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.

Proverbs 17.11

Two weeks ago we read Proverbs 16.25 and its warning about the ‘way that appears to be right, but in the end leads to death’ (NIV). Here again we have that same warning. What did you think last time you read this warning?

This is a classic, ‘the way things should be and one day will be’ proverb. It evokes Genesis 2-3, where God commands Adam (and Eve) not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the snake sows doubt in their minds, and they end up rebelling against God’s command and eating from the tree anyway.

They didn’t drop down dead as they munched the fruit (it doesn’t actually say ‘apple’), but something did die that day: their close relationship with God. All sin is effectively rebellion: doing things my way not God’s way, turning away from God, putting distance between us and him. Or, we might say, killing our relationship with God.

Add to that one of the most important principles in the Bible: justice, that ultimately people will get what they deserve. Most of us have an inbuilt sense of justice – although we do mostly apply it to other people rather than ourselves!

Friends, if God is the author of life (he is), if God sustains life by his power (he does), if God gives us a fresh start in life when we say sorry for messing it up (he always will) – and we turn away from him and put distance between us and him, should it come as a surprise that death is what results?

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:

Roger Myring, JoAnne Griffin, Joyce Madeley

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: Knit & Natter

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.