The Healing Ministry of Jesus (Mark 1:29-39) - Christopher G. Brenyo

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

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Mark chapter 1. We begin reading at verse 23.

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This is God's holy and infallible word. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit and he cried out saying let us alone what have we to do with you

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Jesus of Nazareth did you come to destroy us I know who you are the

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Holy One of God but Jesus rebuked him saying be quiet and come out of him and when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice he came out of him then they were all amazed so that the questioned among themselves saying what is this what new doctrine is this for with authority he commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him and immediately his fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue they entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John but Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever and they told him about her at once so he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her and she served them at evening when the

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Sun had set they brought to him all who were sick and those who were demon -possessed and the whole city was gathered together at the door that he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons and he did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him now in the morning having risen a long while before daylight he went out and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed and Simon and those who were with him search for him when they found him they said to him everyone is looking for you but he said to them let us go into the next towns that I might preach there also because for this purpose

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I have come forth and he was preaching in their synagogues throughout all

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Galilee and casting out demons please pray with me the

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Lord Jesus we thank you for your ministry of healing casting out of demons and your purposeful proclamation of your good news salvation had come and that you were bringing it in through your righteousness and atoning work

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Lord I pray that your compassion and your mercy would be before our eyes today and that our hearts would be filled with thanksgiving we consider your gospel and we ask these things in Jesus name amen please be seated today we will cover 29 through 39 of chapter 1 and it will not be an exhaustive exegesis of that section to go over some of it actually pretty quickly the message is entitled the healing ministry of Jesus and we're going to attempt to ask answer the question how does

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Jesus show compassion to those in desperate need how does

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Jesus show compassion to those in desperate need if you're creating an outline first Jesus heals

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Peter's mother -in -law that's verses 29 through 31 first healing act in this section is the healing of Peter's mother -in -law second he healed many who were sick verses 32 and through verse 34 third

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Jesus rose early seeking solitude and prayer that's verse 35 it's the third point and fourth

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Jesus purpose is to preach and teach in this section as time in his ministry is that the very beginning of that three -year period he is very eager to get his message out preaching and teaching at the heart of Jesus purpose so let's look at this narrative beginning in verse 29 as soon as they had come out of the synagogue and this is where that former coming out of the unclean spirit occurred you remember he's preaching in the synagogue and this is arouses the attention of the unclean spirit and it's here where Jesus rebukes him so the next thing that happens in that chronology is that they after that leave the synagogue and they enter the house of Simon and Andrew no doubt receiving an invitation to be shown hospitality along with James and John it's notable here that we only have four disciples mentioned the four disciples who were called earlier in the chapter chapter 1 and the same four are here we don't know if there have been others added but at least four disciples are traveling with Jesus and they find themselves at Simon Peter's mother -in -law's house and she has fallen ill look at verse 30

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Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever and they told him about her at once so they arrive at the house

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Peter's mother -in -law is sick they notified Jesus and we see here an instance of Jesus compassion and mercy upon Peter's mother -in -law he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her and she served them now there's a couple of points that should be made here first there were several prophecies probably most notably in Isaiah 35 and 42 and 53 about the healing ministry of Jesus the promised

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Messiah was going to come doing a number of things and among those things was to heal people now we can think about all the reasons he was healed he would heal others who are afflicted with various diseases who would cast out demons and we always talk about this in terms of authenticating the gospel pointing people to his preaching and it's certainly very true but we cannot neglect to consider that Jesus delighted to relieve people of their burdens

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I think this is should serve as a great comfort to us today Jesus sought to meet the material physical needs and problems and address them for people who were in trouble and he still does that today he still works works of miracles he still heals people we probably have been healed by diseases we didn't even know we had who knows what kind of things

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Jesus has done for us in our lives getting us to this point and to this day so at the outset

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I'd like us to think not only about the proclamation of the gospel and this glorious work that Christ is doing but also the mercy and compassion of Christ we often think about Jesus coming to judge the world and certainly there is a coming in judgment at his appearing there's going to be a great fault line between those who believe in those who do not but let's not forget the merciful act of God in sending his son and the great compassion that Christ has on people like us he wants to relieve us of our burden in some cases for his own purposes he doesn't do it every time we have a burden he's not a genie at our beck and call but there's something in the heart of Christ and great love and compassion and mercy that he has for us that he's a healer and he does this for Peter's mother -in -law and there's an interesting detail if you look at verse 30 it says they told him about her she has a fever and verse 31 it says he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her and she served them now

