Muskoka Lakes Ministry of Knox, Port Carling & Zion, Torrance
Sunday July 25, 2021
Message: God Speaks through His People
Reverend Glynis Faith
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Announcements
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* Monday evening ‘The Story’ study group via Zoom, 7 pm
* Wednesday evening there is an ‘Elder Development’ workshop at Knox, 5:30 p.m.
* Thursday evening study group via Zoom, 7:30 pm
* Now that we are able to worship in person, the Sessions have made the decision to take a break from recording and posting the worship service videos. We will be considering the possibilities of providing worship videos long-term, and the Elders would welcome your input.
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Prayer of Adoration & Confession
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Eternal One, your love is unending, reaching out to all peoples, from generation to generation to generation. Our sin brings death, yet you give us life. Over and over we have turned away from You, yet you continually call us back to You through people who will speak Your truth into our lives. Your love is amazing. Your mercy is beyond what we deserve.
Jesus, You are the true Prophet, Priest and King – our Lord, our Savour, our perfect Redeemer. Your gift of salvation, comes not because of anything we have done, but as a free gift to all who will open their hearts and receive it.
Holy Spirit, You open our eyes when we choose to see, You open our ears when we choose to listen, You open our hearts to know and love You more, and you call us to share God’s love, truth, mercy and grace through our words and our actions.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit we lift our hearts to You in praise and thanksgiving AMEN
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Prayer of Intercession
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Like the prophets of old, Lord, we come before you with hearts filled with love for the people, and we place their needs before You.
We pray for the lost, for those who have been distracted by false promises, false hope and false gods. May they hear Your Word spoken in truth and come to know Your great love and grace.
We pray for the vulnerable in our world, for the weak, the weary, the oppressed and the marginalized. Call forth Your people to speak truth against the oppressors and to reach out in Your love and compassion to provide for their needs.
We lift up our prayers for people with mental and physical health concerns. We pray for our healthcare system stretched thin throughout the pandemic. We pray for Your healing hand upon the sick and for Your strong arm to guide those whose journey into Your eternal presence has begun.
Lord, we lift up the people of BC. Bring rain without lightening – steady refreshing and renewing rain, we pray. Shield the men and women out fighting the fires and bring them home safe to their families.
In the Name of Jesus, we lift our prayers for the people to You, O God. AMEN
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“ God Speaks through His People ”
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Hosea 4:1-2; 5:4,7, 14-15
Hear the word of the LORD,
because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land:
“There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.
There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery;
they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
“Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.
A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD.
They are unfaithful to the LORD;

When they celebrate their New Moon feasts, he will devour their fields.
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a great lion to Judah.
I will tear them to pieces and go away; I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.
Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face—
in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”
Now he will remember their wickedness and punish their sins:
They will return to Egypt.
Israel has forgotten their Maker and built palaces;
Judah has fortified many towns.
But I will send fire on their cities that will consume their fortresses.”
The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand.
Let {the people} know this.
Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great,
the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired person a maniac.
Return, {people}, to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!
Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
“Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.

