Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Are you Expecting Dynamic Answers to Prayer? | Dwell
What happens when our prayers ignite an explosive transformation within us? This episode promises to explore the power of dynamic prayer and the vibrant shifts it can trigger in our spiritual journey. We draw fascinating parallels between dynamic characters in literature and the sheer force of scientific phenomena, urging listeners to embrace change as an integral part of faith. With vivid imagery akin to dynamite, we discuss how the first sparks of change occur internally, challenging us to remain attentive to divine interventions in our lives, and to engage actively in our spiritual communities, inspired by the enduring message of Psalm 23:6.
Journey with us through a critical moment in history when the Christian faith expanded its horizons beyond Jewish boundaries. Our focus lies on the groundbreaking encounter between a Roman centurion and Peter, where cultural tensions and spiritual breakthroughs collide. Witness Peter's bold step across traditional barriers, guided by a divine vision, as the Holy Spirit flows freely among the Gentiles. This powerful narrative sets the stage for a deeper understanding of faith's expansion amidst the challenges of persecution and a rapidly growing movement, marked by Peter's arrest under King Herod's oppressive regime.
As we venture further, we delve into the miraculous story of Peter's imprisonment and his unexpected escape, a testament to the unwavering power of faith and prayer. This episode is a heartfelt call to action, encouraging listeners to embrace Jesus for dynamic change and to trust in divine provision. With stories of obedience and miraculous deliverance, we invite you to commit or recommit to your faith journey, standing firm and expecting miracles. We close with a heartfelt blessing, encouraging each listener to experience the joy of God's presence and the empowerment of living out faith within their community.
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Today we're talking about this idea of dynamic prayers, and the question for us is exactly that is are you looking for dynamic answers to prayer? When we think about dynamic, it's interesting because even in storylines, we know the static characters. We know the dynamic characters are the ones that change, are the ones that shift over time, and so when we think about that, even in the scientific realm, we see all the movement that would be there, with those dynamic movement of something happening with our particles and our atoms within us, and that's what we expect. That's a normal thing. We wouldn't stay static because static things break inside of us. How many people know what I'm talking about? And so that's something that happens. Is that we are expecting dynamic shift. We want something to go from one phase to the other, and so that's something that happens, not even just within our own selves and our own body, but even in our spiritual life. Is that we need to be those that are working towards what God has for us dynamically.
Speaker 1:Now, when I think about this idea of dynamic, I think of this term, dynamite, and I don't know about you guys, but my whole life. It seems like every cartoon I ever watched there was some character that had a stick of dynamite, and so it was a really interesting thing because I don't know where they got all this dynamite, but it was always readily available. And they would take a stick of dynamite, they would light it and what would they do? They throw it on the ground and it'd be burning down and everyone's rushing and they're rushing, and they're rushing to see if it's going to explode. I know you're not watching me, you're watching to see if it explodes. It doesn't, it restarts. So then the idea is this you know it's a countdown, it's a timer. You're always trying to. The whole situation explodes and blows up, right.
Speaker 1:My favorite Christmas movie has the same premise, where the key character is running up and down the Nakatomi Tower in Los Angeles for Christmas time. It's very Christmas centric and so trying to defuse the bomb. And so there's something, because he wants to stop it from exploding, from blowing up. And I don't know if you guys ever been Arizona is a big mining state traditionally, and copper is one of the five C's of Arizona. So if you've ever gone to, like Marinci or these big mining towns, that's the hub of what they do. It's very interesting because you'll hear the sirens go off, and I was there preaching one time and I heard these sirens going off and I'm like, what was that? They're like, oh, don't worry about it, they're just going to blow some stuff up. I'm like, I'm sorry, what did you say? They're like I grew up out here, man Like we don't have anything like that, and they'd be like beep, beep, beep, and then the countdown, and then it would just boom and it would explode. And I think that's the same thing.