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I think what's being said here is that Peter's mother -in -law doesn't have a common cold and some kind of fever that's just minor she's got a serious illness of some kind it's really taken her down she's really laid up in bed and what's startling about this fever and what happens with Jesus is if you've ever been sick like this there's a transition from your wellness to you running around and doing things you don't immediately feel good and start going and doing things but apparently that's what happened here so comprehensive was the healing that she was laid up she has a severe illness a fever and immediately upon being healed by Jesus she begins jumping up and serving everyone so the miraculous character probably evident to all her fever didn't just break in a normal and ordinary way something dramatic happened when

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Jesus touched her and laid his hand on her and told her to get up at once and she began to serve them one commentator

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I wrote I read says there seems to be a common link between those who show hospitality to Jesus and miraculous works he seems if you invite him to house for dinner he's probably gonna set somebody free something good is going to happen and so maybe there's an application for us in that area of hospitality well let's go on to the next level of this and verse 32 there's an ongoing healing ministry once the word gets out that people are getting healed all of the sick all the demon -possessed start to show up and to seek out

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Jesus look again at verse 32 at evening when the Sun had set they brought to him all who were sick and those who were demon -possessed and the whole city gathered together at the door and what does

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Jesus do the compassion and mercy of Christ evidence he healed them he cast out many demons and again he did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him

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I remember from last week that in verse 24 the demons confession is

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I know who you are you are the holy one of God and so Jesus is wanting to serve the people he's wanting to relieve them of their burdens he's wanting to heal them and their diseases he's wanting to cast out the demons but he's not yet ready to force the issue about his divine personhood and his the hypostatic

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Union all the things they're saying he's going to declare himself to be the Son of God and that's going to be the basis by which the blasphemy charge is gonna be brought to the

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Sanhedrin he wants to preach first so he says you guys need to be quiet about this don't go around tell anybody who

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I am you know who I am I knew I am you keep quiet so Jesus is doing things in a very purposeful way he wants to go to all these cities and towns and preach his gospel to them and what a time in history really the epicenter of history that the

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Messiah has come and he's going to bring salvation and some of these authenticating signs are present he's casting out demons he's healing sick people he's doing all of these works for this great and glorious end of salvation of his people well let's continue on to the third point and this is an interesting little section

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Jesus rose early seeking solitude and prayer

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I don't think we know anything of silence and solitude in this day my wife and I were speaking recently we were remembering when

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Hurricane Charlie came through Orlando many number years ago now about 14 years ago and where we live the power was absolutely taken out there was no power for miles around where we lived and there was a quietness which we had not heard before nor since there is an electric hum in the world in which we live there is a buzz all the way around us and we have a hard time opening our

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Bibles without having our phones next to us and all the notifications most of them are meaningless time wasters but they draw our attention we know very little of silence and solitude and prayer we know very little of our minds being focused on one thing for more than a few seconds we can't sit through a 30 or 40 minute sermon without completely losing focus so we see here that Jesus in order to perform this ministry

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I want you to think about this this is the second person of the

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Godhead incarnate absolute perfect filling of the

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Holy Spirit and he's getting up before long before the sun and he's going out to find a quiet place there to pray you remember later when

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Jesus was asked about casting out demons he said these only come out by prayer and fasting the only way you get these demons to come out is through that mechanism and so if the

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Son of God takes hours into silence and solitude and prayer doesn't it follow that you and I should spend a lot of time in prayer you and I are not perfectly filled with the

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Holy Spirit in the way that he was we don't have that anointing you and I do not have the righteousness that he did and yet Jesus found it needful and necessary that he would go out and find quiet solitude and to pray can imagine the disciples are waking up pretty early they're ready to get back on the train of healing people and doing all these things in verse 36

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Simon and those who are with him they search for him and when they found him they said to him everyone is looking for you the great quote from Luther comes to mind he's got a lot of work to do today impossible workload so he's gonna pray for four hours first before he gets started how many of you approach a hard workday with extra prayer for our block of prayer before you get your workday started you got so much to do we have a different view about prayer

