Listen, if you have a Bible we open to the book of Isaiah, chapter number 45. Isaiah 45 verse five says, I am the Lord and there is none else. God makes a proclamation here in Isaiah and he says, I am the Lord. And he says, let's just get this straight.
There is no one else besides me. What an incredible proclamation that God made. He settles it right there in Isaiah chapter 45, verse five for us that there is no other God besides him. And then in the book of Acts chapter one, in verse eight, I'm gonna go through three verses real quick for a year and then get into the meat of the message.
Acts chapter number one, verse eight, Jesus promises us, he says, you will receive power, say power. That word is called dudemus. It's unlimited power. You shall receive, now let me ask you a question.
How many times have you ever felt powerless? Like you weren't in control. You could not control the situation or the circumstance and it rendered you with a feeling or an emotion of being powerless. But you've got to understand something, you've got a promise.
And he who has promised the Bible says is faithful. He promised you will. That's a definite, you will. It's not that you might or maybe or if you're good enough, he said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses, isn't that good?
We're called to be witnesses. See the Holy Spirit comes upon us and he empowers us to be witnesses for God. All power belongs to God. Amen?
Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We'll get there. Psalm chapter 62 verse 11, Psalm 62 verse 11.
Once God has spoken twice, I have heard this, that power belongs to God. Power belongs to God. God is the ultimate source of all power, all authority and all strain. And any power, any power, any power that we receive is because of him.
And we've not earned it. We don't deserve it. It's a gift from him. He shares his power with us through the Holy Spirit.
Amen? How many thankful for the third part of God had Trinity the Holy Spirit? The person of the Holy Spirit, he's not a net. He's not a thing.
He has a person the third part of the Godhead Trinity. God shares his power with his people. How many of your thankful God shares his power with his people? Acts chapter one verse eight.
Says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. There is no limit to where we are to take the authority and the power and the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The scripture says until the ends of the earth, when we receive this power, it's not to receive it for our own purpose. It is for us to take that power and authority and speak it into other people's lives that they too may come to know Jesus Christ.
In other words, the primary purpose for you and I receiving the power of God through the Holy Spirit is so we as believers can live as witnesses of Jesus Christ. In other words, it's not for personal gain. So much in our life today and in our culture is for personal gain. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives is so that we can go in power and strength and be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen? All right, turn with me to Acts chapter four. Acts chapter four. Now when I tell you what I'm gonna read to you, you're gonna think we're gonna be here for at least seven months.
Acts chapter four, beginning of verse one. And I'm gonna attempt to read to you down through verse 22. But as you're turning to Acts chapter four, I wanna pre-requisite this by saying, in Acts chapter three, Peter and John went to pray and they met this lame man on the way. And they prayed for him and he was healed.
And the Bible says he went walking and leaping and praising God. Amen? Look at somebody this morning. I know you're not supposed to do that in these days in church, but I'm just gonna, we don't care.
We do it. Look at somebody and say, hey, what are you carrying? What are you carrying? Because he's giving you power.
See wherever we go, whatever we do, we're carrying something with us. And so when Peter and John went to pray in Acts chapter three, they meet this lame man who had been lame from birth. There was no doubt that he had been lame. And they went and he was begging for alms.
And Peter and John said to him, silver and gold have we none. No more say, say to him, we can't give you anything in the material realm that's gonna help you. But what we have we can give to you. And then they said, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and he reached out and he took him by the hand and he pulled him out and the Bible says immediately, he was healed and he went walking and leaping and he was praising God in the temple.
And because of that, Peter and John get in trouble. Who would think you'd get in trouble for healing somebody that had been crippled from the time they were born? You would think most people would be happy about that, wouldn't you? You would think most people would love to see something like that happen, but they got themselves in trouble.
Now go with me to verse number one of chapter four. The priests and the captains of the temple's guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. They were greatly disturbed, the leaders of the church. They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching people proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
They weren't happy about that. Verse three, they seized Peter and John. In other words, they arrested them because it was evening and they put them in jail until the next day. So Peter and John heal a man who had been crippled from birth, get in trouble for it because they're telling people about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power and the authority that comes in the name of Jesus and the leaders of the church of the current day at that time did not like that.
