OOW 01-22-2023

Invocation

Our Great Lord and Merciful Father,

We bow before your presence and entreat you at the throne of grace in the Name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the day you have appointed in which you promise to specially meet with your people through the means of grace in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. We confess You as the Most-High, most just, most loving, most merciful, immense, spiritual, holy, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal God. You have indeed done wondrous things on our behalf that are too numerous to recount, but chiefly centered upon the work of Your Son to save sinners. And yet, O Father, we confess that though our spirit is willing, our flesh is weak. We have sinned against your grace, we have left many duties undone, and we have done things we ought to have refrained from doing. Nevertheless, You are the God of endurance and encouragement; and You encourage us to draw near to You with a holy boldness. And so we do, trusting Your promise that You will draw near to us. Bless us, O Father, as we pray to You, sing Your praises, recite your teaching, hear your word read and preached, and fellowship with one another. Cleanse us from our sin, fill us with Your Spirit, give unto each saint what their soul needs best. Regenerate our children in our midst; cause the unbeliever to have the secrets of his heart exposed, that he may fall on his face and declare You are in our midst. Incline your ear and answer us, O Father; for we do ask in the name above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Catechism

As we continue in our catechism recitation, we come to Q&A 95 this morning. Today the catechism will teach us what our disposition to the Word of God must be, if it would work salvation in us and reveal Christ to us.

Corporate Prayer

As we engage in corporate prayer, our focus this morning will be our sister church in Hiram, GA: Berean Baptist Church, where Jerry Slate, Jr. is the sole elder. Last summer, they began to pray and consider finding a new place to worship, since the funeral home they were renting was becoming too small. This past November they were suddenly informed that due to new ownership, they would no longer be able to meet there. They have been meeting at various locations since, and have found a new place they are considering purchasing and developing into a new permanent meeting location. We need to give thanks to God for the ways in which He has taken care of the church thus far; and to petition Him to give wisdom to those involved in the decision-making process, and that He would be pleased to provide a new meeting place for His people at Berean Baptist.

Holy Father, we come now again before your presence in intercession for our dear brothers and sisters at Berean Baptist. We are mindful of their current need for a new meeting facility in which to worship You. We are mindful to give thanks that this is due in part because of the growth You have given them over the past few years. We are also mindful of your wonderful Providence that has guided the entire process, and given great assurance to the saints. We would now petition that You would be pleased to provide them a permanent meeting facility in the near future. We pray that You would give the brothers involved in that decision much wisdom and prudence; that You would help Pastor Slate not to be anxious and to stay fully engaged with his ministry of the Word and prayer; and that You might be pleased to use this as an opportunity to raise up qualified deacons in that church to be a blessing to Your people. We are reminded of the words of our confession: that ‘as the providence of God does in general reach to all creatures, so after a most special manner it takes care of His church, and disposes of all things to the good thereof.’ And so we therefore entrust not only Berean Baptist, but also ourselves, to Your Providence, which works all things together for our good; in the Name of Jesus Christ,

Amen.

Scripture Reading

Psalm 8 is a creation Psalm. Some of us perhaps become loathe to hear long sermons; but Scripture teaches us that creation has preached a sermon from the beginning, and will continue to do so until the end of the world and even into eternity. It preaches the glory and strength of God, and the majesty of the name of Yahweh. I would point your attention to vv.3-4. READ. When David looked out on creation, he was overwhelmed with God’s care for man. Here is this God who spoke all I see into existence, and yet he is mindful of me; he remembers me; he cares for me. Hebrews 2:5-9 picks up on this Psalm as it not only looks back to the creation mandate, but looks forward to the Son of Man who was made lower than the angels; who tasted death for His people; who rose, ascended, and had all things put in subjection under his feet.