If you would like to send your offering through the mail, our mailing address is:
CrossPointe Community Church
P O Box 126
Chippewa Lake, OH 44215
SCRIPTURE
“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
Acts 2:36-42
SERMON
When God’s People Pray
Randy K’Meyer
Happy New Year!
I am so glad that we have this technology available that allows me to be with you while actually being in Sarasota, Florida. I will be returning to Medina County this coming Thursday afternoon and will be with you live next Sunday.
As we stand on the precipice of a brand new year, it is not only appropriate but also timely that we begin with a service of prayer and communion.
Prayer because everything we do as a church must be undergirded with prayer. And the Sacrament of Holy Communion because it reminds us that we live, both through and for, Jesus.
Acts chapter 2 tells the exciting story of the birth of the Church. The Holy Spirit comes into the lives of the disciples, Peter steps up to the plate, and preaches his first sermon, and 3,000 people believe, and are immediately adopted into God’s family, the Church. And then, one of the most crucial verses in the book informs us that the folks in that early Church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).
As we gather on this Lord’s Day, we are blessed to be able to engage in all four of those aspects of early church life. The Apostle’s teaching refers to teaching from the Bible. Fellowship occurs whenever two or more gather to share in the Lord’s blessings. Now it’s true we are not going to share in a meal, but we will share the most important meal for any Christian, the Lord’s Supper. However; our emphasis will be on prayer.
To ask for God’s wisdom and blessing in prayer upon all we do acknowledges that we cannot accomplish God’s mission and ministry in our own strength. And at the same time, praying invokes the power of God that will enable us to accomplish His will for our lives at CrossPointe.
In addition to our general prayers today, there are two things in particular that I would like for us to focus our prayers on.
The first is the most important because it has to do with . . . well . . . prayer. Yes, I am asking us to pray about prayer. What I mean by that is that the last three Sundays of this month, January 15, 22, and 29 are going to be very important days for CrossPointe’s future. On those three Sundays, immediately following worship, Annie Dean is going to facilitate a seminar on the subject of prayer.
I am going to pray that all CrossPointers will participate. There’s really no reason why you shouldn’t or can’t.
As soon as practicable after worship, a light lunch will be served. Then the seminar will begin with a ten-minute video, featuring Rev. Jim Cymbala, founding pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church in New York City and author of two wonderful books on the subject of prayer. He will be sharing how prayer undergirded the creation and remarkable fruitfulness of the church he pastors. And you will be hearing the heart-warming stories of people just like you, who have been significantly impacted by the ministry of that church. After the video, Annie will lead a group discussion.
I have been through this material in the past and can guarantee that you will be blessed and that after the last session, you will be very grateful that you participated.
I’m sure we all understand that spending time with God in prayer is the most vital aspect of our spiritual growth. James, the Lord’s brother writes, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). The four gospels indicate that Jesus modeled a personal prayer life by frequently departing from His disciples to be alone and pray. He also instructed His disciples about the importance of prayer. And it goes without saying that the writers of the letters of the New Testament all encourage Christians like you and me to make prayer a part of our daily regimen.
Will you join me in praying that God would stir up all of our hearts about our personal prayer lives and that His Holy Spirit will prompt us to take advantage of this crucial moment in CrossPointe’s history as we make ourselves available to both learn more about and pray that God’s Kingdom will come to Chippewa Lake through our combined efforts here at CrossPointe Community Church?
Speaking of our combined efforts, the second thing I am asking us to all pray about today, and in the future, is a proposed new after-school program for children and youth.
Thanks to the Chippewa Lake Lions Club, those who are interested will be able to receive training right here in our facility from ministry experts on how to effectively implement a ministry for children and youth in our community. I am hopeful that this training will take place as early as February so that we might be enabled to actually launch a pilot program this Spring. Prior to the actual training event, there will be a free Zoom meeting for any interested folks that will provide an overview of this program. The purpose of this online zoom meeting is to inform and inspire people about the possibilities of reaching kids for Christ! This zoom meeting will take place on Thursday, January 19th at 1 pm.
I am asking us to pray that God will stir up the hearts of and call the people He desires to participate in that brief zoom call and the comprehensive training experience that will later follow. And I am asking that we would all pray for the children and youth of the greater Chippewa Lake area who are in need of a faith relationship with Jesus.
I close today with a true story related by author Nancy Dorner about a small congregation in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains who had built a new sanctuary on a beautiful piece of land located at the bottom of a valley. Ten days before the new church was to open the local building inspector informed
the pastor that a new zoning law just passed that was going to require more parking spaces than they currently had and that unless they were able to add the required number of new spaces, they would not be able to open.
Unfortunately, the church had already used every available bit of level land for the new construction. The only land left was the upward slope of that mountain against which the church had been built. In order to expand the parking lot would require that they would have to literally move some of that mountain. The pastor announced the following Sunday that he would meet with all of the members who had mountain-moving faith for a prayer meeting on Monday night. Nineteen of the 300-member congregation joined the pastor as they prayed that God would help them find a way to literally move the mountain and provide enough money to pay for the new parking spaces.
On Tuesday morning, there was a knock at the door of the pastor’s study. It was the foreman of a construction company who was building a new mall in the same county and needed fill dirt. He offered to remove the dirt from their mountain and pay for it by paving over the exposed area.
The church was full when it opened its doors the next Sunday. And after seeing how God had answered the prayers of those 19 persons, there were many more people with mountain-moving faith attending than there were the Sunday before. 1
I pray that story would inspire us to believe Jesus, who said to His disciples, “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move” (Matthew 17:20).
I pray that story would convince us of what Paul writes about in his letter to the Ephesians; that God is able, “through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).
I pray that story would inspire all of us to want to learn more about prayer by participating after worship on the last three Sundays of January in When God’s People Pray.
1 Nancy Dorner, ‘Do You Want Mountain-Moving Faith,’ in God’s Chicken Soup for the Spirit, Compiled by Kathy Collard Miller and D. Larry Miller, [Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Starburst Publishing, © 1996]. Pages 55-56.