After Pentecost | Friday 04 Oct 2024
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O merciful Lord,
grant to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that we may be cleansed from all our sins
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
“Whoever doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ
doesn’t belong to him.”
(Romans 8:9b)
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From Psalms: Psalm 26 // Vindicate Me, O Lord (Psalm 26) // My Soul Among Lions
Examine me and try my heart
Inspect my mind, my inward part
I’ve set Your grace before my eyes
I love Your truth I hate their lies
I take no part with the deceiver, no
I hate the way that unbelievers go
Vindicate me, O LORD
I have walked in my integrity
I’m holding fast to You, my God
Vindicate me, O LORD
Please be gracious and deliver me
I’m standing here within Your truth
I’ve washed my hands in innocence
Redeem me, LORD, be my defense
That I may sing with thankful praise
Within Your house through all my days
Don’t take my soul away with violent men
But at Your altar let me kneel again
Vindicate me, O LORD
I have walked in my integrity
I’m holding fast to You, my God
Vindicate me, O LORD
Please be gracious and deliver me
I’m standing here within Your truth
Vindicate me, O LORD
I have walked in my integrity
I’m holding fast to You, my God
Vindicate me, O LORD
Please be gracious and deliver me
I’m standing here within Your truth
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OT Reading: Job 4:1-21 (GW)
Eliphaz Speaks: Be Patient and Listen, Job
4:1 Then Eliphaz from Teman replied ⌞to Job⌟,
“If someone tries to talk to you, will you become impatient?
But who can keep from talking?
Certainly, you have instructed many people:
When hands were weak, you made them strong.
When someone stumbled, you lifted him up with your words.
When knees were weak, you gave them strength.
But trouble comes to you, and you’re impatient.
It touches you, and you panic.
Doesn’t your fear of God give you confidence
and your lifetime of integrity give you hope?
Only Evil People Suffer
4:7 “Now think about this:
Which innocent person ⌞ever⌟ died ⌞an untimely death⌟?
Find me a decent person who has been destroyed.
Whenever I saw those who plowed wickedness and planted misery,
they gathered its harvest.
God destroys them with his breath
and kills them with a blast of his anger.
Though the roar of the lion
and the growl of the ferocious lion ⌞is loud⌟,
the young lions have had their teeth knocked out.
The old lions die without any prey ⌞to eat⌟,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
“I was told something secretly
and heard something whispered in my ear.
With disturbing thoughts from visions in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people,
fear and trembling came over me,
and all my bones shook.
A spirit passed in front of me.
It made my hair stand on end.
Something stood there.
I couldn’t tell what it was.
A vague image was in front of my eyes.
I heard a soft voice:
‘Can ⌞any⌟ mortal be righteous to God?
Can ⌞any⌟ human being be pure to his maker?’
“You see, God doesn’t trust his own servants,
and he accuses his angels of making mistakes.
How much more will he accuse those who live in clay houses
that have their foundation in the dust.
Those houses can be crushed quicker than a moth!
From morning to evening, they are shattered.
They will disappear forever without anyone paying attention.
Haven’t the ropes of their tent been loosened?
Won’t they die without wisdom?
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Father Of Mercies (Acoustic Version) // Olly Knight & Ben Slee
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NT Reading: Romans 8:1-11 (GW)
God’s Spirit Makes Us His Children
8:1 So those who are believers in Christ Jesus can no longer be condemned. The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature. Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards in Moses’ Teachings.
Those who live by the corrupt nature have the corrupt nature’s attitude. But those who live by the spiritual nature have the spiritual nature’s attitude. The corrupt nature’s attitude leads to death. But the spiritual nature’s attitude leads to life and peace. This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God. It refuses to place itself under the authority of God’s standards because it can’t. Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can’t please God. But if God’s Spirit lives in you, you are under the control of your spiritual nature, not your corrupt nature.
Whoever doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ doesn’t belong to him. However, if Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive because you have God’s approval. Does the Spirit of the one who brought Jesus back to life live in you? Then the one who brought Christ back to life will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.
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I Belong To Jesus (Oh Hallelujah) – Selah [Integrity Music]
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Dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: I hold up all my weakness to your strength, my failure to your faithfulness, my sinfulness to your perfection, my loneliness to your compassion, my little pains to your great agony on the Cross. I pray that you will cleanse me, strengthen me, guide me, so that in all ways my life may be lived as you would have it lived, without cowardice and for you alone. Show me how to live in true humility, true contrition, and true love. Amen.
Sovereign Lord: We pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
+ Do what only you can do to make your faithful people the promised blessing to every family on earth.
+ Protect them from the assaults of the evil one, coming in every form and from every direction.
+ Grant your heavenly wisdom to Israel’s leadership; give them the courage to do what’s right in your sight.
+ Comfort all those who mourn the loss of loved ones; deliver the hostages from captivity and restore their souls.
+ Destroy every stronghold and every expression of the evil death cult terrorizing the Middle East.
+ Protect the Israel Defense Forces and every soldier engaged in their mission to root out this evil.
+ Strengthen the Messianic communities; use them to restore your faithful people to their proper place in your kingdom.
+ Unify your faithful people around your promise to Abraham – to bless every family on earth through them.
+ Intervene in the Middle East in ways that only you can; protect the innocent and punish the guilty, that all may live at peace.
O God, of your goodness, give me yourself, for you are enough for me. I can ask for nothing less that is completely to your honor, and if I do ask anything less, I shall always be in want. Only in you I have all. 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.
But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.) God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it. God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do.
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