Practicing James' Model for Prayer
Our Lead Pastor, Whit George, wraps up our teaching series, Hearers & Doers: A Study in the Book of James. Together, we walked through James 5:13–20 and participated in James' invitation to be a community that prays together and cares deeply for one another.
Through worship, repentance, communion, and acts of reconciliation, God works powerfully in our lives. Ultimately, we have access through Christ to enter God's presence boldly, knowing He hears our prayers, responds, and offers an eternal hope in every season and circumstance.
In this service, Pastor Whit explores the following Scriptures:
James 5:13-20 ESV 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Psalm 139:23-24 ESV 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Matthew 18:15-20 ESV 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Matthew 5:23-24 ESV 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Philippians 4:4-7 ESV 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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♪ But shame has no hold on me ♪ ♪ Cause your grace holds me now, amen ♪ ♪ And that grace, it holds me right the way that you made it ♪ ♪ Where all my shame remains, therefore take it away ♪ ♪ And you crushed those angel gates ♪ ♪ And you left no stone unturned ♪ ♪ You stepped out of God's grace ♪ ♪ And showed me all the way ♪ Oh, can we make this our prayer today? ♪ Here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now ♪ Sing it! ♪ You know we need you, Jesus, hold my heart now and forever ♪ ♪ My soul cries out, for once I was blown over, Jesus ♪ ♪ You let my whole heart through ♪ ♪ But shame has no hold on me ♪ ♪ Cause your grace holds me now ♪ ♪ Healed and forgiven, look where my chains are now ♪ ♪ Death has no hold on me, cause your grace holds me now ♪ ♪ Your grace holds me now, your grace holds me now ♪ Are we thankful today? ♪ Your grace holds me now, your grace holds me now ♪ Thank you. We sing, here I stand, I am surrendered. Can you lift your voice with me this morning? Would you sing? ♪ Here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now ♪ Call upon the name of the Lord today. ♪ Oh my heart, now and forever, my soul, we cry out, oh ♪ ♪ Here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now ♪ ♪ Oh my heart, now and forever, my soul, we cry out, oh ♪
♪ Here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now ♪ Oh, we need you now. ♪ Oh my heart, now and forever, my soul, we cry out, oh ♪ ♪ Here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now ♪ We sing, here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now. ♪ Oh my heart, now and forever, my soul, we cry out, oh ♪ Sing it today. ♪ Here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now ♪ ♪ Oh my heart, now and forever, my soul, we cry out, oh ♪ ♪ Here I stand, I am surrendered, I need you now ♪ ♪ Oh my heart, now and forever, my soul, we cry out, oh ♪ ♪ Your grace holds me now, Your grace holds me now, oh Lord ♪ ♪ Your grace holds me now, Your grace holds me now ♪ ♪ I can feel the forgiving, and look where my chains are now ♪ ♪ Death has no hold on me, cause Your grace holds the ground ♪ ♪ Your grace holds me now, Your grace holds me now, oh Lord ♪ ♪ Coach me now ♪ Good morning Church on the Move. Great to see everybody this morning. If you're new around here, my name is Whit and I'm the pastor here and I want to say welcome. Glad you're worshiping with us this weekend. If you are new, you ought to know this is not a normal weekend for us. We're doing things a little bit differently this weekend. We're concluding a series that we've been in for, this is week 15 now, studying slowly, carefully through the book of James. If you don't know, James was the brother of Jesus, the younger brother of Jesus, but more importantly,
he was the leader of the first church. That very first church in Jerusalem, it was James who was their pastor. A lot of Catholics, they look at Peter and us Protestants, we tend to focus on Paul, but really it was James who was the leader of the first church and we've been studying carefully through his letter over these last several weeks. And this morning we're going to conclude, we're going to read verses 13 through 20 and I realize it's dark out there, you can't grab your Bible and follow along with me, but we will put it on the screen. And I want to read this out loud to you so that you kind of get a sense of where we're going today. Here's what James writes to us. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power
as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed fervently that it might not rain. And for three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. This is the word of the Lord, we all said. Thanks be to God. So one of the main themes throughout the book of James is that we would put our faith into practice, that we would not just be hearers of the word, but doers also. That's what we're gonna do today. We're gonna put these words into practice. You could tell by just what James wrote there that he's writing to a community. Is anyone among you suffering? Is anyone among you sick? He's writing to a church, to a gathered body of believers and he's giving them instruction for how they're to care for one another, how they should pray for one another. That's what we're gonna do today. That's why our service looks a little bit differently.
