Category: Exhortation

Psalm 147:12-13

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.

Welcome to our Covenant Worship.

The Apostle Paul says that He has made himself a servant of all. He served them with his life and even his death. In the same manner our Lord came to serve in His life and in His death. Paul’s service was actually part of his evangelistic mission. He writes in I Corinthians 9 that He became a servant so that He might win more to the gospel of grace. Servanthood becomes an apostolic method to win those outside of Christ. If this meant sacrificing his tradition, He did it. If it meant not eating meat, He did it. Why? Because He did it all for the sake of the gospel. The gospel was greater than his differences with the weaker brother. For Paul, if it did not violate the law of God, he would do it for the sake of the gospel. Can we be imitators of Paul as he imitated His Lord? Beloved, let us serve one another in the body, but let us serve those outside the body also. They are the ones in need of grace. Paul says: “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” Paul is so selfless that He wants everyone to embrace the blessings of the gospel. How selfless are we this morning?

Prayer: Teach us, O Lord to love your gospel and doing so, to live the life of a servant; the life of the cross, the life of your beloved Son who became a servant of us all by dying the death of the cross. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.

Exhortation: The weaker brother

Psalm 11:2-3

2 Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.

Good morning and Welcome to our covenant worship on this Lord’s Day.

I have been considering these last few days the implications of Paul’s writing to the Corinthian church about the weaker brother.[1] This led me to think about our denomination. We are part of a very young denomination; a denomination that continues to show significant signs of growth. We are also a people with many convictions. We believe strongly in an explicit Christian education, we are committed to Biblical worship, we believe in the goodness of God in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. And I could probably go on and on. We have these convictions because we believe in the centrality of the Word of God in all that we do. But we also realize that we have many brothers and sisters in the faith, whether family members, co-workers, friends who do not share these same convictions. In Paul’s words, we are to take care that we do not cause a weaker brother to stumble. It is very easy to look at our weaker brother and say that they are infantile because they do not eat what we eat, drink what we drink, but my brothers and sisters, these are the brothers for whom Christ has died. Let us remember that Christ has shown patience, grace and mercy. So let us show patience, grace and mercy to those in the household of faith. Let us pray.

O Lord, hear our prayer. We thank you that you are our Lord. The idols of this world are nothing, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Give us wisdom as we love our brethren and cherish together one Lord, one faith and one baptism. Unite us O Lord, as you are united with your beloved Son Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit. This is our prayer, O Lord. Amen.

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[1] I Corinthians 8.

Welcome to Providence Church. We greet you in the Name of Christ our Lord:

We come this morning to the Third Sunday of Epiphany. One of the many themes in Epiphany is the theme of newness. The Old Land or the Old Creation of the Older Covenant is now seeing the newness of a New World that has been ushered in through the Messiah.. Perhaps it is proper to speak of this kingdom era in which we live as a Christo-centric New World Order. Perhaps we may even call it a Cosmic Conspiracy Theory. God the Father is conspiring with God the Son, through the work of God the Spirit to bring newness to the entire world. If you desire to be a part of this grand conspiracy, then Lift Up Your Hearts to the Lord; prepare yourself to worship Father, Son and Spirit.

Exhortation

Psalm 138:1-2

We give you thanks, O Lord, with our hearts, before the gods we sing your praise;
We bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.

Good morning. We greet you in Christ’s Name and we pray that your minds and hearts will be renewed this Lord’s Day.

This morning you are here because God has covenanted with you. He has loved you with an everlasting love. This is why you bring yourselves as sacrifices pleasing to God. Apart from Him, everything we do here is meaningless. But yet you are still here, because you know that God is for us and no one dares be against us. The devil seeks to be against us, but at the moment we confess our sins He will flee. God’s enemies are against us, but at the moment we sing, they too will flee. Our flesh wars against us, but at the moment we eat bread and drink wine, our spirits will win the battle. This morning you are to come boldly to the throne of grace praying that God will enlarge your vision of His kingdom. Since Christ has redeemed us, let us run the race set before us. Let us continue to run this morning by worshiping Father, Son and Spirit. Come and worship! This is where you belong.

Call to Worship from Psalm 9:1-2

We will give thanks to the Lord with our whole hearts;
We will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
We will be glad and exult in you;
We will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Greetings in Christ’s Holy Name and Welcome to Providence Church on this Lord’s Day.

Our call to worship this morning calls us to recount all of God’s wonderful deeds. The longer you have lived in this world the more you realize the immensity of God’s deeds in your own life and in the life of your family.

Let me recount just a few of His deeds for us.

a)      First, He delivers us from our sins.

b)      Secondly, He feeds us by His word.

c)      Thirdly, He nurtures us with bread and wine.

d)      Fourthly, He invites us to worship Him.

This list is endless, because the mercies of God endure forever. When was the last time you recounted God’s wonderful deeds?  We have an opportunity this morning to cleanse our hearts from impurity through confessing our sins. This is the first requirement in order that we may recount the wonderful deeds of our Lord.