by Clément Tendo
Isaiah 35:3–10 (NLT)
Leader: 3 Strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
ALL: 4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.”
Leader: 5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and unplug the ears of the deaf.
ALL: 6 The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
Leader: 7 The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
ALL: 8 And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
Leader: 9 Lions will not lurk along the road,
nor any other ferocious beasts.
There will be no other dangers.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
ALL: 10 Those who have been ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will be crowned with everlasting joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with joy and gladness.
by Clément Tendo
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15 just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd. 17 “The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18 No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
by Clément Tendo
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
by Clément Tendo
Leader: 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:
ALL: Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
4 Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.
by Clément Tendo
Leader: 7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.
All: Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Leader: 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
All: 10 This is real love—not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Leader: 11 Dear friends, because God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
All: 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other,
God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
Leader: 13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.
All: 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.
16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
