Worship through Prayer
Dear Lord, we come to you today, in spite of the chaos in the world and circumstances of our lives, to celebrate who you are. You are the everlasting God, the Almighty One, the King of Kings, the Creator of all life, the Sustainer of all life, and the gracious Author of new life in Christ Jesus. We are gathered here to marvel at your Word and the great news of the Gospel, for the work done by Christ Jesus when he died on the cross, and for the glorious victory over death accomplished when he rose from the grave. We praise you, for who could have imagined that the Holy One of Israel, the Alpha and Omega, the God of the Universe would also be merciful enough to send his only Son to die for us. We thank you and praise you for the work done in your worthy son, Christ Jesus.
We admit, God, that we are not worthy. We have nothing of worth in and of ourselves to bring before you today. This week we have lacked self-control, overindulging and taking good gifts and twisting their purpose. We have been insubordinate to those you have placed over us, not granting the benefit of the doubt to our leaders when much greater benefits have been given to us. We have quarreled needlessly over silly issues, and failed to show gentleness to those around us. We have forgotten you by forgetting to read your Word, we have forgotten the Gospel by not extending grace to others who have wronged us, and we have forgotten your faithfulness by not being faithful, in thought or deed, to our spouses. On top of all this, we sometimes convince ourselves that we have the ability to change it all. But we can’t.
God we thank you that you can. We thank you that your goodness and loving kindness appeared and saved us according to your own will, not because of anything we had done. We thank you that you have assured us of our standing by once and for all crushing sin and death on the cross. By separating our sins as far as the east is from the west. By calling us to become heirs with your Son Christ Jesus in your Kingdom. Help us to not forget that the good work you started in us will be completed, you have promised us this. Help us to remember that we are no longer slaves to sin and death, you have bought us. Help us to stand firmly on the hope of salvation we have in Christ Jesus, that never fails, you have assured us of this.
Father, we come to you this morning in the name of Jesus, our Lord, our Savior, our righteousness, our comforter and defender. We praise you that Jesus is at your right hand. We praise you that you have put all things under his feet. We praise you that he is head of the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
We ask in the name of Jesus that you would continue to build our church up into maturity in Christ. Shape each member to look more like Christ this week. As the children learn about Zacchaeus this morning, take your word and plant it deep within their hearts that it might bear fruit in the days and years to come.
Give us a spirit of unity in the bond of peace. Holy Spirit, fill us up that we might think of others better than ourselves. Give us the grace to forgive freely and fully. We pray for the C family. Help R and C to model Christ in their marriage as they raise C and A in the gospel. We thank you for our sister E.C. and the many ways she serves our church behind the scenes; grant her a deep joy in Christ this week. We pray for our brothers J.F. and J.F. and B.S. Cause them to be men who lead and serve with their face like a flint toward Christ.
We thank you for our brother Nathan and his faithfulness to proclaim your word. Give him joy as he studies week after week. Change him and shape him and mold him so that the words he speaks come from a heart melted by the grace of the gospel.
Father for the glory of your name in Christ Jesus, use this church to display your manifold wisdom; to adorn the beautiful doctrine of God our Savior. Use this church to encourage those already trusting in Christ, to declare and display the gospel to those who do not yet know Christ. Use our church to comfort the hurting, to be patient with the doubting, to graciously call back the wayward.
Do all of this that your name might be hallowed; that Jesus Christ might be exalted; that our joy might be full. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Moral Objections to the Old Testament
Dr. Peter Williams, the Warden at Tyndale House in Cambridge, addresses common moral objections to God.
Prayer: A Wartime Walkie-Talkie
Prayer is the walkie-talkie on the battlefield of the world. It call on God for courage (Eph. 6:19). It call in troop deployment and target location (Act 13:1-3). It calls in for protection and air cover (Mt. 6:13; Lk. 21:36). It calls in for firepower to blast open a way for the Word (Col. 4:3). It calls in for the miracle of healing for the wounded soldiers (Js. 5:16). It calls in supplies for the forces (Mt. 6:11; Phil. 4:6). And it calls in for needed reinforcements (Mt. 9:38).
This is the place of prayer – on the battlefield of the world. It is a wartime walkie-talkie for spiritual warfare, not a domestic intercom to increase the comforts of the saints. And one of the reasons it malfunctions in the hands of so many Christians soldiers is that they have gone AWOL.
God has given us prayer because Jesus has given us a mission…We are on this earth to press back the forces of darkness, and we are given access to the Headquarters by prayer in order to advance this cause. When we try to turn it into a civilian intercom to increase our material comforts, it malfunctions, and our faith begins to falter.
John Piper, The Pleasures of God, 214.
Why Real Christians Are So Odd
A. W. Tozer:
A real Christian is an odd number, anyway.
He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen;
talks familiarly everyday to someone he cannot see;
expects to go to heaven on the virtue of another;
empties himself in order to be full;
admits he is wrong so he can be declared right;
goes down in order to get up;
is strongest when he is weakest;
richest when he is poorest;
happiest when he feels the worst.
He dies so he can live;
forsakes in order to have;
gives away so he can keep;
sees the invisible;
hears the inaudible;
and knows that which passeth knowledge.
—A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1955), 156.
(HT)
Immersion in the Gospel
From Michale Horton's Christless Christianity:
Conformity to Christ's image (sanctification) is the process of dying to self (mortification) and living to God (vivification) that results from being regularly immersed in the gospel's story of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. (M. Horton)