Muskoka Lakes Ministry of Knox, Port Carling & Zion, Torrance
Sunday Nov 22, 2020
Message: Be Strong and Courageous
Reverend Glynis Faith (705-765-3797) (muskokalakesministry@gmail.com)
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Announcements
________________________________________* We will be celebrating Communion on Sunday November 29th via Zoom. Details on how to participate and prepare will be emailed out on Wednesday Nov 25.
* For those who are unable to take part by Zoom, I will be arranging to bring Communion into your home. This will take place starting in January. Please feel free to contact me to discuss and set up a day/time.
* Knox board of managers meet Tuesday Nov 24, 7pm.
* Lectio Divina, Thursday evenings, 8pm via Zoom
* Rev Faith will be on holidays for the month of December. Rev John Young will be conducting worship. If a pastoral emergency should arise, please leave a message at the church (705-765-3797) or contact an elder.
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Prayer of Adoration & Confession
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God most holy,
You are known to us as the Almighty, Powerful, Eternal, Ruler and Lord.
We call you our Shepherd and Guide. We praise you with many names, but you are beyond our imagination, so much greater than our words. We know you in the stories of Jesus and in him, we see your love in action, reaching out to the world. You move in us and through us by your Spirit, drawing us to you, sending us to live out your Word.
God most holy, Three in One and One in Three, we praise you with our lips and with our lives to offer you honour and love. Mighty and merciful God, we come with a sincere desire to walk in your ways and live under your reign.
Lord, hear us as we confess to you our sins:
We confess that we have failed to love fully, forgive wholly, and to share the joy of your presence day by day.
You offer us freedom but we settle for the familiar. You call us to love our neighbours as ourselves, but we make choices placing our personal needs and wants first.
You give us strength and courage to strengthen and encourage others, but we fail to do so. Teach us to abandon our selfish ways, so that we can risk offering you our whole lives, committed to following Jesus and building your kingdom here on earth.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
Hear the good news. God’s compassion never fails. God’s grace is new every morning. God’s loving kindness is steadfast. Know that you are forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ. Love each other, and live in peace and harmony. AMEN
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Scripture
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Joshua 1:1-9
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
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Message
“Be Strong & Courageous”
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This is the day in the church calendar when we acknowledge the Reign of Christ. Today, we celebrate Christ’s reign. This week I pondered what this means to me, personally. I considered all the titles we have for Jesus:
 Advocate – speaking and acting on our behalf
 Good Shepherd, laying down His life to protect us from the evil one
 Emmanuel, God with us
 Messiah, come to save us
 The source of Living Water, that we might never thirst
 The Bread of Life, nourishing the souls of all who will come
 The Way to the Father
 The Word, the Truth and the Light, that we might know the way
 The Head of the Church and its great High Priest
 The Chief Cornerstone, the stability of our faith and of the Church that honours Him
 The Resurrection and the Life
 Prince of Peace and King of kings and Lord of lords
 He is the Lamb of God – our Redeemer – and He lives. . .
As I pondered Who and What Christ is, I was reminded that Jesus is all that I need. And because I have made Him Lord of my life, I have nothing to fear. Anything Christ calls me to do, I can do, because He is my strength and my shield.
I have learned over the years, mostly through the experience of challenges, that Christ will lead me when I listen and trust. I have learned 1) By reading and meditating on God’s Word, which helps me better know God 2) By asking and listening (which is often a HUGE lesson on patience for me, because God doesn’t always answer as quickly as I would like) and 3) By remembering the times and ways God has given me the strength and courage to move forward through difficult situations. No one wants struggles in their lives, and I certainly am not asking for more, but I do thank God for the struggles I have come through, because those struggles have enabled me to trust in the promises and assurances of my Lord and King. Each hurdle I faced has shown me how strong I can be when Christ stands before me.
Reading and studying God’s Word gives us head knowledge. Prayer (speaking to and listening for God) deepens our relationship with our Lord. Experiencing God’s provision and protection provides us with confirmation of God’s promises and assurances, which builds our courage and gives us strength to face whatever lies before us.
In our Bible passage God calls Joshua to be ‘strong and courageous.’ You may have even noticed this was repeated three times within these nine verses. Be Strong and Courageous – do not be afraid – do not be discouraged. Now, this is advice Joshua is going to need, because the road ahead of him is not going to be easy. As a matter-of-fact, Joshua and the Israelites could not have succeeded in claiming the Promised Land, if God did not go before them.
Entering the Promised Land would involve battles. What lay ahead was unknown. But one thing they did know – or at least they should know by now – the assurance of God’s presence and the certainty of His promises. Whatever lay ahead, whatever struggles they might face, their past experiences should serve as a reminder and motivator that the Lord God would be with them wherever they go – never leaving them or forsaking them. God is in control!
Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS.
