John K. Jenkins Sr - A Church With Great Power and Great Grace

We adore You; we give You the praise, the glory, and the honor. Thank You for sparing our lives, and thank You for waking us up and giving us the activities of our limbs. We come before You today, interceding for one another, praying and calling out the names of our brothers and sisters. You know their needs; You know the details of their circumstances. I simply ask You, Father, to work a miracle in their lives. We ask You to resolve issues, bring healing to the sick, relieve financial pressures, and perform financial miracles. We pray that You fix broken marriages, heal families, and open doors of opportunity. Let Your perfect will prevail, Father. We pray that You rebuke every assignment and cancel every plot of the enemy. We ask that You anoint our time in Your Word today; speak to us through Your Word. Save someone who needs to be saved, and reclaim a backslider. Father, I pray that any unsure person receives assurance, that the saints would be edified, and that Your perfect will be done. We give You praise in advance, knowing You will work it out. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

We make miracle workers, promise keepers, light in the darkness. Oh God, that is who You are. Everybody say, «Make miracle worker, promise keeper; that is who You are.» Come on, You are here-everybody drives around. I worship You. Ah, You are here, mending every heart. Our worship is turning around; I worship You, I worship You. Hallelujah! You are here, mending every heart. We’ve got to move! All right, open your Bibles to the Acts of the Apostles, the book of Acts, chapter 4. I’m going to read verse 33. Acts 4:33 says, «And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.» I want to talk about a church with great power and great grace. Somebody tell your neighbor that I said I want to be in a church with great power and great grace. Turn to your neighbor on the other side and say, «I want to have great power and great grace.» All right, you can be seated. I am so honored and happy to see the couple that served in this church for so many years. They were the founders of our couples' ministry; they have retired and live down in the sticks of Virginia now, but they are here today-Reverend Clarence and Mary Allen. Elders, stand up! I am so glad to have you here. Thank you all for being here; God bless you.

I want to talk about this verse and some surrounding verses because the early church was impactful and powerful, significantly affecting their community. They began their work at home. As a matter of fact, I want to read chapter one, verse eight to you for a moment. Let me read this verse: Jesus is speaking to the disciples as He is about to depart, and He says, «But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.» Now, this might seem like an unimportant verse, but it carries significant weight; it says you will be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, which means you will start your testimony at home. Wouldn 't the world be different if you could testify to the people in the house where you live? Then, in all Judea and Samaria, those represent the surrounding communities; that’s your job, all the places you frequent. Then, it goes to the ends of the earth. It all starts at home; being a witness begins at home, extends to the outskirts of your home, and finally reaches to the uttermost parts of the earth. This progression is crucial because when you read the story of the Acts of the Apostles, this book chronicles the history of the early church. The first eight chapters detail their impact in Jerusalem- in other words, how they made a difference right at home in their community. Then, starting from chapters eight through twelve, it discusses their impact within Judea and Samaria-the surrounding areas-while chapters twelve through twenty-eight deal with their influence across the rest of the world. Now, here’s what weighs on my heart today; I hope I’m not confusing you. Have I confused you yet? Let me try a little harder. My concern is that I don’t want us to be a church that isn’t making a difference at home, in our surrounding communities, and into the uttermost parts of the earth. I don’t want us to be a religious church. There’s a difference between having a relationship with God and just being religious. I don’t want you to check off «church» on your list, saying, " I attended church today,» while lacking a vibrant walk with God. I want us to be a church full of great power and great grace, amen? I want us to experience the power of God. When this thirty-third verse of chapter four speaks about their great power, that word «power» means they witnessed God moving on their behalf, showing His strength and ability-seeing God perform miracles. We want to live our lives in such a way that we see miracles unfold in our lives- that’s what we desire.