In this second part of our focus on “Faith,” we engage Jesus’ astounding statement about Faith’s power …
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click here for Sermon Audio Only
click here for Childrens Sermon Audio Only
Luther called it “A living, daring confidence in God’s grace!” Faith is a force that, in the extreme, confronts the impossible with possibility. It has the power to lift us from resignation to what is, to the expectation of what can be. Faith sustains, faith guides and raises our eyes to the horizon. By faith we enter into the realm of the miraculous.
Below are the Prayer of the Day and Readings.
Blessings to you all as we grow in faith together!
- Pr. Brad Highum
bhighum@abidinglove.org
PRAYER OF THE DAY ----------------
God of life, teach us the power of faith to confront the challenges and seeming impossibilities of life. Teach us to wield this power that you plant within each one of us for good: for the well-being of others and your creation, for the sake of your Kingdom that is seeking to break free in the midst of the world. Amen.
READINGS ------------------------------
First Reading: Habakuk 2:1-5
1 I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. 3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come it will not delay. 4 Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith. 5 Moreover, wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure. They open their throats wide as Sheol; like Death they never have enough. They gather all nations for themselves and collect all peoples as their own.
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
Second Reading: Romans1:8-17
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 9 For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, 10 asking that by God's will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11 For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — 12 or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15 — hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."
Gospel: Matthew 17:20,21:21
17:20 He said to them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you." 21:21 Even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. 22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive."
