Father, we are set apart for the work of the kingdom. Thank you for helping us each day to clothe our hearts in your holy garments. Amen.
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Father, we are set apart for the work of the kingdom. Thank you for helping us each day to clothe our hearts in your holy garments. Amen.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Isaiah 58:9-12 (NIV)
Colossians 3:12 (NIV)
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Today’s Passage: Luke 13:10-17
Opening Prayer: Father God, may the Holy Spirit send His healing power to Your people, their communities, their families, and their lives. So many things pull us away from You and what is truly important. May we choose to focus upon You and what is right and good in this world. May we be washed in a healing rain and freed from those things that bind us and bend us over. In the precious name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Opening Song: Michael W. Smith – Healing Rain (Official Music Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo1bjTOFbZA
Message [used with permission from A Sermon for Every Sunday]: Being Bent Over? Your Condition is Not Your Conclusion – The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost [8/25/19] by Otis Moss, III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois.
“A small baby girl, 4.5 pounds, was born to Ed and Blanche. She was a sickly child…born in 1940…the 20th of 22 children. Before the age of five she dealt with measles, scarlet fever, and a variety of other diseases, and eventually was stricken with polio. She was told she would never walk again.”
Otis Moss, III, is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, a civil rights advocate, activist, and author who was recently recognized as one of the “12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World.” He begins his sermon on the bent-over woman from Luke 13:10-17 with the story of Olympic champion Wilma Rudolph, whose grandmother never lost faith in a God who can heal. “Your condition does not have to be your conclusion,” Moss insists. Jesus might have said the same thing.
Closing Song: TenthAvenuNorth-Healing begins Official music video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNn2yMo1F4E
Closing Prayer: Father God, we are broken and afflicted by many things – physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Let the healing begin. May the burdens we carry be lifted. All, in Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Epilogue: MercyMe – “The Hurt & The Healer” Official Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xzaivDbu9c
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 58:9, 13-14 (NIV)
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless. – Mother Teresa
Be warned, be encouraged. Which shall it be?
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
Hebrews 12:14-17 (NIV)
Father, thank you for Jesus, his teachings and his examples. Your kindness give us hope and a future. Amen.
5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
Hebrews 12:3, 5-7 (NIV)
Ephesians 2:6-7 (NIV)
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness, to us in Christ Jesus.