Thanksgiving

Prayer of Thanksgiving

         Our Father, in everything we give You thanks for we know that this is Your will for us in Christ Jesus. We thank You for Him, for Your provision of our earthly needs through work, for the sacred rest of the Lord’s Day, for the privilege of returning a portion of our blessing to You in tithes and offerings, and for making us Your partners in taking the gospel of the Lord Jesus to the very ends of the Earth. Thank You, Father, for all of these things. Amen.

Prayer of Preparation

         Our Father, You have brought us to Your Table as Your welcome and honored guests. This is a privilege for which we are eternally grateful. You have washed us clean in Christ. You have taught us Your Word by the power of Your Holy Spirit and You have prepared a banquet where we get to eat bread and drink wine with the Triune God and the gathered saints. We give You thanks. Amen.

Confession of Sin

SCRIPTURE OF CONFESSION

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Minister: Let us confess together. 

Our Father, we acknowledge that apart from Your work in us, we can do nothing good. Our wicked deeds as well as our outwardly righteous works are filthy rags, tainted with impure motives and selfish desires. We all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Convict us, Father, of our sins, that we may repent and trust entirely in Christ’s work on our behalf. Work in us by Your Holy Spirit that we may do Your good pleasure. Amen.

Fairness Demands With God

The beginning of rivalry is a skewed sense of fairness. We often measure based upon our high estimation of our work and a low estimation of other’s work. Or, we assume motives. We think we are working for the right reasons even if our work is not quite up to snuff. And then, we assume the worst motives in others. They are only blessed financially because they are greedy for gain. They are only advanced in their work because they are willing to climb the corporate ladder. 

         The reality between them and us is often the exact opposite of what we let ourselves believe. So, when we demand fairness from God do not be surprised to see God’s ironic sense of humor kick in. Sometimes He does this because He is bringing sins home to roost in the lives of enemy unbelievers. Sometimes He does this because He loves His children and desires to teach them to grow up by revealing to them their own silliness and immaturity. 

         So, let us rest in God’s blessing to us, resist the temptation to demand to God that childish remain  ‘unfair!’, and let God sort out all the details in the end. If we have fallen into sins of covetousness and envy of our neighbor, then let us soundly repent.

Praise

SCRIPTURE OF PRAISE

Psalm 135:2-3 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the Lord, for the Lordis good. Sing praises unto His name, for it is pleasant.

PRAYER OF PRAISE

     O, Lord our God in Heaven, we sing praises to Your Name, for it is pleasant. You have chosen us for Your people, Your peculiar treasure. We know that You are great, the Lord above all gods. You do whatever pleases You in Heaven and on Earth, in the seas and all deeps. You make the clouds to rise at the end of the earth, the lightnings for the rain, and bring forth the wind from Your storehouses. You defeat our enemies and You uphold us with Your right hand. All glory, majesty and power be unto You forever and ever. Amen.   

Genesis 29 sermon- What Goes Around Comes Around

Genesis 29:1-30

What Goes Around Comes Around

June 30, 2019

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXORDIUM

         As we make our way through Genesis, there is a recurring theme that is inescapable. God will have His way no matter who or what is in His way.

         His promises are true and no man can break God’s promise. Even when God threatens to revoke His promise to a particular person or people, He intends to deliver upon His promise.

         That promise is all about the person of Jesus Christ. From the very beginning, it was God’s plan to save the    world and He would have it so.

         So, what does this matter to us? We find ourselves in the midst of life, with all of its joys and sorrows and may have a hard time seeing what God’s macro plans have to do with our micro lives.

         But we ought not to be discouraged by God working His will no matter what man does, as if man didn’t really matter at all. If we think that way, then we have already lost sight of God’s purposes, because it is God’s set plan to save man. And not simply mankind as an abstraction. God sets His love on His own beloved Son and all those named in Him. This is not simply ‘a people’ but rather, particular people with names like Mason James, Edmund Augustine and John Theodore. God loves particular people and His interest is in them in the details.

         The key is for us to understand that God’s ultimate plans to save the world through a redeemer includes the salvation of ourselves and of our children.

         This is the very thing that makes the mess make sense. As we struggle through doubt, ill health, financial troubles, challenging or even wayward children, cultural demise, political strife and many such difficulties, we must see that God is weaving this all into a tapestry that reveals the salvation of the world that includes us, those named in Jesus Christ.

