Welcome to a Gathering of EChurch@Wartburg
If you are new to EChurch, please click on this link for an explanation
Here is Our Order of Worship
A Prayer of Augustine, 354-430 from
The Complete Book of Christian Prayer, p.4
"Look upon us, O Lord,
and let all the darkness of our souls vanish
before the beams of your brightness.
Fill us with holy love,
and open to us the treasures of your wisdom.
All our desire is known to you,
therefore perfect what you have begun,
and what your Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer.
We seek your face,
turn your face unto us and show us your glory.
Then shall our longings be satisfied,
and our peace shall be perfect.
Trinitarian Prayer of John Stott link
“Good morning heavenly Father, good morning Lord Jesus, good morning Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father I worship you as the creator and sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Saviour and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, sanctifier of the people of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God,
have mercy upon me. Amen.”
Scripture Reading: Luke 1:5-25 (NASB Bible Gateway)
In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.
Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”
The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.
After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”
A Prayer of Benedict link
Gracious and Holy Father,
Please give me:
intellect to understand you,
reason to discern you,
diligence to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
a spirit to know you,
a heart to meditate upon you,
ears to hear you,
eyes to to see you,
a tongue to proclaim you,
a way of life pleasing to you,
patience to wait for you
and perseverance to look for you.
Grant me a perfect end,
your holy presence,
a blessed resurrection
and life everlasting.
Amen.
Morning prayer link
Dear Lord, I give you my hands to do Your work;
I give You my feet to go Your way;
I give You my eyes to see as You see;
I give You my tongue to speak Your words;
I give You my mind that You may think in me;
I give You my spirit that You may pray in me.
Above all, I give You my heart that You may love in me
– love the Father and love all humankind.
I give You my whole self,
Lord, that You may grow in me, so that it is You who lives,
works and prays in me.
Amen."
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Wow! Wade! Wonderful! My wife and I were both tremendously moved by the message and its far-reaching applications to our lives, personally and in community. I thought it especially cogent, the linkage of legalism and liberalism to how we attempt to fill the void of God’s silence.
I did not comment several weeks ago, Wade, when your father spoke, but we appreciated so much his message and presence–I think I understand you better as a result of hearing him. Our thanks, as always, for your heart for the people of God.
Rick and Sue
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Rick,
Thank you, Rick, for the kind words. Appreciate your comment about my father as well. A remarkable man.
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Thank you Wade, a powerful message ! My wife and I as well both can relate to how we tried to fill the void in our past. We have learned so much from God in this last year it is wonderful! Thanks for expounding on His Word.
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@ Rick:
Thanks for your kind words to Wade. We are blessed to be able to feature his sermons here at TWW. Wade and his wife are dear friends.
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Kevin,
You and Rick are great examples to me. You don’t take faith for granted, you have no problem growing in your walk with your wife by your side, and you take the time to write and express your thanks. Great role model for me.
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Wanda, ditto from Rachelle and me about you and your husband!
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Thank you Wade for expounding on the background and the reference to the Malachi prophecy. I especially appreciated your explanation of the phrase, “the Great and Terrible day of the Lord” as many of my acquaintances are seeing that as a reference to the future tribulation.
I missed Paul’s sermon last week but hope to listen sometime tomorrow.
Thanks Wade and Deb for providing the Echurch!
Mary Ann
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Wade, I’ve got to chime in with Mary Ann on this one. I’ve never heard that exposition of Malachi before. The only ones I’ve heard prior are the ones in which ‘end times’ is always the baseline and context.
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Muff,
Malachi, a you know, prophecies the coming of John the Baptist – the forerunner of the Messiah. Gabriel quotes from Malachi’s prophecy when he tells Zacharias of the impending birth of his son. “The great and terrible day of the Lord” is the phrase used in Malachi AND Luke to describe THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST. That’s not my explanation – that’s Gabriel’s explanation. As I described in the message, the birth of Jesus Christ introduced “the great and terrible day of the Lord” because the Messiah left the “House of Israel” desolate, judged the Jews by prophecying and producing the destruction of their Temple (Matthew 24) and causing their covenant with God (the Old Covenant) to be “made obsolete” and “to disappear” (Hebrews 8:13). From the Jewish perspective, the FIRST coming of Jesus Christ is the GREAT and TERRIBLE DAY OF THE LORD.
Thanks for your comment!
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John was the “forerunner” of the Messiah and that great and terrible day. By the way, this view was the common and orthodox Christian view of “the great and terrible day of the Lord” for centuries – until Darby and the explosion of dispensationalism toward the end of the 19th century.
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Wade,
Thanks for your attentiveness to the commenters and for your additional explanations. I am really enjoying the series on Luke.
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Wade Burleson wrote:
Much agreement here Wade. Way back in the day when I was involved with the Calvary Chapel movement (Southern Calif. beach culture), everything was in terms of an imminent ‘rapture’ and a hyper form of dispensationalism based on Israel’s becoming a nation in 1948.
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Muff Potter wrote:
I tell folks all the time is the only thing worse than developing their biblical theology from the newspaper is to develop it from the movies.
I love Israel as a nation because of their democratic principles in a land of autocrats.
But to say Israel has “favored nation status” with God is to deny the New Covenant teaching that those who embrace Christ are “a chosen nation, a royal priesthood.”
The Law (Old Covenant) came to an end, fulfilled by Christ, and now all the blessings of God are ours via faith in Him.
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@ Wade Burleson:
Amen on the New Covenant and the end of the Old Covenant. A covenant is a contract, and a new contract replaces the old one, unless the new one specifically says the old is to continue in effect. And since the Old Covenant was fulfilled by Jesus, there is nothing left of it to continue. The clauses about the law were replaced by a clause about believing in and accepting the grace gift Jesus provided for all of us who will.