Speaker 1:What happens whenever we pray is that we should expect something to happen, we should expect dynamic things to happen, we should expect things to shift. And here's the thing the first part that's shifting is not the circumstances we're praying for, it's actually inside of us. That's the first bit that shifts because we are engaging our faith. It's a growth moment, it's an opportunity for us to take that step forward. And so whenever we start to have those dynamic prayers, when we start to look for dynamic answers to prayer, then we start to see God on the move. So often I think that we look right over the top of the miracle that God is doing in our life and that we're not looking for it and it gets caught up with other things. And then, suddenly, this big change happens and we're like, where did that come from? I was like, no, he was giving you the alert the whole time. Hey, I'm doing something. I'm doing something, something's coming, but we're not paying attention. Friends, if we're going to pray, then let's pray for answers to happen. Let's pray with dynamic prayers, amen.
Speaker 1:We're talking about this theme called Dwell, and we're so excited that you're with us today at Cornerstone. It is a blessing to be together and to worship together. If we haven't met. My name is Jay and Celeste and I have such a great opportunity of leading here at Cornerstone with a great team of people. We very much see ourselves as people in need of a savior. Each and every one of us is people who are imperfect, correct, and all of us need him, and so that's what it means for us to walk after Jesus. That's who we are as Christ followers, is that we're on a journey following Christ. We want to be more like Jesus, and so that's our ambition. It's what we're working towards, individually and collectively. We want to love God, we want to make disciples, we want to reach the world, and so it's those small steps, consistently and walking after him. That's what makes that character change, and so we encourage you to be intentional this week and the week to follow. We're wrapping up our life groups and it's something where we're intentional about growing in our faith and we have a new semester of that coming in spring, and so let me encourage you in this that in 2025, that you would make the decision okay, I'm gonna engage in my faith, I'm gonna participate in a life group, I'm gonna carve that out of my life. It's gonna be intentional for me because I want to connect, grow and serve the Lord Amen.
Speaker 1:Now we have this concept and been looking at all these different pieces of scripture as we go into this theme, and in doing so, we've had this theme. That's here in Psalm 23, 6 for this series called Dwell. It says this surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. A few weeks ago, pastor Celeste was sharing about this idea of destiny. She was talking about how Esther was obedient to the Lord and because of her obedience to God in her own life and her willingness to have courage, it saved a whole generation of people.
Speaker 1:In the same way, pastor Angus was talking about this idea of dealing with darkness in our lives and how some, like Joseph, they were put into darkness but they kept on staying with the Lord and the Lord elevated them out At the same time. An example like Jonah he chose poorly and ended up in darkness, and the Lord had to work some things out before the big fish spat him out. In the same way, we're talking about what it means to be light in the dark places. We talked about this idea of determination and how David, in his young years, had such a heart after God. He was determined to do the things of God and had such a courage because he knew that if God was for us, who could be against us? But at the same time, if we don't stay determined in our faith, then we can waver and the problems ensue, and so we want to be those that return back to God.
Speaker 1:We talked about what it means to have devotion after God and how the early church, whenever they came together, were emboldened by the power of the Holy Spirit, and how Peter stood up with boldness and on that one day, thousands of people came together because of the power of the Spirit, because they were devoted and unified in heart, and we talked about this idea of praying dangerous prayers, where the apostles, whenever they were walking up the steps to go worship at the Gate Beautiful, they prayed for someone who they'd seen many times likely and they prayed for him having that dangerous faith to say God, I want to see something happen in this moment and a miracle happens because they're willing to pray a dangerous prayer. Today we're talking about what it means to have dynamic answers to prayer, to pray dynamic prayers. I'm going to ask you to pick up your Bible, your tablet, your phone. Acts 12 today is where we're going to be pulling from. When Peter came to himself, he said now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting. Lord, we pray over your word today, holy Spirit. We ask that you would breathe upon it, make it transformative, make it rhema, lord, that you'd speak into our lives, that we would become more like you. Pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Now, this idea of dwell is very much this that we are those that are connected to him. We are, we are actually lounging in the presence of God, this idea of being abiding in who he is. So when we ask this question about expecting dynamic answers to prayer, that's what it means, and so we very much want to be at home with where God has us, and so that's why we've been using this idea of this set of having this moment where we're at home with God, and we want to have that moment because that's who he is for us.