         God’s ultimate purposes are the foundation on which we build particular faith. We can go through the current difficulties, suffering, pain, trials, sicknesses, even death, things the Apostle Paul calls ‘light affliction’ 1 Cor. 4:16-18 ¹⁶ For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward manis renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding andeternal weight of glory; ¹⁸ While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen aretemporal; but the things which are not seen areeternal.^[1]

         You see, we faint not in the immediate trials of life because we understand God’s overarching plan, which includes us. This life we are passing through is temporal but it works in us an eternal weight of glory, which will redound to the glory of God, our chief end.

Leave the Table Full

Before the family meal, everyone is usually quite hungry. The smell of the cooking meal creates more hunger pangs and eager anticipation. It is sometimes difficult to sit down, wait for the hostess to sit, say a prayer of thanksgiving and then orderly pass the trays. We are hungry and want to eat.

But what satisfaction comes when we finally get to partake. The meal is good, the fellowship is sweet. All is restored to peace and joy in the home and we leave the Table full and content. This should be our daily practice.

Let that be a picture of this meal. We come to church weak and maybe even famished. We hunger for the Word, the Spirit and the Father. We wait upon the meal as it prepares then we sit down and say a blessing and eat and drink. Having come to the fount of God, prepared your soul, given thanks and eaten, you will be full of Jesus. You will be content, at peace, and joyful in the Holy Ghost. Everyone likes to go away from the Table full. So, eat and drink by faith so that you will be full of Jesus, His Spirit and His Father. Amen.

Offering and Communion Prayers

Prayer of Thanksgiving

         O Lord our God, maker of heaven and earth, the One in whom we live and move and have our being, we give You thanks for giving us life and health and peace through Jesus Christ, our Savior. We acknowledge that all that we are and all that we possess is from your kindness extended to us through Your own beloved Son. We give You ourselves, all that we are and all that we possess, and we pray that You would use us and our gifts to the glory of Christ, both now and evermore. Receive these tokens of our appreciation, bless and multiply them so that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified in all the earth. Amen.

         

Prayer of Preparation

         Our Father, You thought it wise that Your Son would be bruised for us. He was stricken but not forsaken. You raised Him from the dead and You raised us in Him. We give You thanks that Jesus died for us, to pay that debt that we could never pay. We thank You that He rose for us that we might be justified in Your sight. We thank You that He ascended on high, the ruler over all creation. We thank You for the Holy Spirit that indwells us and gives us life, both to body and to spirit. And we thank You that You keep, sustain and strengthen us through the power of Your Holy Spirit. All glory to You; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

American Sins

Someone recently asked me if it was appropriate to confess sins that we do not personally commit. For example, why do we confess abortion if our people do not have abortions? The answer is that we are not merely individuals. We are interconnected beings. We are Christians, so we are connected to the Church. We are husbands, wives or children so we are connected to a family. We are Americans, so we are connected to our country.

         While we may not be individually guilty of a particular sin, we are connected to a group that is. We are asking God to grant America repentance from various sorts of sins and so it is important for us to identify with America that is thus sinning. 

Therefore, it is good for us to confess our national connection to abortion, gay rights, transgender confusion, feminism, and such things. Some of these sins are even prevalent in the church. As the situation fits, it is right for us to confess and ask God to grant repentance to us personally, to our families, to our church and to the nation. We want His blessing to fall upon us and it cannot do so unless we turn from sin and turn to Him, as individuals, families, churches, states and nations. May God be gracious to us and grant our request.

Praise

Our Father, who art in Heaven, Thrice Holy is Your Name. Holy are You, Father. Holy is Your Son, Jesus. Holy is Your Spirit. We come to worship You aware of Your Holy majesty. We are prone to shrink away from You for we are a people of unclean lips. And yet, we glorify and praise You that through the work of Your Holy Son, You have purified our lips that we might come boldly into Your presence, having been made holy ourselves by the precious blood of Jesus and filled with Your Holy Spirit. We give You the glory and we sing Your praises now and evermore. Amen.

Genesis 28 Sermon-Bread, Raiment and Peace

Genesis 28:1-22

Bread, Raiment and Peace

June 23, 2019

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXORDIUM

         Our Lord has promised to take care of us. He keeps His promises. We have not seen the righteous begging for bread. The fact that God promises to take care of us is one good reason to walk in faith. Of course, the Lord provides food, drink and shelter for us, the basic necessities of the human body. But His general promises are also true. Those who serve Him know that you reap what you sow. If you work hard, the Lord provides a bountiful harvest. If you trust Him with your riches, particularly in tithing, then you always have enough money. If you trust Him with your time, particularly by setting aside one day in seven as a Sabbath to the Lord, then you always have enough time to accomplish whatever the Lord has called you to.

         But we do not serve the Lord merely for what He can provide for us. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. But He keeps His own in perfect peace.

