After Pentecost | Monday 15 Jul 2024
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and, that we may receive what we ask,
teach us by your Holy Spirit to ask
only those things that are pleasing to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who with you and the same Spirit
lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
“Immediately,
he took some soldiers and officers and charged the crowd.
When the crowd saw the officer and the soldiers,
they stopped beating Paul.”
(Acts 21:32)
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From Psalms: Psalm 68:32-35 – “Blessed be Our God” | LIVE at the TOWER of DAVID, Jerusalem ~ Joshua Aaron
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OT Reading: 2 Samuel 6:6-12a (GW)
6:6 But when they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out for the ark of God and grabbed it. The Lord became angry with Uzzah, so God killed him there for his lack of respect. He died beside the ark of God.
David was angry because the Lord had struck Uzzah so violently. (That place is still called Perez Uzzah [The Striking of Uzzah] today.) David was afraid of the Lord that day. “How can the ark of the Lord come to my ⌞city⌟?” he asked. So David wouldn’t bring the ark of the Lord with him to the City of David. Instead, he rerouted it to the home of Obed Edom, who was from Gath. The ark of the Lord stayed at the home of Obed Edom from Gath for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his whole family.
King David was told, “The Lord has blessed Obed Edom’s home and everything he owns because of the ark of God.”
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Only a Holy God – CityAlight / CKL Aanbidding
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NT Reading: Acts 21:27-39 (GW)
21:27 When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple courtyard. They stirred up the whole crowd and grabbed Paul. Then they began shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against the Jewish people, Moses’ Teachings, and this temple. He has even brought Greeks into the temple courtyard and has made this holy place unclean.” They had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with him in the city earlier and thought Paul had taken him into the temple courtyard.
The whole city was in chaos, and a mob formed. The mob grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the temple courtyard. The courtyard doors were immediately shut.
As the people were trying to kill Paul, the officer in charge of the Roman soldiers received a report that all Jerusalem was rioting. Immediately, he took some soldiers and officers and charged the crowd. 
When the crowd saw the officer and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the officer went to Paul, grabbed him, and ordered him to be tied up with two chains.
The officer asked who Paul was and what he had done. Some of the crowd shouted one thing, while others shouted something else. The officer couldn’t get any facts because of the noise and confusion, so he ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. When Paul came to the stairs of the barracks, the crowd was so violent that the soldiers had to carry him. The mob was behind them shouting, “Kill him!”
Paul Speaks in His Own Defense
As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the officer, “May I say something to you?”
The officer replied to Paul, “Can you speak Greek? Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolution not long ago and led four thousand terrorists into the desert?”
Paul answered, “I’m a Jew, a citizen from the well-known city of Tarsus in Cilicia. I’m asking you to let me talk to the people.”
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The Perfect Wisdom Of Our God | Hymns of Grace
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Benedict of Nursia
+ Gracious and holy Father, please give us intellect to understand you, reason to discern you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, a spirit to know you, hearts to meditate upon you, ears to hear you, eyes to see you, tongues to proclaim you, ways of life pleasing to you, patience to wait for you, and perseverance to look for you. Grant us a perfect end, your holy presence, a blessed resurrection, and life everlasting. Amen.
+ Sovereign Lord: We pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
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- Protect Israel from the fiery darts of the evil one coming from every direction, both within and without.
- Grant your heavenly wisdom to those guiding Israel militarily, politically, and diplomatically;
- Give them hearts to receive, and the courage to do, what’s right in your sight.
- Comfort those who grieve and mourn the loss of loved ones;
- Rebuke those who would use grief for evil purposes.
- Bring swift and certain justice to all those complicit in the October 7th atrocities;
- Deliver the hostages from captivity, and restore their souls.
- Destroy every stronghold of the evil death cult terrorizing the Middle East.
- Strengthen the Messianic communities – Jew and Arab alike – bind them together in love, that they may be a source of help, and healing, and hope;
- Use them in the restoration of your people to their proper place in your Kingdom.
- We pray in Jesus’ Name. 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.
The Peanut Gallery 