Speaker 1:This narrative that we've been talking about, this dynamic change in the early church, it came from the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. So, as they prayed for the empowerment of the Spirit, and Jesus said I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to you, I'm going to send the promise of the Father, I'm going to send the one who fights on your behalf, and as he does, he sends the Spirit and they come and they experience this outpouring of the presence of God, this empowerment of the spirit. And on that day, as we've seen depicted here in this art we've been using, it's this flame that signifies his presences over each and every one of them, and it depicts his presence which we had seen in the temple, which we had seen in the tabernacle, which we'd seen lead the children of Israel at night through the desert. It had been the depiction of a holy, god's righteous fury and his holiness of purification. And so we see this symbolism of God anointing each and every one of them for his service, and that's what we ask for today. The same way, in this generation, is that we ask for the impartation of the Spirit of God to live for God and for his purposes.
Speaker 1:And it's interesting because this story continues forward. And, as we talked about last week, where they emboldened by the Spirit, there was a miracle that happened. It was something amazing that happened there too. It was that, after that time where the miracle happened and more thousands of people gave their faith to Christ, there was this shift that happened by the Holy Spirit. And it hinges around this centurion who, he was diligent in his faith after God and in his time of prayer, he was actually instructed by the Lord to go and to seek out Peter.
Speaker 1:Now, this is a problem because, see, he's a Roman, which means he's a Gentile, it means he's not a Jewish person. And up until this point, the faith, the Christian faith, was actually a fulfillment of all the Jewish laws. It was only for the Jewish people. So myself here today, not being a Jewish person a hundred percent%, I wouldn't qualify and I would have to become Jewish in order to have this experience of putting my faith in Christ. And so there was something that was dynamic about this man who is very much someone in charge. I mean, he's a centurion, he's someone who's in charge of other troops, he was in charge of a battalion and he's the one that's the power of the day. He's putting his faith and trust in God, and it's known by all the people that this is who he is, that he has a faith in God. The tension is, he also is a Roman centurion listening to Caesar, and so he has to place his faith in God and walk this thing out.
Speaker 1:And when he gets this word of God to reach out to Peter, he knows that Peter won't say yes, because Peter is someone who follows the law and Peter is someone who everyone holds in high regard and Peter shouldn't say yes to him because he's a Gentile. And by Peter going to his house, peter becomes ceremonially unclean. It's in the law, but this miracle happens that, as Peter is there, he actually goes up and it says that he was in the afternoon and he was up on the roof. And he says up on the roof. That day he has this vision and the Lord gives him this vision that this sheet descends and upon the sheet is all these creepy crawly things and all these different animals.
Speaker 1:And the Lord instructs Peter to go and to kill and to eat. And he's like Lord, I would never do that. I follow the law, as you've instructed me to do. He followed Jesus, jesus followed the law and he said Lord, I would never do this. And the Lord tells him to kill and eat and instructs him several times and he starts to get it that it's not really about this food at all. It's actually about what God wants to do and expanding beyond just Jewish lineage to every person of every tribe and every tongue. And that's an amazing thing, that's a dynamic moment.
Speaker 1:And so, as he hears and understands this, he says what I make clean, do not call unclean. And so there's something powerful about that moment. And so he has this epiphany and right then the messengers of the centurion show up to his house and he's like I'm the guy you're looking for, let's go. And so he goes to the man's house and he's breaking protocol all the way down. So he's going with these guys who are Gentiles. He's going to a centurion's house, which they're the power of the day, they're the ones subjugating the Jewish people.
Speaker 1:He's going to this guy's house and he goes and he shows up and he starts to share the dynamic power of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and in that moment the Holy Spirit is poured out on all the Gentiles and, just like they experienced in the upper room with the speaking of other tongues, that's what happens with the Gentiles there. And he's like well, I mean, clearly God has made you clean, clearly God sees you fit to give you his spirit by your faith. By your faith and because of that his response was so powerful that they get baptized. And then everyone rejoices in the room. They're like yes, it's amazing, except Peter has to go back and explain it to all his Jewish brothers back at the church in Jerusalem. They're like, hey, pete, yeah, we know how you're important and everything and a lot of miracles have been happening, but what are you doing? What are you doing? And he has to explain it. Now, this is the cool thing about Peter is that you know God is using him and there's been a shift, a change that's happened in his life, a dynamic one, because it says that by God's hand, by the Spirit of God, miracles were happening all the time. This move of the Spirit was happening, and it wasn't just this one situation at the gate called beautiful. Other things were happening and people were being healed.
