CROSSES

Snippet

One Truth we all are sinners in need of a Savior.  There is no room for pride or superiority because in God’s eyes we all are sinful.  There is also no room for judgement for every man and woman needs a Savior. Roger Miller

Scripture

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4,5 NIV

Song

Three Wooden Crosses Randy Travis

https://youtu.be/VGiNapLRnwM

A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher,

Ridin' on a midnight bus bound for Mexico.

One's headed for vacation, one for higher education,

An' two of them were searchin' for lost souls.

That driver never ever saw the stop sign.

An' eighteen wheelers can't stop on a dime.

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,

Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows.

I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you,It's what you leave behind you when you go.

That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres,

The faith an' love for growin' things in his young son's heart.

An' that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children:

Did her best to give 'em all a better start.

An' that preacher whispered: "Can't you see the Promised Land?"

As he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker's hand.

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,

Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows.

I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, It's what you leave behind you when you go.

That's the story that our preacher told last Sunday.

As he held that blood-stained bible up,

For all of us to see.

He said: "Bless the farmer, and the teacher, an' the preacher;

"Who gave this Bible to my mamma,

"Who read it to me."

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,

Why there's not four of them, now I guess we know.

It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you,

It's what you leave behind you when you go.

Sentence Prayer

Heavenly Father;

Make us willing to be saved in thy own way,

perceiving nothing in ourselves but all in Jesus.  Amen

(The Valley of Vision A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions.  pg 217)

DOVE

SNIPET

“The dove descending breaks the air

With flame of incandescent terror

Of which the tongues declare

The one discharge from sin and error.

The only hope, or else despair

Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-

To be redeemed from fire by fire.

Who then devised the torment? Love.

Love is the unfamiliar Name

Behind the hands that wove

The intolerable shirt of flame

Which human power cannot remove.

We only live, only suspire

Consumed by either fire or fire.” 

― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

SCRIPTURE

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.'  I didn't know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.”

And John testified, “I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He “rested on Him.  I didn't know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One you see the Spirit descending and resting on — He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'  I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God! ” JOHN 1:29-34 HCSB

SONG

WINGS OF A DOVE FERLIN HUSKY

https://youtu.be/8661f-CcMzg

On the wings of a snow-white dove

He sends His pure sweet love

A sign from above (sign from above)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

When troubles surround us, when evils come

The body grows weak (body grows weak)

The spirit grows numb (spirit grows numb)

When these things beset us, He doesn't forget us

He sends down His love (sends down His love)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

On the wings of a snow-white dove

He sends His pure sweet love

A sign from above (sign from above)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

When Noah had drifted on the flood many days

He searched for land (he searched for land)

In various ways (various ways)

Troubles, he had some but wasn't forgotten

He sent him His love (sent him His love)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

On the wings of a snow-white dove

He sends His pure sweet love

A sign from above (sign from above)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

On the wings of a snow-white dove

He sends His pure sweet love

A sign from above (sign from above)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

On the wings of a dove (wings of a dove)

SENTENCE PRAYER

Holy Spirit,

when Jesus Christ

came up out of the waters of baptism,

the sky lit up with the voice of the Father

and you—you alit on Christ in the form of a dove.

You descended not as an eagle,

powerful and regal;

not as a hawk,

keen-eyed and quick;

not as a sparrow,

flitting to and fro;

but a dove.

You descended upon Christ as a meek bird,

the sort of bird that the poorest of the poor

could afford to offer as a sacrifice,

with wings full of peace and hope, too,

like the dove who returned to Noah

after six straight weeks of unrelenting rain,

with a sprig of olive in her beak,

extending the hope of life once again.

When you alit on Christ at his baptism,

full of meekness and innocence,

you anointed him for a ministry

not of royal power

or military might,

but of humility, hope, purity, peace.

Anoint us with those same gifts,

and send us out wise as serpents

and innocent as doves,

preparing the way for hope and peace.

In the gentle, humble name of Jesus the Son, we pray,

Amen.

(https://forsythiaroot.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/a-prayer-to-the-spirit-as-dove/)