So they arrested them to shut them up and they threw them in jail. And so they're in jail overnight. That's what we're seeing up until this point. Verse four, but many who heard the message of what Peter and John were saying to them, many, which means a majority.
That were many there as translated as in the original context is the majority. The majority of people that heard the message believed it. That's incredible because the overwhelming majority of people that gather in churches today don't believe the message. But the majority of the people that heard what was spoken to them believed the message.
So the number of, you've got to hear this. So the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000. Imagine if the people who gathered in our churches today truly believed the message. And we went out and shared the message of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and his cross and his blood and his death and his resurrection and the power that comes along in a relationship with Jesus Christ and how he can turn a life around and how he can take someone that's lost and give him hope, how he can take someone that's blind and help him to see.
God is only the God we serve, amen? And he's all powerful. Imagine if we believe the message. Imagine if we believe the message to the core of who we were, the multiplication that would happen today in our world with social media, with all of the things we have today to be able to spread a message.
Imagine the growth that would happen in the church. They say that the growth in church today, in the modern church within America, growth is transfer growth, for the most part. There are new converts to Christianity, but comparison to transfer growth. And what I mean by transfer growth is those who come from one church to another church, transfer growth.
And so one church is growing and one church may be declining, but the number of Christians overall aren't increasing in that sense because it's just, they were a Christian and they just went to a different church. Does that make sense to you? But there are people getting saved all over the world. There really are.
But there could be greater numbers of that if we truly came and really believed what we were hearing because the proof is in the pudding as they would say. The seats in all of our churches would be maxed out to capacity today if we truly believed that those who stood on platforms and behind podiums like this and was speaking every Sunday morning was really the mouthpiece of God. And speaking the gospel of Jesus Christ, who would not want to hear that word. Because the Bible says it never returns void.
God always accomplishes what he says. He will accomplish. We have no idea even at this altar time today, the miracles and the healings and the things that may have transpired just in the last couple of weeks. I said a few weeks ago, God was changing and turning some things around.
And in some people's lives, it has begun to happen so quickly. As a matter of fact, in some people's lives, it's so quick that they didn't even realize it happened. Has something ever transpired in your life? And then all of a sudden it dawned on you?
You were going about your business and all of a sudden realized, wait a minute. This thing changed. Wait a minute, this thing happened. Sometimes we get so caught up in life.
We forget to even realize or return to give thanks when God has done something in our lives. But as Pastor George said, there are sometimes that we go through so many things and there are so many events in any given day that can take our attention or our thoughts. We're just bombarded by them, aren't we? But we cannot dismiss or forget the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power that he has given us.
Each one of us carry an incredible gift of power through the gift of the Holy Spirit. And because of the Holy Spirit, wherever we go, we have power over sickness and disease. We have power when we walk into a room, we should change and transform the atmosphere in that room because of what we carry. Verse five, now the next day, the rulers and the elders and the teachers of the law.
They met in Jerusalem. And in an eyes that the high priest was there and so was Kipus and John and Alexander and others of the high priest family. Verse seven, and Peter and John brought before them and began to question them. By what power or what name did you do this?
They wanted to know, how did you do this? How did this take place? Verse number eight, then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. Filled with the Holy Spirit.
Peter said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness, shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed. He addresses what's going on. He says, we're brought here today to give an account of doing something good for someone. Let's just get that straight.
Then know this, he says in verse 10, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed today. Well, he didn't mean words, did he? He said, this was done in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You remember him?
He's the one you crucified. But God raised him from the dead. That's the power of the gospel church, because Jesus never raised from the dead. If Jesus had only died on the cross, but never rose from the dead, we wouldn't be here today, celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He would have just died like any other man, but he did not just die like any other man. He died and laid lifeless for three days, and then he rose from the dead, amen? And through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus said, I go to the Father, and the Father will send another comforter, the Holy Spirit, and he will be with you all ways. Isn't that good?
Isn't that good? And so Jesus stands before, or Peter stands before, Paul to Peter, Peter John, it was Peter. He stood before the leaders of the church, and I get so excited, my tongue gets twisted sometimes. And he's sharing with them, listen, this was Jesus of Nazareth.
