Bible Verses for Service July 09, 2023
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Announcements:
Work Day July 20. We will be saying good bye to the two storage sheds, which need emptied first. We need to make decisions about what to keep, and find a new place to store those things. We welcome the help. If you see other jobs that need done, let us know and give us a hand please.
Due to the scheduling conflicts, the Deacons’ meeting will need to rescheduled. Please let us know what works for you.
Please check the foyer bulletin for missionary prayer letters from the missionaries. Please be sure to check out the new letters from missionaries that we support. Today’s bulletin insert gives a couple of prayer requests for each of them.
Sermon:
Working in Luke, Pastor preached on Luke 9:37-45, “The Mess on the Plain.” In this portion of Scripture, Luke describes what was happening to the other nine disciples who were not up with Jesus at the transfiguration. These disciples where on the plain were they were challenged by some scribes. Pastor examined the failures of the disciples in the midst of the mess that they found themselves in. From this lesson, we can learn to focus not on our messes, but that Christ is with us and can help us out of the mess.
To start Pastor asked us to consider the mess started with a failure to conquer Satan’s power. None of the disciples could cast the demon out of the boy the father brought to them for help. He found the cry of the father worth exploring. He could see the problems the demon presented in hurting his only son. But why couldn’t the disciples cast out this demon. Pastor identified the cause of the failure as a failure to pray, prayers that were not founded in faith. Jesus criticizes them as faithless. Yet He does not give up on them, nor the father in need of relief for his son. Rather than continual focus on the failure, Jesus brings a cure, one only from the Savior. While the disciples couldn’t cast the demon from the child, Jesus certainly could and did that. Pastor asked us to look at what Jesus request from the man, believing prayer.
Pastor asked us to consider the greater lesson here, a failure to comprehend God’s plan. Note that the problem with failure to heal the man’s child came after Peter failed to understand the transfiguration, God’s plan and the cross. Soon after this, the disciples would fail also, arguing about who was greatest in an earthly kingdom. These problems occurred because we generally don’t get the cross, it is contrary to our ideas on how things should work. We continue to think of it as weakness, being beaten, defeat. However, as we see continually in the Bible, the cross is mandatory for our victory. Besides purchasing our salvation, it disarmed Satan, and delivered us once and for all from his power over us.
With this mind, Pastor asked will heed this lesson, embrace our Savior, go forward in the power of the cross. Each day brings the opportunity for strength through believing prayer. Let’s call on the Lord.
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