Advent Season | Saturday 30 Nov 2024: Psalm 25:1-10; Nehemiah 9:26-31; Luke 21:20-24 ~ God is gracious and merciful.

The Season of Advent begins a new Church Year.
Scripture readings are from the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C)
using the (ESV) (English Standard Version translation.

Advent Season | Saturday 30 Nov 2024

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

Opening:

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness,
and put on the armor of light,
now in the time of this mortal life in which
your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility;
that in the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge both the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“Nevertheless, in your great mercies
you did not make an end of them or forsake them,
for you are a gracious and merciful God.”
(Nehemiah 9:31)

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From the Psalms: Psalm 25:1-10 | “Prayer for Guidance and for Deliverance” | Karel Suchy

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OT Reading: Nehemiah 9:26-31 (ESV)

9:26 “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

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“Blessed” | Yair Levi & The Church Will Sing

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NT Reading: Luke 21:20-24 (ESV)

Jesus Foretells Destruction of Jerusalem

21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

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Let Your Kingdom Come – Sovereign Grace Music / SonLife Ministries

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

Hasten, O Father, the coming of your kingdom; and grant that we your servants, who now live by faith, may with joy behold your Son at his coming in glorious majesty; even Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

Sovereign Lord: We pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

+ Do what only you can do to make your faithful people the blessing promised to every family on earth.

+ Protect them from the assaults of the evil one, coming from every direction and in every form.

+ Grant your heavenly wisdom to Israel’s leadership; give them the courage to do what’s right in your sight.

+ Comfort all those who mourn the loss of loved ones; deliver the hostages from captivity and restore their souls.

+ Destroy every stronghold and every expression of the evil death cult terrorizing the Middle East.

+ Protect the Israel Defense Forces and every soldier engaged in their mission to root out this evil.

+ Strengthen the Messianic communities; use them to restore your faithful people to their proper place in your kingdom.

+ Unify your faithful people around your promise to Abraham – to bless every family on earth through them.

+ Intervene in the Middle East in ways that only you can; protect the innocent and punish the guilty, that all may live in peace.

We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Almighty God, you have not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; grant that we, who for our evil deeds deserve to be punished, by the might of your grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch

May Christ, who has opened the kingdom of heaven,
bring us to reign with him in glory.

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

Advent Season | Friday 29 Nov 2024: Psalm 25:1-10; Nehemiah 9:16-25; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 – Give thanks in all circumstances.

The Season of Advent begins a new Church Year.
Scripture readings are from the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C)
using the (ESV) (English Standard Version translation.

Advent Season | Friday 29 Nov 2024

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

Opening:

“Give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:18)

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From the Psalms: Psalm 25:1-10 | “Show Me Your Ways” – The Psalms Project

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OT Reading: Nehemiah 9:16-25 (ESV)

9:16 “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

“And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

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ZION | Aaron Shust

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NT Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 (ESV)

Final Instructions and Benediction

5:12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

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Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. | Heavenly Sounds

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP 2019

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us.

+ We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

+ We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

+ We thank you for setting us at tasks that demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments that satisfy and delight us.

+ We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

+ Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he conquered death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.