You remember him? You crucified him. And he was dead, but now he's raised back to life. And this man, he's healed today and stands in front of you because of Jesus, verse 11.
He says, Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone. Verse 12, salvation is found in no one else, he says, for there is no other name under heaven, given to mankind, which we must be saved. There is no other name by which we shall be saved, but by the name of Jesus Christ, amen? There is no other way.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Truth destroys ignorance, teaching destroys ignorance. We're here today because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have the power and the authority as the church, because of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, verse 13.
And when they saw the courage of Peter and John, they realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men. They were astonished and they took note that these men, they took note that these men say they took note. In other words, they recognized that they had been with Jesus. They understood that these men had been with Jesus, verse 14.
But since they could see the man who had been healed, standing there with them, there was nothing that they could say because the man was there. He was healed, he was delivered and he was set free. There was no guessing, there was no questioning. The man was alive and well in the flesh and they had seen this guy his entire life.
And here he is now standing tall. They had no argument to what Peter and John were saying because they were witnessing something that was beyond their own control and their own understanding and they didn't like that. They didn't like that. Verse 15, so they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.
So they took them away and they had their conversation together. Verse 16, what are we going to do with these men? They asked. Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign and we cannot deny it.
Verse 17, I'm reading to you by the way out of the NIV. Verse 17, but to stop this thing from spreading. Now who would think that you wouldn't want to see crippled people healed? Who would think you wouldn't want to see lame men walk?
Who would think you wouldn't want to see great things happening? People's lives changing, people's lives turning around. Who would think that people would have an issue with that? Well, they said, well, to keep this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name, meaning Jesus.
Then they called them in again and they commanded them to not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. They said, you're forbidden, don't use that name. Verse 19, but Peter and John replied, which is right in God's sight to listen to you or to listen to him, you'll be the judges. They said, well, you asked God then, are we to listen to God or we to recheck God or we to deny God or we to disobey God or we to listen to you?
You'll be the judges. Verse 20, ask for us, we cannot help, we cannot help. I understand that. We cannot help, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and what we have heard.
They said, we don't know, we don't know about you guys, but what we have seen and what we have heard, he was dead and now he's alive. And we're gonna not stop talking, we're gonna not stop sharing, we're gonna not stop believing, we're gonna not stop praying for people because we know what we have seen and what we have heard. He who have an argument, he who have an argument, and boy, there are many arguments in the world today, right? Many arguments in the world today, but he who has an experience is not at the mercy, he who has the argument.
They had an argument, but they had an experience. They didn't experience the power of a risen savior. Verse 21, after further threats, they let them go, they could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened. Now there was over 5,000 people, and I'm sure that grew to, if 5,000 men and most of those men had women and they had children, there was a pretty large group of people that were now magnifying God and praising God because word was beginning to spread quickly, that he who had been crippled, he who had been diseased, who had been lame and had never walked from the moment he was born is now running down the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the name of Jesus.
He said, I asked for alms, but they gave me my limbs back. I asked to be able to get some money to buy dinner, but they made me whole in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I'm not a beggar any longer, who has a job that I can have? Well, we can send him to the Philippines today because we know of a job.
He didn't have to sit and beg any longer, as life was healed, he was delivered and he was set free. And the word had begun to spread and people all throughout Jerusalem were beginning to praise God for what had happened. Church, we cannot lose sight of phrasing, God, for what he has done. That's why I'm so energetic and so enthusiastic about what I do because of what God has done in my life.
I cannot be silent because of the goodness of God in my life. I cannot doubt him because of how good he has been in my life. I have witnessed and I have seen and as Asalmas said, I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. And when you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, you don't need other things to satisfy you.
You don't have to go to Instagram or TikTok or you don't need to chat GPT. What you should do, you've got God on your side. He said, come on to me, oh ye who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest. You don't need to chat GPT.
How do you say that chat? What? Yeah, whatever it is. I'm just like, I can't put those letters together half the time.
Chat GPT, for the longest time I called it GPS. And my wife said, Sean, it's not chat GPS. It's chat GPT. Anybody else know what that is?
