Epiphany Season | Friday 09 Feb 2024
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O Lord, our heavenly Father,
keep your household the Church
continually in true faith and practice,
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.
“Some have refused
to let their faith guide their conscience
and their faith has been destroyed
like a wrecked ship.”
(1 Timothy 1:19)
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From Psalms: Psalm 50 In Aramaic: Have mercy on me, O God – ܪܲܚܸܡܥܠܲܝ ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ ܐܲܝܟ݂ ܛܲܝܒ̇ܘܼܬ̣ܵܟ݂ | Adoration of the Cross
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OT Reading: 1 Kings 14:1-18 (GW)
Jeroboam’s Son Dies
14:1 At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, got sick. Jeroboam told his wife, “Go to Shiloh, but disguise yourself so that people will not recognize you as my wife. The prophet Ahijah, who told me I would be king of these people, is there. Take ten loaves of bread, some raisins, and a jar of honey with you, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” Jeroboam’s wife did this. She left, went to Shiloh, and came to the home of Ahijah.
Ahijah couldn’t see. His eyesight had failed because he was old. However, the Lord had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to ask you about her son who is sick. When she comes, she will pretend to be someone else.” He also told Ahijah what to say to her.
Ahijah heard her footsteps when she came into the room. He said, “Come in. You’re Jeroboam’s wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I’ve been told to give you some terrible news. Tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I picked you out of the people and made you a leader over my people Israel. I tore the kingdom away from David’s heirs and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands and faithfully followed me by doing only what I considered right. You have done more evil things than everyone before you. You made other gods, metal idols, for yourself. You made me furious and turned your back to me.
“ ‘That is why I will bring disaster on Jeroboam’s house. I will destroy every male in his house, whether slave or freeman in Israel. I will burn down Jeroboam’s house. It will burn like manure until it is gone. If anyone from Jeroboam’s house dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.’ The Lord has said this!
“Get up, and go home. The moment you set foot in the city the child will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam’s family who will be ⌞properly⌟ buried. He was the only one in Jeroboam’s house in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. The Lord will appoint a king over Israel. That king will destroy Jeroboam’s house. This will happen today. It will happen right now.
“The Lord will strike Israel like cattails which shake in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River because they dedicated poles to the goddess Asherah and made the Lord furious. So the Lord will desert Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins, the sins which he led Israel to commit.”
Jeroboam’s wife got up, left, and went to Tirzah. When she walked across the threshold of her home, the boy died. All Israel buried him and mourned for him as the Lord had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.
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Facing pain | El Mul Keev [Hebrew worship] – אל מול כאב / Shiri Regev – שירי רגב
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NT Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-20 (GW)
God’s Mercy to Paul
1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord that he has trusted me and has appointed me to do his work with the strength he has given me. In the past I cursed him, persecuted him, and acted arrogantly toward him. However, I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in my unbelief. Our Lord was very kind to me. Through his kindness he brought me to faith and gave me the love that Christ Jesus shows people.
This is a statement that can be trusted and deserves complete acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the foremost sinner. However, I was treated with mercy so that Christ Jesus could use me, the foremost sinner, to demonstrate his patience. This patience serves as an example for those who would believe in him and live forever. Worship and glory belong forever to the eternal king, the immortal, invisible, and only God. Amen.
Guidelines for the Church
1:18 Timothy, my child, I’m giving you this order about the prophecies that are still coming to you: Use these prophecies in faith and with a clear conscience to fight this noble war. Some have refused to let their faith guide their conscience and their faith has been destroyed like a wrecked ship. Among these people are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan in order to teach them not to dishonor God.
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Jesus at the Center (Darlene Zschech)
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+O God, our heavenly Father: Pour out your Spirit on your faithful people in the Middle East, that your Son’s life-giving Gospel may be preached to every tribe and nation. Send forth laborers into your harvest; defend them in all dangers and temptations; and hasten the time when the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in, and faithful Israel shall be saved; through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+ Lord of Heaven’s Armies, we pray for swift and total victory over all evil in the Holy Land. Bring home the hostages, and deliver from bondage every person captivated by the evil death cult terrorizing the Middle East. And finally, grant heavenly wisdom to those guiding Israel militarily, politically, diplomatically, and especially to those who will restore Israel spiritually, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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.
But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ. It’s like a fragrance that fills the air. To God we are the aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are dying. To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a life-giving fragrance.
They came to him because they had heard about everything he was doing. Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready so that the crowd would not crush him. He had cured so many that everyone with a disease rushed up to him in order to touch him. Whenever people with evil spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” He gave them orders not to tell people who he was.
Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along. However, Paul didn’t think it was right to take a person like him along. John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to work. Paul and Barnabas disagreed so sharply that they parted ways. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed to the island of Cyprus. Paul chose Silas and left after the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s care.
The Peanut Gallery 