Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 3 March 2019 Sunday, Feb 24 2019

3 March 2019

Call to Worship: Psalm 96:1-3

Opening Hymn: Psalm 2A

Confession of Sin      

Almighty God, Who are rich in mercy to all those who call upon You; Hear us as we humbly come to You confessing our sins; And imploring Your mercy and forgiveness.  We have broken Your holy laws by our deeds and by our words; And by the sinful affections of our hearts.  We confess before You our disobedience and ingratitude, our pride and willfulness; And all our failures and shortcomings toward You and toward fellow men.  Have mercy upon us, Most merciful Father; And of Your great goodness grant that we may hereafter serve and please You in newness of life; Through the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon: Joel 2:12-13

Hymn of Preparation: Psalm 115A

Old Covenant Reading: Psalm 71:1-24

New Covenant Reading: Romans 8:18-25

Sermon: Saved in Hope

Hymn of Response: 474 “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee”

Confession of Faith: Nicene Creed (p. 852)  

Doxology (Hymn 568)                      

Closing Hymn: Psalm 62A

PM Worship

OT: Psalm 8:1-9

Singing Psalm 8A

NT: Hebrews 2:5-18

O LORD, Our LORD

Shorter Catechism Q/A # 80

Q. What is required in the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his.

Suggested Preparations

Monday (3/25) Read and discuss Romans 8:18-25. Michael Bird writes:

Entering the world of Romans 8:18-30 forces us to understand [the] Christian life as a pilgrimage that takes us from groaning to glory. We are all spiritual sojourners making our way in a fallen world and looking ahead to the celestial city as the hope that lies before us. We follow Christ, who paved the way ahead of us, a way of suffering, the way of the cross; yet it is also the way to life and glory. Those who bear Christ’s name are not excused from this journey; on the contrary, it is precisely because they are in Chris that they too must share in Christ’s sufferings so that they might also share in his glory. As Kasemann said: “The Spirit who makes Christ present on earth is the very one who imposes on them a pilgrim theology.” … Thus we go on in our pilgrimage, in the throes of heartache, while lifting our eyes on the joy set before us. Happily, we are sustained in each step by God our Father, Christ our brother, and the Spirit our helper.

Read or sing Psalm 2A Prayer: Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

Tuesday (2/26) Read and discuss Romans 8:12-17. One of the official confessions of Lutheranism is the Formula of Concord. Today’s passage was a key text beyond the Formula of Concord’s teaching about doubts and the assurance of salvation. It reads:

Since the Holy Spirit dwells in the elect who have come to faith as He dwells in His temple, and is not idle in them but urges them to obey the commandments of God, believers likewise should not be idle, still less oppose the urgings of the Spirit of Go, but should exercise themselves in all Christian virtues, in all godliness, modesty, temperance, patience, and brotherly love, and should diligently seek to “confirm their call and election” so that the more they experience the power and might of the Spirit within themselves, the less they will doubt their election. For the Spirit testifies to the elect that they are “children of God.”

Read or Sing Psalm 115A Prayer: Please lift up our denomination’s foreign missions committee as it meets today.

Wednesday (2/20) Read and discuss Psalm 71:1-24.  Alec Motyer writes:

How far back in your life can you trace the hand of God? If you have never done this, I venture to think you will be surprised! In my earliest infancy I was left for a weekend with my maternal grandmother – and the weekend stretched out for my first seven years! The direct result of this is that I cannot remember a time when I did not love the Bible as the word of God. Was this not the hand of God? I could tell you of more ‘coincidences’ (as they are called), and ‘accidents’ (as they seem), and the right person being in the right place at the right time – but I have no doubt that your ‘story’ is similar. Consciously or unconscious to us, Yahweh has been our support since birth (Psalm 71:6); it was he who caused us to be born at the time and place of his choice. Not accident but design, not coincidence but plan, not chance but diving direction – that is the story of every believer, the secret history of every conversion. It is the direct implication of the wonderous title of ‘Sovereign one’ (verses 5, 16), a God who truly is God, who holds in his hand not only the broad sweep of history, but the tiniest details of personal stories; a God whom no circumstance or adversary – or collection of adversaries – can defeat; present in every place, master of every situation, deciding and controlling at every time. And so it will continue to be as long as earthily life shall last.

Prayer: Give thanks that not even a hair from your head can fall to the ground apart from your heavenly Father’s will and care for you.

Thursday (2/21) Read and discuss Hebrews 2:5-18. N.T. Wright comments:

Some while ago there was a movie by the name A River Runs through It. It told the story of two brothers growing up in the beautiful Montana countryside. The older one was quiet, studious, hard-working; he got a good job and became a respected man in the community. His tearaway younger brother was great fun, but was always getting into scrapes, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable. He ended up associating with people who led him deeper and deeper into trouble, and was finally killed in a brawl. His older brother couldn’t help him. They had grown too far apart.

It was a moving and tragic story, and the most tragic thing about it was this: the older son saw what was happening to his beloved younger brother, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t reach him. He couldn’t come to where he was and rescue him.

The point of the present passage is that Jesus, the older brother of a much larger family, could and did come to where his siblings were, wallowing in the land of sin and death. He identified with them, shared their fate, and thereby rescued them from it. Above all other passages in early Christian writings, this one speaks most fully about Jesus as the oldest brother, the firstborn, of a large family. It encourages us to see Jesus not as the kind of older brother whom we resent because he’s always getting things right and being successful while we’re always getting things wrong and failing, but as the kind of older brother who, without a trace of patronizing or looking down his nose at us, comes to find us where we are, out of sheer love and goodness of heart, and to help us out of the mess.

