Welcome to a Gathering of EChurch@Wartburg
Emmanuel Enid (Taken by Deb)
Here Is Our Order of Worship
(If you are new to EChurch, please click on this link for an explanation)
Today, all prayers will come from The Divine Hours, Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime
by Phyllis Tickle.
Blessed Lord,
who caused all Scripture to be written for our learning:
Grant me so to hear them,
read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them,
that I may embrace and ever hold fast
the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen
Almighty and everlasting God,
whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son,
the King of kings and Lords of lords:
Mercifully grant that the people of the earth,
divided and enslaved by sin,
may be freed and brought together under His most gracious rule;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
We are pleased to be featuring Wade Burleson's father Paul, who recently preached in Wade's absence. Paul Burleson has devoted his life to the pastorate, and we link to his website on our blogroll.
Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 16:5-8 (NASB Bible Gateway)
When King David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out cursing continually as he came. He threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David; and all the people and all the mighty men were at his right hand and at his left. Thus Shimei said when he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and worthless fellow! The Lord has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!”
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in me the gifts of faith, hope and charity;
and, that I may obtain what you promise,
make me love what you command;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
Amen
This next song is dedicated to those who have struggled with abuse at the hands of those in the church.
Lord
you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised;
for those eyes of mine have seen the Savior,
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
a Light to enlighten the nations,
and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen
As usual, enjoyed Echurch!
That Chris Tomlin song is one of my favs. I like the version of it you chose this week too! 🙂
Wade,
Congratulations on becoming a grandfather! How exciting to be blessed with a grandson.
And I am very sorry to learn about the passing of your grandmother. She must have been very special. I appreciated your post on her.
http://www.wadeburleson.org/2013/01/goodbye-grandma-well-join-you-soon.html
Again, thanks for all you do for our TWW community. You are blessing so many lives through your teaching.
Tammy Carter,
I’m so glad you enjoyed Echurch. I hope those who are struggling with find strength from that Chris Tomlin song.
Paul, I can’t adequately express my appreciation for this teaching on criticism…
I’ve had a number of Shimei(s) in my life over the years and responded in my heart like Abishai did. I tried to see a good outcome, but unfortunately I was not leaving the definition of “good” to God. As a result of this sermon, I can see those events very differently and have asked God to forgive me for wanting to cut some heads off. 🙁
You and your son have such a beautiful annointing in the way you bring scripture to life and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your ministries.
Deb, thank you as well for your thoughtfulness in choosing the most beautiful, tear-jerking, worshpful hymns to the service each week. 🙂 They minister to my soul.
Victorious,
I am so grateful you are here. You are such an encouragement to those of us who contribute to EChurch. Dee helps choose the songs, and she selects the prayers. She has a special gift.
Paul,
I, too, appreciated your teaching on criticism. I’m sure there is much of it coming our way from the Calvinista crowd. Glad we have thick skin. Thank you for how you and your wife influenced your son’s life. We are indebted to you!
Thank you pastor Paul for your good words on the subject of criticism. Wish I had a heart as kind as David’s.
May God continue to bless father and son…..awesome team.
Deb,
I’m honored that you would see fit to use a message I’ve delivered as part of the online worship service. I have to say that I went through the service as I’ve done multiple times before, only this time with a bit more of a critical [meaning “requiring careful judgment.”] ear about the message.
I’m left with a desire to share with your reading audience other truths about biblical confrontation, correction, and even challenge, as I’ve done with Emmanuel in Enid many times as has their pastor also by the way, because there ARE times when you have to do just that with those to whom you relate. But even those times would find our heart to be what I attempted to describe from that one passage as the heart of David.
So as always, I’m glad the Holy Spirit is our teacher and does it quite well.
Bravo for the Kingdom work your site accomplishes and, again, thanks for sharing that particular message,
Paul Burleson wrote:
I’d be very interested in reading these!
Paul,
Our readers may not know that you are an excellent writer as well.
Perhaps you have written a post on your website about biblical confrontation and correction that we could feature here at TWW. We’d love to do that!
Your godly wisdom is something that definitely needs to be shared.
Pastor Paul,
Excellent message! I was struck by the fact that people were just as mean and nasty in print back in Lincoln’s day as they are now. So much for “the good old days” that never were. Thanks also for the message that it doesn’t have to be this way. Discretion and prudence (in the book of Proverbs) are twin sisters that can go a long way in defusing ill will and its ultimate escalation to bloodshed.