Liturgy 6/9/24

Invocation

Gracious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have called us to come before you to worship you this day and in gladness we come. You O Lord Reign, let the nations tremble before you. You who sit enthroned upon the cherubim, let the earth shake. For the LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. Let everyone praise your great and awesome name! For Holy are you Lord, you love justice and you have established equity; you will execute justice and righteousness in your church. O you His saints, sing to the Lord a new song; shout for joy in the God of our salvation. For his mighty right hand has won him the victory. Death is defeated, and your sins have been forgiven. Glory in the one who has paid your debt; give honor to the one who has accepted His sacrifice; and rejoice in the one who unites you to Christ, and may He this morning open the eyes of your heart to behold in the glorious Gospel Jesus Christ as Lord. Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! Offer up to him your bodies as living sacrifices which is your reasonable act of worship. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end, and Amen.

Old Testament Lesson

Deuteronomy 8:1–10 ESV

1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

Pastoral Prayer

Father and God, we know our tendency is to wander and forget you, but you remind us yet again that we are to accept the good from your as well as the bad. For we know that you at work in our lives to conform us to Christ; and every son you discipline, which we confess is unpleasant in the moment, but which we trust will produces in us such fruits that are pleasing to you. O Lord, have your way in our midst. We know revival will not come unless you poor out your Spirit, granting faith to those who sit in darkness, which will lead to repentance. Start here with us, turn us O Lord to you; strip us of all our idolatry, and grant that we may be devoted wholly to you. We long to see your kingdom come. So raise up laborers. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Raise up gospel ministers, faithful elders and deacons. We continue to marvel at the ways you have blessed us financial this year. It seems your brought us to the end of ourselves and our resources, so that we would trust in you. Continue to make us good stewards of all you have entrusted to us. Thank you for the quick sale of the land and we ask that all would go smoothly until we close on the 21st. And we ask Lord that you would lead and guide us to the building you would have for us, in just the right place, where we may become fixed in the community to shine a spotlight on Christ. As you continue to bless our finances, may we be able to extend the support to other faithful work throughout your kingdom. Bless the work that Luke and Rebecca Bert at Sembeq; as he trains and equips future pastors and elders to take the gospel to the far reaches of Quebec and beyond. Bless their family, and keep them safe as he travels down to GA this week. And we Ask Lord as the pastors and elders of the PCA meet this week for GA, that you would give a Spirit of unity, that we would do work that honors you, speaking the truth in love, and taking every thought captive for the obedience of Christ. May it be an encouragement to the brothers as we fellowship and worship together. Keep us safe while there, and watch over the families of these men as they serve you there.

Father we continue to lift up to you those with needs in our congregation. We think specifically of David Smith, we thank you for his continued recovery and ask that you would sustain he and his family through this trial. We thank you O Lord for the successful surgery of our dear sister Hilary. We rejoice that the doctors intial assessment was that the mass they removed was not cancerous, we pray that biopsy results would confirm that. Help as she recovers, give strength and the restraint not to do to much to fast.

Father we prayer for out nation. For our president Joseph Biden and his cabinet; For congress and our representatives. We pray also for the election. Keep us from the idolatry of making these men into savior, and from the contention that increasingly marks these election cycles but which has no place in the church. For above you have called us to love one another. So guard and keep us from dissension and bitterness, and prevent any root of bitterness from rising up. We pray also for our governor Josh Shapiro, and for Bob Casey and Jon Fetterman, and also for Bridget Kosierowski. We ask that you give them wisdom, and repentance that leads to life, so that they may rule over us well. And teach us to submit to their authority even if in judgement you cause woman and children to be our leaders, may we submit to your discipline and learn to kiss the rod.

Father, be with your servant Kenn as he opens up your word for us this morning. Bless the words of his mouth and the meditation of all our hearts, may they be acceptable in your sight O Lord our rock and our kinsman redeemer, in the strong name of Jesus we pray. Amen.