Read or Sing Hymn 474 “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee” Prayer: Please lift up our brothers and sisters at Amoskeag Presbyterian Church in Manchester, NH as they seek a new pastor.

Friday (3/1) Read and discuss Psalm 8:1-9. Calvin writes:

From the dominion over all things which God has conferred upon men, it is evident how great is the love which he has borne towards them, and how much account he has made of them. As he does not stand in need of anything himself, he has destined all the riches, both of heaven and earth, for their use. It is certainly a singular honor and one which cannot be sufficiently estimated, that mortal man, as the representative of God, has dominion over the world, as if it pertained to him by right, and that to whatever quarter he turns his eyes, he sees nothing wanting which he may contribute to the convenience and happiness of his life. Now, there is no doubt, that if there is anything in heaven or on earth which is opposed to men, the beautiful order which God had established in the world at the beginning is now thrown into confusion. The consequence of this is, that mankind, after they were ruined by the fall of Adam, were not only deprived of so distinguished an honorable an estate, and dispossessed of their former dominion, but are also held captive under a degrading and ignominious bondage. Christ, it is true, is the lawful heir of heaven and earth, by whom the faithful recover what they had lost in Adam; but he has not as yet actually entered upon the full possession of his empire and dominion. What is here said by David will not be perfectly accomplished until death be abolished. There remains the hope of a better state than the present.

Read or sing Hymn Psalm 62A Prayer: Please lift up the two Orthodox Presbyterian churches in Rochester, NY (Covenant OPC and Memorial OPC) as they merge this evening to become Cornerstone Presbyterian Church.

Saturday (3/2) Read and discuss Romans 8:18-25. R.C. Sproul writes:

A philosopher, John Stuart Mill, considered the manifest presence in the world of pain, suffering, violence, and wickedness, and he concluded that what we encounter on a daily basis belies any hope of a good and loving God. In skepticism he said that if God is a God of love yet he allows such pain and suffering, then he is powerless to prevent it and is nothing more than a divine weakling incapable of administering peace and justice. If, on the other hand, he has the power to prevent evil but chooses not to, standing by and allowing it, then he may be powerful, but he is not good or loving. The complaint Mill raised against historical Christianity is that either God is good but not all powerful, or he is all powerful but not good.

What is missing from Mill’s oversimplified equation concerning the economy of grief and pain in the world is the reality of sin. God not only tolerates violence and suffering, but he also – even more so – actually ordains it, yet we cannot leave sin out of the equation. It is not that God lacks in goodness; it is that we lack in goodness. The entrance of human sin into the world plunged the whole creation into ruin, a ruin that includes not just people but animals and the land itself; the earth mourns because of us. When the transgression came in paradise, the curse of God extended beyond Adam and Eve and even beyond the serpent; the land itself was cursed.

Throughout the prophetic oracles of the Old Testament, we see God chastening his people Israel for their hard-necked disobedience, and he tells them though the prophets that because they do not listen to his word, violence follows upon violence. The land mourns; the ground suffers. When the Bible rehearses the repercussions of the fall, it does so in cosmic terms. The effects of the fall on the human species and the ruination of the whole creation are laid at our doorstep. This reflects God’s judgment upon us, which spills over into the domain in which we were created to be God’s vice-regents in exercising dominion over the earth, the animals, and the ground. When we were ruined, everything under our dominion was affected by it.

That is what Paul is concerned to reflect n the passage before us, but first he sets a contrast between the present and the future, between the present sufferings and the future glory that God has prepared for his people. Paul is quick to point out that this is not a simple formula of ratio and proportionality. There is no analogy between the present climate of pain the and future climate of blessedness. The comparative here is in terms of how much more. The usually articulate Paul cannot seem to find words, even under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to describe the radical difference between the now and the then: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (v. 18).” The difference between the present degree of pain we experience and the blessedness to which God has appointed his people is so immensely different that there is no way to compare them. Any comparison we come up with falls short.

Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 24 February 2019 Sunday, Feb 17 2019

24 February 2019

Call to Worship: Psalm 98:1-3

Opening Hymn: 238 “LORD, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee”

Confession of Sin

Most holy and merciful Father; We acknowledge and confess before You; Our sinful nature prone to evil and slothful in good;  And all our shortcomings and offenses.  You alone know how often we have sinned; In wandering from Your ways; In wasting Your gifts;  In forgetting Your love.  But You, O Lord, have pity upon us; Who are ashamed and sorry for all wherein we have displeased You.  Teach us to hate our errors; Cleanse us from our secret faults; And forgive our sins for the sake of Your dear Son.  And O most holy and loving Father; Help us we beseech You; To live in Your light and walk in Your ways; According to the commandments of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon: Titus 2:11-14

Hymn of Preparation: Psalm 8A

Old Covenant Reading: Isaiah 54:1-17

New Covenant Reading: Romans 8:12-17

Sermon: Heirs with Christ

Hymn of Response: 275 “Arise, My Soul, Arise”

Confession of Faith: Apostles Creed (p. 851)

Doxology (Hymn 568)

Closing Hymn: 394 “Eternal Spirit, God of Truth”

