Mark 9:2-8 February 3, 2008
I Saw the Lord – Part 1
“All that Matters”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
One day, several years ago, I took some time to go over to a spot in Horse Valley for some alone-time with the Lord. I spent several hours in the silence and beauty of nature, sort of like a hunter going out to the middle of the woods (except instead of carrying a gun or a bow, I was carrying my Bible). After a time of peace and stillness, all of a sudden God gave me a gift. Before me, in my mind, stood the cross – with Jesus on it. It was very real to me in that moment, so real it sent me to my knees. I experienced an overwhelming realization of my sin compared to Jesus’ holiness, but I wasn’t condemned by this realization. I was encouraged. I was humbled. I was filled with peace and joy as if I was one of those women standing at the cross all those years ago, but with understanding of the eternal importance and extreme love displayed in his gruesome sacrifice.
Why did God give me the gift of that vision that day? Why does God give any of us a glimpse of what is usually invisible to us – like a truth from the pages of Scripture that touches a wound with a healing salve (maybe you’ve read that same passage before, but all of a sudden the words become living words that stir your soul) – like an intense sense of the presence and pleasure of God as we share the gift of communion with one another?
God gives us these glimpses
from time to time to encourage us.
Jesus was here and walked on this earth. He knows how tough it is to go against the flow of contemporary culture, he knows the challenges we face. He knows what a pat on the back means to us; he knows that the words, “good job,” or “that meant a lot to me,” mean in this dog-eat-dog world. Jesus knows that we need encouragement from our heavenly Father every once in a while in order to press on with courage and faith.
Today’s Scripture, taken from the Gospel of Mark 9:2-8, was just pulled apart, verse by verse, by almost 50 people in the Assembly Room this morning. Today, in the Sunday school hour, we started the “I Saw the Lord” study together by listening to the teaching of Anne Graham Lotz about how to study our Bibles. There were lots of lessons we learned in these 7 verses, all important, and all worth some reflection over this next week. Now in the context of worship, let’s listen to this passage, and allow God to speak to our hearts:
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As the youth and adults heard in Sunday school, here are some the general lessons we can learn from this passage:
Verse 2: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.
We need to get away with Jesus – He wants to be alone with us.
Verse 3: And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.
When we are alone, he reveals himself to us in fresh ways – we have a fresh vision of who he is – His glory!
Verse 4: And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Jesus is the focus of history – and eternity.
Verse 5: Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Sometimes we want to stay on the mountain.
Verse 6: He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
If we don’t know what to say, it’s best to say nothing.
Verse 7: Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
God speaks to us – commands us to listen to Jesus.
Verse 8: Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
When everything passes away, there will still be Jesus.
Verse by verse like that, you can discover lessons that really make you think – lessons that matter in your life – lessons that should cause you to ask some questions of yourself.
“If it’s true that Jesus wants to be alone with me, when do I make time to get alone with him?”
“When have I opened my mouth when I should have kept it shut?”
“Am I listening to Jesus in my life right now?”
“Is it true for me that Jesus is all that matters in the end? Is he the one I really listen to most?”
Six days before Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him up the mountain, Jesus had jolted his disciples with the reality of the coming cross and the necessity for him to suffer. In the previous chapter in Mark 8:29, Jesus asked the group of them, “Who do people say that I am?” They answered him, “John the Baptist; and others say you’re Elijah, and still others say you are one of the prophets.” Jesus then asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” In other words, you are the one spoken of by Moses, promised by Elijah, by the prophets, by John the Baptist – you are who you say you are. Then in v. 31 of chapter 8 we read, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering…be killed…and rise again.” Peter didn’t like what he said and expressed to him that what he was saying was a downer. We read that Peter took him off to the side and rebuked him. “Now Jesus, you stop talking like that. Here we are, we’ve left our jobs and families to walk around with you, and you’re going to start turning morbid on us? Let’s just get on with the happy stuff – let’s go heal some more sick people – cast out some more of those demons.” Can you imagine Peter having the guts (or the stupidity) to rebuke the Son of God? Jesus responded by rebuking the demons who were working on Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” And he said to Peter, “You’ve got to get your mind out of the human way of thinking, and let God’s thoughts teach you the truth.” And then Jesus called the crowds back around himself and spoke these words, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
As I have meditated upon this Scripture, my thoughts have turned to people who get news from a doctor that their lives on earth are coming to a close. I suppose I will not forget the phone call into the surgical waiting room at the Chambersburg Hospital from my mom’s surgeon telling us that what they found was very unexpectedly bad. I remember asking, “how long?” I remember him saying, “Not long. Maybe 3 months.” The dread, the sadness, the denial that it’s really as bad as they say, those feelings are very real. It’s hard to see anything else.