Speaker 1:Well, this makes King Herod, who's the ruler of that area and the king over Jerusalem. It makes him furious because all of the religious leaders they're upset. And so, king Herod, he plots this plan to destroy the church. So we pick up here in Acts 12, verse two, and it says he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was also during the days of unleavened bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after Passover to bring him out to the people. So here you have Peter now going from a place of empowerment, being sent out and seeing these miracles happen, seeing the miracle happen there as he's worshiping at the temple, and now he's in prison. And not just is he in prison, but he's also in prison right after his good, close friend had been murdered by King Herod. So you can only imagine his emotional state.
Speaker 1:We read it on a page like oh, this is a fact that happened. And this is a fact that happened. No, think about it from Peter's perspective. His good friend, remember it talks about Jesus had a close. Three is Peter, james and John. And James just got killed. James the one that they knew from the fishing days, the ones that they go all the way back had just been murdered by Herod, and now they're intending to do the same and make a spectacle of Peter. That's why they're holding him first and didn't just come kill him straight away. So he's in prison with imminent death in the morning.
Speaker 1:Friends, I don't know about you and many here have had a difficult road, but there are those in the example we read in scripture who have experienced heartbreak, just like you have. They've experienced difficulty, just like you're experiencing, and still they did not give up their faith in Christ, because God is bigger than our circumstances. God can reach us wherever we are. It doesn't matter what has happened. It doesn't matter the loss.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing. Just because that happened here doesn't mean he won't do the miracle now, doesn't mean he won't do the next thing for you, and so his faith was unwavered. We see this situation happen where he's here and he's in chains, literally chained between other people. That's how much they didn't want him to leave. You know how? Why? Because the last time they just put a guy inside a tomb and put a rock and guys outside. That did not work. He came back to life. That guy's name is Jesus. So this time they're like we're keeping the guy inside, we're chaining people between them, we're putting people outside. There's no way he can get out. You know, because these disciples obviously they're like a Houdini level tactics, like they are pulling people out. But no, that's not what it says.
Speaker 1:It says so Peter was kept in prison and earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. I love this. What does it mean? They came together. They're like we need to pray for Peter, we need to get on the prayer chain now, because they believe in the power of prayer. Why? Because they've seen the miracle working power of prayer. They've seen the result of what happens when you pray earnestly, by faith, because they saw the miracles happen. So they're praying for a miracle now and it's hard because you got to think about their faith, how they're fighting between these two concepts, because their friend James just got killed. So they're mourning and they're a little bit fearful. All the things that they're doing. There's this torn piece. At the same time they're believing. They're like God, please for Peter, god, liberate him from his situation. They're asking for something to change. They're asking for that dynamic result from God. And so it picks up here in this story and this, where it carries forward about what is happening.
Speaker 1:It says in Acts 12, six now, when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and the sentries before the door were guarding the prison. Now I thought this was interesting. I don't know about you, but if I knew I was going to get murdered that night or in the morning, I probably wouldn't be sleeping soundly, I'd be a little stressed out. I'd be trying to talk to these guys, brothers, friends, hello, hi, peter here, hey, how do you guys feel about letting me go? I know a guy who gave me money from a fish. I'm sure he would give me more money if I just could get out of here. Anybody else.
Speaker 1:You know, it's a sharp thing because he's sleeping and it's so different than when he was sleeping before, because now he's resting, knowing that he's walking in God and he's walking in the will of God. So he's not holding this anxiety, at least to sleep. It doesn't say he cried himself to sleep, it says he was sleeping. And it's different than whenever Jesus said could you just tarry for me a while longer, stay awake a bit longer. We need to fast and pray. It's a different thing. And what did it say? It said they all fell asleep, they were sleepy time. Oh, so sad. No espresso, no Red Bull in their life. It's so sad. So you know. That's why, whenever they quote the scripture awake, oh sleeper, get up, do something. But I love this is that at the same time, you can rest in the presence of God, knowing he has you. I love that.