We're gonna worship here in just a second, but after that, I'm gonna come back, teach just a little bit, walk us through a time of repentance and confession. Then we're going to take the Lord's Supper together this morning. Then we'll worship a little bit further. I'll come back out, teach just a little bit again, and then we will pray over needs. I don't know what you came in here carrying today. Maybe you didn't anticipate praying with someone over a need that you're carrying right now. Maybe it's a sickness, some kind of bad diagnosis. Maybe it's a relationship thing. Maybe you just need wisdom or wanna pray for a loved one who is far from God in their faith and you wanna pray that they come home. Whatever the case may be, we serve a God who hears our requests and answers prayer. We believe that. And so we're gonna come boldly before his throne of grace today because he invites us to. So as we continue on with this service, I think it's appropriate that we stop here and pause and pray, just to prepare our hearts for what's to come today in our entering into the throne room of Almighty God. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes and let's pray together this morning.
Father, we come with expectancy today, knowing that there are many needs represented here. Lord, some of us are coming in desperation. We need you to move and work. And so we've come, our hearts open, ready to call on you, to ask you to show up on our lives in significant ways. Lord, we come boldly and eagerly. How could. Do we not, when we see what you have done, when we see the lengths you are willing to go to to make a way for us to come into your throne room, how could we not come with confidence? You took on flesh and blood. You were nailed to a cross so that we could be brought back into relationship with you. So we come in boldness and in confidence knowing that you are our good God, a good, good Father who loves His kids. We trust you. And as we come today, Lord, we come in confident expectation knowing that you hear us and that you answer. We trust you. In Jesus' name we pray, all God's people said this morning, amen. Let's worship again together. ♪ Upon a hill, a perfect saving ♪ ♪ Upon that day, the greatest love ♪
♪ The punishment that should have fallen on us ♪ ♪ Upon Him, upon Him ♪ ♪ Upon His head, a crown of thorns ♪ ♪ Upon His heart, a broken world ♪ ♪ The wage of sin, the weight of our transgressions ♪ ♪ Upon Him, upon Him ♪ ♪ Christ has died, we are forgiven and Christ alive ♪ ♪ We are the risen and He shall come again ♪ ♪ Praise the King, praise the King ♪ ♪ Upon our hearts, His name is written ♪ ♪ The King of kings and the Lord of lords ♪ ♪ Pouring out the song of praise together ♪ ♪ Upon Him, upon Him ♪ ♪ Christ has died, we are forgiven and Christ alive ♪ ♪ We are the risen and He shall come again ♪ ♪ Praise the King, praise the King ♪ ♪ Christ has died, we are forgiven and Christ alive ♪ ♪ We are the risen and He shall come again ♪ ♪ Praise the King, praise the King ♪ ♪ One name upon our lips, Jesus ♪ ♪ No greater name than this, Jesus ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow, every tongue confess, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, one name upon our lips, Jesus ♪ ♪ No greater name than this, Jesus ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow, every tongue confess, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, one name upon our lips, Jesus ♪ ♪ No greater name than this, Jesus ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow, every tongue confess, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ ♪ Christ has died, we are forgiven and Christ alive ♪
♪ We are the risen and He shall come again ♪ ♪ We are the reason, and we shall come again ♪ ♪ Oh praise the king, oh praise the king, oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ For as the skies died, we are forgiven ♪ ♪ As the light, we are the reason, and we shall come again ♪ ♪ Oh praise the king, yes praise the king, oh oh oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ The name upon our lips is Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no greater name than this, than Jesus ♪ ♪ And every kneel and bow, every tongue our lips, Jesus ♪ ♪ Jesus, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no greater name, there's no other name ♪ ♪ There's no greater name, there's no other name ♪ ♪ One name upon our lips, Jesus ♪ ♪ No greater name than this, Jesus ♪ ♪ And every knee will bow, every tongue confess, Jesus ♪ ♪ There's no greater name than this, Jesus ♪ What gives you access to the throne room of Almighty God? What justifies you to stand in God's presence? Alistair Begg has a classic sermon where he reminds the congregation of the story of the two thieves on the cross on either side of Jesus. Do you remember this story? Jesus turns to the one who repents before him, and he says, today you will be with me in paradise. And he envisions the scenario where that thief shows up at the threshold of heaven. And perhaps there's an angel there saying, hey, hold up a second, what justifies you? What gives you a right to come into
the presence of Almighty God? And the thief responds, the man on the middle cross told me I could come. That's, that's the reason and the only reason why you can step into the throne room of Almighty God today. Would you take your seat this morning? I find it interesting that in this last passage of James there's a connection between bringing our requests to God, praying, and asking God to heal the sick or to meet needs, but also a connection with forgiveness of sins. I don't know if you picked up on that when I read the passage earlier, perhaps in your reading of it this week, that James continually talks about if one has forgiven, has committed sins, he'll be forgiven. There's that passage in verse 16 where he says, pray for one another, confess your sins to one another, pray for one another that you may be healed. What's going on here? What is with this connection? Well, it's not a surprising connection that when we enter the presence of God we ought to consecrate ourselves. We ought to examine ourselves before the Lord. Yes, Christ has died for our sins, but that doesn't keep us from repenting and from repentance being a kind of continual posture
