Wednesday, 22 Sep 2021: Psalm 128; Ecclesiastes 5:1-20; John 8:21-38 ~ Live freely in the Truth.

Wednesday, 22 Sep 2021:

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

Opening:

O Lord, you have taught us that without love, all our deeds are
worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts
that most excellent gift of charity, the true bond of peace and of
all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before
you; grant this for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.

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Psalms: Psalm 128
Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord
A Song of Ascents.

Gabriel Scottish Metrical Psalter 1650
Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Launceston, Tasmania

Psalm 128 (ESV)
128:1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!
2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.

5 The Lord bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
6 May you see your children’s children!
Peace be upon Israel!

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OT Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:1-20 (ESV)

Fear God

5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear.

The Vanity of Wealth and Honor

If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind? Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Jesus, My Treasure – Canyon Hills Worship

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NT Reading: John 8:21-38 (ESV)

8:21 So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

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free indeed Timothy Reddick

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Prayer:

+ O God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you: Help us so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ Christ as a light, illumine and guide us. Christ as a shield, overshadow us. Christ under us; Christ over us; Christ beside us on our left and our right. This day be within and without us, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom we speak; in the mouth of each who speaks to us. This day be within and without us, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside us on our left and our right.

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Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with us, wherever He may send us.
May He guide us through the wilderness, protect us through the storm.
May He bring us home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown us.
May He bring us home rejoicing once again into our doors.

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

Tuesday, 21 Sep 2021: Psalm 128; Ecclesiastes 4:9-16; James 5:1-6 ~ Do not boast in your riches.

Tuesday, 21 Sep 2021:

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

Opening:

“Come now, you rich,
weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.”
(James 5:1-2)

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Psalms: Psalm 128 – First Christian Church – Decatur, IL
Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord
A Song of Ascents.

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OT Reading: Ecclesiastes 4:9-16 (ESV)

4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Better was a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how to take advice. For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that youth who was to stand in the king’s place. There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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I Will Stand With You – Rick Muchow | Saddleback

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NT Reading: James 5:1-6 (ESV)

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

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My Worth Is Not In What I Own. with lyrics by Fernando Ortega, Keith and Kristyn Getty

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Prayer:

+ Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Blessing

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

Monday, 20 Sep 2021: Psalm 128; Proverbs 27:1-27; James 4:8-17 ~ Do not boast about tomorrow.

Monday, 20 Sep 2021:

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

Opening:

“You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?
For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Instead you ought to say,
“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.””
(James 4:14-15)

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Psalms: Psalm 128 – Sons of Korah
Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord
A Song of Ascents.

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OT Reading: Proverbs 27:1-27 (ESV)

27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.

2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
a stranger, and not your own lips.

3 A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty,
but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

4 Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?

5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.

6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend;
profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

7 One who is full loathes honey,
but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.

8 Like a bird that strays from its nest
is a man who strays from his home.

9 Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.

10 Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend,
and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity.

Better is a neighbor who is near
than a brother who is far away.

11 Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,
that I may answer him who reproaches me.

12 The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple go on and suffer for it.

13 Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.

14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
rising early in the morning,
will be counted as cursing.

15 A continual dripping on a rainy day
and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
16 to restrain her is to restrain the wind
or to grasp oil in one’s right hand.

17 Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.

18 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit,
and he who guards his master will be honored.

19 As in water face reflects face,
so the heart of man reflects the man.

20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied,
and never satisfied are the eyes of man.

21 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.
22 Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle
along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.

23 Know well the condition of your flocks,
and give attention to your herds,
24 for riches do not last forever;
and does a crown endure to all generations?
25 When the grass is gone and the new growth appears
and the vegetation of the mountains is gathered,
26 the lambs will provide your clothing,
and the goats the price of a field.
27 There will be enough goats’ milk for your food,
for the food of your household
and maintenance for your girls.

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NT Reading: James 4:8-17 (ESV)

4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting About Tomorrow

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

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Known Only to Him – Elvis Presley

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Prayer:

+ Most loving Father, you will us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on the One who cares for us. Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested unto us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ O God of peace, you have taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, into your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Blessing

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

17th Sunday after Pentecost: 19 Sep 2021 – Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 54; James 3:16—4:6; Mark 9:30-37 ~ God gives grace to the humble.

17th Sunday after Pentecost: 19 Sep 2021

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

Opening:

“And he sat down and called the twelve.
And he said to them, “If anyone would be first,
he must be last of all and servant of all.””
(Mark 9:35)

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Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Nathan and Christy Nockels (and Band), Hymns Ancient and Modern, 2004

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OT Reading: Jeremiah 11:18-20 (ESV)

11:18 The Lord made it known to me and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I did not know it was against me
they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
20 But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
who tests the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.

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Psalm: Psalm 54
(The Lord Upholds My Life) – Francesca LaRosa

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NT Reading: James 3:16-4:6 (ESV)

3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Warning Against Worldliness

4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

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He Giveth More Grace | The Living Stones Quartet

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Gospel Reading: Mark 9:30-37 (ESV)

Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection

9:30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Who Is the Greatest?

9:33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

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Make Me A Servant by Maranatha Singers.

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Prayer:

+ O Lord our heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served, but to serve: We ask you to bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others; endue them with wisdom, patience, and courage, that they may strengthen the weak and raise up those who fall, and, being inspired by your love, may worthily minister to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the sake of him who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

+ Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Benediction: (Jude 24-25)

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.

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

Saturday, 18 Sep 2021: Psalm 1; Ecclesiastes 1:1-18; Matthew 23:29-39 ~ Have faith in God’s Son.

Saturday, 18 Sep 2021:

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

Opening:

O God, because without you we are not able to please you,
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct
and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for
ever. Amen.

““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!
How often would I have gathered your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
and you were not willing!
See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you,
you will not see me again, until you say,
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’””
(Matthew 23:37-39)

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Psalms: Psalm 1 (Everything He Does Shall Prosper) – The Psalms Project

Blessed is the man who does not heed the counsel of this world
Blessed is the man who does not conform to worldly ways

For his delight is in the law of the LORD
And on His Word he meditates day and night

And he shall be like a tree by streams of water
That yields abundant fruit in every season
And his leaves shall never, never wither
And everything he does shall prosper
And everything he does shall prosper
And everything he does shall prosper

But the wicked are not so
For they are like the chaff the wind blows away
And the wicked shall not stand in the judgment
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous
But the evil ways of man shall pass away
Shall pass away
They’ll pass away
Forever

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OT Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 (ESV)

All Is Vanity

1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

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All is Vanity – Caroline Cobb

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NT Reading: Matthew 23:29-39 (ESV)

23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

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O Jerusalem The Porter’s Gate · Greg Thompson

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Prayer:

Prayer for Jerusalem by Mary Fairchild

Dear Heavenly Father,

You are the Rock and Redeemer of Israel. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We are sad to see the violence and suffering as men, women, and children are injured and killed on both sides of the conflict. We don’t understand why it has to be this way, nor do we truly know if war is right or wrong. But we pray for justice, your sovereignty and righteousness, Lord. And at the same time, we pray for mercy. For everyone involved we pray, for governments and peoples, militants and terrorists, we ask for your kingdom to come and rule over the land.

Shield the nation of Israel, Lord. Protect the soldiers and civilians from bloodshed. May your truth and light shine in the darkness. Where there is only hatred, may your love prevail. Help me as a Christian to support those who you support, Lord, and to bless those who you bless, my God. Bring your salvation to Israel, dear God. Draw every heart to you. And bring your salvation to the whole earth.

Amen.

+ 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.

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Blessing

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

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