7/11/21 - 7th Sunday after Pentecost -Faith Overcomes Persecution - 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5

Please go to our online Friendship Register if you were able to join us for online worship https://forms.gle/fP2yNuc98PD4xriC7 or Text your names and the date to (920) 362-7118 or (920) 949-1038.

Announcements for the week - https://www.mzluth.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/weekly-announcement-July-11-2021.pdf

---------
The Pentecost Season
The Sundays after Pentecost focus on how Christians live in response to all that God has done for us. This part of the Church Year begins with a 6 week focus on Faith.

This Sunday
Jesus preserves our faith even in the face of persecution. We have seen that the Christian suffers in the face of natural calamities and that he too must face death, both his own and that of those he loves. In circumstances such as these Jesus abides faithful to his Word. Now comes the suffering that is the result of our faithfulness to that Word, of translating faith into faithfulness. It is a suffering that is promised and that is most painful when it comes from those who have heard that Word with us. Even in the face of such offense he preserves faith in the Word by the Word.

-------

First Lesson: Ezekiel 2:1-3:4
Ezekiel’s experience is not the exception but the paradigm. The rejection that Jesus experienced from his own ultimately turned into hatred and bitter hostility. That was the experience of all the apostles and prophets. People should know that a prophet has been among them from the faithfulness of the prophet to the Word and to the Savior, whether they like the message or not. For whether they like it or not, it remains the only message that saves. It saves even in the face of persecution from those who should know better. In the face of hostility and persecution there is one thing that sustains and strengthens us and gives us peace and joy: The same message of the gospel that provokes so much opposition is the source of all our own life and joy. Eat the scroll; savor its sweetness; devour it so that it becomes altogether a part of you!

Second Lesson: 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5
Opposition and persecution are guaranteed wherever the Word is proclaimed in its truth and purity. Yet God promises his abiding and saving presence, even if the outward evidence seems to contradict that beautiful promise. Yes, even if the rescue is delayed to the point of death! Again notice that Paul mentions not just opposition from outside of the Church but especially notes the opposition that came from those who once heard and knew the truth. It is the latter that is the most damaging and to us personally the most painful. But in it all may we prove faithful to the Word, to all of it, that we may also know the faithfulness of God to that Word; he promises persecution, and he promises that his Word will nevertheless remain effective. He has promised that we ultimately we will be rescued to see his faithfulness in his own good time.

Gospel: Mark 6:1-6
It is quite bad enough when Jesus is rejected by those who do not know him. But how painful to him, so much so that in his state of humiliation he is amazed by it, when those who should have been first to recognize him instead reject him. The world exchanges the Child in Bethlehem for Santa Claus and the Risen Christ for the Easter bunny. No surprise there. But what of those in our own churches and families who think they know him so well that they no longer know him at all? He could do nothing there in Nazareth because in their unbelief; no one asked him to do anything. And in our midst? Were he still in his state of humiliation, would he be surprised at us who have had his Word for so long and still think so little of it? On the other hand, those who follow him in faithfulness have a stumbling block in their path: the unfaithfulness of those who should know better and then their ultimate hostility to the pure teaching and living of his Word. Only that Word and reliance on it gets us past that stumbling block; Jesus promised such rejection, and his Word even in that regard has proven true.

-------
* New NO FEE electronic giving.* https://myvanco.vancopayments.com/cgi-bin/Vanco_ver3.vps?appver3=%20OKdCGZBJYpsCBoZoz5rakaYec2chL1Dmm-M9GmZKgDSujMcWeRQLKxtVuawnJ3eUYw7hSSHLKPgBJz2o0Pn-cTHuS6U_uUyWaBqpR_G-Ank9MboVt-jm5J4e-Hc8oOFf&cname=Morrison+Zion+Lutheran+Church&cadd1=7395+County+Rd+W&ccity=Greenleaf&cstate=WI&czip=54126&cein=391053005&ctid=504744921

Powered by Restream https://restream.io/

Powered by Restream https://restream.io/