Speaker 1:I felt very challenged by this when I was telling my son this same story at 1 30 this morning. It very good, but he's sleeping soundly. Between him, and this miracle starts to happen, says and behold, an angel of the lord stood next to him and a light shone in the cell. He struck peter on the side and woke him up, saying get up quickly. And the chains fell off his hands. Friends, think this Whenever you are so soundly asleep in the Lord that the angel has to drop kick you. It's like what are you doing? You know, sidekick? You're like, oh, but I love it because what it says it says in one moment the chains fell off. When you think about it, you see this painting of the depiction of the angel coming there and talking to Peter and it's like man. He's just like say hey, get up right now. And in that moment the chains fell off.
Speaker 1:Are you believing, with the kind of prayer that your situation can change right now? Are you believing that they can really change your situation in this moment? Are you really believing for the healing? Are you praying for the can really change your situation in this moment? Are you really believing for the healing? Are you praying for the new opportunity, the open door? Are you praying for the provision of God to happen right now? Are you ready for it in your heart, or does God need to drop kick you? Just asking, asking for a friend. It's me, I'm asking for me. Man, I felt like this when I was studying this this week. I was just like Lord, and he's just like.
Speaker 1:The struck words kept coming back. It's like do I have to strike you again before you pay attention. He's like how you doing? You doing okay, are you paying attention? Yet Chains are off. We're going. What are you doing? Why are you laying down? You paying attention? Yet Chains are off, we're going. What are you doing? Why are you laying down? Why don't we get up and go somewhere, like out of this terrible situation? Why don't we go out? Because I've already loosed the chains off your life. The curse of death is gone from you. You are no longer your past. Stop acting like it. Get up and let's go.
Speaker 1:He said to him dress and put on your garment D dress and put on your sandals. And he did so. And he said wrap your cloak around you and follow me. It's interesting how the breakthrough, the dynamic thing we're looking for, is so often tied to obedience to god, even in small steps. Think about how small and specific things were. He didn't have shoes on his feet. The angel's like put your shoes on. He didn't have his cloak on. He's like put your coat on. It's like talking to a little kid right On their way out of the thing. It's like, especially now you know it's got below 75 degrees. You guys, put on your winter parka. We're in Phoenix, put on your winter parka Down parkas, thick, thick.
Speaker 1:I love people from the north, man. I love because they come, they're, they're here, maybe now they're just arriving right now, but you know people that come down, they're, they're snowbirds and they're like they do. They do, they're like it's so wonderful here we're all bundled up and I got a scarf on and stuff. It's like 80 degrees and they're like, oh, I got thick skin, warm-blooded. And then they go through one summer One and the next year they're like I'm freezing, I'm freezing, do you have a heated blanket? Like yeah, so you're talking to your two-year-old. It's like do you have a hoodie? Do you have a jacket?
Speaker 1:I love how specific God is to us sometimes, that he doesn't want you to leave anything behind. He wants you to be prepared for the things ahead. So he's like listen, small obedience steps and you'll see the dynamic things happen. So he puts on his sandals, he grabs his cloak, he wraps it around him, the chains are off and he starts to walk out the prison. So when they passed by the first and the second guards that came to the iron gate leading into the city and it opened to them of its own accord and they went out and along the street and immediately the angel left him. You see the painting. That's the depiction of that here.
Speaker 1:I love his head as it shows Peter looking back. That's pretty amazing, right. He's like he's roller skating out of there. He's like how you guys doing that's guard one, guard number two, how you guys doing, you guys good, and the gate is open. You know what I'm saying? He doesn't think it's real. He doesn't think it's real Because it can't be real, because this doesn't happen like this. And he doesn't realize, like this is the very thing you've been praying for is the miracle of God. You've been praying for the miracle. Now the miracle is happening. Are you going to believe it or not? Because the dynamic answer to your prayer is here. And so this dynamic thing happens and it changes his whole circumstance. He's no longer in prison, he's no longer in chains, he's no longer gonna die in the morning. He is outside the gate. He's not even in the gate, he's outside the gate. And then he's like hark. Something is different.