PM Worship

OT: 1 Kings 2:1-12

NT: 2 Timothy 4:1-8

David’s Final Directives to Solomon

Shorter Catechism Q/A # 79

Q. Which is the tenth commandment?
A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

Suggested Preparations

Monday (2/18) Read and discuss Romans 8:12-17. Commenting on the witness of the Holy Spirit, R.C. Sproul writes:

Finally, we come to the deepest and highest level of assurance of salvation that we can [receive] in this world. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit.” … There is a spiritual conversation here, a spiritual communication that comes from the Holy Spirit to the human spirit, which indicates “that we are children of God.” In the final analysis, our assurance of salvation is not a logical deduction springing from our theology. Our assurance is certainly not based on a careful analysis of our behavior. Our final assurance comes by the testimony of God the Holy Spirit, who bears witness with and through our spirits that we are children of God.

This is wonderful but also dangerous. Paul is not falling into some kind of gnostic mysticism here, a special revelation or secret pipeline through which the Holy Spirit talks to us and gives us private revelation. Paul is talking about how the Spirit of the Lord confirms a truth to our human spirit. The Spirit does not come and whisper into our ear when we are driving down the highway, “Relax, you are one of mine.” We need to understand that when the Spirit communicates to God’s people, He communicates to them by the Word, with the Word, through the Word, and never against the Word. There are millions who claim to be led by the Spirit into sin and disobedience. The testimony we receive from the Holy Spirit comes in through the Word.

It is important that we understand that. If we lack assurance and want our hearts to be at peace, we must go to the Word. The Spirit confirms His truth to us in and through the Word. If we want to be led by the Spirit of God, we must immerse ourselves in the Spirit-inspired Word. We are called to test the spirits to make sure that the spirit who is leading us is the Holy Spirit, and the only test we can apply is the test of the Word itself.

Read or sing Hymn 238 “LORD, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee” Prayer: Please lift up the people of Haiti in prayer as they live through severe political unrest. Pray that the LORD would use this uncertainty to spread the gospel.

Tuesday (2/19) Read and discuss Romans 8:5-11. Paul is teaching us important truths about how sanctification takes place through work and power of the Holy Spirit. It would be helpful for us to stop and think for a moment about just how the Holy Spirit works to sanctify us. There are many aspects to this wonderful work, but I would like to highlight just one of them for you. Let me start with a question: Why do we sin? That’s a good question. The truth is a bit disconcerting: We sin because we want to. So, how does the Holy Spirit lead us to more and more die unto sin and to live unto righteousness? You might think that the Holy Spirit does this by giving us the strength to do the good that we otherwise wouldn’t want to do. There may be a tiny bit of truth in this, but that isn’t the primary thing that Holy Spirit is doing in your life at all. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit isn’t just zapping you with bits of power that are changing your nature so that you are less corrupt than you used to be. The primary way that the Holy Spirit is sanctifying you as by using the ordinary means of grace – in particular the Word of God, the sacraments, and prayer – to change your desires. As the Holy Spirit shows you the beauty and glory of Christ, you will desire Christ more and you will also see the ugliness of sin with greater and greater clarity. This is one of the reasons why people who are growing in holiness sometimes don’t feel that way. While they are more and more dying unto sin and living unto righteousness – they have a greater appreciation for how wonderful Christ is and how exceedingly wicked sin is so that they feel their remaining lack of sanctification more and more intensely. There is a very practical ramification of this truth for our lives: Since a large part of how the Holy Spirit works to sanctify us is by using the ordinary means of grace – in particular the Word of God, the sacraments, and prayer – to change our desires. One of the primary ways that you seek your own sanctification must be by diligently attending to the means of grace. You cannot expect that the Holy Spirit will illuminate and apply the Word of God to your mind and your heart which you are not reading nor hearing read and preached. Furthermore, this truth reminds us that sanctification is not a self-help project. While we are called to apply ourselves to the pursuit of holiness – it is only accomplished in the Holy Spirit’s power and never in our own. The Christian life is not a self-help project. We live by faith in the Son of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit. That isn’t only an important truth … that is really good news. “For He who has begun a good work in you, will surely bring it to completion.” Read or Sing Psalm 8A Prayer: Please pray for the young people in our church that they would understand God’s grace in Jesus Christ and that the Holy Spirit is with them and in them to empower their walk with God.

Wednesday (2/20) Read and discuss Isaiah 54:1-17.  R. Reed Lessing writes:

Isaiah foresees the day when Zion will have no children, no family, and no husband. Her city will be destroyed, her cupboards will be bare, and her hopes will vanish. She will have absolutely nothing. …

Enter Yahweh, the Husband, Maker, Holy One, Redeemer, the God of all the earth and its armies. His Servant, Jesus, performed His first miracle when partygoers looked at their supply of wine and saw nothing. Then there was the widow at Nain, Jairus’ daughter, blind Bartimaeus, the Canaanite woman, Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, and the familiar words “we have only five loves of bread and two fishes here.” The Servant, “who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing.” Even the best Manhattan advertising agencies would be hard-pressed for a catchy jingle: “Become nothing. Imagine the possibilities!”

Omnipotent. He cries. The owner of all things, he says, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man does not have a place to lay His head.” … The Creator – He is spit on by His creatures. The source of truth – He is declared guilty on the basis of lies. The source of light – for three hours He hangs in the darkness. The source of life – He is crucified, dies, and is buried. From the pinnacle of praise in the universe to the ultimate absolute nothing. “He had no attractiveness and no majesty. We saw Him, and He had no appearance that we should desire Him.”