Where you go on a Google search and you Google something and it'll come up and it'll tell you what to do. Listen, you don't need some computer system telling you what should I buy a blue dress or a pink dress? You're nuts. Don't ask a computer that.
What I look better in heels or flats. Don't ask a computer that. Should I marry this guy or that guy? Don't ask a computer that.
You've got the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You've got the great I am everlasting to everlasting. You have the Prince of Peace, the Holy God, the Righteous One of Israel. There is none like him and there is none beside him.
Go to him. He said, make your request made known to me. And he promises he will not only hear, but he will answer. Isn't that great news?
What a great and mighty God we have. You don't need direction from a computer. The best thing you could do sometimes is take a little rest from it. And they're good and in the right for places.
They're really handy. And I'm not preaching against them. I'm not telling you to throw them away or burn them. I'm telling you to use them in the rightful place.
But they shouldn't take the place of God. Unfortunately, we have so many people today. I've seen somebody the other day almost get hit by a car because they're walking across the street like this. And the car's like, er, and they blow the horn.
And the person really got mad at them. Meanwhile, they're like, almost like an acoma looking at the screen on their phone. We were going to pass somebody going down the highway. And the car kept coming over.
And he said, this isn't look, he's on his phone. He's got one hand on the wheel and he's got his phone. And he's driving like this. And he's swerving all over the road.
We become so attached to them that we are really good at this. But we're not good at this. He says, come on to me, not on to chat GPT. I got it right.
How about that? How about that? See, all things are possible. You don't know in my head how hard I was working on that.
Oh, this is your big moment. Don't blow it. Yeah, I should put that on. Yeah, we should do that.
We should market that. A lot of people walking and leaping and praising God because they had seen and witnessed the mighty miracles listen church. We have that same God today. We serve that same God today.
And when people heard and people seen, they worship and praise God. You know the Bible says, people will see the God in your life and they will begin to praise him. When people see change in your life, they'll want to know, why did that change come? How did that change come?
Because they see the miraculous in your life. And then you too can witness of the power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and what he's done in your life. Verse 22 says, for the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. These people have seen this man for 40 years.
40 years, there was no denying. There could be no denying, there could be no explaining away. This was a bona fide, pure miracle. And no one could deny it.
It's that power, the presence of the Holy Spirit. Who you've been with says a lot about who you are. You know that? Who you've been with says a lot about who you are.
Who you spend the majority of your time with says a lot about who you are. When you enter a room, let me ask you this question. Do you add to the room or do you take away from the room? When you enter a room, do you add to the room or do you take away from the room?
Acts 4, 13 said, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they had been unlearned and ignorant men and they marveled. That they marveled at the knowledge that they spoke from because they knew they had been with Jesus. See, when you've been with Jesus, people will know you've been with Jesus because when you've been with Jesus, some things will change in your life. Everywhere you go, you carry something with you.
Not just your body, not just your thoughts, but your presence. And your presence can fill a room with peace and encouragement and strength or it can drain a room with negativity and criticism and discouragement. I showed my wife a video the other day and it was a bunch of deer and they were walking on a pier somewhere. And all of a sudden these deer started jumping off the pier and into the water.
And the caption was, it's what church folks do when they see somebody else from the church coming and all the deer were jumping off the railing into the water, trying to avoid each other. But no, we don't avoid each other. We should be gathering together to talk about the goodness of God and the great things that God has done. But the truth is there are people that enter a room and they bring life into the room, they bring strength into a room, they bring joy into a room, they bring peace into a room, they bring encouragement into a room, they bring strength and life and health into a room and there are others that literally will just.
Do you ever see that commercial on TV where they, you put your clothes in a plastic thing if you're gonna travel and you stick the vacuum on it and it just sucks all the air out so that the things flat? I mean, there's some people like that vacuum. They're suckers. They just suck the life right out of ya.
It's negative, it's negative, it's oh, oh, it's me. Blah, blah, blah. So the question is when you and I enter a room, what happens to the room when we enter the room? Funny.
There ain't no party like a Christian party, right? Hey, I'm gonna tell you the truth. I was thinking today, walking up here, I should stop, I should get out of pulpit preaching. My ministry should be to waitresses and waiters.
