Our church building may be closed, but God’s eyes are open and his ears are attentive to our prayers (2 Chronicles 7.15).
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Opening
Speak these words out loud:
Let us take up the cross and follow Jesus,
whatever the cost.
from Luke 14.27-28
Today’s Proverb
Read the proverb through three or four times, slowly. Pause in-between, maybe write it out by hand – savour the words, let them speak deeply to you.
A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool. (NIV)
An intelligent person learns more from one rebuke than a fool learns from being beaten a hundred times. (GNB)
Proverbs 17.10
I think this may well be the most common theme in Proverbs. Why is it? Because people are SO stubborn! It is so hard to change someone’s mind when they think they’re right. Many of you reading this will no doubt be thinking about this truth applies to other people, not you…
Thankfully we don’t beat people any more – one reason is because it’s cruel, and another is because it simply doesn’t work. A fool won’t listen to anything or anyone. This is an urban legend (i.e. it’s made up) but it illustrates this point well:
Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse_and_naval_vessel_urban_legend
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States’ Atlantic fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that YOU change your course 15 degrees north, that’s one five degrees north, or countermeasures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.
Sometimes we need to realise that we are the idiot, we need to listen to the warning, we need to change our course. Is that you today?
Prayers
Pray for Five – pray for your five friends / family from Thy Kingdom Come.
Our daily prayer sheet includes the names of everyone for whom we have a signed church family directory form – and local parishes and senior church leaders. Today we are praying for:
Price Family (Ash, Elsie, Emilia, Matt)
Father, please bless them with your peace, and a deep awareness of your presence with them, every day and in every way.
We also pray for: Lonely & Bereaved People
Please pray for our leaders and healthcare workers, and all those working to keep us safe, well, and fed. Please pray that people would unselfishly put others before themselves.
Church Family Prayer
Come Holy Spirit,
and make us one in heart and action,
so that we can serve God faithfully:
abounding in love,
maturing in holiness,
and seeking out the lost.
Help us grow as disciples of Jesus –
in commitment, in depth, and in number –
that we may be a blessing to Amington;
to the glory and praise of God the Father.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Closing Prayer
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus
the only way to the Father.
Psalm 127.1, Hebrews 12.2 & John 14.6
May Christ our Saviour give us peace.
Amen.