#525 What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine Benediction

Call To Worship Claim Your Power

Adapted from Acts 1:6-11

Leader: When the disciples of Jesus had come together after he had risen, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus replied: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

People: Claim Your Power

Leader: Then as His disciples were watching Jesus was lifted up within a cloud that took him out of their sight. As the disciples were looking up two angels said, disciples of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come again in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

People: Claim Your Power

Leader: Claim Your Power

People: Claim Your Power

Leader: Claim Your Power

#52 Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah William Williams/Peter Williams/Mrs. Dilys Webb

1. Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but Thou art mighty, Hold me with Thy powerful hand; Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven, Feed me till I want no more, Feed me till I want no more.

2. Open now the crystal fountain, Whence the healing stream doth flow; Let the fire and cloudy pillar Lead me all my journey through; Strong Deliverer, Strong Deliverer, Be Thou still my strength and shield, Be Thou still my strength and shield.

3. When I tread the verge of Jordan, Bid my anxious fears subside; Death of death and hell’s destruction, Land me safe on Canaan’s side; Songs of praises, Songs of praises I will ever give to Thee, I will ever give to Thee. Amen.

#84 Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Thomas O. Chisholm/William M. Runyan

1. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not; As Thou hast been Thou forever will be.

Refrain Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

2. Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in the courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

3. Pardon for sin and a peace That endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! Amen.

#196 There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit In This Place

Doris Akers

1. There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place, And I know that it’s the spirit of the Lord; There are sweet expressions on each face, And I know they feel the presence of the Lord.

Refrain: Sweet Holy Spirit, Sweet heavenly Dove Stay right here with us, Filling us with Your love; And for these blessings We lift our hearts in praise; Without a doubt we’ll know That we have been revived When we shall leave this place.

2. There are blessings you cannot receive ‘Til you know Him in His fullness and believe; You’re the one to profit when you say, “I am going to walk with Jesus all the way.”

3. If you say He saved you from your sin, Now you’re weak you’re bound and cannot enter in; You can make it right if you will yield, You’ll enjoy the Holy Spirit that we feel. Amen.

Scripture: Act 1:6-11 (NRSV)

6So when the disciples had come together, they asked Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9-11Then as His disciples were watching Jesus was lifted up within a cloud that took him out of their sight. As the disciples were looking up two angels said, disciples of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come again in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

#525 What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine (Leaning on the Everlasting Arms)

Elisha A. Hoffman/Anthony J. Showalter

1. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain: Leaning, leaning, Safe and secure from all alarms; Leaning, leaning, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

2. O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, Leaning on the everlasting arms; O, how bright the path grows from day to day, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

3. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, Leaning on the everlasting arms; I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Sermon: Claim Your Power

Since Easter Sunday the focus of our teachings have been on the next seven words of Jesus. These are words spoken by Jesus after he died on the cross. These are words spoken by Jesus after he was raised from the dead. These are words containing the instructions we, the disciples of Christ need right now in 2023 to live out the mandate Jesus has given us to spread the Gospel, teaching and baptizing in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.

As I said these words are of instruction let’s look at them again

Greetings (Matthew 28:1-11)– Peace Be With You (John 20:19–31) What are you discussing? (Luke 24:13-35) “Do not let your harts be troubled” (John 14:1-14) “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11-21)

Today’s Word from Jesus comes from Acts 1:6-11 Jesus is getting ready to leave the disciples to do the work of the Lord. This is one the accension accounts in the Bible

What is the work of the Lord?

Jesus tells us in Matthew’s accession account

Matthew 28:18-20

18 Jesus told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. 19 Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations,[b] baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”[c]

Jesus has been given all authority; he has given that authority to us to 1. Make disciples, 2. Baptizing them in the name of the father son and holy Spirit. 3. Teach with the assurance that Jesus is with us always.

Now let’s get back to Acts 1:6-11. – I will put up slides from Acts – 1:16-11 explaining about power.

Jesus wants you to Claim Your Power (Title Slide)

Last week in Bible Study we examined The 5 Daughters of Zelophehad

Tell the story of Zelophehad from Numbers 26 & 27

These five daughters give us a clear roadmap to claim the power that Jesus has for us via the Holy

Sprit (Title Slide)

Dream Big

Show Up

Stand Up

Speak Up

Stay Prayed Up

Phone Number

Invitation: Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Acts 3:1-16

3 Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock daily prayer meeting. 2 As they approached the Temple, they saw a man lame from birth carried along the street and laid beside the Temple gate the one called The Beautiful Gate as was his custom every day. 3 As Peter and John were passing by, he asked them for some money.

4 They looked at him intently, and then Peter said, “Look here!”

5 The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting a gift.

6 But Peter said, “We don’t have any money for you! But I’ll give you something else! I command you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!”

7-8 Then Peter took the lame man by the hand and pulled him to his feet. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankle bones were healed and strengthened so that he came up with a leap, stood there a moment and began walking! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.

9 When the people inside saw him walking and heard him praising God, 10 and realized he was the lame beggar they had seen so often at The Beautiful Gate, they were inexpressibly surprised! 11 They all rushed out to Solomon’s Hall, where he was holding tightly to Peter and John! Everyone stood there awed by the wonderful thing that had happened.

12 Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “Men of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why look at us as though we by our own power and godliness had made this man walk? 13 For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and of all our ancestors who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. I refer to the Jesus whom you rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s determination to release him. 14 You didn’t want him freed this holy, righteous one. Instead you demanded the release of a murderer. 15 And you killed the Author of Life; but God brought him back to life again. And John and I are witnesses of this fact, for after you killed him we saw him alive!

16 “Jesus’ name has healed this man and you know how lame he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name faith given us from God has caused this perfect healing.

Matthew 17:14-20

14 When they arrived at the bottom of the hill, a huge crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, 15 “Sir, have mercy on my son, for he is mentally deranged and in great trouble, for he often falls into the fire or into the water; 16 so I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t cure him.”

17 Jesus replied, “Oh, you stubborn, faithless people! How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy and it left him, and from that moment the boy was well.

19 Afterwards the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast that demon out?”

20 “Because of your little faith,” Jesus told them. “For if you had faith even as small as a tiny mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would go far away. Nothing would be impossible. 21 But this kind of demon won’t leave unless you have prayed and gone without food.”[e]

Matthew 28:16-20

Living Bible

16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had said they would find him. 17 There they met him and worshiped him but some of them weren’t sure it really was Jesus!

18 He told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and earth. 19 Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations,[b] baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you; and be sure of this that I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”[c]

Acts: 1:3-5

3 During the forty days after his crucifixion he appeared to the apostles from time to time, actually alive, and proved to them in many ways that it was really he himself they were seeing. And on these occasions he talked to them about the Kingdom of God

4 In one of these meetings he told them not to leave Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them in fulfillment of the Father’s promise, a matter he had previously discussed with them.

5 “John baptized you with water,”[b] he reminded them, “but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit in just a few days.”

Acts 2:1-4

2 Seven weeks had gone by since Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the Day of Pentecost had now arrived.[a] As the believers met together that day, 2 suddenly there was a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them and it filled the house where they were meeting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on their heads. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages they didn’t know,[b] for the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

Call To Worship Claim Your Power

Adapted from Acts 1:6-11

Jesus said, “And you will receive power, When the Holy Spirit Comes on you. And you will be my witnesses. In Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Holy Spirit, on this Pentecost Sunday, we claim your power.

9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

10While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes