After Pentecost | Sunday 11 Aug 2024: Deut 8:1-10; Ps 34:8-15; Eph 4:17—5:2; John 6:37-51 ~ Every believer has eternal life.

After Pentecost | Sunday 11 Aug 2024

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

Opening prayer:

Almighty God, give us the increase
of faith, hope, and love; and,
that we may obtain what you have promised,
make us love what you command;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

“I can guarantee this truth:
Every believer has eternal life.”
(John 6:47)

__________

Holy, Holy, Holy (Shane & Shane) / Angie Jermyn

__________

OT Reading: Deuteronomy 8:1-10 (GW)

Israel Told Never to Forget God

8:1 Be careful to obey every command I give you today. Then you will live, and your population will increase. You will enter and take possession of the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors with an oath.

Remember that for 40 years the Lord your God led you on your journey in the desert. He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know whether or not you would wholeheartedly obey his commands. So he made you suffer from hunger and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had seen before. He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that the Lord speaks. Your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t swell these past 40 years. Learn this lesson by heart: The Lord your God was disciplining you as parents discipline their children. Obey the commands of the Lord your God. Follow his directions, and fear him.

The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that don’t dry up. There are springs and underground streams flowing through the valleys and hills. The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore, and you will be able to mine copper ore in the hills. When you have eaten all you want, thank the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

_______

From the Psalms: Psalm 34: “Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord” | Bob Hurd

__________

NT Reading: Eph 4:17—5:2 (GW)

Live as God’s People

4:17 So I tell you and encourage you in the Lord’s name not to live any longer like other people in the world. Their minds are set on worthless things. They can’t understand because they are in the dark. They are excluded from the life that God approves of because of their ignorance and stubbornness. Since they no longer have any sense of shame, they have become promiscuous. They practice every kind of sexual perversion with a constant desire for more.

But that is not what you learned from Christ’s teachings. You have certainly heard his message and have been taught his ways. The truth is in Jesus. You were taught to change the way you were living. The person you used to be will ruin you through desires that deceive you. However, you were taught to have a new attitude. You were also taught to become a new person created to be like God, with a life that truly has God’s approval and is holy.

So then, get rid of lies. Speak the truth to each other, because we are all members of the same body.

Be angry without sinning. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the devil any opportunity ⌞to work⌟.

Thieves must quit stealing and, instead, they must work hard. They should do something good with their hands so that they’ll have something to share with those in need.

Don’t say anything that would hurt ⌞another person⌟. Instead, speak only what is good so that you can give help wherever it is needed. That way, what you say will help those who hear you. Don’t give God’s Holy Spirit any reason to be upset with you. He has put his seal on you for the day you will be set free ⌞from the world of sin⌟.

Get rid of your bitterness, hot tempers, anger, loud quarreling, cursing, and hatred. Be kind to each other, sympathetic, forgiving each other as God has forgiven you through Christ.

Imitate God

5:1 Imitate God, since you are the children he loves. Live in love as Christ also loved us. He gave his life for us as an offering and sacrifice, a soothing aroma to God.

__________

Panis Angelicus (Bread of Angels) | Chet Valley Churches

__________

Gospel Reading: John 6:37-51 (GW)

6:37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me. I haven’t come from heaven to do what I want to do. I’ve come to do what the one who sent me wants me to do. The one who sent me doesn’t want me to lose any of those he gave me. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day. My Father wants all those who see the Son and believe in him to have eternal life. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day.”

The Jews began to criticize Jesus for saying, “I am the bread that came from heaven.” They asked, “Isn’t this man Jesus, Joseph’s son? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he say now, ‘I came from heaven’?”

Jesus responded, “Stop criticizing me! People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. The prophets wrote, ‘God will teach everyone.’ Those who do what they have learned from the Father come to me. I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life.

“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.”

__________

I Am the Bread of Life | Suzanne Toolan | Catholic Communion Hymn | Sunday 7pm Choir | Catholic & Christian Choral Music

__________

Prayer: ACNA | BCP 2019

+ Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer of Belief

+ 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.

+ Lord hear our prayers for the Church and the world:

- We pray for the peace of the whole world;
- and for the well-being and unity of the people of God.
- We pray for all those who proclaim the Gospel at home and abroad;
- and for all who teach and disciple others.
- We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for their faith;
- and for all those supporting them.
- We pray for our nation, and for those in positions of authority;
- and for a spirit of repentance and revival throughout the land.
- We pray for the peace of Jerusalem;
- and for the restoration of your people to their proper place in your Kingdom.
- We pray for all those who are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity;
- and especially for those in the Middle East.
- We pray for all those who have departed this life in the certain hope of the resurrection;
- and for those who mourn their loss.