Speaker 1:It says he came to his senses. It says he came to himself when they had passed the first and second. He comes to himself and he says now I am sure the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me in the hand of Herod from what the Jewish people were expecting. Friends, he had experienced deliverance from the most high God. He had experienced deliverance from what the plot of the enemy had for him. God was not done with him yet, so there was a dynamic answer to prayer that was there on his behalf. That is the same for you. There is a dynamic answer to prayer on your behalf. God wants to do things in your life. He's not done with you yet. Until you're not breathing your last breath, you need to be about his business. And guess what? That means believing him for dynamic answers to prayer in your circumstances, because he's a God who answers prayer. It's so amazing.
Speaker 1:I like this last little bit and it pulls all the way back to the early church who are praying for him. It says they're at John Mark's mom's house. That's where they are, and they're at John Mark's mom's house. They're praying for Peter. So Peter knows where they're at. He knows the secret location of the rebel base. He knows where it's at, so he's going. He gets over there. He's knocking on the gate. Clearly they're closing the gate. They're not letting anybody in.
Speaker 1:So the one girl who's there. She's serving the house. She goes up to the gate. She's like who is it? He's like it's Peter. Hey, how you doing, let me in. And she's like Peter. Oh, it's Peter, and she believes him. But guess what? Nobody else believes her. So she says that she recognizes Peter's voice. She doesn't open the gate. Hello, hello. I don't know if she was a teenager. You guys think she was a teenager. She might've been a teenager.
Speaker 1:She doesn't open the gate. Instead, in her joy, she ran in and reported that Peter was at the gate. I love this. It's like oh my gosh, peter's here. Let me let everybody know. He's like just let me in the gate. You know at what point you're like God. You opened all the other gates. Can you open this gate too? Please, can you open the gate with the lady?
Speaker 1:They don't believe her. This is the crazy part of this thing, because they have been praying for his liberation. They've been praying for the deliverance of Peter from this situation. They said to her that you are out of your mind. She kept insisting, saying no, it's him, it's him. They're like no, it's his angel. What does that mean about the early church? They thought Peter was dead. They thought Peter was dead. Like, oh man, Herod got to him early, he's already dead. They didn't even go check. They didn't even check the gate. Would you not like at least the little door? You know what I mean. Like in every movie there's a little door. Would you not like who's out there? They didn't even check. They're like no, no, he's already dead. It's already too late. It's probably his angel. Would you not want to see the angel of Peter at least? I mean somebody. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:What I love is that he keeps on knocking. This is a word to somebody today that you might've experienced a miracle in the past, but now you're hitting into a roadblock. Keep on knocking, because you need the openness of what God wants to do, and it's not a one-time. Oh, I already tried it. It's like cluck, cluck, oh, nope, didn't open. That's weird. Okay, I'm going to go on. What are you doing? What are you doing? Keep on knocking until they open the door. Right, and the idea is that the door is shut. The Lord will make you know that the door is shut. What does it say when the door? The Lord shuts the door, he puts an angel with a flaming sword in front of it. You know it is shut off to you. Instead, it says that he knocks on the door, knocks on the door, knocks on the door. They open the door.
Speaker 1:And when they opened the door, they were utterly amazed, friends, they got to celebrate with the Lord because they had seen an answer to prayer. They had seen the miracle, the dynamic answer to prayer that they had been looking for. But it all starts back with that piece of faith that if we're going to go and we're going to pray, then let's pray like we're expecting the answers to be dynamic. Let's pray like we're expecting a God of the universe and the God of creation and the God who heals to actually do what he does. Let's believe for dynamic answers to prayer. Let's put our faith involved in what God wants to do. Amen, amen. Today you might be here and you've never made a decision to follow Jesus. Today is your opportunity to do so.
Speaker 1:In this series Dwell, we've been talking about what it means to be in the house, the presence of God, to draw near to him, and so for us as Christ followers, that's what it means is that we want to have a heart after God and we want to live in his presence, we want to be in relationship with him. See, we serve a God who is not dead, but he is alive, and since that's true, then we have this faith in God. And so the question that you have to answer is about you embracing Jesus. Have you embraced Jesus?
