FLM TOBY FANANTENANA 67 Ha
Prayer’s communion, Sunday VII before Easter
Week from February 27 to March 04, 2017
« God strengthens His people »
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Introduction: Force is precious and vital in every aspect of human life. The power to act, to fight against evil, to overcome weakness, to fight against evil, our enemy. But also the power to do good and to perform good works, to love the neighbor, to serve God and the church, and especially, the strength to have faith and to witness of it, and to persevere in it and to be saved. Since our power as humans is limited, God gives us an assurance through His Words. It is written in the Holy Scriptures: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” Is.40:29. For those who toil and endure in their service to God, the Psalmist says: “your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” Ps 103:5. In this regard, Jesus said to encourage His disciples before He leaved them: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” Acts.1:8. The strength of the believer? God is with him.
Monday 27: God strengthens His people in their battle. “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear’” Is.35:4a. Reading 1: 1 Jn 4:1-6. Reading 2: Is 35:3-7. Preaching 1 (choice). Preaching 2: Is 35:4. Other references: -“The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still” Ex.14:14 -“They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the LORD”. Jer.1:19. -“I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you, declares the LORD” Jer.15:20.
Tuesday 28: God encourages His people by justifying them. “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” Mt.9:2b. Reading 1: 2 Cor 1:1-7. Reading 2: Mt 9:1-8. Preaching 1 (choice). Preaching 2: Mt 9:2. Other references: -“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for” Is.40:2a. – “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Rom.5:8. -“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” Rom.8:33-34.
Wednesday 01: God strengthens the church. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” Eph. 5:25b. Reading 1: Jn 15:11-15. Reading 2: Eph 5:25-27. Preaching 1 (choice). Preaching 2: Eph 5:25b. Other references: -“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” Jn.10:11. -“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church” Eph.1:22. -“Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth” Rev.3:10.
Thursday 02: God encourages those who serve Him. “What is impossible with man is possible with God” Lk.18:27. Reading 1: Phil 4:10-14. Reading 2: Lk 18:18-27. Preaching 1 (choice). Preaching 2: Lk 18:27. Other references: – “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished” 1 Chr. 28:20. -“The Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it” Mk.16:20b. -“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Mt.28:20.
Friday 03: God strengthens those who wait for Him. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength” Is.40:31a. Reading 1: Rom 5:1-5. Reading 2: Is 40:27-31. Preaching 1 (choice). Preaching 2: Is 40:13. Other references: -“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes” Ps. 37:7. -”Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” Ps.42:11. -“While we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” Tit. 2:13.
Saturday 04: God encourages those who seek Him. “What do you want me to do for you?” Lk.18:41a. Reading 1: Ps 50: 7-16. Reading 2: Lk 18:31-43. Preaching 1 (choice). Preaching 2: Lk 18:41. Other references: -“Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you” Ps.50:15. -“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” Ps. 46:1. -“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today’”Lk.19:5.
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