of the believer. You know, the high priest, before he would step into the holy of holies, would go through a process of ritualistic cleansing. And he would do so because he understood that he was stepping into the presence of a holy God. Isaiah, when he comes into the presence of God in Isaiah chapter 6, he cries out, Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. In other words, whenever we go before the Lord it ought to come along with it a kind of self-examination. I want to make space for that this morning. We ought to examine our hearts. Psalm 139 puts it like this, Search me, O God. Know me. my heart, know my thoughts, see if there's any grievous way in me and lead me in the path or the way everlasting. When we step into the presence of God, we come worshiping, we come with thanksgiving, but we also come in reverent fear knowing that we are standing in the presence of a holy God. And we're not afraid that He is going to condemn us, but we ought to respect who He is. And when we step into His presence, we ought to do so with humility knowing that our lives are often flawed, sinful, is there unconfessed sin that we need to confess before our God today. But there's also a deeper connection than that. It's interesting, the ancients believed that there was often a connection between sin and physical ailments. Now this is not always the case, and I want to stress that. This is not to say that if you're suffering from some physical ailment this morning that it's definitely because you've sinned in your life. I'm not saying that,
but it is interesting that there are a few places where we get this idea that the ancients thought that surely if there was if there was sickness that it could be the cause, that there was some kind of sin, unconfessed sin, that you needed to address. Paul writes to the church in Corinth and he says some of you are sick and some of you have indeed died because you've taken of the Lord's supper and you've done it kind of flippantly. You've had sin in your life and you've not addressed it and there is God's judgment over you. That's what Paul says. It ought to cause us to be sober-minded and to pause and say, hold up a second, is there something that I need to address? When James writes, confess your sins to one another that you may be healed, he's not speaking of kind of a cathartic healing of confession, although sometimes that's how that gets taught, that if we confess our sins to another person that there's a healing in that and certainly there is. It can be good. In fact, it's often good to bring secret sin into the light with a trusted brother or sister in Christ. But when James says that, he's not just talking about confessing your sins to someone around you, telling them kind of what you've been doing or what sins you've committed before God. No, what he's talking about is confessing sin that you have committed against a brother or sister. And this is in line with his brother Jesus' teaching, that if you have something against a brother or you've done something to a brother, you ought to go and repent. I'm reminded of Matthew chapter 5, verses 23 and 24. Look at what the Lord Jesus says. He says, so if you're going to offer your gift at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you, in other words, you remember that you've sinned against a brother, look what he tells you to do. Leave your gift, pause your worship, and first go and be reconciled to your brother and then come back and offer your gift. We want to make space for that this morning. Could be that some of what we're dealing with is the result of maybe long-standing habits of sin that we've just not dealt with. I was reminded of this this week, one of our team, Corey Miles, who's director of Next Steps, was sharing kind of his personal story, testimony of how this played out in his
life. And it was just so striking that I asked him if he would come and share that with you this morning. So, Corey, would you come up here, give him a hand as he comes. Corey, would you share that testimony that you shared with us? I thought this was so powerful. Yeah, in 2025, I received a pretty critical heart diagnosis. I was pretty devastated, pretty fearful. My wife's parents encouraged me to see a functional medicine doctor that they had been seeing. Functional medicine doctors, they take a holistic approach to health and to treatment. And so, I remember sitting down with him, and he's also a Christian, and he said, he said, Corey, you are too young to have a diagnosis like this. He said, I see this in people two, maybe three times your age. You're too young to have a diagnosis like this. And I think that something is... something, excuse me, is broken with your spiritual heart that is affecting the health of your physical heart. And if we can repair what's going on with your spiritual heart, perhaps we'll see God do something, something with your physical heart. And I have to be honest, he was talking... But it felt like it was more God speaking than him speaking. And I just kind of took that away in my heart. I didn't do much with it, but I took it away. Fast forward about three years. I found myself with my father visiting him for several days. And we just begin to have a real honest conversation. He was very candid. I was very candid. He was vulnerable about how he saw parenting when I was younger and just how our lives were. It was almost like a mutual time of repentance toward each other. And as we were talking, maybe repenting to each other, I just could feel something like click in place in my heart.