However, because of the Servant’s selfless sacrifice, Zion will have precious children and priceless city structures. Her tents, once destroyed, are not only restored but expanded. … The ravages of the Babylonian flood have receded and given way to peace. The refugees returning from Babylon have a rebuilt city decked in royal splendor.

The restoration prefigures Yahweh’s greatest act of salvation: after Christ’s vicarious suffering and atoning death, He rises from the dead. Because Jesus is alive, the Holy Spirit delivers in Word and Sacrament the blessings of rich, cleansing forgiveness that flows with the blood and water from the Servant’s pierced side (Jn 19:34). John is beside himself: “From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace” (Jn 1:16). …

… We are called to relearn the apostolic attitude: “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the transcendent power is from God and not from us” (2 Cor 4:7). Zion’s destiny in Isaiah 40-55 teaches us this equation: Yahweh plus absolutely nothing equals absolutely everything!

Prayer: Please lift up our brothers and sisters in China as they suffer through an increase in persecution.

Thursday (2/21) Read and discuss 2 Timothy 4:1-8. John Stott writes:

Paul is not issuing his charge in his own name or on his own authority but ‘in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus’ and therefore conscious of the divine direction and approval. Perhaps the strongest of all incentives to faithfulness is the sense of a commission from God. If Timothy can only be assured that he is the servant of the most high God and an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and that Paul’s challenge to him is God’s challenge, then nothing will deflect him from this task.

The main emphasis of this first verse, however, is not so much on the presence of God as on the coming of Christ. It is evident that Paul still believes in Christ’s personal return. He wrote of it in his earliest letters, especially those to the Thessalonian church. Although he now knows that he will die before it takes place, yet still at the end of his ministry he looks forward to it, lives in light of it, and describes Christians as those who love Christ’s appearing. He is sure that Christ will make a visible ‘appearing,’ and when He appears, He will both ‘judge the living and the dead’ and consummate ‘His kingdom’ or reign.

Now these three truths – the appearance, the judgment and the kingdom – should be as clear and certain an expectation to us as they were to Paul and Timothy. They cannot fail to exert a powerful influence on our ministry. For both those who preach the word and those who listen to it must give an account to Christ when He appears.

Read or Sing Hymn 275 “Arise, My Soul, Arise” Prayer: Ask the LORD to send visitors to our congregation who would be blessed by uniting with our church family.

Friday (2/22) Read and discuss 1 Kings 2:1-12. Walter Maier writes:

The clause” he lay down with his fathers” appears at the beginning of 2:10 to indicated that David died, and it is used of other monarchs throughout Kings for the same purpose. … A person’s “lying down” can carry with it the thought of his “getting up” again. When one rests or sleeps, he will be roused once more to action or will be awakened. This commentary holds that “he lay down with his fathers” implies the resurrection of the dead. …

The NT’s teaching that, at death, the soul or spirit is (immediately) transferred to the afterlife (either heaven or hell) is evident in passages such as Lk 16:19-31; 23:43; Phil 1:21-24; and many passages in Revelation. Yet this Testament, as mentioned above, also speaks of people who dies as those who fell asleep, who are sleeping, and who will be awakened on the Last Day – that is, will be raised bodily form the dead. … Some of the believers who were eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ had “fallen asleep” by the time Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul writes about believers who “have fallen asleep” (died), but who will rise from this sleep at Christ’s second advent (1 Thess 4:13-18).

The doctrine of the resurrection, then, either directly or indirectly, is presented throughout Scripture. Job, probably living during the time of the patriarchs confessed this (Job 19:23-27). What happened with Enoch (Gen 5:23-24) and Elijah (2 Ki 2:1-18) reinforced that the bodies of all people, after their time on earth, would someday continue to exist in the next life (in the case of believers, as Enoch and Elijah were, with the LORD). When the author of Kings chose these words to mark the end of the monarch’s career, “H lay down with his fathers,” he was sending an underlying message to his readers. That man, who had entered the sleep of death, would one day be awakened. All those who had fallen asleep in faith in the Messiah would awaken to everlasting life.

Read or sing Hymn 394 “Eternal Spirit, God of Truth” Prayer: Give thanks that the LORD has promised to both raise and glorify our bodies.

Saturday (2/23) Read and discuss Romans 8:12-17. Doug Moo writes:

The feeling of being rejected is all too common in our world. Husbands reject wives and wives husbands as the divorce rate soars. Parents reject children and children parents. High school students reject other students because they do not fit with the “in group.” Every reader can fill in the blank with his or her own experience of rejection. The sad fact is that it is increasingly difficult to find a secure and permanent relationship. As a result, people feel uneasy and uncertain. I know wives married twenty-five years to loving husbands who find it hard to trust their husbands because of the broken marries they see all around them.

Of course, no human relationship can ever provide ultimate security. The best-intentioned spouse can die at any time. But what our fellow humans can never supply, God does. In the midst of our disillusionment and doubt, He offers the most secure relationship imaginable: adoption into his own eternal family. Through our faith in Christ, the Son of God, we become His “brothers and sisters” (see Heb 2:10-13), children of God and co-heirs with Christ of all that God has promised those who love Him. We belong to the ultimate “in group,” those who are the dearly loved children of the God of the universe. Nor do we have to worry about being rejected from this relationship. As Paul has been teaching throughout these chapters and will do again in 8:18-39, our adoption is permanent. Nothing can change that, nothing and nobody can keep us from enjoying God’s favor and blessing forever.

Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 17 February 2019 Sunday, Feb 10 2019

17 February 2019

Call to Worship: Psalm 100:1-5

Opening Hymn: 248 “All Creatures of Our God and King”

Confession of Sin

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done. And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us. But You, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent; According to Your promises declared to mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father; For His sake; That we may hereby live a godly, righteous, and sober life; To the glory of Your holy name. Amen.  

Assurance of Pardon: Micah 7:18-20

Hymn of Preparation: 283 “Fairest Lord Jesus”

Old Covenant Reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14

New Covenant Reading: Romans 8:5-11

Sermon: Life and Peace in the Spirit

Hymn of Response: 216 “Praise to the LORD, the Almighty”

Confession of Faith: Q/A 1 Heidelberg Catechism (p. 872)

Doxology (Hymn 568)

Diaconal Offering

Closing Hymn: 350 “Beneath the Cross of Jesus”

PM Worship

OT: 1 Kings 1:41-53

NT: Luke 12:1-7

Like a House of Cards

Shorter Catechism Q/A # 78

Q. What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbor’s good name.

Suggested Preparations

Monday (2/11) Read and discuss Romans 8:5-11. Doug Moo writes:

[With verse 9] Paul signals a shift in direction by turning directly to his readers: “You, however, are controlled not by the flesh but by the Spirit.” Paul’s “two-regime” theological framework is evident here. What he says, literally, is that “you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.” Flesh and Spirit are two of the main powers belonging respectively, to the old regime and the new. By God’s grace in Christ, Christians have been taken out of the realm dominated by “flesh” – the narrowly human outlook that leads to sin – and place in the realm dominated by God’s Holy Spirit. I tis clear, then, that the “in flesh”/”in Spirit” language is metaphorical – a way of indicating that people are dominated by one or the other of these forces.

This becomes even clearer at the end of verse 9, where Paul shifts to the opposite metaphorical concept: We are “in the Spirit” if the Spirit “lives in” us. In whom does the Spirit live? In every person who is genuinely a Christian. Not to have the Spirit of Christ is not to belong to Christ at all. The New Testament teaches that the gift of the holy Spirit is an automatic benefit for anyone who knows Christ. We must then, give full force to the indicative mode of verse 9: Every Christian really is “in the Spirit” – under his domination and control. We may not always reflect that domination, but it is a fundamental fact of our Christian existence and the basis for a life of confidence and obedience to the LORD.

Read or sing Hymn 248 “All Creatures of Our God and King” Prayer: Ask the LORD to keep His people from being caught up in the excessive divisiveness of contemporary politics in America.

Tuesday (2/12) Read and discuss Zechariah 4:1-10. Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? That may seem like an odd question to ask. Doesn’t a person have to believe in the Holy Spirit to be a Christian at all? Don’t churches all over the world regularly confess “I believe in the Holy Spirit” when they recite the Apostles Creed? Well yes, but based on how people actually live – it is not clear that many professing Christians truly believe in the Holy Spirit. They believe that He exists but they are not trusting Him to act in their daily lives. What about you? In Zechariah chapter 4 we hear the LORD give a word of encouragement specifically for Zerrubabel who was serving as the Governor in Jerusalem. Zerrubabel was raised up to serve at this challenging time as a small number of Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity and set to rebuilding the Temple.  The problems seemed so insurmountable that they are described as being like a great mountain. Yet, the LORD promised Zerrubabel that the project of rebuilding the Temple would come to completion on his watch. In fact, God was going to so dramatically work that, instead of appearing to be a mountain, all his problems would appear to be nothing but smooth level ground. The key to all of this is found in verse 6:

This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

This call to rely on the life-giving power of God is made to all Christians as well. This is not a blank check from God that promises He will accomplish whatever we set our minds to. Rather it is a promise that when we labor at carrying out His will – then the Holy Spirit will accomplish in that work far more than we would ask for or even imagine. Let’s make our belief in the Holy Spirit not only a word on our lips but the habit of our hearts as well. Read or Sing Hymn 283 “Fairest Lord Jesus” Prayer: Ask that the LORD would give you a greater reliance upon and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Wednesday (2/13) Read and discuss Ezekiel 37:1-14.  Iain Duguid writes:

This passage is about the divine work of re-creating Israel through the prophetic word and Spirit. Though God’s people have been justly judged and handed over into the realm of death for their sins, so that, humanly speaking, there is now no hope for them, yet God can bring life out of death. Because of His wrath, their death is real; because of His grace and sovereign will to have a people of His own, however, their future prospect of life may be equally real. It is this that the prophet is called to proclaim to them. What he has first experienced himself he now announces to others: life in the Spirit through the power of the word of God. The new creation that was begun in him will assuredly be brought to fulfillment by God.

What precisely does re-creating Israel mean, however? Does it directly anticipate the formation of the present political state of Israel, as some have supposed? To argue in this way is to miss the spiritual significance of the prophecy. For what is in view here, as the connections back to 36:24-38 make clear, is something more than political autonomy for the descendants of Abraham. It is nothing short of the fulfillment of all Old Testament anticipations of eschatological fullness, all of which are fulfilled in Christ. It is in Him that the new Spirit-filled Israel of God takes shape, an identity that is no longer governed by ethnic origins and circumcision, as the old Israel was, but rather by faith in the cross of Christ.