The Hebrew word for strong is Chazaq (Kha-zak). It is a verb, implying action. Not so much muscular strength, as strength of character. Within the definition is the idea of repairing, prevailing and restoring. To use one’s strength to help. And being strong to grow even stronger.
The Hebrew word for courageous is Amats (a-mats’). It is also a verb. Within its definition is also strength and prevailing. To be alert both physically and mentally.
Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS.
Perhaps this is good advice for us today. We are not stepping into the Promised Land, like Joshua and the Israelites. We already live in a land flowing with milk and honey. We live in a free country filled with natural resources and the most amazing people. Many of those people have worked hard to give us the opportunities and technologies we have today. We have healthcare, social services, public schools and community halls because the older generations worked hard to build and support these for us. These people – these wonderful people’s lives are at risk, and today I challenge us all to be strong and courageous. For them.
Over 11,000 people have died in Canada from Covid-19. The majority of those who have died are from this generation of builders, who gave of their time and finances to make our lives better. The numbers are growing steadily. This pandemic has certainly not been easy, and the road ahead of us is not clear. Some recent forecast models are worrisome. You and I certainly cannot fix a pandemic, but we can be strong and courageous, and together we can make choices and act in ways that put a stop to its vicious spread.
We can have the strength of character to make choices that strengthen others and help them prevail through difficult choices and self-isolation. We can willingly make sacrifices today that help keep this virus from spreading into the homes of our most vulnerable citizens. We can be strong in the face of distancing ourselves from family and friends so that our dedicated health care workers don’t drop from exhaustion. We can be strong together by staying apart. We are smart and creative, so I am confident we can find ways to connect and support one another – ways to encourage and restore – ways to bring hope in the midst of fear, loneliness, anxieties and uncertainly.
Be strong – defending those who cannot defend themselves.
Be courageous – make sacrifices and setting the example for others to do the same.
Friends, being strong now will only make us stronger. Its been 9 months. We are tired. We are frustrated. We are angry and we are anxious. But we can do this. We can do this because we put our faith in Christ. Jesus has taught us how to show love for our neighbours by making sacrifices, and through His sacrifices we have been given LIFE.
We don’t know what the next weeks, months or year has instore for us, but we do know that our Saviour lives. And if we will put our full trust in Him and His command to love our neighbours as ourselves, He will give us the strength and courage we need for whatever battles lie ahead. He will lead us – He will nourish us – He will uphold us and he will bless us for the sacrifices we make today – sacrifices that bless those who made the sacrifices of yesterday.
Please pray with me:
Christ Jesus, reign in our hearts and in our minds and in our souls. Help us to see and understand what we must do in these difficult times. Give us strength and courage to strengthen and encourage one another. Show us ways to reach out in love and fellowship through the distance we must keep. Lord, bless every effort we make to save lives. Wrap our senior and elderly generations in Your protective arms, and call Your Church to stand with You in protecting those most vulnerable to this virus. This we pray in the name of He who Reigns victorious – Jesus, our Lord and King. AMEN
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Prayers of Thanksgiving & Intercession
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Lord Jesus Christ, you proclaimed God’s kingdom among us and within us. In the power of the Spirit, Your love is always at work, bringing good out of evil and life out of death.
We thank you that your love never lets us go, for You have known the good times and the hard times of this life, and through Your life, have taught us how to encourage, support, care for and love one another.
You are almighty, all-knowing and unmoveable, yet You reign with compassion, tenderness, and self-sacrificing love. You seek, not Your own benefit, but the good of all, giving of Yourself that others may live.
Almighty God, hear our prayers for our communities:
Bless world leaders with the sense to lead with a focus on the welfare of those they serve, we pray.
Bless our local governments, health officials and decision makers with compassion for the people they serve and the strength of character to make tough decisions, we pray.
Bless church leaders with discerning hearts in decision making and with creative minds to continue sharing the Gospel and administering pastoral oversight safely.
Bless healthcare workers with the strength and courage to keep up the fight, and bless the public with the strength and courage to join our healthcare workers in this battle by reducing our own contacts, thus minimizing Covid’s advance.
Bless those working and living in long-term care and community care. Bless the vulnerable population living alone. Bless those whose immune systems are compromised. Bless them all with communities willing to make sacrifices for their safety.
Bless local businesses struggling through these challenging times. Help us to be mindful and supportive of them in whatever way we safely can support them.
Bless us and remind us that we are to love others as You have loved – a love that willingly sacrifices that others might live.
Hear our prayers and bless us as we pray the Lord’s Prayer:
…. Our Father, who art in heaven, hollowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thine will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. AMEN
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Commissioning and Benediction
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Friends, be strong and courageous, trusting in Christ our King. Take care of one another, trusting Christ to lead us through whatever challenges lie ahead . . .

And as you do. . .May the Lord bless you and keep you, may He make His face to shine down upon you. May the Lord, be gracious to you – today, tomorrow and every day here after. For He is with you always - - even to the ends of the age. AMEN