Bible Verses for Sunday Service Aug 14, 2022
1 John 4:4
Psalm 119:14
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
Announcements:
Beginning with notice of a Deacons’ meeting after church today, Steve started today’s announcements.
Next he provided a final reminder that the Peacemakers’ annual conference is this week, it runs August 18-21. This conference will help equip you to be a peacemaker in all aspects of your life, not just in church. This important ministry develops Christians’ relationship skills, including conflict resolution. The conference is held at the Double Tree in Billings. If you want to learn more about the Peacemaker ministries, you can go to rw360.org. The domain name stands for a 360 degree view, an all round view of Relational Wisdom. You can find information on the annual conference here.
VBS. No, not another one. But, a meeting on August 21st to evaluate the week in June, and to start planning for next year.
Although we don’t want to think about it, the end of summer is approaching, and so is the traditional end of summer picnic. Pastor suggests a potluck in Huntley park after church on August 28th. To make life simple, Pastor suggests coming to church on that Sunday as you would wish to go to the picnic, and then going directly to the park
AWANA begins on September 14th. Please be praying as to whether you should participate. Steve can attest to the fact he now enjoys his Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8 more now he volunteers. Also, pastor cancelled the general meeting planned for Aug 31st. Too many people had prior commitments. He advised that each group, cubbies, trek and T&T will schedule their own meeting.
Bill and Carol Vincent’s are celebrating 50 years of marriage with a celebration held at the Shepherd Community Center at 4PM on Sept 2. They requested that those wishing to attend complete the RSVP cards in the foyer by August 17th.
Special:
We were treated to the choir performing “The wonderful grace of Jesus.” The hymn is in our hymnal, #497. If you would like to learn more about this hymn and the author, the online resource hymnary.org cover this hymn and many others.
Sermon:
Returning to Acts, Pastor preached on “A Holy Boldness” using as his text Acts 4:1-31. In today’s preaching, Pastor amplified last week’s sermon on the change the Holy Spirit made in Peter. Today, Pastor described the boldness Peter showed and in dealing with the religious authorities, the Jewish leadership of the day, and how Peter became bold. Pastor started by giving a working definition of boldness, facing your fears. With that idea established, pastor covered holy boldness by providing background on it, and going over how boldness is gained.
For the times boldness is needed, pastor first advised it is needed when we are intimidated. His example that David must have been bold in confronting Goliath. Who was bigger, was armed and wore armor? Yet David without these things was able to fight and beat Goliath. David was not intimidated by Goliath. Neither was Peter and John in standing before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders in explaining how they were able to heal the lame man in Acts 4, and who was responsible for the healing, Jesus.
Similarly, boldness is needed when we are threatened. Often in the world’s way, intimidation precedes threats. We see this today in popular culture, with its threat to “cancel” those who speak up for a traditional Christian view. In the case of Peter, the Sanhedrin instructed Peter and the apostles not to preach in the name of Jesus. But Peter turned the tables on them, asking who should he obey, God or Men?
With an understanding of when boldness is needed, pastor moved on to explain how we can gain boldness. He first emphasized the Holy Spirit. As discussed in previous sermons, the Holy Spirit is what turned cowardly Peter into bold Peter. But, knowing about the Holy Spirit is not enough. We need to ask does the Holy Spirit have us? For the Holy Spirit to work in us, we must be emptied of self will. If we have only our self will, we will tend to be scared, worry about ourselves, what might happen to us.
Another way to gain boldness is to remember we have the truth, God’s Word, the Bible. Peter did a good job of telling the truth to the Sanhedrin, telling them that there was no other name besides Jesus under heaven given among men by which they could be saved. We can speak up with the truth of God’s Word. To do that we must know God’s Word, have it hidden in our hearts.
By observing what Peter and John did after the meeting with the Sanhedrin, pastor made his next point: We have each other, fellow Christians. After the meeting Peter and James met with the original 120 believers from the upper room. They placed themselves with others so that everyone could stand together.
Besides relying on our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, we must always remember that we have prayer. Peter and John prayed with the others from the upper room after the meeting with the Sanhedrin. Prayer is specifically for when we are fearful, when we feel intimidated to help us bold in the right way. Peter and John modeled the right prayer here too. They did not ask Jesus to removed from the situation, but instead for strength to deal with it.
Pastor concluded by asking us to look around at the world: It is getting to be a less hospitable place for Christians, a progression of adversity that will continue, and make life worse. So we should pray and equip our children who will need to bolder than us to survive.
Accessing the Service, Bulletin and Sermon Outline:
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