Prayer: Give thanks that the LORD doesn’t simply offer us a new plan but that He gives us new life.

Thursday (2/14) Read and discuss Luke 12:1-7. Ligon Duncan comments:

The fear of God is something that has been almost lost from the vocabulary of evangelical religion in our own time. In fact, when we hear the phrase, “fear of God,” you may have a negative response to that. In the Old Testament, the fear of God was the way you summed up the essence of heart religion. Think of passage that perhaps you’ve memorized from Proverbs – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The fear of God is one of those seminal ideas in the Old Testament that encapsulates the very heart of a human being’s relationship with God. When you hear the word fear, don’t hear “fear” like a woman might think of who has an alcoholic father who flies into tyrannical and inexplicable rages without any prediction whatsoever. Have you ever talked with someone who’s experienced that kind of irascible, erratic, unpredictable behavior? It wreaks havoc on their life, doesn’t it? That’s not the kind of fear that’s being spoken of here. It’s not saying, “Now remember to treat God like an irascible, unpredictable, erratic tyrant.” No, what is being said here is to reverence God more than anything or anyone else, to care more about what He thinks than anybody else thinks, to love Him more than anything else, to value Him more than anyone else, to treasure Him above everything else — that is to fear God. It is to revere Him, to desire Him, to long for Him, to hold Him in awe, to adore Him, to treasure Him, to delight in Him, to acknowledge Him to be high and exalted and above everything else – this is the fear of God. And Jesus says, “As long as there’s anything in this world or anyone in this world that you fear more than God, you are going to be a slave to fear. If you fear man, you’ll be a slave to fear. But if you fear God, then you will be free, for if you fear God there’s nothing else to fear.”

Read or Sing Hymn 216 “Praise to the LORD, the Almighty” Prayer: Ask the LORD to liberate you from those things and people who would tyrannize you by cause you to fear Him far above mere mortals.

Friday (2/15) Read and discuss 1 Kings 1:41-53. John Woodhouse writes:

The news (like the sound that had accompanied it, 1:40) was earth-shattering. In this it was again like the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is certainly good news. But it is devastating news as well. Follow what happened to those who heard Jonathan’s gospel.

Jonathan’s news had an immediate impact on Adonijah’s guests at the En-rogel festivities: “Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way” (v. 49). All at once they recognized  that what had been going on at En-rogel had been a big mistake. If they had thought that the whole Adonijah thing was legitimate, the news that Solomon was the true king was shattering. They had been wrong

It is easy to be sincere but wrong. The seriousness of being wrong about the big questions of life is not assuaged by honestly believing that you are right. IF I sincerely believe that I am healthy when I am dying of cancer, my sincerity will not save me. If I genuinely trust a con man selling a phony cure, my trust is misplaced no matter how deeply it is felt. The sincerity can make the realization that I was wrong even more devastating.

The immediacy of the response by the guests at En-rogel, with no suggestion of defying King David’s will by sticking with Adonijah, shows that King David still had their allegiance [Or at least they realized that they had no hope of opposing him]. For them, like Jonathan, David was still “our lord King David” (vv. 43, 47). … The news of King David making Solomon king made them tremble with fear. They had made a big mistake. It is striking how quickly they abandoned Adonijah: “each wen his own way.”

Read or sing Hymn 350 “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” Prayer: Please lift up our brothers and sisters at the Presbyterian Church of Cape Cod.

Saturday (2/16) Read and discuss Romans 8:5-11. F.F. Bruce writes:

To be “in the Spirit” is for Paul the opposite of being “in the flesh.” All believers, according to him, are “in the Spirit”: “you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit”, he tells the Roman Christians, “if the Spirit of Christ really dwells in you. Anyone who has not the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him (Romans 8:9).”  … It appears, then, that there is no difference between the indwelling of the Spirit and the indwelling of the risen Christ, so far as the believer’s experience is concerned, although this does not mean that Paul identified the risen Christ with the Spirit outright. There is a dynamic equivalence between them, but they are nevertheless distinguished. The Spirit conveys the resurrection life of Christ to believers, and in doing so He conveys the assurance that they in their turn will rise in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection – the assurance that “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your moral bodies also through His Spirit which dwells in you” (Romans 8:11). This is one of the most distinctive Pauline insights regarding the Spirit: it is because of this that he describes the Spirit as the “first fruits” of the resurrection life (Romans 8:23), the “seal” and “guarantee” – the initial down payment – of the heritage of glory into which they will then be ushered. The Spirit not only makes the benefits of Christ’s saving work effective in them, but also enables them to appropriate and enjoy in advance the benefits of the age to come.

Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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Guide for the Preparation for Worship on 10 February 2019 Sunday, Feb 3 2019

10 February 2019

Call to Worship: Psalm 105:1-3

Opening Hymn: 281 “Rejoice, the LORD is King”

Confession of Sin

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done. And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us. But You, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent; According to Your promises declared to mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father; For His sake; That we may hereby live a godly, righteous, and sober life; To the glory of Your holy name. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 103:8-10

Hymn of Preparation: 391 “Come, O Come, Thou Quickening Spirit”

Old Covenant Reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14

New Covenant Reading: Romans 8:5-11

Sermon: Life and Peace in the Spirit

Hymn of Response: 277 “Before the Throne of God Above”

Confession of Faith: Q/A 1 Heidelberg Catechism (p. 872)

Doxology (Hymn 568)

Closing Hymn: 157 “When Morning Gilds the Skies”

PM Worship

OT: 1 Kings 1:41-53

NT: Luke 12:1-7

Like a House of Cards

Shorter Catechism Q/A # 77

Q. What is required in the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment requireth the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor’s good name, especially in witness-bearing.