I have a restaurant ministry, as you can well tell. We love ministering to waitresses and waiters. My wife and I were having breakfast the other morning and we kinda like this little place and there's a waitress there and she'd come running right over the table, didn't she? Cause when we walked in, we smiled, we waved at her and she came running over the table and she said, oh boy, she said, I was having such a rough day.
She said, but it got so much better when you guys came in. She said, cause you're always so friendly and smiling and it doesn't hurt that I've always tipped her pretty well. But she was like so happy that we came into the restaurant. She's like, you're always so friendly and you're always smiling.
She said, my day just got better. That's the way it should be when we walk into a place. People should say, my day just got better. It shouldn't be when they see you coming up.
We gotta get out of here. Because of the cloud that comes, let me know what I'm talking about. I mean, there's a cloud that comes behind them and you hear it before they ever get there. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Nothing positive, nothing good. But we're not called to drain people. We're called to speak into their lives. We're called to give them a hope and a peace, amen.
So when you enter the room, do you add to it or do you take away from it? That's a great question to ask yourself today. What makes the difference? It's not money, it's not careers, it's not education, it's not personality, it's presence.
It's the presence of God in our lives that make the difference. Peter and John had nothing to give this man that would make a difference in the natural. But what they had in the spirit realm was far greater than anything they had in the natural. They took 40 years of broken, 40 years of hurt, 40 years of discouragement, 40 years of lifelessness.
And in one moment in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk and his life changed. You have that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in you and you can walk into a room and encourage people. You know, there's some people today that just need an encouragement. Some people just need a hug.
Some people just need to hear it's gonna be okay. Some people need to hear they're gonna make it that we know it's difficult and we know it's art and we know this thing is frustrating, but hold on. Don't give in, don't give up. God will give you the strength and the power to get through this thing.
It is in him that you have victory. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Come on worship team, we make our way back to the platform. And as believers of Jesus Christ, it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that gives us the ability to do this and to speak into people's lies.
People need to hear it. Peter and John didn't have impressive credentials. They weren't trained speakers. They weren't rabbis.
They didn't have social status. But when they stood before the Sanhedrin, their presence made an impact because they had been with Jesus. If you wanna make an impact in this world, you better get with him. And when you do and when you have been with him, you don't have to announce who you are or where you've been.
Your presence will tell the truth about who you are. If you carry bitterness, it leaks into the room. If you carry joy, it shines through the smile on your face. People may forget your words, but they don't forget how you made them feel.
Think about it. A candle in a dark room. The flame doesn't argue with the darkness. It burns and the darkness flees.
It doesn't argue with the darkness. It just does its thing. And because it does its thing, it illuminates light in the darkness. And that's what you and I are called to do.
The presence of that light changes the atmosphere without a single word. When you've been with Jesus, your countenance will change. Isn't that good? Proverbs reminds us in 1821, death and life are in the power of the tongue.
But long before we ever speak, our presence enters into a room. Long before we ever speak, our presence enters a room. What type of presence are you taking in to the room? When you enter is a little bit lighter, or does the room get a little bit heavier?
What happens depending on your presence in that room? What's the pattern of your life? What's the consistency of your life? Presence is shaped by the time that we spend with God.
The secret to Peter and John's power for presence was not found in their resume, but in their relationship. They had been with Jesus. They had been with Him. And when you've been with Him, it changes things.
I thank God that I've been able to be with Him. I thank God that I've been able to spend some time with Him through His word. I'm so glad that I've been able to encounter Him through His word. And I've been able to take that word and put it in my heart.
And as I put His word in my heart, I've learned that I don't sin against Him. As much as I used to. Amen? Because His word is in my heart.
In His word, it's a lamp on to our feet and a light on to our path. Amen? His word is great. We need to spend more time in His word because it is good.
And you know what? These things can be great tools. I've got three Bible apps on my phone, and I've got a concordance on my phone. I have instant access to the word wherever I'm at, as long as I have that phone with me.
But the phone does not replace my relationship. Some people have a greater relation. Some of you, if reincarnation was a true thing, which it's not, but if it was, some of you would want to come back as a screen of an iPhone. Because you'd get all the attention that you're lacking, right?