And I recognize that there was probably some unforgiveness that was maybe being dealt with in that moment. Fast forward a few months after that. That was in January or February of that year. April, March or April of that same year, I saw a cardiologist. It was a new cardiologist. And after reviewing the results of an echocardiogram, he said, Corey, your heart looks really good. And I said, what does that mean? And he said, if I didn't have any visibility into the history of your heart health, I wouldn't be able to tell that you ever had any issues with your heart. It was in that moment that I remembered what that functional medicine doctor had said, if we can repair what's going on with your spiritual heart, you'll probably see God do something with your physical heart. That's awesome. Thank you, Corey. Give it up for Corey. What a great story of how sometimes the physical ailments that we deal with really have at their root cause a spiritual issue. So before we go to the Lord today, I think it's really appropriate that we just take a little bit of time to examine ourselves. Maybe there's sin that we need to confess to the Lord. Lord, forgive me. Maybe there's some relationship, some human relationship that needs to be repaired. Obviously, we're in the middle of a service right now, and you're not going to be able to sit down and have a conversation, but perhaps you could send a text that just says, hey, could we maybe talk? I'd like to sit down and have a conversation.
You could begin that process, whatever the case may be. I think we ought to take our time here and pause and just let the Lord speak to us about issues that maybe He wants us to deal with in His presence. So I'm going to step back here for just a couple of minutes, and I want you right there at your seat just to quietly before the Lord, examine your heart. See if there be any grievous way in me, Psalm 139, verse 23 and 24. And then we'll come back, and I will lead us in a prayer of repentance to the Lord, and then we'll take the Lord's Supper together. So let's just take a moment and examine ourselves before the Lord. So now we're going to pray. Let's pray a prayer together. This is one of Dr. Johnson's prayers. I have this written down in my prayer journal. I shared it with you a few weeks ago, but we're gonna pray it out loud together as a congregation today. Words will be on the screen. Would you read this with me out loud as we pray a prayer of repentance to the Lord together? Here we go. Almighty and most merciful Father, whose clemency I now presume to implore, after a long life of carelessness and wickedness, have mercy upon me. I have committed many trespasses. I have neglected many duties. I have done what thou hast forbidden
and left undone what thou hast commanded. Forgive, merciful Lord, my sins, negligences, and ignorances, and enable me by the Holy Spirit to amend my life according to thy holy word. In Jesus' name, amen. We're now going to take the Lord's Supper together. I'm gonna ask our prayer team and hosts to come. They're gonna be standing at the tables where the candles are all around the room. A lot of times when we take communion together, we pass out little elements before you come in, but today we're gonna do it a little differently. We're gonna take the time to come forward to get the bread and the cup, and you're going to take communion with maybe you, your family, maybe the group of Church on the Movers who are around you. I see you guys. You sit in pretty much the same places every week. By now, you oughta know some of the people around you, and if you don't, maybe grab some of them and just say, hey, let's take communion together, but you're gonna lead it there at your seat after you come and get it. Now, let me just kind of put a little caveat on this. Communion is for the believer, for the Christian, and if you're in the room today and you're not a Christian, not a believer, I would encourage you not to come forward and take communion.
