The New Promise – The Peanut Gallery

The Lenten Season | 5th Sunday 17 Mar 2024

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

Opening:

Almighty God,
you alone can bring into order
the unruly wills and affections of sinners:
Grant your people grace to love what you command
and desire what you promise; that,
among the swift and varied changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“Should I say, ‘Father,
save me from this time ⌞of suffering⌟’?
No! I came for this time of suffering.”
(John 12:27b)

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Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken // 200 Voice Mass Choir – St Andrew’s Church The Kirk Chennai India Classic Hymns Album “Sweet Hour of Prayer”)

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From the Old Testament: Jeremiah 31:31-34) (GW)

The New Promise

31:31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah. It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days,” declares the Lord: “I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” declares the Lord, “because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”

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From the Psalms: Psalm 51:10-12 – “Create in me a clean heart” // Stephanie Rachel Ministry

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From the Epistles: Hebrews 5:1-10 (GW)

5:1 Every chief priest is chosen from humans to represent them in front of God, that is, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. The chief priest can be gentle with people who are ignorant and easily deceived, because he also has weaknesses. Because he has weaknesses, he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins in the same way that he does for the sins of his people.

No one takes this honor for himself. Instead, God calls him as he called Aaron. So Christ did not take the glory of being a chief priest for himself. Instead, the glory was given to him by God, who said,

“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”

In another place in Scripture, God said,

“You are a priest forever,
in the way Melchizedek was a priest.”

During his life on earth, Jesus prayed to God, who could save him from death. He prayed and pleaded with loud crying and tears, and he was heard because of his devotion to God. Although Jesus was the Son ⌞of God⌟, he learned to be obedient through his sufferings. After he had finished his work, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him. God appointed him chief priest in the way Melchizedek was a priest.

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Man of Sorrows! What a Name — Celtic Worship / TBN UK Music

Man of sorrows what a name
for the Son of God, who came
ruined sinners to reclaim:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned he stood,
sealed my pardon with his blood:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Guilty, helpless, lost were we;
blameless Lamb of God was he,
sacrificed to set us free:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

He was lifted up to die;
“It is finished” was his cry;
now in heaven exalted high:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!

When he comes, our glorious King,
all his ransomed home to bring,
then anew this song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
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Gospel Reading: John 12:20-33 (GW)

Some Greeks Ask to See Jesus

12:20 Some Greeks were among those who came to worship during the Passover festival. They went to Philip (who was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and told him, “Sir, we would like to meet Jesus.” Philip told Andrew, and they told Jesus.

Jesus replied to them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I can guarantee this truth: A single grain of wheat doesn’t produce anything unless it is planted in the ground and dies. If it dies, it will produce a lot of grain. Those who love their lives will destroy them, and those who hate their lives in this world will guard them for everlasting life. Those who serve me must follow me. My servants will be with me wherever I will be. If people serve me, the Father will honor them.

“I am too deeply troubled now to know how to express my feelings. Should I say, ‘Father, save me from this time ⌞of suffering⌟’? No! I came for this time of suffering. Father, give glory to your name.”

A voice from heaven said, “I have given it glory, and I will give it glory again.”

The crowd standing there heard the voice and said that it had thundered. Others in the crowd said that an angel had talked to him. Jesus replied, “That voice wasn’t for my benefit but for yours.

“This world is being judged now. The ruler of this world will be thrown out now. When I have been lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people toward me.” By saying this, he indicated how he was going to die.

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The Jesus Way // Phil Wickham

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

+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.

+ 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. Deliver the hostages from evil and restore their souls. Release from bondage every person connected to the death cult terrorizing the Middle East. And grant your heavenly wisdom to those guiding Israel militarily, politically, diplomatically – and especially to those who will restore Israel spiritually – through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Christ Be All Around Me // All Sons & Daughters