Speaker 1:For us, the symbol of the cross is one that's dynamic, because it's freedom, it's forgiveness, it's what God has taken all of our sin and all of our mistakes and all of our shame he's taken, and he's paid for it upon the cross. And when he paid for it upon the cross, he took that all upon himself, and though he didn't sin he didn't sin at all he took my mistakes upon himself and he took your mistakes, and he paid for it with his life as a sacrifice for all people. And he did that as a sacrifice for all people for all time, so that we could come back into relationship with the holy God. He became a holy sacrifice for a holy God, and so it's not anything we can do to earn that favor or to earn his sacrifice. It's by faith that we place our faith and trust in Jesus. We say Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are, lord. I invite you into my heart and life. I want you to be the Lord of my life. Forgive me of my sins, forgive me of my sins, forgive me of my mistakes.
Speaker 1:The apostle Paul he writes to the church at Rome. He says it like this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified. With the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends, today it's your day of salvation. It's your day to say yes to Jesus.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask you, if you're here in the room, if you just stand right where you're at, bow your head, if you're online, you just prepare your heart, wherever you are, for what God wants to do in this moment.
Speaker 1:Friends, maybe that's you and you've come here and you've heard this, this story about this faith in a loving God and about a God who doesn't leave us in prison, but a God who actually gives us freedom from the things that enslave us. He's the one that drops the chains off of us. He's the one who answers dynamic prayers. Today is your opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life, say Lord, forgive me of my sins. Lord, I want to start a new life with you. Or maybe you're here and you've made that decision in the past, but you need to recommit your life to God because you have not been living that for a season. As heads are bowed here in this room right now. If that's you, you want to make a decision to follow Jesus today. If you just raise your hand right where you're at, say, pastor, I want to ask you to agree with me today in making that prayer today. Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus, thank you Lord.
Speaker 1:Yes thank you, lord. Others online thank you, jesus. People making decisions today Friends, I'm going to ask if everyone would just pray this prayer aloud with me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you in Christ's name. I pray amen, amen. Friends, we rejoice with you making a decision to follow Jesus today. What a powerful decision for those who made a decision today.
Speaker 1:We want to put some materials into your hand on your way out today. Make sure that you go back in our prayer area. I want to put some materials in your hand. If you're online, connect with us. I want to send that to you so you can live this life successfully after Jesus. Amen, friends, for all of us.
Speaker 1:We have this opportunity to respond to him at this altar, and we do so asking the Lord for dynamic change in our prayers that we would pray by faith and be expecting of what God wants to do. So, whatever those things are, as we come to the altar today, we do so meeting him, seeking more of his presence, more of who he is, and as we do so we draw near to him, we dwell in his presence and see him change our circumstances. Thank you, lord. We come to you today, lord, thanking you and praising you. Lord, for all that you are, holy Spirit. Thank you for breathing over your word today, lord, making it alive to us. Lord, we thank you for this example of Peter, lord, who, in the midst of all this adversity, lord, he was trusting in you, lord, walking according to what you had instructed him to do. Lord, we thank you for bringing him out of that place, lord, and using him as an instrument. Lord of your word.
Speaker 1:Lord, I thank you for answering the prayers of the church, lord, and how. You were the one that's proven to them, lord, even when they doubted, you had already answered the prayer. Lord, in our lives today, lord, we come to this altar, lord, seeking more of who you are, lord, a deeper level of your presence, lord. We come to you, lord, with our hearts. Lord, you know exactly what we need. So, lord, we come to you with our whole life today, lord, asking for more of who you are. Lord, asking for dynamic faith to believe, for dynamic answers to prayer. For all these things we give you praise. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:Amen. Oh, we are so grateful that you joined us today. We are headed into Thanksgiving. Can you believe it? Yes, I'm excited. The food I'm excited. But I want to let you know we have a lot of events happening at the church from here to the end of the year, so you're going to want to make sure you keep up on the app or on social media or on the website. If you have any questions, call the church, let us know anything you have, but we have a lot, so don't miss out. Just find something that looks fun and exciting, that you want to put your time and energy to, and just be a part. But there are many things for you to choose from, so we want you to be a part.
Speaker 1:Before we go. I pray this blessing over us today you to be a part. Before we go, I pray this blessing over us today the Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. Lord, you empower us by your spirit to live your people. Will you empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us? We pray this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. Know this. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.