It doesn't ostracize you. We're not trying to reject you in any way, but this is for the believer in Jesus, the one who has committed their lives to Christ. Now, if you would like to receive Christ this morning, you can come forward, grab any one of the hosts or the prayer team that are around the communion tables and just say, hey, I'm not a believer, but I wanna be. I wanna give my life to Christ. They'll walk you through that very quickly, and then you will get the elements to receive communion together with us today. So if you wanna do that, please come forward. So here's what I'm gonna invite you to do. I'm gonna step back here in just a second, and you can just begin slowly. It's gonna be a little messy, that's okay. We're gonna take our time with this, but you can come forward, grab your communion elements, make your way back to your seat, and then there at your seat with your family or your spiritual family, church on the move, family around you, you can take communion together. So if you would, go ahead and begin making your way to the tables, and we'll receive communion this morning. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪
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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Oh, we're still speaking Your love ♪ ♪ We're still reaching our praise to King Jesus ♪ ♪ Glory to God forever ♪ ♪ Glory to God forever ♪ ♪ Oh, blood and tears, how can it be? ♪ ♪ There's a God who weeps and there's a God who bleeds ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who would reach for me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the son of suffering ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the one who would reach for me ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the son of suffering ♪ You can be seated. I wanna read to you now from Philippians chapter four. This is the Apostle Paul writing. He writes this. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything. Everything. By prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. You know, requests, biblically speaking, are not just tolerated, they're encouraged. In fact, six times in the Gospel of John alone, the Lord Jesus makes the staggering claim to his disciples that whatever you ask in my name, I'll do it for you. It's funny because we Christians, and we preachers and teachers and pastors, often we wanna kinda try to sort of tone down what Jesus says there as if it's too fantastic, too much. We wanna attach an asterisk to that. We wanna put a little fine print, well, well, here's what he really meant. We wanna try to scale back what he says because I think we're, quite frankly, a little scared of asking in that way. Because it would mean trusting God with what we really want. And so many of us, we avoid encountering the real Jesus because we don't ever bring our real selves in prayer. We're scared that if we ask, and maybe we have a history with this, like we tried that once before. We got burned, so we kinda sort of scale back our prayers. We kinda blunt our requests. We don't really bring our actual heart and needs before the Lord. We veil them in religious language. Lord, you just kinda do your will.
Whatever you got in mind, sure, I'll be good with that, instead of boldly coming to his throne and asking him for what we want. If the Lord Jesus was standing here today, what would you ask him for? What would you want? I think we can make those kinds of requests of the Lord. And I think we can trust that he will hear and respond today. In Mark chapter one, there's a beautiful story of a leper coming to Jesus and saying, if you will, you can make me clean. And I love Jesus' response. He says, I will be clean. Some of you are coming with heavy hearts today. You're facing a really uncertain future. You're coming to plead before the Lord that he act and that he move. Maybe it's a terminal diagnosis in a loved one. Maybe it's a loved one who's far from Christ. Maybe it's a financial situation that you can't see your way out of. You need wisdom with one of your kids or a relationship, whatever the case may be. Can I just encourage you today? We serve a God who hears and answers prayer. So we're gonna boldly come before his throne of grace today. I wanna invite our prayer team. To step forward into their places, you're gonna see them right now all around this auditorium. And here in just a moment, I'm gonna release you
to just kinda get up from where you sit and to line up in front of the one maybe closest to you, or maybe you look around and you have a relationship maybe with somebody in this room that's standing up and you're like, hey, I would love to pray with them. Maybe there's someone that you know that's sitting near you that you would like to pray with them. Go for it. We're a body of believers. We believe that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. So if you would, you can begin right now to step forward and come and receive prayer. All I ask is that you keep your requests just brief because we got a lot of people here and we've got another service after this. So if you could just be concise in your requests, that'll help us out. But we wanna pray for needs this morning, trusting that our God heals, saves, answers, and delivers in Jesus' name. So go ahead and make your way to our prayer team. coherence.org So go ahead and make your way to our prayer team. So go ahead and make your way to our prayer team. So go ahead and make your way to our prayer team. So go ahead and make your way to our prayer team. So go ahead and make your way to our prayer team. ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"]
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♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ It's always just so beautiful to me to see the church be the church.
Something wonderful about just watching us love, care, and pray for one another. It's a beautiful thing, Jesus said, by this all men will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another. That's what we've witnessed here this morning. How many of you know God has heard our prayers and that he responds? Lord, we thank you in advance. Seeing anything change in the present because we know you've heard, we trust you. Now I want to just offer you a little word of hope here as we conclude, really. It's not a little word of hope, it's a great word of hope. How are we, what is our hope in? What do we take confidence in? Some of you perhaps are sitting here and you're like, yeah, I get that people are coming forward and being prayed for, I did that. Maybe at some point in your past and it seems as though Maybe at some point in your past and it seems as though God did not come through for you. What hope is there for me? What would you say if things don't turn out the way that I want them to? Can I just remind you of what our hope is in? Often whenever there's a tragedy, whenever Christians experience some grief, some loss, what we often want to do and our tendency is, is to try to make kind of trades.