The 12 disciples had been on the ride of their lives with Jesus. They loved how he stood up to the pompous religious leaders of the day. They were amazed at his knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. They ate up his teaching, and danced with joy with those who had been given new sight, new legs, new ears, new hope. So when he started talking about dying, they didn’t want to hear it, just like we don’t want to hear it. Let’s not forget those disciples were regular people like you and me. They loved Jesus. They did not want to think about him suffering and dying.
More than anything, I think this event on the heights of Mt. Hermon with Peter, James, and John was a gift to encourage them, to help them keep their focus on what really matters, and to serve as a reminder of all God had done in the past (through Moses, Elijah, and so many others) that was leading to something so much better than the present reality of pain, suffering, oppression, poverty, and injustices of all kinds.
When I am going through rough times, God will remind me of that day in the woods when I was able to see the beauty of the cross.
Surely in the days leading up to the betrayal, the arrest, and the crucifixion of Jesus, God reminded Peter, James, and John of that day on the mountaintop.
Surely in your days in the valleys of life, God wants to remind you of mountaintop moments you’ve shared with him. Why Jesus chose Peter, James, and John and not Philip, Bartholomew, and Thomas is a pointless question. Who knows why, for sure? But where I want to be, is praying that Jesus will reveal himself in new ways to me, and to you, as we make ourselves available to head to the mountaintop with him.
This Scripture, and many others, instructs us to take time to get away with the Lord on our own – or at least with a smaller group of people than we experience here on a Sunday morning in worship. Part of the reason why I want everyone to become part of a Sunday school class or a Bible study group is because of this instruction: there is increased opportunity to share a mountaintop experience with the Lord in solitude, or a small group setting, than in this large group gathering. There are fewer distractions, and let’s face it, we are easily distracted. If there’s somebody who has to leave the sanctuary for any reason, almost all of you, turn your heads to watch them leave! That’s normal behavior. I could be in the middle of the greatest sermon ever preached, and you’d miss some key phrases if someone walked by. That’s just the way it is when you’re with a group of people of all ages in the same room! That’s part of why we have a number of opportunities to read responsively, pray in unison, and sing together in worship – to help us focus together on a single way of worship – because there is so much that distracts us. (I don’t want anyone to not feel like they shouldn’t get up if they must! That’s part of being a church family!) Fewer distractions however, in a small group setting, or in solitude, can lead to greater focus. Greater focus can lead to higher ground. Higher ground can give us greater spiritual vision. Spiritual vision can help us see Jesus. Seeing Jesus puts everything else in perspective, enabling us to prioritize our time and our activity in a more healthy order for the greatest good in our lives and in the lives of the people around us.
Our Lenten study, “I Saw the Lord” is not some gimmick program to achieve some superficial, short-term goal. “I Saw the Lord” is an inductive Bible study to challenge us to take an honest look at our lives so that we will become more awake to the love and mercy of God in our lives. “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to Him!” I pray we will listen to him in a way that makes a difference in the way we treat our friends, our family, our church family, our co-workers, our students, our fellow teammates, our teachers, our neighbors, our enemies, and complete strangers. I remember so well taking a group of senior adults on a church-sponsored day trip many years ago. These were good Christian people, most of whom I saw only in worship. We stopped at a restaurant, and I ended sitting with several women with whom I thought I would have a relaxing conversation over a meal. I was wrong. One woman in particular was bossy, arrogant, and downright nasty to the waitress serving us. It was either the food she didn’t like, the service, the color of the dishes, or the price - I don’t know what all was wrong. But, as a committed Christian, I was shocked and embarrassed. When we put ourselves in a place to hear and receive the word of God regularly, we need to open ourselves up to allow that word to change us! Whether we like it or not, or whether we think it’s fair or not, we are held to a higher standard as those chosen and called by God to be his sons and daughters. I want to live up to the life Jesus models for me. As your pastor, I want all of you to live up to that life, because that’s when those living apart from a relationship with God begin to sit up and take notice.
I read this week of a man who once rushed to catch a train, which, if missed, meant waiting in India for another 12 hours. As he ran through the market, he accidentally knocked over a blind merchant’s vegetables – but kept on going. Once this man made it to the train, he sat and reflected on what he’d done. He got off the train, returned to the blind man and apologized. “I’m so sorry” he said as he knelt on the ground and helped the man pick up his vegetables. Startled to find a stranger saying this, the blind man sincerely asked, “Sir, is you Jesus?”
