Month: April 2017

Tuesday of 2nd Week of Easter, 25 Apr – Mark 16:15-20 ~ power outage?

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Prayer

Lord God, grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may receive power from on high, and show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Reading: Mark 16:15-20 (NLT)

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.
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Reflection & Prayer:

Peanut Gallery: There was a power outage at our house today – nothing serious, only for a couple of hours.

The lights were out, no stove or refrigerator, no music or news, and the garage door wouldn’t open. Our cell phones worked as long as the batteries held out, but we couldn’t recharge them.

I’m over-stating the case. We live in a South Carolina hurricane zone and do know how to cope with power outages.

Still, it got me thinking about today’s reading and the church. Is today’s church trying to function in the middle of a serious spiritual power outage? Have God’s people become powerless? Is a power outage the new normal for the church?

God of power and might: send us your Spirit. Fill your church and your people with your power.

+ Bind us to our Lord Jesus Christ, as the branches draw life from the vine.
+ Send us into the world to preach, teach and heal with the power of your Spirit.
+ Prepare the lost, the sick, the demonized, and the broken-hearted to believe and be baptized.
+ Work through us, Lord, confirming what we do and say by miraculous signs.

God of power and might: we must decrease so that you may increase – for apart from you, we can do nothing. We pray, come Holy Spirit, through our Lord Jesus Christ and for your glory. Amen.
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“Fall Afresh” – Amanda Cook (Bethel Music)


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Concluding Prayer

I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens. – Psalm 89:1-2
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+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Monday of 2nd Week of Easter, 24 Apr – John 3:1-8 ~ come Holy Spirit

Monday of the Second Week of Easter

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Prayer

Lord God, heavenly Father, you are not far away from me, for in you I live and move and exist, and you live in me through your Holy Spirit.

Be indeed with me, Lord, send me your Holy Spirit of truth and through him deepen my understanding of the life and message of your Son, that I may accept the full truth and live by it consistently.

I ask you this through Christ my Lord.
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Reading:John 3:1-8 (NLT)

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
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Reflection & Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit – I need your life-changing power; I declare that Jesus is Lord, that He is risen from the dead.

+ Make me an entirely new person; give me new life in Christ Jesus my Lord.
+ Overcome all opposition to your transforming power, both within me and around me.
+ Change how I look at the world around me, how I respond to my friends and foes alike.
+ Give me wisdom and understanding, that I may both hear and obey your Word.
+ Fill me with the wonder of a new-born infant, where every day is an exciting new adventure.

Come Holy Spirit – fall afresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Through my Lord Jesus Christ, who lives in unity with you and the Father, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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“Come Holy Spirit” – Israel and the New Breed


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Concluding Prayer

I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart. – Psalm 34:1-2 (NLT)
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+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

2nd Sunday of Easter, 23 Apr – John 20:19-31 ~ sent to serve and save

Second Sunday of Easter

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, you gather your people on the Lord’s Day to celebrate the One who is the First and the Last, the living One who conquered death. Grant us the strength of your Spirit so that, having broken the chains of evil, calmed our fears and indecision, we may render the free service of our obedience and love, and reign in glory with Christ.
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Reading: John 20:19-31 (NLT)

That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

Purpose of the Book

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
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Reflection & Prayer:

Lord God: I believe that Jesus is the Messiah, your Son, and that through him I will have life, now and forever, by the power of his name.

“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

  • Thank you for including even me in your commission to bring the Good News of the Gospel to the whole world.
  • Show me how I can bring the Good News of the Gospel to the people right here in my neighborhood.

“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven.
If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

  • Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.
  • As freely as I have received your forgiveness, may I freely give that same forgiveness to others.

“Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

  • Give me a servant’s heart and a willing spirit to respond to the needs of the people around me.
  • Make me a credible witness to the saving, transforming, power in the name of Jesus.

