The Lenten Season | 3rd Sunday 03 Mar 2024
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
Heavenly Father,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless until they rest in you:
Look with compassion
upon the heartfelt desires of your servants,
and purify our disordered affections,
that we may behold your eternal glory
in the face of Christ Jesus;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
“To those Jews and Greeks who are called,
[Jesus] is Christ,
God’s power and God’s wisdom.”
(1 Corinthians 1:24)
__________
Only A Holy God – CityAlight / Worship Simplified
__________
From the Old Testament: Exodus 20:1-17 (GW)
The Ten Commandments
20:1 Then God spoke all these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.
1. “Never have any other god.
2. “Never make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water. Never worship them or serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a God who does not tolerate rivals. I punish children for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. But I show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments.
3. “Never use the name of the Lord your God carelessly. The Lord will make sure that anyone who carelessly uses his name will be punished.
4. “Remember the day of rest by observing it as a holy day. You have six days to do all your work. The seventh day is the day of rest—a holy day dedicated to the Lord your God. You, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, your cattle, and the foreigners living in your city must never do any work ⌞on that day⌟. In six days the Lord made heaven, earth, and the sea, along with everything in them. He didn’t work on the seventh day. That’s why the Lord blessed the day he stopped his work and set this day apart as holy.
5. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live for a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
6. “Never murder.
7. “Never commit adultery.
8. “Never steal.
9. “Never lie when you testify about your neighbor.
10. “Never desire to take your neighbor’s household away from him. “Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.”
__________
From the Psalms: Psalm 19 – Poor Bishop Hooper
the heavens declare the glory of God
the skies display his work
day after day they deliver their speech
night after night they make him known
they speak with no sound
they speak with no voice
they speak but their words are never heard
__________
From the Epistles: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (GW)
1:18 The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. Scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will reject the intelligence of intelligent people.”
Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense? The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe. Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people and makes no sense to people who are not Jewish. But to those Jews and Greeks who are called, he is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
__________
The Perfect Wisdom Of Our God (Hymns of Grace)
__________
Gospel Reading: John 2:13-22 (GW)
Jesus Throws Merchants and Moneychangers out of the Temple Courtyard
2:13 The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers’ coins and knocked over their tables.
He told those who sold pigeons, “Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
His disciples remembered that Scripture said, “Devotion for your house will consume me.”
The Jews reacted by asking Jesus, “What miracle can you show us to justify what you’re doing?”
Jesus replied, “Tear down this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days.”
The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you really think you’re going to rebuild it in three days?”
But the temple Jesus spoke about was his own body. After he came back to life, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and this statement that Jesus had made.
__________
Take My Life and Let It Be | Norton Hall Band
__________
+ 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.
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says:
+ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)
+ Most merciful God, we confess to You and to one another that we have not loved as You have called us to love. We have been impatient and unkind. We have been jealous, boastful and proud. We have responded rudely to others and often lived for ourselves alone. Our anger has come quickly while our desire for the best for others has been hard to find. We are truly sorry, and we humbly repent. In Your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be: that we may love as You first loved us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+ Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who in your great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with true faith turn to you, have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and bring us to everlasting life; through 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
May God our Redeemer
show us compassion and love.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 