Years ago Arthur Blessitt, the man known for carrying a 12-foot-cross around the world, entered a hotel in Amman, Jordan, to get a cold drink. After finishing his soda, he handed the waiter money. “Your drink has been paid for,” the waiter said and pointed to a man at the end of the counter. Blessitt walked over to thank the man, an Arab Sheik, who said to him: “I want what you’ve got.” “What do you mean?” Blessitt asked. “I’ve been looking at your face – I want what you’ve got.” Blessitt replied, “I am a follower of Jesus Christ.” Within an hour or so he led the man to a relationship with Christ. The man then took Blessitt to the highest-ranking Arab sheiks in the Middle East, who were present for an OPEC Conference. Blessitt witnessed to them all, leading several to the Lord.
A learned Muslim who recently became a Christian said, “If Christians were truly Christ-like, there would be no Islam.”
I tell you these stories to lay before you a vision of what this world could be if we really followed Jesus; I tell you them to encourage you to go up the mountain with him. The path may be unfamiliar, and it may be tough-going. But, the commitment we make to get to the top with him will be worth all we give to get there. “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him.” Amen.
Prayer of Confession:
Almighty God, Merciful God, we know that we have not lived up to the high calling you have for us. We know that we have not followed in the footsteps of Jesus. We know that our faith is fragile, so easily filled with doubt and fears. There have been times we have heard your call to us to change our direction, to walk away from bad company that corrupts our character, to stop speaking and start listening. We trust you will invite us to the mountaintop with you if we will seek you with all of our hearts. Forgive our patterns of behavior and speech that do not draw others to Jesus, but make them walk away in disappointment. Forgive our lack of commitment. Forgive our lack of passion. Forgive us, Lord. Help us to want to get away with you and hear from you, and help us follow through. May this congregation experience a true revival of every aspect of ministry, may we love you more, and may it all start in my heart and spread to every heart – by the power of the Holy Spirit. Flow like a river – flow freely. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
My Jesus, I Love Thee
My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
for thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
I love thee because thou hast first loved me,
and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight;
I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
I Saw the Lord – Part 1
“All that Matters”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
One day, several years ago, I took some time to go over to a spot in Horse Valley for some alone-time with the Lord. I spent several hours in the silence and beauty of nature, sort of like a hunter going out to the middle of the woods (except instead of carrying a gun or a bow, I was carrying my Bible). After a time of peace and stillness, all of a sudden God gave me a gift. Before me, in my mind, stood the cross – with Jesus on it. It was very real to me in that moment, so real it sent me to my knees. I experienced an overwhelming realization of my sin compared to Jesus’ holiness, but I wasn’t condemned by this realization. I was encouraged. I was humbled. I was filled with peace and joy as if I was one of those women standing at the cross all those years ago, but with understanding of the eternal importance and extreme love displayed in his gruesome sacrifice.
Why did God give me the gift of that vision that day? Why does God give any of us a glimpse of what is usually invisible to us – like a truth from the pages of Scripture that touches a wound with a healing salve (maybe you’ve read that same passage before, but all of a sudden the words become living words that stir your soul) – like an intense sense of the presence and pleasure of God as we share the gift of communion with one another?
God gives us these glimpses
from time to time to encourage us.
Jesus was here and walked on this earth. He knows how tough it is to go against the flow of contemporary culture, he knows the challenges we face. He knows what a pat on the back means to us; he knows that the words, “good job,” or “that meant a lot to me,” mean in this dog-eat-dog world. Jesus knows that we need encouragement from our heavenly Father every once in a while in order to press on with courage and faith.
Today’s Scripture, taken from the Gospel of Mark 9:2-8, was just pulled apart, verse by verse, by almost 50 people in the Assembly Room this morning. Today, in the Sunday school hour, we started the “I Saw the Lord” study together by listening to the teaching of Anne Graham Lotz about how to study our Bibles. There were lots of lessons we learned in these 7 verses, all important, and all worth some reflection over this next week. Now in the context of worship, let’s listen to this passage, and allow God to speak to our hearts:
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As the youth and adults heard in Sunday school, here are some the general lessons we can learn from this passage:
Verse 2: Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves.
We need to get away with Jesus – He wants to be alone with us.
Verse 3: And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.
When we are alone, he reveals himself to us in fresh ways – we have a fresh vision of who he is – His glory!
