Epiphany Season | 4th Sunday 28 Jan 2024

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

Opening:

O God, you know that we are set
in the midst of many grave dangers,
and because of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
Grant that your strength and protection
may support us in all dangers
and carry us through every temptation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Everyone was stunned.
They said to each other, “What is this?
This is a new teaching that has authority behind it!
He gives orders to evil spirits,
and they obey him.”
(Mark 1:27)

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Join All The Glorious Names – Parkside Evangelical Church
[Recording: Billy Graham Crusade 1959 Melbourne Crusade Choir]

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From the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 (GW)

18:15 The Lord your God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me. You must listen to him. This is what you asked the Lord your God to give you on the day of the assembly at Mount Horeb. You said, “We never want to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this raging fire again. If we do, we’ll die!”

The Lord told me, “What they’ve said is good. So I will send them a prophet, an Israelite like you. I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. Whoever refuses to listen to the words that prophet speaks in my name will answer to me. But any prophet who dares to say something in my name that I didn’t command him to say or who speaks in the name of other gods must die.”

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From the Psalms: Psalm 111:2-10 (NKJV) – “Holy and Awesome is His Name” (Esther Mui)

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From the Epistles: 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 (GW)

Advice about Food Offered to False Gods

8:1 Now, concerning food offered to false gods: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes people arrogant, but love builds them up. Those who think they know something still have a lot to learn. But if they love God, they are known by God.

Now about eating food that was offered to false gods: We know that the false gods in this world don’t really exist and that no god exists except the one God. People may say that there are gods in heaven and on earth—many gods and many lords, as they would call them. But for us,

“There is only one God, the Father.
Everything came from him, and we live for him.
There is only one Lord, Jesus Christ.
Everything came into being through him,
and we live because of him.”

But not everyone knows this. Some people are so used to worshiping false gods that they believe they are eating food offered to a false god. So they feel guilty because their conscience is weak.

Food will not affect our relationship with God. We are no worse off if we eat ⌞that food⌟ and no better off if we don’t. But be careful that by using your freedom you don’t somehow make a believer who is weak in faith fall into sin. For example, suppose someone with a weak conscience sees you, who have this knowledge, eating in the temple of a false god. Won’t you be encouraging that person to eat food offered to a false god? In that case, your knowledge is ruining a believer whose faith is weak, a believer for whom Christ died. When you sin against other believers in this way and harm their weak consciences, you are sinning against Christ.

Therefore, if eating food ⌞offered to false gods⌟ causes other believers to lose their faith, I will never eat that kind of food so that I won’t make other believers lose their faith.

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Only One | Texas Bible College Live

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Gospel Reading: Mark 1:21-28 (GW)

Jesus Forces an Evil Spirit out of a Man

1:21 Then they went to Capernaum. On the next day of rest—a holy day, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teachings. Unlike their experts in Moses’ Teachings, he taught them with authority.

At that time there was a man in the synagogue who was controlled by an evil spirit. He shouted, “What do you want with us, Jesus from Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

Jesus ordered the spirit, “Keep quiet, and come out of him!” The evil spirit threw the man into convulsions and came out of him with a loud shriek.

Everyone was stunned. They said to each other, “What is this? This is a new teaching that has authority behind it! He gives orders to evil spirits, and they obey him.”

The news about him spread quickly throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

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Teach Me Your Way, O Lord (SATB) – arr. Lloyd Larson

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

+ O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices; that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path we may not stumble; 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.

+ Our God, in whom we trust: Strengthen us not to regard overmuch who is for us or who is against us, but to see to it that we be with you in everything we do. Amen.

Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch

May Christ, who sends us to the nations,
give us the power of his Spirit.

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