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I think we should be sending up prayers moment by moment day by pray continually pray without ceasing but there's something to be argued here about the discipline of scripturally can see it throughout there were people great men and women of faith who were devoted to prayer but Hannah in the temple all these figures all devoted to prayer and I wonder are there any kinds of prayers like that among us

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I don't pray this way I'm humbled and I'm rebuked by the text I don't do this the way that Christ doing this and it's a shame that I don't but I wonder if our spiritual lives would be more rich more vibrant more alive if we were going to the source more often how many of us are running on our own strength we don't have much strength study hour

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Sunday school we don't have a lot to boast about our own strength and power so Jesus goes and prays demons can be cast out because of those who pray and fast but we get to hear now the fourth point what is

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Jesus purpose in all of this look at verse 36 and Simon those who are there search for him when they found him they said everyone's looking for him but he said to them let us go into the next towns and I may preach there also because for this purpose

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I have come forth the book of Isaiah really quickly the very end

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Isaiah 61 is about the only crossroads and have you turn to today one of these great messianic statements in Isaiah about Jesus good news of his salvation

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Isaiah 61 the spirit of the

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Lord God is upon me because the

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Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the

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Lord in the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn to console those who mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they may be called trees of righteousness the planting of the

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Lord that he may be glorified I want you to think about this for just a moment there is nothing in the world remotely as powerful as the proclamation of Jesus Christ in him crucified we don't act like that's true it's the most powerful force in this world it makes dead men alive it's the mechanism the means by which dead hearts hearts of stone are turned into hearts of flesh and so it's fitting that the son of God would say

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I have a priority in my priority is the gospel and I have to ask you is your priority the gospel or is it something else we have to get our priorities right the gospel is what transformed our lives the gospel is what transforms the lives of our children the gospel is what can transform the life of our neighbor the gospel is what going to cause the church to grow so we can never deviate from the clear bold courageous proclamation of Christ's gospel

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Jesus says this is my purpose I've come to make my salvation known now would follow that the body of Christ would be committed to that same end that we would be a gospel preaching people not everyone preaches the gospel in the formal sense not everyone's a minister but every believer carries the gospel and proclaims and heralds the gospel and again this image of the town crier of Jesus he enters the town and says behold

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I've come bringing in salvation as that's what we do we come and said we have salvation we have the words of life we have

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Christ in him crucified repent and believe his gospel in our time it seems that nobody really believes in the power of the gospel anymore and here we see with the greatest simplicity the methodology of Jesus I'm gonna go preach

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I'm gonna tell them that salvation has come the kingdom of God is at hand so I wonder if we need a recalibration

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I refocus I'm working on a sermon for Presbytery and I'm thinking about it being related to the first commandment

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I'm also thinking about the Ephesian church and revelation I think you and I have a tendency to lose our first love and our ethical failings though they may seem minor they are all failures of worship there we've forgotten the gospel the reason we're so easily entrapped and ensnared in sin is we've forgotten who

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God is and what he's done for us the greatest reformer of our ethics and our morals is the right worship of God and the right worship of God means that we are confronted again with our lack of holiness and we cry out in our hearts

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Lord what can I do about my unrighteousness and then

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Christ in his loving compassionate and merciful way says behold

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I've come I've come to bring salvation I've come to take away all of your sins today

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I wonder if we're focused on the right things I have some words of application on this line first you and I need to emulate

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Christ's mercy and compassion you and I do not have the capacity as faith healers to walk around and heal people doesn't appear to be normative for us we know that there are situations

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James 5 call on the elders for them to pray anoint their heads with oil that the sick will be here we know that God is still in the business of healing people but it seems there is something that we can emulate here when we see someone in their struggle and their difficulty we can emulate the compassion and mercy of Christ we can do what we can to help someone in their time of need and this is an act that flows out of people who have been purchased by the blood of Christ we don't do this to earn

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God's favor we do this because we have God's favor we go from being the people of grace to show that grace and mercy on those in need so maybe we need to double down on our mercy and compassion on those who are need maybe we need to do more to reach out and help them secondly you and I need to be captivated and delighted again by the redemption story

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I love that all of these events are familiar to us the gospel what