Verse 4: And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
Jesus is the focus of history – and eternity.
Verse 5: Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Sometimes we want to stay on the mountain.
Verse 6: He did not know what to say, for they were terrified.
If we don’t know what to say, it’s best to say nothing.
Verse 7: Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
God speaks to us – commands us to listen to Jesus.
Verse 8: Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
When everything passes away, there will still be Jesus.
Verse by verse like that, you can discover lessons that really make you think – lessons that matter in your life – lessons that should cause you to ask some questions of yourself.
“If it’s true that Jesus wants to be alone with me, when do I make time to get alone with him?”
“When have I opened my mouth when I should have kept it shut?”
“Am I listening to Jesus in my life right now?”
“Is it true for me that Jesus is all that matters in the end? Is he the one I really listen to most?”
Six days before Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him up the mountain, Jesus had jolted his disciples with the reality of the coming cross and the necessity for him to suffer. In the previous chapter in Mark 8:29, Jesus asked the group of them, “Who do people say that I am?” They answered him, “John the Baptist; and others say you’re Elijah, and still others say you are one of the prophets.” Jesus then asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” In other words, you are the one spoken of by Moses, promised by Elijah, by the prophets, by John the Baptist – you are who you say you are. Then in v. 31 of chapter 8 we read, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering…be killed…and rise again.” Peter didn’t like what he said and expressed to him that what he was saying was a downer. We read that Peter took him off to the side and rebuked him. “Now Jesus, you stop talking like that. Here we are, we’ve left our jobs and families to walk around with you, and you’re going to start turning morbid on us? Let’s just get on with the happy stuff – let’s go heal some more sick people – cast out some more of those demons.” Can you imagine Peter having the guts (or the stupidity) to rebuke the Son of God? Jesus responded by rebuking the demons who were working on Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” And he said to Peter, “You’ve got to get your mind out of the human way of thinking, and let God’s thoughts teach you the truth.” And then Jesus called the crowds back around himself and spoke these words, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
As I have meditated upon this Scripture, my thoughts have turned to people who get news from a doctor that their lives on earth are coming to a close. I suppose I will not forget the phone call into the surgical waiting room at the Chambersburg Hospital from my mom’s surgeon telling us that what they found was very unexpectedly bad. I remember asking, “how long?” I remember him saying, “Not long. Maybe 3 months.” The dread, the sadness, the denial that it’s really as bad as they say, those feelings are very real. It’s hard to see anything else.
The 12 disciples had been on the ride of their lives with Jesus. They loved how he stood up to the pompous religious leaders of the day. They were amazed at his knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. They ate up his teaching, and danced with joy with those who had been given new sight, new legs, new ears, new hope. So when he started talking about dying, they didn’t want to hear it, just like we don’t want to hear it. Let’s not forget those disciples were regular people like you and me. They loved Jesus. They did not want to think about him suffering and dying.
More than anything, I think this event on the heights of Mt. Hermon with Peter, James, and John was a gift to encourage them, to help them keep their focus on what really matters, and to serve as a reminder of all God had done in the past (through Moses, Elijah, and so many others) that was leading to something so much better than the present reality of pain, suffering, oppression, poverty, and injustices of all kinds.
When I am going through rough times, God will remind me of that day in the woods when I was able to see the beauty of the cross.
Surely in the days leading up to the betrayal, the arrest, and the crucifixion of Jesus, God reminded Peter, James, and John of that day on the mountaintop.
Surely in your days in the valleys of life, God wants to remind you of mountaintop moments you’ve shared with him. Why Jesus chose Peter, James, and John and not Philip, Bartholomew, and Thomas is a pointless question. Who knows why, for sure? But where I want to be, is praying that Jesus will reveal himself in new ways to me, and to you, as we make ourselves available to head to the mountaintop with him.
This Scripture, and many others, instructs us to take time to get away with the Lord on our own – or at least with a smaller group of people than we experience here on a Sunday morning in worship. Part of the reason why I want everyone to become part of a Sunday school class or a Bible study group is because of this instruction: there is increased opportunity to share a mountaintop experience with the Lord in solitude, or a small group setting, than in this large group gathering. There are fewer distractions, and let’s face it, we are easily distracted. If there’s somebody who has to leave the sanctuary for any reason, almost all of you, turn your heads to watch them leave! That’s normal behavior. I could be in the middle of the greatest sermon ever preached, and you’d miss some key phrases if someone walked by. That’s just the way it is when you’re with a group of people of all ages in the same room! That’s part of why we have a number of opportunities to read responsively, pray in unison, and sing together in worship – to help us focus together on a single way of worship – because there is so much that distracts us. (I don’t want anyone to not feel like they shouldn’t get up if they must! That’s part of being a church family!) Fewer distractions however, in a small group setting, or in solitude, can lead to greater focus. Greater focus can lead to higher ground. Higher ground can give us greater spiritual vision. Spiritual vision can help us see Jesus. Seeing Jesus puts everything else in perspective, enabling us to prioritize our time and our activity in a more healthy order for the greatest good in our lives and in the lives of the people around us.
