After Pentecost | Sunday 23 Jun 2024
+ In the name the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Opening prayer:
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
Graft in our hearts the love of your Name,
increase in us true faith and practice,
nourish us with all goodness,
and bring forth in us the fruit of good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Then [Jesus] got up, ordered the wind to stop,
and said to the sea, “Be still, absolutely still!”
The wind stopped blowing,
and the sea became very calm.
(Mark 4:39)
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Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee ~ JJ Heller
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OT Reading: Job 38:1-11 (GW)
The Lord Speaks: Who Is Able to Challenge Me?
38:1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.
“Who is this that belittles my advice
with words that do not show any knowledge ⌞about it⌟?
Brace yourself like a man!
I will ask you, and you will teach me.
The Lord Speaks about Creation
38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you have ⌞such⌟ insight.
Who determined its dimensions?
Certainly, you know!
Who stretched a measuring line over it?
On what were its footings sunk?
Who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Who shut the sea behind gates
when it burst through and came out of the womb,
when I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it up in dark clouds,
when I set a limit for it
and put up bars and gates,
when I said, ‘You may come this far but no farther.
Here your proud waves will stop’?
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From the Psalms: Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 | God Stilled The Storm | Douglas Brown, Revised Common Lectionary readings
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NT Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 (GW)
6:1 Since we are God’s coworkers, we urge you not to let God’s kindness be wasted on you. God says,
“At the right time I heard you.
On the day of salvation I helped you.”
Listen, now is God’s acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!
Our Lives Demonstrate That We Are God’s Servants
6:3 We don’t give people any opportunity to find fault with how we serve. Instead, our lives demonstrate that we are God’s servants. We have endured many things: suffering, distress, anxiety, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and lack of food. ⌞People can see⌟ our purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit’s presence ⌞in our lives⌟, our sincere love, truthfulness, and the presence of God’s power. We demonstrate that we are God’s servants as we are praised and dishonored, as we are slandered and honored, and as we use what is right to attack what is wrong and to defend the truth. We are treated as dishonest although we are honest, as unknown although we are well-known, as dying although, as you see, we go on living. We are punished, but we are not killed. People think we are sad although we’re always glad, that we’re beggars although we make many people spiritually rich, that we have nothing although we possess everything.
We have been very open in speaking to you Corinthians. We have a place for you in our hearts. We haven’t cut you off. Your own emotions have cut you off ⌞from us⌟. I’m talking to you as I would talk to children. Treat us the same way we’ve treated you. Make a place for us in your hearts too.
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I’ve Witnessed It | Passion Music feat. Melodie Malone | Sweet Souls for Jesus
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Gospel Reading: Mark 4:35-41 (GW)
Jesus Calms the Sea
4:35 That evening, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side.”
Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus along in a boat just as he was. Other boats were with him.
A violent windstorm came up. The waves were breaking into the boat so that it was quickly filling up. But he was sleeping on a cushion in the back of the boat.
So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to die?”
Then he got up, ordered the wind to stop, and said to the sea, “Be still, absolutely still!” The wind stopped blowing, and the sea became very calm.
He asked them, “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith yet?”
They were overcome with fear and asked each other, “Who is this man? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
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His Name Is Jesus ~ Phil Wickham
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+ Lord Jesus Christ, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever dared admit, but through you I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you for paying my debt on the cross, taking what I deserved in order to offer me complete forgiveness. Knowing that you have been raised from the dead, I turn from my sins and receive you as my Savior and Lord. Please come into my life through the power of your Holy Spirit. Thank you.
+ Holy Spirit, breath of God and fire of love, I cannot pray without your aid: Kindle in me the fire of your love, and illumine me with your light; that with a steadfast will and holy thoughts I may approach the Father in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ my Lord, who reigns with you and the Father in eternal union. Amen.
+ Sovereign Lord: I pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
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- Protect Israel from the fiery darts of the evil one coming from every direction, both within and without.
- Grant your heavenly wisdom to those guiding Israel militarily, politically, and diplomatically;
- Give them hearts to receive, and the courage to do, what’s right in your sight.
- Comfort those who grieve and mourn the loss of loved ones;
- Rebuke those who would use grief for evil purposes.
- Bring swift and certain justice to all those complicit in the Oct 7th atrocities;
- Deliver the hostages from captivity, and restore their souls.
- Destroy every stronghold of the evil death cult terrorizing the Middle East.
- Strengthen the Messianic communities – Jew and Arab alike – bind them together in love, that they may be a source of help, and healing, and hope;
- Use them in the restoration of your people to their proper place in your Kingdom.
- I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
+ Heavenly Father, you have promised to hear what we ask in the Name of your Son: Accept and fulfill our petitions, we pray, not as we ask in our ignorance, nor as we deserve in our sinfulness, but as you know and love us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch
The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil,
and keep us in eternal life.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 