Epiphany Season | Wednesday 09 February 2022
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O Lord, our heavenly Father,
keep watch over your household the Church,
that we who trust in the hope of your heavenly grace
may always be defended by your mighty power;
through, Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever. Amen.
“Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.
I have come to call not those who think they are righteous,
but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
(Luke 5:31-32)
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Psalms: Psalm 115 – “Heavenly Father”
Ken Kalambay
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OT Reading: Isaiah 8:1-15 (NLT)
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
8:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Make a large signboard and clearly write this name on it: Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” I asked Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah, both known as honest men, to witness my doing this.
Then I slept with my wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said, “Call him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before this child is old enough to say ‘Papa’ or ‘Mama,’ the king of Assyria will carry away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria.”
Then the Lord spoke to me again and said, “My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shiloah, but they have rejected it. They are rejoicing over what will happen to King Rezin and King Pekah. Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel.
“Huddle together, you nations, and be terrified.
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed!
Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless.
Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed.
For God is with us!”
A Call to Trust the Lord
8:11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,
“Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,
and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.
Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
He will keep you safe.
But to Israel and Judah
he will be a stone that makes people stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare.
Many will stumble and fall,
never to rise again.
They will be snared and captured.”
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The Fear of the Lord – First Baptist Dallas Choir & Orchestra
First Baptist Dallas
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NT Reading: Luke 5:27-32 (NLT)
Jesus Calls Levi (Matthew)
5:27 Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.
Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”
Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
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This Blood by Chosen | Kim Norton
[Easter Sunday worship of “This Blood” by Chosen with the First Redeemer Church Choir and Orchestra]
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+ Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
+ Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
in your great mercy you have promised forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with true faith turn to you, have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and bring us to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. (1 timothy 1:15)
If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 john 2:1-2)
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Closing: faithandworship.com / John Birch
May we look at others
as if through your eyes,
less judging, more loving,
and seeing them, like us,
as not perfect or finished
but as a work in progress
that will be completed
in due time by your hands.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 