Before The Lenten Season | Monday 12 Feb 2024
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O God, who before the passion
of your only-begotten Son
revealed his glory upon the holy mountain:
Grant that we, beholding by faith
the light of his countenance,
may be strengthened to bear our cross,
and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
For this reason we must pay closer attention
to what we have heard.
Then we won’t drift away ⌞from the truth⌟.
(Hebrews 2:1)
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From Psalms: Psalm 110:1-4 – “You Are a Priest For Ever, in the Line of Melchizedek” – Francesca LaRosa
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OT Reading: Exodus 19:7-25 (GW)
19:7 So Moses went down and called for the leaders of the people. He repeated to them all the words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
The Lord said to Moses, “I am coming to you in a storm cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always believe you.” Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
So the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people, and tell them they have two days to get ready. They must set themselves apart as holy. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the day after tomorrow. On that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch. Mark off a boundary around the mountain for the people, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even touch it. Those who touch the mountain must be put to death. No one should touch them. They must be stoned or shot with arrows. No matter whether it’s an animal or a person, it must not live. The people may go up the mountain ⌞only⌟ when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast.
After Moses went down the mountain to the people, he had them get ready, and they washed their clothes. Then Moses said to the people, “Be ready two days from now. Don’t disqualify yourselves by having sexual intercourse.”
On the morning of the second day, there was thunder and lightning with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn ⌞was heard⌟. All the people in the camp shook with fear. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had come down on it in fire. Smoke rose from the mountain like the smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. As the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking, and the voice of God answered him.
The Lord came down on top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up. The Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to force their way through ⌞the boundary⌟ to see the Lord, or many of them will die. Even the priests who are allowed to come near the Lord must set themselves apart as holy, or the Lord will violently kill them.”
Moses said to the Lord, “The people can’t come up Mount Sinai, because you warned us yourself to mark off a boundary around the mountain and consider it holy.”
The Lord said to him, “Go down, and bring Aaron back with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through the boundary to come up to the Lord, or he will violently kill them.”
So Moses went down to the people and told them.
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Shema | A Prayer For Israel (Official Lyric Video) – Misha Goetz & Shae Wilbur
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NT Reading: Hebrews 2:1-4 (GW)
Everything Is under Jesus’ Control
2:1 For this reason we must pay closer attention to what we have heard. Then we won’t drift away ⌞from the truth⌟. After all, the message that the angels brought was reliable, and every violation and act of disobedience was properly punished. So how will we escape punishment if we reject the important message, the message that God saved us? First, the Lord told this saving message. Then those who heard him confirmed that message. God verified what they said through miraculous signs, amazing things, other powerful acts, and with other gifts from the Holy Spirit as he wanted.
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Jesus Saves – Brentwood Benson
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+ Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your Holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 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
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.
19:41 When [Jesus] came closer and saw the city, he began to cry. He said, “If you had only known today what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden, so you cannot see it. The time will come when enemy armies will build a wall to surround you and close you in on every side. They will level you to the ground and kill your people. One stone will not be left on top of another, because you didn’t recognize the time when God came to help you.”
But I thank God, who always leads us in victory because of Christ. Wherever we go, God uses us to make clear what it means to know Christ. It’s like a fragrance that fills the air. To God we are the aroma of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are dying. To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a life-giving fragrance.
They came to him because they had heard about everything he was doing. Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready so that the crowd would not crush him. He had cured so many that everyone with a disease rushed up to him in order to touch him. Whenever people with evil spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” He gave them orders not to tell people who he was.
The Peanut Gallery 