Call to worship:
12 Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders;
he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and rules to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his rules.
Praise the Lord!Psalm 147:8-11
Gathering Video
Questions for reflection:
What questions are brought about in this text?
How have you experienced “holy disruptions”? In what ways did Jesus meet you there?
What is the significance of the small things in life and ministry?
Corporate Prayer:
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, and we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever, Amen.
Notes//Quotes//Slides:
“The three Peter-stories Luke selects are i) a double miracle story how Aeneas was healed and Tabitha raised from death), (ii) a conversion story (how Cornelius was brought to faith), and (ili) an escape story how Peter was rescued from prison and so from Herod's evil intentions). Each may be seen as a confrontation - with disease and death, with Gentile alienation and with political tyranny. Moreover, in each case conflict gave place to victory - the cure of Aeneas, the resuscitation of Tabitha, the conversion of Cornelius, and the removal of Herod.”
- John Stott
“Gazelles—small antelopes spoken of in the Bible—are known for their grace and beauty. Some live where rains provide water. But one type, the Dorcas gazelle, can spend its entire life in the desert without drinking—receiving hydration only from plants. This gives it a mysterious quality rather like that of a Christian, whose source of life and love is an invisible fountain of living water, as Jesus promised (John 7:38).”
- In Touch Ministries
“The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.”
- G. K. Chesterton
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27)