Our reading from Scripture is a difficult one – not something we want to hear. As a matter of fact, the people who heard these words from the mouth of the prophet did not want to hear them either. For that matter, many of the prophets didn’t want to speak them. Truth is hard to speak and harder to hear, because truth challenges us, makes us look at our beliefs and our behaviours.
For those of you who are following along with The Story, we are reading chapter 15, which covers readings from both 1&2 Kings and the prophetic books of Hosea and Amos and looks at the lives of 4 prophets: Elijah, Elisha, Amos and Hosea.
God spoke in a variety of ways throughout the Old Testament. There was the memorable burning bush – a bush fully ablaze, yet the fire was not consuming it. What better way to catch the attention of Moses, “Moses, Moses, take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground.” So Moses does what anyone would do under the circumstances, he picks his jaw up off the ground, takes off his sandals and listens to what God has to say.
Although the Lord spoke to some in rather flashy ways, He conveyed most messages through His spokespeople or messengers – the Old Testament Prophets.
The Old Testament has 17 prophetic books that better enable the reader to understand the historical development of Israel and the Old Testament. These books make up 29% of the Old Testament, which speaks to their importance.
The New Testament often quotes them, signifying their importance and relevance to Jesus and the early church.
Despite their obvious importance, we don’t often hear them preached today. The prophets were called to bring messages to people who were living in defiance of God – people who filled the land with idols and worshipped false gods, people who did not want to hear what the prophets were saying, because, well, because we often don’t want to hear the truth, especially if the truth hinders our comfort zone.
The prophets were people like you and I. They were average people who listened to God – well, they didn’t always listen, but that just shows how much we are like them. Prophets were people asked to speak a truth that they did not want to speak, but who, out of faith and obedience shared God’s Word, despite the consequences and despite the challenges they faced in doing so.
One of my favourite prophetic characters is Elijah. He is bold and in your face, so its not surprising that fire is often associated with him. When King Ahab builds a temple to Baal, Elijah challenges Ahab’s 450 false prophets to a show down on Mount Carmel. The rules are simple each side builds an alter with a sacrifice upon it, then they pray for their sacrifice to be consumed. Elijah wants to make a statement, so he says, ‘ you go first,’ and the prophets begin praying. Nothing happens. They pray louder and dance around cutting themselves and offering up their own blood. NOTHING happens. Elijah mocks them loudly – ‘ pray louder, Baal can’t hear you, maybe he is sleeping.’ This went on all day, but then when it came time for the evening sacrifice Elijah stepped to the plate. By now, he is feeling kinda smug, so he has the alter drenched with water, not once, not twice, but three times. The sacrifice, the wood for the fire, the stones of the alter is thoroughly soaked, even the trench around the alter is filled with water. Elijah lifts his face to heaven praising God and asking the Lord to show the people that He is the one true God. Fire descended, burning up the sacrifice, the stones of the alter, the dirt it was upon and the water in the trench. You can almost see Elijah going ‘na na na na na na, my God is bigger than your god’
Elijah’s successor, Elisha shared God’s words in a much quieter and more pastoral method, generally caring for the needs of the people.
Amos was a shepherd from Tekoa, a small rural area in Judah, called to prophecy against Israel.
Isaiah was a prophet in Judah through the reign of four kings.
Huldah was a female prophet, called by the high priest to interpret the scrolls containing the Laws of Moses. She was a prophet during the reign of my favourite king – young King Josiah.
Jeremiah was the son of a priest and is often referred to as the prophet of doom and gloom.
Jonah was an unwilling prophet who God asked to call the people of Nineveh into repentance. He did not want God to forgive the people known for their greed, corruption, and cruelty so he tried to run from God. His is the kind of story that can swallow you up and spit you out; well actually, it did!
Little is known about the prophet Obadiah, yet he has a book named after him.
God gives Ezekiel his prophetic message through the vision of a valley of dry bones. God calls him to prophecy to the dry bones, which represent the people of Israel living in exile. Ezekiel speaks to the bones at God’s request, and they begin to come together with tendons, muscle, and flesh. God calls Ezekiel to speak to the bones again and they begin to dance. It is a message of hope for the exiles, a message that God will restore them.
Then there is poor Hosea, called to marry a prostitute, and to welcome her home again when she goes off with other men. He is called to love her, despite her unfaithfulness. Hosea’s faithfulness to an adulterous wife symbolizes God’s faithfulness to an adulterous nation.
God spoke in ancient times through people like you. Bold fiery people like Elijah, quiet pastoral people like Elisha, people from rural areas and people from the big city, young and old, male and female, some quick to speak God’s Word, while others are hesitant, some are well known individuals, while others work quietly in the background, and then there are the people who speak God’s truth by their actions (how they live their life) more than their words.
They spoke into the situations of their time, to people who had forgotten God, to the oppressed and to the oppressors, to the mighty and to the meek. They spoke of the consequences faced by those who opposed God and they spoke hope those calling out to God. Elijah would not tolerate false prophets leading people away from God, and Elisha would not sit still while widows went hungry.
Many of the prophets pointed the way to Jesus, the One who would redeem the people – a Saviour. John the Baptist was the final prophet to point the people to Jesus and call them to repentance. But it does not end there.
Jesus calls the church to speak God’s Word, to testify to God’s love and grace, to share the Good News that Christ, the Son of God, lived, died and was resurrected for the salvation of all who put their faith in Him. Jesus commissions us to make disciples, following His example of loving God, loving neighbour and serving the needs of the world.
God speaks through His people, and today, my friends, God speaks through the church – through His people – through you. Some of you have fiery personalities and little tolerance for the things that draw people away from knowing God’s love. Others of you feel the call to care for the needs of the marginalized and the oppressed. People don’t always want to hear God’s Word, but we are called to speak truth and love into the situations of our time. Like the Old Testament prophets, we are all different, each of us with our own personalities and gifts for sharing the Good News, but despite our differences, our message is the same, “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever will believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Friends, take time to talk with God, to talk and to listen. Take time to know Him through His Word. Take time to walk with Jesus and follow in His footsteps, and as you do, speak God’s truth, share Christ’s love and allow the Holy Spirit to work through your life. You are God’s people – His messengers – and you have a message to share.
Please bow your heads and pray with me:
God of truth, You spoke to the people through the prophets of old, You spoke life into the world through the work and teachings of Jesus, You spoke the Good News into our lives and You call us to keep the conversation going – keep sharing the Good News – keep speaking truth in love and Christian kindness. We give you thanks, O Lord, for the people who spoke Your truth into our hearts, and we ask You to ignite in us a desire to share Your love, truth and grace with the people in our lives. We ask all this in the name of Jesus. AMEN
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#638 Take Time to be Holy
Words: W. D. Longstaff (1822-1894) Music: George C. Stebbins (1846-1945)
Words: public domain Music: public domain
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Take time to be holy; speak oft with thy Lord.
Abide in him always, and feed on his word.
Make friends of God's children; help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy; the world rushes on;
spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like him thou shalt be;
thy friends in thy conduct his likeness shall see.

Take time to be holy; let him be thy guide,
and run not before him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow thy Lord,
and, looking to Jesus, still trust in his word.

Take time to be holy; be calm in thy soul,
each thought and each motive beneath his control.
Thus led by his Spirit to fountains of love,
thou soon shalt be fitted for service above
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Commission & Benediction
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Friends, God speaks through His people, through His church, through you, so go into the world and share God’s Word in truth and in love, and as you do . . .
May the love, grace and peace of God go with you. AMEN
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Support the Work of Knox and Zion in 2021
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DONATIONS TO ZION, TORRANCE
Mail cheques to Zion Presbyterian Church 1046 Torrance Rd, Torrance, ON, P0C 1M0
E-Transfers to zionchurchpc@gmail.com No security question required
Pick up ~ Please call the office (705) 765 3797 to arrange pick up

DONATIONS TO KNOX, PORT CARLING
Mail cheques to Knox Presbyterian Church Box 283, Port Carling, ON,
P0B 1J0
E-Transfers to KnoxChurchPC@gmail.com No security question required
Pick up ~ Please call the office (705) 765-3797 to arrange pick up