Imagine, some of you are going to get that later. Some of you are going, what was He saying about the screen and the iPhone and the attention? I don't know, something. That screen gets so much attention.
There are wives that long to be caressed as much as the screen of the iPhone is caressed. There are husbands that long to be looked at the way we look. And then they're good. There's nothing wrong.
Thank God for them, huh? I remember going down the road in a bus in the middle of the desert in Turkey. We were in a bus in Turkey going through a desert. And I was on the cell phone calling back to the church that Sunday morning just letting them know we were thinking of them.
And the other pastors on the bus said, you like your people that much that you called them and you are away. One pastor said, I wouldn't call my church one them away. I'm thankful to get away from them. And I thought they're in trouble with you and you're in trouble with them.
We're a family, amen? Families have messes at times. Families have troubles at times. But we're family and we stick together, right?
Except for vacations and camping and boating and volleyball. Softball, basketball and baseball. My soccer church up there in 982, they get a big turn out. You know the soccer church up there?
They got all the nets? I call that the soccer church. They get a lot of people. They get more people than most churches around.
You know what they do? They spend a couple hours kicking a ball. No way is like changes by that. Well, unless you're like an amazing soccer player.
And name one of them that has come from Derry, Pennsylvania, or Late Trobe in the last 20 years. It's made millions of Uco dollars. It's a fun activity. And all those things are fun things.
And I'm not anti any of them. But I'm just asking you the question. And I'm asking you to think about where does your power come from? It's not from those things.
It is from him. Amen. It is from him. Come on, we stand with us.
We're going to close in prayer this morning. Thanks for being here today. I pray that you have been encouraged and strengthened by your time here with us this morning. And I pray the word of God has changed your life.
And you'll never ever be the same. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you today. We thank you for these stories that you've given us. We thank you for this story of Peter and John in the lame man.
We thank you for the power and the presence that they walked with because they had been with you. And that we can walk in that same power and that same presence today on this earth, that they walked in back then. Because you're the same God yesterday, today and forever. And so Father, I pray today for a fresh infilling of your Holy Spirit.
I pray God, for those who are hungry for you, God that you will fill them. And they will walk fresh in your presence today. And Lord, that when we enter rooms, people will know that we have been in the presence of our God. And we will go, Father, be with each one as we leave this place.
Today, bless our rising and our sitting, our coming and our going. Wherever our feet may trot and whatever our hands may touch, I pray we'll be blessed of you. As we see first the kingdom of God in your righteousness. Lord, your word says you will add everything to us that we have need of.
Father, we pray today for our young folks. We pray for our college age students. We pray for our high schoolers and our junior high students and our elementary school students and our preschool students. We pray Lord for all of them today.
And we pray Lord as they embark on a new season and a new year in the schools and the hallways that they will travel. Father, that your presence will be with them, that your hand will be on them. God, we pray your protection over them. God that you will keep them safe.
I pray that your glory will be shown around and about them. From college age to the youngest among us. Lord, that when they go into the hallways and the dormitories of their schools, Lord, that the presence of Almighty God will go before them. Lord, that you will watch over them.
You will keep them safe. And I pray God that you will give them strength. I pray you will give them courage. I pray Lord that they will rise up and be witnesses of the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
I praise your hand of protection. Watch as over them. Lord, that you will give them great favor in the classroom. I pray for wisdom.
I pray for understanding. God that these young folks of harvest church would excel in the classroom. God that you would give them wisdom and knowledge and understanding. And that learning would come to them, Lord, that they would gain wisdom and understanding and that they would recognize and know that it comes from you.
God, I pray that they would find favor because of you. Your word says when we find favor with you, we find favor with men. Lord, I pray that over our adults today in this house. Lord, wherever it is that they go, whether it's staying at home or Lord is going out and working somewhere, whatever it is that we do, Lord, I pray that our lives will bring honor and glory to you, that when we enter rooms, I pray your presence there with us.
And as Peter and John said, who should we rather please God or men? Let our hearts and minds be consumed with wanting to please and honor you because you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Thank you for the miracles. Thank you for the healings.
Thank you for lives being turned and homes being changed today at this altar. Lord, we bless you. I thank you that your word is gonna change lives today. We give you praise in Jesus name.