Easter Season | Friday 12 Apr 2024
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery
established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all
who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body
may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
“Now, dear children, live in Christ.”
(1 John 2:28)
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From Psalms: Psalm 4 – “In You I Trust” | My Soul Among Lions / Joseph Spurgeon
OT Reading: Daniel 10:2-19 (GW)
10:2 During those days I, Daniel, mourned for three whole weeks. I didn’t eat any good-tasting food. No meat or wine entered my mouth. I didn’t wash myself until the entire three weeks were over.
On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, I was by the great Tigris River. When I looked up, I saw a man dressed in linen, and he had a belt made of gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl. His face looked like lightning. His eyes were like flaming torches. His arms and legs looked like polished bronze. When he spoke, his voice sounded like the roar of a crowd. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision. The men with me didn’t see the vision. Yet, they started to tremble violently, and they quickly hid themselves. So I was left alone to see this grand vision. I had no strength left in me. My face turned deathly pale, and I was helpless. I heard the man speak, and as I listened to his words, I fainted facedown on the ground.
Then a hand touched me and made my hands and knees shake. The man said to me, “Daniel, you are highly respected. Pay attention to my words. Stand up, because I’ve been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, trembling. He told me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. God has heard everything that you said ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in front of your God so that you could learn to understand things. I have come in response to your prayer. The commander of the Persian kingdom opposed me for 21 days. But then Michael, one of the chief commanders, came to help me because I was left alone with the kings of Persia. I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the last days, because the vision is about times still to come.”
When he said this to me, I bowed down with my face touching the ground and was silent. Then someone who looked like a human touched my lips. I opened my mouth and began to talk. I said to the person standing in front of me, “Sir, because of this vision, pain has overwhelmed me, and I’m helpless. How can I talk to you, sir? I have no strength left, and the wind has been knocked out of me.”
Again, the person who looked like a human touched me, and I became stronger. He said, “Don’t be afraid. You are highly respected. Everything is alright! Be strong! Be strong!”
As he talked to me, I became stronger. I said, “Sir, tell me what you came to say. You have strengthened me.”
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You Raise Me Up – Selah / GloryToFatherGod
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NT Reading: 1 John 2:26-28 (GW)
2:26 I’m writing to you about those who are trying to deceive you. The anointing you received from Christ lives in you. You don’t need anyone to teach you something else. Instead, Christ’s anointing teaches you about everything. His anointing is true and contains no lie. So live in Christ as he taught you to do.
We Are God’s Children
Now, dear children, live in Christ. Then, when he appears we will have confidence, and when he comes we won’t turn from him in shame.
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While I Wait | Taylor Holland Armstrong
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+ Dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: We hold up all our weaknesses to your strength, our failures to your faithfulness, our sinfulness to your perfection, our loneliness to your compassion, our pains to your great agony on the Cross. We pray that you will cleanse us, strengthen us, guide us, so that in all ways our lives may be lived as you would have them lived, without cowardice and for you alone. Show us how to live in true humility, true contrition, and true love. Amen.
+ Lord of Heaven’s Armies, we pray for swift justice and total victory over all evil in the Holy Land. Deliver the hostages from captivity and restore their souls. Destroy every stronghold of the evil 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.
+ 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
May the risen Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 