Lord God: strengthen me by the power of your Spirit that I may join you in your mission to serve and save the world. Through my Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, in unity with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Soli Deo gloria!
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“Come As You Are” – David Crowder


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Concluding Prayer

I thank you Jesus, my Lord and my God,

  • that you have loved me and called me, made me worthy to be your disciple,
  • that you have given me the Spirit, the One sent to proclaim and witness to your resurrection, to the mercy of the Father, to salvation and pardon for all men and women in the world.

You truly are the way, the truth and the life, the dawn without a setting, the sun of justice and peace.

  • Grant that I may dwell in your love, bound to you like a branch to its vine.
  • Grant me your peace so that I may overcome my weaknesses, face my doubts and respond to your call and live fully the mission you entrusted to me, praising you forever.

You who live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
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+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Saturday of Easter Week, 22 Apr – Mark 16:9-15 ~ go and tell… everyone

Saturday of Easter Week

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Prayer

Our God and Father, your Son Jesus lived among us, flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood. He died for our sake and you raised him back to life. May we experience his love and his presence to such an extent that we can never stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard, and that people may give glory to you, our God. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
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Reading: Mark 16:9-15 (NLT)

After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened. But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.

Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country. They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.

Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone….”
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Reflection & Prayer:

Lord God: the message of Easter is joyously loud and clear –

“Christ the Lord is risen from the dead!”
“I’ve seen him!”

And yet, this life-changing Good News was met by skepticism and disbelief, even by those who were closest to him. And so it is today, we are not prepared to receive this message until we have personally experienced his love and his presence.

Lord Jesus: you call me to be a personal witness of the Good News of Easter.

+ Transform my life by your saving power, that I may credibly say: “I have seen the Lord!”
+ Fill me with your peace and joy, that I may rejoice in your victory over sin and death.
+ Strengthen my faith that I may persevere as your witness in the face obstinacy and disbelief.

Holy Spirit: help me to live as a child of the light, among my friends and neighbors.

+ Show me how to serve the poor and powerless, and the lost and lonely.
+ Show me how to heal those who feel unworthy, those who feel empty.
+ Show me how to love those who feel content, and self-satisfied.

Lord God: make me a credible witness of your saving power. Through my Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Soli Deo gloria!
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“All the Poor and Powerless” – All Sons & Daughters


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Concluding Prayer

May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere.– Psalm 67:1-2 (NLT)

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Friday of Easter Week, 21 Apr – John 21:1-14 ~ no turning back

Friday of Easter Week

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Prayer

Our God and Father, through our risen Lord, your Son Jesus Christ, you have given us a message of hope and a person to live for.

Free our faith from triviality and routine and fill us with his Spirit of courage, that we may learn to live with the insecurities of the change of renewal ever-demanded by the gospel and by the needs of the times.

May our Christian living bear witness to the name of him by whom we are saved, Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.
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Reading: John 21:1-14 (NLT)

Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there — Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”

“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.

At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. He called out, “Fellows,have you caught any fish?”

“No,” they replied.

Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.

Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them — fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.

“Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.

“Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.
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Reflection & Prayer:

Lord Jesus: on Easter, you changed everything – you broke our bondage to sin and death and opened the gates of heaven to all who would repent and believe in your name. Your resurrection authenticated our faith and trust in you – “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

+ Why is it, Lord, that after the wonder of Easter I go back to business as usual?
+ Why is it, Lord, that I fall back into my old routines that get me nowhere?
+ Why is it, Lord, that after you call me to join you in your work I go back to mine?
+ Why is it, Lord, that I would rather return to the past than move ahead into the future?

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

+ Thank you, Lord, for your loving-kindness and patience with me.
+ Thank you, Lord, for taking the initiative to renew our relationship.
+ Thank you, Lord, for your providing for all my daily needs – physical and spiritual.
+ Thank you, Lord, for your constant companionship on the journey, come what may.

Lord Jesus: you have called me by name and I have decided to follow you as best I know how. Strengthen me with your Spirit as I face my insecurities, and grant that what I celebrate in worship may be carried out in my life.

Soli Deo gloria!
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“No Turning Back” – Brandon Heath


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Concluding Prayer

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.  – Psalm 118:1 (NLT)

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!