Suggested Preparations

Monday (2/4) Read and discuss Romans 8:5-11. James Montgomery Boice writes:

In verse 5 the apostle contrasts the unbeliever and the Christian in terms of their thinking, saying that the unbeliever has his mind set on what the sinful nature desires but that the Christian has his mind “set on what the Spirit desires.” This is a profound way of speaking, for it eliminates many misconceptions of what it means to be a Christian while it establishes the truly essential thing.

First, it eliminates the idea that the Christian is someone who is merely very “religious.” To be religious and to be mindful of the things of the Spirit are two entirely different things. The Pharisees were religious, excessively so, but they killed Jesus. Before he was saved, Paul was religious, but he expressed his religion by trying to do away with Christians. Ironically, one function of religion is to try to eliminate God.

Paul’s way of speaking also eliminates the idea that a Christian is anyone who merely holds to right theological beliefs. … Do not get me wrong here. I know that there are degrees of understanding on the part of Christians and that many true Christians are yet babes in Christ, perhaps because they have never been given adequate teaching. Many might be unable to describe their faith in any terms more adequate than those I have just given. I do not want to deny that they are Christians. But what I do want to say is that it is possible to confess those things and still not be a Christian, simply because a Christian is more than giving mere verbal assent to certain doctrines. It is to be born again. And since being born again is the work of God’s Spirit, it is right to insist that those who are truly born again will have their minds set on what God desires.

Finally, Paul’s way of speaking eliminates the idea that a Christian is someone who has attained a certain standard of approved conduct.

What, then, does being a Christian mean? It means exactly what Paul says. The Christian is someone who has been born again by the work of the Holy Spirit and who now, as a result of the internal transformation, has his mind set on what the Spirit of God desires. If we are Christians, it does not mean that we have attained to this standard, at least not fully. But it does mean that we want to. Do you remember the illustration of the path? Being on the path does to mean that we have arrived at our destination. If it did, we would already be completely like Jesus. But it does mean that we are moving along this path, that we are following Jesus, who is going before us, that we are trying to be like Him.

Read or sing Hymn 281 “Rejoice, the LORD is King” Prayer: Give thanks that Jesus paid it all so that all we need to do is trust Him for His life and work.

Tuesday (2/5) Read and discuss Romans 8:1-4. In Augustus Toplady’s great hymn, Rock of Ages, we sing:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

In justification, the LORD deals with the guilt of sin in our lives. In sanctification, the LORD deals with the power and presence of sin in our lives. And He does both of these things in Christ, and in Christ alone. Are you enjoying the blessing of full acceptance with God right now? Are you filled with the confident knowledge that God the Holy Spirit is at work in you – breaking the power of cancelled sin and progressively transforming you into the likeness of Jesus Christ? There is only one place where these blessings can be found:

[For] “So long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from Him, all that He has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us (John Calvin).”

Yet, in Him, we are right now fully accepted and loved by our Heavenly Father – even as He transforms us to make us fit for life in the age to come. Read or Sing Hymn 391 “Come, O Come, Thou Quickening Spirit” Prayer: Please lift up our Session and Diaconate as they meet together this evening.

Wednesday (2/6) Read and discuss Ezekiel 37:1-14.  The following story is told from the old Soviet Union before the Berlin wall fell:

The communist lecturer paused before summing up. His large audience listened fearfully. ‘Therefore,’ he said, ‘there is no God; Jesus Christ never existed; there is no such thing as a Holy Spirit. The Church is an oppressive institution, and anyway it’s out of date. The future belongs to the State; and the State is in the hands of the Party.’

He was about to sit down when an old priest near the front stood up. ‘May I say two words?’ he asked (It’s three in English, but he was of course speaking Russian). The lecturer disdainfully, gave him permission. He turned, looked out over the crowd, and shouted: ‘Christ is risen!’ Back came the roar of the people: ‘He is risen indeed!’ They’d been saying it ever Easter for a thousand years; why should they stop now?

In this story we are reminded how subversive Easter is to all the tyrannies of this world. Tyrants all base their power on the ability to kill. “They claim to have the keys of death and hell, but they’re lying. Where the tyrants’ power runs out, God’s power begins. He raises the dead (N.T. Wright).” Today’s passage reminds us of the explosive nature of this truth. Even the Bible believing Church sometimes tones down and domesticates the explosive nature of Christ rising from the dead in the middle of history. We rightly speak of Easter as the source of our spiritual life and our hope for the future. Christ’s resurrection does mean those things, but it is also about far more than our private spiritual lives. Today’s passage speaks of the entire nation of Israel being nothing but dry dead bones. God steps in and sovereignly gives them new life. This new life is not merely individual and private – it is corporate and powerful. Ezekiel sees the whole house of Israel being reconstituted as a mighty army. It is a foretaste of the transformative event that crashed into the world when Christ conquered the last enemy and rose triumphantly from the grave.  More than a rescue plan, Easter morning is the proclamation and the beginning of God’s new creation. “It declares that, after all, God is God, and that His kingdom shall come, and His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Easter speaks of a world reborn (N.T. Wright).” It is easy to become discouraged when we dwell on our culture or the state of the Church in our country; but for God’s people the decisive victory has already been won. The pain of this world is real and so we rightly weep. Yet, because Christ is risen, we can look forward in confidence to the day when He will wipe away every tear from our eyes and we will dwell in His house forever. And because He lives, we can courageously live as His people in the world today – paradoxically as a meek yet mighty army. Prayer: Lift up our brothers and sisters at the OPC congregation in Jaffrey, NH.

