Prayer Meeting

Song of Worship - Great is the Lord

Reading of Prayer of Repentance

Martin Bucer’s Prayer

Almighty, eternal God and Father, we confess and acknowledge unto You that we were conceived in unrighteousness and are full of sin and transgression in all our life. We do not fully believe Your Word nor follow Your holy commandments. Remember Your goodness, we beseech You, and for Your Name’s sake be gracious unto us, and forgive us our iniquity which, alas, is great Amen.

[Time of Silence]

Let everyone truly acknowledge this in his heart and believe in Christ. Thus, in His name, I proclaim unto you the forgiveness of all your sins, and declare you to be loosed of them on earth, that you be loosed of them also in heaven, in eternity. Amen.

Song of Worship - Amazing Love

Devotional: Matthew 5:3

Jesus first begins with the word Blessed. The word blessed is Makarios in the Greek and means, "the transcendent happiness of a life beyond care, labour and death". Blessedness is that joyous, transcendent state of being committed to God and accepting his will in our lives.

This idea of blessedness is found in Psalm 1

Psalm 1 ESV

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

So what do we need to do to be blessed. What brings us to that point in our lives Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Isaiah 57:15 ESV

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

An example is found in

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

So poorness in spirit can simply be summed up in this, Understanding who we really are. This is at the heart of true humility. Humility is not badmouthing myself to seem "humble", nor is it puffing myself up to seem more than I am, true humility is understanding who I really am.

"To be poor in spirit is not to lack courage but to acknowledge spiritual bankruptsy. It confesses one's unworthiness before God and utter dependence on him." - D. A. Carson

Prayers of Intercession