“Jesus Heals the Sick” Etching by Jan Luyken, Bowyer Bible
When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed. Everyone tried to touch him, because healing power went out from him, and he healed everyone.
Prayer: Lord Jesus – Everywhere we look we see people who are sick – in body, in soul, in mind, and in spirit… people who are bound and broken… people who are caught up in the downward spiral of sin and death.
Send your healing power… come Holy Spirit… fall on us. Make us instruments of your mercy, grace and healing power – that all may know Jesus as the Lord of their lives and Lover of their souls. Amen.
Hymn:“Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” – Fanny Crosby (1868)
Pass me not, O gentle Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
Please click on audio player – “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” – Bart Millard
Let me at thy throne of mercy find a sweet relief, kneeling there in deep contrition; help my unbelief. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
Trusting only in thy merit, would I seek thy face; heal my wounded, broken spirit, save me by thy grace. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
Thou the spring of all my comfort, more than life to me, whom have I on earth beside thee? Whom in heaven but thee. Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry; while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
Genesis 1:26-28 NLT – Made like God
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 NLT – Made for God
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!
You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
John 10:10 NLT – Made for Life
“My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
Matthew 25:40 NLT – “Precious to God”
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into your presence in His name. We have heard the voice of your Son, and therefore we can make our voices heard. We have been justified in the blood of your Son, and therefore we can oppose every form of injustice.
We have repented of our sins, and therefore we can lead the sinner to repentance. We have done battle with the power of evil, and therefore we can have compassion on those still within its grip. We have been freed from the kingdom of darkness, and therefore we can bear witness to your Kingdom of Light.
Lord, as we come before you today, we repent, we resolve, and we rejoice.
We repent of every instance in which fear has made us silent when we should have spoken. We repent of the ongoing bloodshed in our land, and for ever daring to think that we can deprive the unborn of protection but keep it for ourselves.
We resolve that we will work more generously to advance your Kingdom. We resolve that we will advance the cause of righteous candidates for public office, and that we will be more afraid of offending you by our silence than of offending the IRS by our speech. We resolve that we will declare boldly to our people that no public official who fails to respect the life of a little baby can be trusted to respect our lives.
Father, today we rejoice, because we are not simply working for victory – we are working from victory. The victory of life, truth, and grace has been won by your Son’s death and Resurrection. Today we hear his voice again. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I hold the keys of death and of hell. Behold, I make all things new.”
Father, we rejoice that we have been made new, and as we work to renew our culture we look forward to the great day of his coming, When every eye will see him, even of those who pierced him, and every knee shall bend, and every tongue confess, to the glory of God the Father, JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!
In his Blessed Name we pray. Amen!
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One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:
Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot), Judas (son of James), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).
Prayer: Lord Jesus – You chose the twelve prayerfully… and carefully. They were your friends – the people you lived and died with. You spent more time with them than anyone else on earth – you taught them, trained them and sent them out in your Name. You envisioned great things for them and they became bearers of your Good News throughout the world.
Lord Jesus – Make me a bearer of your Good News as well. Help me to chose my friends and associates with the same amout of prayer and care. Surround me with people who love you and will help me become more like you. Teach me, train me, send me out as an agent of your truth and grace. That I might glorify you, in all I do. Amen.
Spiritual Song: “Be Glorified” – Bob Kilpatrick (1978) (YouTube)
On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching. The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.
But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward. Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?”
He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.
Prayer: Lord Jesus – You made enemies by doing right. I confess, however, that I have made enemies by doing wrong. Please forgive me and show me how I can make right the wrongs I have done. For Your Name’s sake, I ask it. Amen.
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain.
But some Pharisees said, “Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to his companions.”
And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.”
Prayer: Lord Jesus – Your Kingdom spans all of life – our rising and sleeping, eating and drinking, coming and going, working and resting – You are Lord of all. Conform our lives to Your Kingdom purposes… and so enter into Your joy – today. Amen.
Spiritual Song: “God Rules” – Rick Muchow (All About Love)
He rules today, He rules forever
The kingdom of God means God rules
He rules is our hope, He rules is our reality
The kingdom of God means God rules
Open your heart, Turn from your old ways
Then you will start, Dancing to the rhythm of Grace
Give Him your life, Give Him your whole life now
The kingdom of God means God rules
The kingdom of God means God rules
He rules the world, With truth and grace
The kingdom of God means God rules
He rules in love and righteousness
The kingdom of God means God rules
The kingdom of God means God rules
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