Thursday (2/7) Read and discuss Luke 12:1-7. David Garland writes:

The promise is that the truth will be proclaimed. What begins behind the closed doors of an upstairs room will soon spill out onto the streets of Jerusalem and will continue to be proclaimed unhinderedly to the ends of the earth. The disciples who proclaim the gospel will face pressure from those who would deny, denigrate, and suppress the work of the Holy Spirit. Their lives may be threatened for their proclamation. In that moment of crisis, they will face the decision to acknowledge and proclaim the Son of Man or to deny him. They will be tempted to equivocate or be silent. They also will be tempted not to trust the power of the Holy Spirit or God’s providential care.

To fear the powers of the world and to acquiesce to them is to doubt Jesus’ power as the resurrected Lord who reigns over all. These powers are false powers. They can take life, but they cannot create or give life. When they have killed, they are through, but God is not. God has power over life and death and a person’s ultimate destiny after death. If God is attentive to what happens to even the slightest of creatures, certainly God will show care for Jesus’ followers. If God cares enough to number their hairs, they are certainly prized. If they perish, they will not perish eternally. The persecution and even the death of Jesus’ followers do not mean that God’s redemptive purpose somehow has been derailed. Green comments, “Jesus’ instruction is permeated by his vision of God, who has ultimate oversight in the unfolding of earthly events.”

These sayings reveal that while salvation is present, it is also future and yet to be fully revealed. … He is giving assurance that when they proclaim the truth, God is in complete control and those who resist their proclamation with violence will pay the penalty.

Read or Sing Hymn 277 “Before the Throne of God Above” Prayer: Please lift up those in our congregation who are struggling with health challenges.

Friday (2/8) Read and discuss 1 Kings 1:41-53. Walter Maier writes:

Solomon’s decision (1:52) shows a gracious spirit and wisdom. Everyone, including Adonijah, would have to admit that he was fair, and even more than fair. Solomon at the very least could have had Adonijah exiled from Israel. However, one reason for letting Adonijah remain in Jerusalem might have been Solomon’s desire to spare his father additional sadness, after David had experienced so much grief in his family life, including the deaths of at least three of his sons. Another reason could have been that Solomon wished to keep an eye on Adonijah. (An old adage is “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”) With his decision, Solomon has gone on public record as saying, in essence, “Adonijah, I have spared you this time. But you are on a very short leash. If you are disloyal in the future, even in a small way, you will be finished.”

Adonijah coming and bowing before Solomon was most appropriate (1:53). Noticeably conspicuous by its absence, however, accord to the account, was any warm greeting from Solomon, any embrace between the two men as brothers, any conversation between them. Solomon’s single, terse command, “go to your house,” has a rather cold, even ominous tone. Solomon remains suspicious of Adonijah and does not trust him. The king senses that he has not seen the last of trouble from Adonijah.

In the end, one perceives how God used people, especially Nathan, Bathsheba, and above all David, for the accomplishment of His gracious will. With regard to the human element, David’s role was paramount. Adonijah had not counted on the king being promptly informed of his feast at the Zohelet Stone or on David acting so quickly and decisively. Adonijah had vastly underestimated David’s current capability, control in Israel, authority, and support by the people. From the human standpoint, there was suspense for a while, and then David, Bathsheba, Nathan, and Solomon emerged as the winners, and Adonijah the loser. But behind all this, Yahweh was always firmly in control. Solomon, the obedient “servant” (1:19, 26), ultimately was exalted by God; so also was David’s later and greatest Son, who took the form of a servant and was obedient, even to death on a cross, Jesus Christ.

Read or sing Hymn 157 “When Morning Gilds the Skies” Prayer: Please lift up the teenagers in our congregation that they would grow in their knowledge of and love for Jesus Christ.

Saturday (2/9) Read and discuss Romans 8:5-11. Tom Schreiner writes:

We must emphasize that Paul never proclaims that human ability is sufficient to keep God’s commands. Believers are not summoned to love or live a life worthy of God on the basis of their own abilities. The power of the Holy Spirit is the only means by which believers can do what God commands. In Pauline letters, commands are often given after Paul has detailed what God has accomplished in Christ for his people. In other words, the indicative precedes the imperative. A godly life is the fruit of the Spirit, the result of the Spirit’s work and power in the life of the Christian. Believers overcome the flesh … by walking in, and being led by, the Spirit. … Those who walk in the Spirit fulfill the law. Those who are led by the Spirit are characterized by joy, praise and singing, and they have right relations with their families and in society. It would be a complete distortion of Pauline theology if one understood his exhortations as appealing to human potential and ability. Only through the work of the Spirit can a believer keep what is commanded; and in this life such obedience, though significant, will always be partial and incomplete.

Prayer: Please lift up tomorrow’s morning and evening worship services.

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