another and believe it in the name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven.

[56:09] glory to God amen and we're going to sing we're going to sing sweet hour of prayer because we want to celebrate how sweet and how wonderful prayer is how it is that we connect with God in that time of prayer and that God blesses us and meets us even though we can't see him physically he's not natural but in prayer we connect will you stand as you're eight the hour of the prayer sleep far and prayer that calls me from all who don't care and midst me at my father's throne make all my wants and wishes know and seasons of distress and grief my soul has often found relief and often escape the damned who stare by thy return sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer the joys

[57:38] I feel the bliss I share of those whose anxious spirits burn with strong desires for thy return will touch I hasten to the place where God my Savior shows his face and gladly take my station there and wait for thee sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer sweet hour of prayer thy wings shall my petition bear to him whose truth and faithfulness engage the waiting soul to bless and since he gives me seek his face believe his word and trust his grace

[59:01] I'll cast on him my every care and wait for thee sweet hour of prayer our God is a God of wonders our God is a God that goes beyond anything that we can think or imagine let's celebrate how wonderful our God is let's hear oh Thank you.

[60:03] Thank you.

[60:33] Thank you. Thank you.

[61:33] Thank you. Thank you.

[62:33] Thank you. Thank you.

[63:33] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[64:41] Thank you. Thank you. When times are late, I'll rise from my ego.

[64:59] And I will soar with you, your spirit leads me on in the power of your love. Lord, unveil my eyes when we see you face to face.

[65:25] The knowledge of your love as you live in me.

[65:39] Lord, renew my mind as your will unfolds. My life, living every day.

[65:55] My power, your love. My love, your love.

[66:11] My love, my peace. Bring me in. Draw me to your surprise.

[66:25] My power, your love. My love, my love.

[66:38] My love, my love. My love, my love. Bring me on in the power of your love.

[67:00] Amen. Please be seated. So the Lord invites to his table. The Lord invites to his church. The Lord invites everyone who loves him, who's seeking him.

[67:15] You love God and repent of your sin and seek to live in peace as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You are welcome at the table this morning to meet with the Lord.

[67:26] It's an act of faith. It's a prayerful act. You come forward. You meet with God. It doesn't matter if it's the first time you've ever been here or if you've been coming all your life.

[67:42] If you desire to encounter Jesus Christ, to connect with God, trust and have faith, you can do it here.

[67:55] You can do it here. So come. The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

[68:10] Blessed are you, our Alpha and Omega, whose strong and loving arms encompass the universe. For with your eternal word and Holy Spirit, you are forever one God.

[68:20] Through your word, you created all things and called them good. In you, we live and move and have our being. When we fell into sin, you did not desert us. You made covenant with your people Israel and spoke through your prophets and teachers.

[68:36] In Jesus Christ, your word became flesh and wealth among us, full of grace and truth. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join there in ending hymn.

[68:48] Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

[68:59] Blessed is he who comes in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Holy are you and blessed is Jesus Christ who called you Abba, Father.

[69:10] You embraced a people as your own and filled them with a longing for a peace that would last and for a justice that would never fail. In Jesus' suffering and death, you took upon yourself our sin and death and destroyed their power forever.

[69:27] You raised from the dead this same Jesus Christ who now reigns with you in glory and poured upon us your Holy Spirit, making us the people of your new covenant. On the night before meeting with death, Jesus took bread and gave thanks to you.

[69:42] He broke the bread and gave it to his disciples. He said, take and eat. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance.

[69:57] When the supper was over, Jesus took the cup and he gave thanks to you and gave it to his disciples. He said, drink from this, all of you. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new covenant poured out for you.

[70:12] It's poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And so in remembrance of these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice.

[70:32] In union with Christ's offering for us. As we proclaim the mystery of faith, Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

[70:45] Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts that in the breaking of this bread and the drinking of this wine, we may know the presence of the living Christ and be renewed as the body of Christ for the world, redeemed by Christ's blood.

[71:01] As the grain and the wine and the wine and the wine, as the grain and the wine, are now united on this table in bread and wine. So may we and all your people be gathered from every time and place into the unity of your eternal household and feast at your table forever.

[71:18] Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ. In the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen.

[71:30] Shall we pray? The prayer of Jesus Christ. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

[71:44] Amen. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[72:00] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Will those serving please come forward? Amen.

[72:18] You are right. Amen.

[72:42] Thank you.

[73:12] Thank you.

[73:42] Thank you.

[74:12] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[74:24] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[74:39] Thank you. Thank you. intention so you'll be handed a piece of bread and you may dip it in the cup. If you'd like to light a candle and say a prayer, you're welcome to do that.

[74:50] And I'll be at the rail for prayers, for healing, anointing with oil, whatever it is that the Lord leads. Come. Partake of the living God. Partake of the living God.

[75:42] Partake of the living God.

[76:12] Partake of the living God.

[76:32] Thank you.

[77:02] Thank you.

[77:32] Thank you.

[78:02] Thank you. Thank you.

[79:02] Thank you. Thank you.

[80:02] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[80:14] How the heck do you do that when you can't even sing? It's supernatural. It scares people, the idea of dealing with something supernatural.

[80:26] But it is who God is. And God is the creator of all things. We don't have to be afraid of that at all. As Christians, it's part of who we are and how we operate.

[80:40] Jesus sent his disciples to do it, didn't he? Jesus went around doing all kinds of cool supernatural stuff. And then he sent his disciples.

[80:53] And you know what he said on John 14? I tell you the truth. Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. They will do.

[81:03] They will do even greater things than these. Because I am going to the Father Church. We are called to live supernatural lives under the authority of a supernatural God who loves us and wants us to be blessed so we can be a blessing.

[81:21] Amen? As you go, may the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you. May the Lord be gracious unto you and lift up his countenance upon you. May God anoint you by his Holy Spirit to be a blessing wherever you go so that when people see us, they see him.

[81:39] In Jesus' name. Amen. Go in peace. Amen.