Call to worship:
1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!Psalm 8:1-9
Gathering Video
Questions for reflection:
Where do you struggle to trust Jesus?
How does His spirit give life?
What are you paying attention to and how is it expanding?
Corporate Prayer:
Our Father in Heaven, We thank you for this year with its celebrations and sorrows. We are grateful that you have been with us for every moment. For the wounds we’ve encountered, we ask you to heal us. For the wounds we’ve inflicted, we ask you to forgive us. As we embark into a new year we pray for your guidance and direction. Grant us a hunger for your word, a passion for prayer, and a love for people. Let us reflect you well in all that we say and do. For the glory of Christ we pray, amen.
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Notes//Quotes//Slides:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with 10, 000 beside
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me
The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of the pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise.” - Brennan Manning
Peter’s way of expressing himself appears somewhat pretentious, as if he and his fellows are a cut above the fickle ‘disciples’ who have turned away, superior at least in insight. Indeed, Peter’s words might almost be taken to mean that he is doing Jesus a favour. But Jesus will not allow even a whisper of human pretensions. Ultimately, the Twelve did not choose Jesus; he chose them. Even there, the one catastrophic failure amongst the Twelve was not unforeseen. One of them was a diabolos: the word in common Greek means ‘slanderer’ or ‘false accuser’, but in the New Testament it always refers, when it is a substantive, to Satan, the prince of darkness (e.g. 8:44; 13:2; cf. 13:27). Indeed the Greek should probably not be rendered one of you is a devil but ‘one of you is the devil’. The meaning is clear from 13:2, clearer yet from Mark 8:33 par., where Jesus addresses Peter as ‘Satan’. The supreme adversary (Heb. śāṭān) of God so operates behind failing human beings that his malice becomes theirs. Jesus can discern the source, and labels it appropriately.
Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 304). Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.