Advent | Tuesday – 13 Dec 2022
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O Lord Jesus Christ, you sent your messengers the prophets to
preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Grant
that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise
make ready your way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient
toward the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to
judge the world, we may be found a people acceptable in your
sight; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
But you, dear friends,
must build each other up in your most holy faith,
pray in the power of the Holy Spirit,
and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who will bring you eternal life.
(Jude 20-21a)
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Psalms: Psalm 42 – Tori Kelly –
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OT Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-12 (NLT)
The River of Healing
47:1 In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway.
Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through.
He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank. When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river. Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean. But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”
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The River Is Here | Andy Park
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NT Reading: Jude 1:17-25 (NLT)
A Call to Remain Faithful
17 But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.
But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
A Prayer of Praise
24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.
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Now Unto Him – Jude 24-25 | David Butterbaugh, Integrity’s Hosanna! Music
0808kia
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+ Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your servants who are sick today, and give your power of healing to those who minister to their needs, that they may be strengthened in their weakness and have confidence in your loving care; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+ O God of heavenly powers, by the might of your command you drive away from our bodies all sickness and infirmity: Be present in your goodness with your servants who are sick today, that our weakness may be banished and our strength restored; and that, our health being renewed, we may bless your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+ May God the Father bless us,
God the Son heal us,
God the Holy Spirit give us strength.
May God the holy and undivided Trinity
guard our bodies, save our souls,
and bring us safely to his heavenly country;
where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen
Closing: Jude 24
“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time!”
+ Amen.
5:12 The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.
Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.”
The crowds asked, “What should we do?”
And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
The Peanut Gallery 