“In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you, your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.” Isaiah 26:8 

If It Had Not Been For The Lord on My Side

Leader: I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

People: Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 118

Leader: Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together,

People: To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 118

Leader: There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.

People: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you!

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 118

Leader: Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!”

People: For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!”

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 118

All: For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.

Responsive Call To Worship

Psalm 118

More Than Enough Gary Oliver

Let Justice Roll Down

 

Confession of SinHoly Father, you are our dwelling place throughout all generations. We praise you for being our unshakable rock. Your love never fails. You invite us to come and ask, taste and see, knock and seek. Yet we confess that our love is weak, our hearts are fickle, our faith small, our prayers few. Forgive us through your Son and grow in us a hunger for you, your glory and your Kingdom. In Christ we pray. Amen. 

Silent time for personal confession

Be Thou My Vision

Scripture ReadingIsaiah 1:10-17

10 Hear the word of the LORD,you rulers of Sodom!Give ear to the teaching of our God,you people of Gomorrah!11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?says the LORD;I have had enough of burnt offerings of ramsand the fat of well-fed beasts;I do not delight in the blood of bulls,or of lambs, or of goats.12 “When you come to appear before me,who has required of you

Scripture ReadingIsaiah 1:10-17

this trampling of my courts?13 Bring no more vain offerings;incense is an abomination to me.New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.14 Your new moons and your appointed feastsmy soul hates;they have become a burden to me;I am weary of bearing them.15 When you spread out your hands,I will hide my eyes from you;

Scripture ReadingIsaiah 1:10-17

even though you make many prayers,I will not listen;your hands are full of blood.16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;cease to do evil,17 learn to do good;seek justice,correct oppression;bring justice to the fatherless,plead the widow's cause.

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

John 16:24

Acts 61 ¶ Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.

4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.

6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Guard our calling to prayer.

1) Correction

2) Configuration

3) Celebration

“The devil’s attack was the cleverest of the three. Having failed to overcome the church by either persecution or corruption, he now tried distraction. If he could preoccupy the apostles with social administration, which though essential was not their calling, they would neglect their God-given responsibilities to pray and to preach, and so leave the church without any defense against false doctrine.”

John Stott

PROTECT THIS HOUSE!!

1) Correction: Correcting Injustice vs 1

“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.”

“The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift up our hearts to God.”

- Jim Cymbala

2) Configuration: Entrusting Servants vs 2-6

“And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering…..”,

God, the great Creator of all things, also upholds everything. He directs, regulates, and governs every creature, action, and thing, from the greatest to the least, by His completely wise and holy providence.

“All Christians without exception, being followers of him who came ‘not to be serve but to serve’, are themselves called to the ministry, indeed to give their lives in ministry….. We need to recover this vision of the wide diversity of ministries to which God calls his people.”

John Stott

God, the great Creator of all things, also upholds everything. He directs, regulates, and governs every creature, action, and thing, from the greatest to the least, by His completely wise and holy providence.

“structures don’t grow ministry any more than trellises grow vines, and that most churches need to make a conscious shift—away from erecting and maintaining structures, and towards growing people who are disciple-making disciples of Christ.”

3) Celebration: Celebrating Growth vs 7

“ And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”

The history of the church is written in the prayer life. The story of every great Christian achievement is the history of answered prayer.

E. M. Bounds

PROTECT THIS HOUSE!! I will Pray!

“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:4