In the Summer of 2015, the Lord graciously granted me an unexpected opportunity. My father, who for 26 years pastored the church I was serving, resigned, and I was asked by church leadership to serve as pastor in the interim. For the first time in my life, I was responsible to prepare the gathered worship services of the church. At that time, I had never read a book on liturgics and had …
Prayers for the Church
Lord God,
May your Spirit teach us all things and bring to mind all that you have said to us today (John 14:26) and may the word of Christ dwell richly in us. (Col. 3:16)
Do this so that we might walk in a manner worthy of you, fully pleasing to you, and bearing fruit in every good work. (Col. 1:9010)
Prayers for Members
Father, we are so thankful for ___ …
Father,
Your name is great and greatly to be praise for you have assembled your church from all four points of the compass. From Belmont to Rock Hill, York to Charlotte, we are gathered in your presence, clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, presenting ourselves to you for your glory and praise.
You are our King, O God (Ps. 44:4) and while other rulers govern our earthly affairs, your name alone we bring to …
Almighty God,
You are the fount from which every blessing pours forth. Every good thing we have comes from your gracious hand. You are the King of Heaven; and as you are our Lord and Maker, we owe you perfect obedience.
And yet none of us have obeyed you in all things. If we claimed to be in the right, our own mouths would condemn us. (Job 9:20) Father we agree with your Word that …
EXHORTATION
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:8)
We are called to give God worship that is both acceptable and reverential.
Acceptable worship addresses the external, visible form the worship is taking. To offer acceptable worship means that we are to worship God in the …
The first of the 10 Commandments declares:
You shall have no other gods before me.
This commandment is the foundation for every other law God gives because this command declares God to be the ultimate foundation for everything else. There are no other gods, therefore we ought not to treat any other person or thing with the same adoration, trust, or respect that we give to God.
It’s good to compliment your spouse or children, …
The Lord gave his law, the 10 Commandments, to Moses on Mount Sinai. Listen to how he introduces himself as he delivered these binding commands:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, (Ex. 34:6)
Even as he delivers iron-clad laws, he says, “I am the God of mercy.”
This is the moment in our service in …
As Bible-believing Christians, we know that we are not saved by our works. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. So, we want to make sure that no one misunderstands what is about to take place.
Each week we confess our sins as a congregation. God requires that we confess our sins—but these confessions do not save us. Our repentance is not a good work that earns us merit or …
EXHORTATION
1 John 2:1 says:
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
The Bible says that Jesus Christ didn’t just die for you. He stands beside you as your lawyer. When you sin, what does Jesus say to the Father? “Oh Father, they’ve sinned. They are guilty. But have mercy on them.” Is that what Jesus says as your advocate? No! You don’t hire a lawyer …
God of all Creation,
The earth is yours and everything that fills it. You own everything from the deepest pit of the ocean to the tip of Everest and beyond it. Every creature that draws breath is yours for you made them all. The great cities of the earth and the smallest camp in the backwoods both owe you their existence.
The heavens and all their hosts belong to you as well. You make the …
