Prayer, Praise, & Promises Sept. 23, 2019

Father, we praise you for your goodness. We worship you alone. Guide us into full understanding of your will for our lives. Grow us into the disciples you long for us to be.  Amen.

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Reflections… a Scripture verse and inspiration for daily living [9/23/19]

Instructions on Worship
2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
1 Timothy 2:1-7 (NIV)

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Prayer, Praise, & Promises Sept. 22, 2019

Psalm 86:5 (NIV)

You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.

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Who is Your Master? – The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost [9/22/19]

Today’s Passage:  Luke 16:1-13

Opening Prayer: Father God, sometimes our priorities get all messed up, but You remind us that we can start fresh each and every morning.  Just as the dawn marks the beginning of a new day, our focusing upon You marks the beginning of a renewed and uplifted heart, mind, and spirit.  Thank you for loving us and for teaching us what is truly important.  May we worship You.  May we stand in awe of You and all You do for us.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Opening Song: Chris Tomlin – Nobody Loves Me Like You (Official Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG_IXFEO8yE

Message [used with permission from A Sermon for Every Sunday]: Who is Your Master? – The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost by Brian McLaren, speaker, activist, bestselling author, and former pastor.
How would you like to be liberated and set free from the hold that money has on your life? Brian McLaren–speaker, activist, and bestselling author, explains how to make this happen in today’s sermon from Luke 16:1-13. McLaren explains that today’s parable is a continuation of the three from Luke 15, the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son. These next two parables begin…”there was a rich man.” McLaren explains the historical and economic history surrounding the passage and how understanding this context helps make this parable much more accessible to us. He says, “This passage proclaims a kingdom of God that has an economic system…one in which everyone matters…Love God and you will see everything else in a new value system.” Listen and find out what this new value system is and how it can liberate you from the hold money might have on your life.

Closing Song: Phil Wickham – Living Hope (Official Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-1fwZtKJSM

Closing Prayer: Father God, sometimes we let this world and its riches take control of our thoughts, actions, and attitudes.  May we gain an understanding of Your economy – of what has real worth.  May we wisely choose to focus on things that have value in the heavenly realm.  May all be done for Your glory.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit and in Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Epilogue: Tauren Wells – Known (Official Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQ6Lfh5L14

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Reflections… a Scripture verse and inspiration for daily living [9/22/19]

Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor of the land,
saying,
“When will the New Moon be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market wheat?”—
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating with dishonest scales,
buying the poor with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.
Amos 8:4-7 (NIV)

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Prayer, Praise, & Promises Sept. 21, 2019

Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace.  – Mother Teresa

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Reflections… a Scripture verse and inspiration for daily living [9/21/19]

Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, you his servants;
    praise the name of the Lord.
Let the name of the Lord be praised,
    both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
    his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
    the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look
    on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes,
    with the princes of his people.
He settles the childless woman in her home
    as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 113 (NIV)

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Prayer, Praise, & Promises Sept. 20, 2019

Father, we pray that your goodness and mercy surrounds us each day. Teach us to show goodness and mercy to others in the same manner.  Amen.

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Reflections… a Scripture verse and inspiration for daily living [9/20/19]

More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39 (NIV)

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Prayer, Praise, & Promises Sept. 19, 2019

Ephesians 5:8-10 (NIV)

For you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.

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