Point of Grace – 5.5.24 Sermon Notes – “… with the Risen Jesus” – Receiving Power
“10 Days for Prayer and Fasting (lite)”
Point of Grace Church
May 9-19, 2024 - Ascension to Pentecost
As a Church:
May 9 Worship and Prayer Night
10,11 Church Open for Prayer 4-6pm with a led prayer liturgy on the half hour (4:30 & 5:30)
12 Sunday Worship – Mother’s Day – Praying for Families
13-14 Church Open for Prayer 4-6pm with a led prayer liturgy on the half hour (4:30 & 5:30)
15 Worship and Prayer Night
16-18 Church Open for Prayer 4-6pm with a led prayer liturgy on the half hour (4:30 & 5:30)
19 Pentecost Sunday Worship
As Individuals:
Special edition of the Daily Pause – 10 Days straight
Additional Resources for the “10 Days” available at pog.church/Resources (as of 5.8.24)
Websites: prayercourse.org /toolshed
24-7Prayer.com
practicingtheway.org … for a deeper dive
Books: How to Pray: A simple guide for normal people by Pete Grieg
Be Still: A Simple Guide to Quiet Times by Brian Heasley
Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
Acts 1 In my former book, Theophilus, I (Luke) wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”
- “dunamis” (dynamite) – from the verb “dunomai”- to be able to do…
- the power that comes with the Holy Spirit is “ able-to-do-ness”.
“and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- Witness: gives “been with Jesus” testimony ….
- Representative – Image-bearer
Power to be a Jesus witness – a Jesus image bearer to the people, places and spaces of our living.
We need a “power” outside of ourselves to truly live fully alive as His witness.
Ephesians 316 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Luke 11 9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Can you imagine what would happen if we spent 10 days,
in a concert of prayer,
asking God to unleash within us deep desire
for more of Him.