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Christ has done but when we see it rightly we are captivated and gripped again by it so if you're feeling a little ho -hum about the gospel you're absolutely looking at it wrong something is deficient in your thinking or your understanding there's nothing more glorious than the redemption story of Christ Christ has fulfilled all of this prophecy maybe we need to spend time telling people about the stories of him healing the unperson with the unclean spirit and Peter's mother -in -law and all of those who assembled from the town outside the door we need to tell the story of Jesus Christ and him crucified third very convictingly so consider the prayer discipline of Jesus y 'all we need to turn off our phones we might need to take a walk in the early pre -dawn hours we need to be alone and commune with our

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God I think there is a deficiency gross deficit in worship and a large reason for that is there is a deficit in personal communion so we come together on the

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Lord's Day we're bringing our private devotion with us into the corporate body for the purpose of building up so I need to have a surplus of communion

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I have a surplus of a deep reservoir to share with others I can't come in starving and thirsty imagine the king of glory obviously this is in his human state he needed solitude he needed quiet and he needed prayer

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I think you desperately need the same you need the solitude the silence and the time of prayer and finally

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Christ's purpose should be our purpose and it's shameful that the reformed church is weak on the proclamation of the gospel

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Christ's priority was to preach the gospel our purpose is to preach the gospel number of years ago a man approached me about something and he was finding some fault with me returning to talk about the gospel every week and he said you know we need to grow up and you know we need to eat meat now you're just talking about the gospel

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I said you gotta be kidding me we don't ever grow up from this this is the pinnacle of understanding and theological inquiry the gospel the person and work of Christ what he's done for sinners there's there's nowhere else to go it's higher loftier than this so today

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I wonder do we appreciate is this just a quaint little story for us and mark or do we learn something about the character and heart of Jesus Peter's mother -in -law is really sick what does

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Jesus do he comes and he heals her there are numerous demon possessed people and he sets them free from that bondage many people are sick and he in fulfillment no doubt of prophecy he heals them but what we see we must understand that the heart of Christ is compassionate and merciful and and that really helps us to see that that's why he died on the cross to save sinners because he loves us because he's filled with mercy and compassion on sinners in closing

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I want to leave you with one thing and I read something that that triggered this thought about a week or two ago and it's just amazing to consider there is no earthly pleasure or joy that can match being a child of God and if you are a

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Christian you are the most blessed you have no concept probably of the love that God has for you and it's evidenced in the gospel because Christ goes to the cross to pay our debt for us to have the joy of having a perfect and intimate communion with him forever so sometimes we think about God as being a harsh strong overlord in heaven waiting to squash us like ants under his thumb and he certainly is a holy

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God he's a vengeful wrathful God but not for us because of that wrath has been poured out on Christ here in the love of God is on full display we come to communion today

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I want you to think about the mercy and compassion of Jesus Michael prayed during the prayers of the people we have every reason to be subject to the wrath of God but we don't have that we have the fullness of joy in the

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Lord we have every reason to be cast out of the camp and he draws us to his bosom we have every reason to be sold into slavery and he has taken us from the slave owners from that bondage and taken us to be his bride let's rejoice in the compassion and mercy of Christ when we come to the table today let's pray together

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Lord Jesus we tend to pass over these little stories and treat them as nice little things to think about historically but Lord thank you for allowing us to peer into them a little bit more today and realize that your character is on display your precision of fulfilling prophecy is on display your ultimate purpose is on display and Lord forgive us today because we are always distracted we make mountains of mole hills and neglect the weightier matters of the law

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Lord I pray in the power of your spirit that our hearts would be revived within us when we consider you

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Jesus crucified dead buried risen and ascended with a promise to to bring us all the way home all the way to glory

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Lord I pray that this would embolden our faith and be greater fodder for worship oh

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Lord we we confess and repent that we don't worship you as we ought we're not as joyful nor as thankful as we ought to be we are far from obedient sons and servants as we ought to be and though we begin to despair at this thought we remember again that you saved us from all of that that we might be worshippers that we might be joyful that we might be thankful that we might be obedient and all of this rests on Christ's side of the ledger we contribute nothing to this but you have showered your love and mercy on us it's spectacular that you would do something like that for us

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I pray that our hearts will be filled with joy as a result we ask these things in Jesus name