Our Lenten study, “I Saw the Lord” is not some gimmick program to achieve some superficial, short-term goal. “I Saw the Lord” is an inductive Bible study to challenge us to take an honest look at our lives so that we will become more awake to the love and mercy of God in our lives. “This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to Him!” I pray we will listen to him in a way that makes a difference in the way we treat our friends, our family, our church family, our co-workers, our students, our fellow teammates, our teachers, our neighbors, our enemies, and complete strangers. I remember so well taking a group of senior adults on a church-sponsored day trip many years ago. These were good Christian people, most of whom I saw only in worship. We stopped at a restaurant, and I ended sitting with several women with whom I thought I would have a relaxing conversation over a meal. I was wrong. One woman in particular was bossy, arrogant, and downright nasty to the waitress serving us. It was either the food she didn’t like, the service, the color of the dishes, or the price - I don’t know what all was wrong. But, as a committed Christian, I was shocked and embarrassed. When we put ourselves in a place to hear and receive the word of God regularly, we need to open ourselves up to allow that word to change us! Whether we like it or not, or whether we think it’s fair or not, we are held to a higher standard as those chosen and called by God to be his sons and daughters. I want to live up to the life Jesus models for me. As your pastor, I want all of you to live up to that life, because that’s when those living apart from a relationship with God begin to sit up and take notice.
I read this week of a man who once rushed to catch a train, which, if missed, meant waiting in India for another 12 hours. As he ran through the market, he accidentally knocked over a blind merchant’s vegetables – but kept on going. Once this man made it to the train, he sat and reflected on what he’d done. He got off the train, returned to the blind man and apologized. “I’m so sorry” he said as he knelt on the ground and helped the man pick up his vegetables. Startled to find a stranger saying this, the blind man sincerely asked, “Sir, is you Jesus?”
Years ago Arthur Blessitt, the man known for carrying a 12-foot-cross around the world, entered a hotel in Amman, Jordan, to get a cold drink. After finishing his soda, he handed the waiter money. “Your drink has been paid for,” the waiter said and pointed to a man at the end of the counter. Blessitt walked over to thank the man, an Arab Sheik, who said to him: “I want what you’ve got.” “What do you mean?” Blessitt asked. “I’ve been looking at your face – I want what you’ve got.” Blessitt replied, “I am a follower of Jesus Christ.” Within an hour or so he led the man to a relationship with Christ. The man then took Blessitt to the highest-ranking Arab sheiks in the Middle East, who were present for an OPEC Conference. Blessitt witnessed to them all, leading several to the Lord.
A learned Muslim who recently became a Christian said, “If Christians were truly Christ-like, there would be no Islam.”
I tell you these stories to lay before you a vision of what this world could be if we really followed Jesus; I tell you them to encourage you to go up the mountain with him. The path may be unfamiliar, and it may be tough-going. But, the commitment we make to get to the top with him will be worth all we give to get there. “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him.” Amen.
Prayer of Confession:
Almighty God, Merciful God, we know that we have not lived up to the high calling you have for us. We know that we have not followed in the footsteps of Jesus. We know that our faith is fragile, so easily filled with doubt and fears. There have been times we have heard your call to us to change our direction, to walk away from bad company that corrupts our character, to stop speaking and start listening. We trust you will invite us to the mountaintop with you if we will seek you with all of our hearts. Forgive our patterns of behavior and speech that do not draw others to Jesus, but make them walk away in disappointment. Forgive our lack of commitment. Forgive our lack of passion. Forgive us, Lord. Help us to want to get away with you and hear from you, and help us follow through. May this congregation experience a true revival of every aspect of ministry, may we love you more, and may it all start in my heart and spread to every heart – by the power of the Holy Spirit. Flow like a river – flow freely. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
My Jesus, I Love Thee
My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
for thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
I love thee because thou hast first loved me,
and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight;
I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