We want to look for the silver lining in the bad situation. We want to see maybe God could do something good with this bad thing and certainly that does happen. We serve a God who specializes in bringing life out of dead places. But what we want to do is kind of try to keep a ledger sort of to say, well, this was really bad but then this is kind of good. And right, this sort of offsets this really bad thing as if we're trying to find some balance to the senselessness of the tragedy and the evil that we all encounter in one way or another in our lives. But can I just tell you, finding some silver lining in a bad situation is not what we put our hope in. Oh, well, we got to witness to the nurse or to the doctor. We lost our family member, but it's somehow, it's like balanced out by the gospel being shared with somebody. And I love that sometimes that happens, but can I just tell you, that is not our hope. Our hope is not in some kind of trade in the here and now. It is in the return of the Lord and that life will overwhelm and swallow up death. That's what our hope is in. In fact, the apostle Paul goes so far as to say that whatever you've suffered in the here and now, that it is but a light momentary affliction. Now I want you to think about that because some of you have been through some really tough stuff.
And if we were to sit down and hear your story, it would not sound like a light momentary affliction. And yet Paul, who was a man who himself had been caught up to the third heaven, had seen beyond the veil of this reality. And he could confidently say that what is to come is so much greater than what you have experienced in the here and now, that it will dwarf what you've experienced in this life. And that there is a life to come that is so glorious and so incredible and so perfect and beautiful that all of the pain that we've experienced in the here and now will seem but a distant memory. It will be but a drop in the bucket of a blissful eternity with Jesus. That is why we focus on the coming of the Lord. because that's where our hope is that he will come and make things right not that everything has to be fixed in the here and now because it's not we still live in a broken world but I got news for you it won't be broken for much longer Jesus is returning he is coming soon and that's where we fix our eyes so we're gonna close together today by singing about his return reminding ourselves that death is defeated and one day that victory will be complete we will know no more sorrow no more brokenness no more sickness no more death all will be well and peaceful and right in the world we will live with our Lord with our Savior with our Father in a new heavens and a new creation and new earth that's where our hope is so would you stand to your feet today and let's sing this song to remind ourselves of what is most true let's worship together Oh there is a day coming
when the old will pass away every wrong will be made no darkness, no night the sun will light the way there is a king coming the one who conquered death and grave no more pain and no more sorrow this hope for tomorrow is our hope for today he who was, he who is he who was, he who is he who is to come Christ the Son of Man riding on the clouds with a crown upon his head and every eye will see him with the nail scars in his hands hallelujah hallelujah oh hallelujah hallelujah he's only one worthy of all glory and all praise all wealth and all honor to train the wisdom and power to the Lamb that was slain can we lift up our hands today he who is to come Christ the Son of Man riding on the clouds with a crown upon his head and every eye will see him with the nail scars in his hands hallelujah hallelujah he who is to come
Christ the Son of Man riding on the clouds with a crown upon his head and every eye will see him with the nail scars in his hands hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah he is surely coming how can you feel it too ♪ Ooh, all this tension growing stronger ♪ ♪ It's just a sign He's getting closer ♪ ♪ He's already on the move, come on ♪ ♪ All this story has been written ♪ ♪ We all know how it ends ♪ ♪ My future hasn't made it clear ♪ ♪ And my heart is on the stage ♪ ♪ Oh, He's coming back again, He's coming back again ♪ ♪ He's coming back again, He's coming back again ♪ ♪ He who is to come, Christ the Son of Man ♪ ♪ Christ the Son of Man ♪ ♪ Holy Lord of hosts, we are crowned upon His head ♪ ♪ And every eye will see Him ♪ ♪ Look at those scars in His hands ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ He who is to come, Christ the Son of Man ♪ ♪ We are crowned upon His head ♪ ♪ And every eye will see Him ♪ ♪ Look at those scars in His hands ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ Can you clap your hands together today? ♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Sing oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ The Lord our God, oh, praise His name ♪ Lift it up. The people of God sing. ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ Can we lift our hands and our voices? ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, oh Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For endless days we will sing Your praise ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪
♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore, forevermore ♪ ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ Not yet, Advent starts like right now, ♪ Oh, praise His name forevermore ♪ so we don't want you to miss that. But at any rate, we're gonna close with this blessing out of Numbers chapter six. It's on the screen. You can join me as we close our service together today. Here we go. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. I love you, Church on the Move. We'll see you next week. You are dismissed. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next week. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. I love you, Church on the Move. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next week.
We'll see you next week.
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