EXEGESIS

28 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ² Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.

Isaac has now come to his senses and seeks to bless Jacob. He knows that Rebekah is right concerning Esua’s wives. They are a grief and are the potential downfall of the family. Furthermore, Esau is plotting the murder of Jacob, so Rebekah is planning his escape to safety.

It seems that Isaac is still not willing to hold Esau accountable. If he did, Rebekah would be able to reveal the plot against Jacob and Isaac could set Esau straight, send him away, or strengthen Jacob to protect himself. Instead, Jacob is driven away and Esau remains in the good graces of his father.

All Provision

Jacob was after food, clothing and peace. These are three necessities. Maybe we do not see peace that way but it is. God has provided for us through His Son. He promises to provide our physical needs. He gives us food, clothing, shelter. And sometimes we only think of these sorts of things as needs. Without them we die.

But without peace we also die. If you are not at peace with God, then you are at war with Him and that is always a losing proposition. But thanks be to God that He has provided a way of peace with Him through His own beloved Son. He sends His Holy Spirit to give us a spirit of peace that passes all understanding. 

In the world you will have tribulation but we know that He has overcome the world, and that gives us a peace that know man can take from us. Peace with God has given us an inner peace without which we could not be.

Sinless in Jesus

Dear Saints, we know we sin and our sins often rise up before us and condemn us. We are infected with a guilty conscience and feel the need to do penance to cleanse ourselves. The problem is that penance won’t cleanse you. If anything, it only condemns you more because your penance is also faulty.

         We shrink from the thought that we are sinless in Jesus. We even resist it thinking if we go there then we might even sin more. God forbid! But the reality is that Jesus has purged your sins. He has forgiven you and presented you to His Father as one who can rightly, even worthily stand before Him. The Father sees you as sinless because you stand here in the name of His sinless Son, Jesus. Think on that. Breathe a sigh of relief. Be filled with joy in the Holy Ghost. Give God the glory.

Genesis 26:34-27:46

Jacob Have I Hated

June 16, 2013

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXORDIUM

         The Word of God should lead us, not our own desires, the cultural expectations, or what we simply think is best. When the Word is clear, we must obey. 

In this chapter, we see that Isaac has grown old. His senses are weak. He is blind and his sense of touch and smell are weakened. He hears okay but is reduced enough to not believe his ears.

Isaac was about to sin against the command of God. His wife, Rebekah, had her eyes upon God’s covenant promises and hatches a plot to keep Isaac from forfeiting God’s blessing.

We can see from the narrative in this chapter and the next that Rebekah’s plan worked and that Isaac came to his senses.

Rebekah and Jacob are often condemned for this plot. Remember that Jacob obeys his mother here. Remember also that if the plot fails and Isaac issues a curse to Jacob instead of a blessing, that Rebekah is willing for the curse to fall upon her and not Jacob. 

Given the level of deception to secure this blessing, it is also clear that Isaac could have reversed his action. He could have said, “Let the blessing I gave to Jacob not fall upon Esau and let Jacob, the deceiver be accursed.” He does not do this. Why? Because he realized that Rebekah and Jacob were right and that his blessing was rightly placed on Jacob and not on Esau.

         So, does the end justify the means? Does the outcome of bringing Isaac to his senses, negate the deceit of Rebekah and Jacob towards Isaac? I don’t think it should be looked at in that way. This was an extreme measure to keep Isaac from crossing God. The text does not give us more details about the prior conversations of Rebekah and Isaac about which of the sons should be the son of promise, but her actions reveal that she thought she had no other options.

          Can you imagine a modern day example for a moment? Imagine a family with a vast estate. They have thousands of acres, many thousands of cattle, hundreds of employees and a billion dollars in the bank. They have two sons, one a wastrel and insolent towards his parents and the blessings of his life. The other has paid attention to his mother, who manages the estate, and has a keen eye towards the management of flocks and herds. The father connects to the wastrel and the mother to the faithful son. She knows that the older son would destroy them. What should she do? The father will not hear her mind in the matter even though he knows his wastrel son will destroy all they have built. Such a woman might take extreme measures to protect the property from such a son.  And she would be right to do so.

God's Blessing on You

How can you be more blessed than to be in God’s presence, forever, cleansed from sin, clothed in white and seated at His Table? The answer? You cannot.

Today is Father’s Day and a good day to remember our Father, who is in Heaven. He is the perfect Father. Though we have failed Him many times, He does not hold it against us. He provides a way for us to come to Him, to sit with Him, to receive His blessing. He is full of forgiveness and eager to pour out His bounty upon us. 

Through His own beloved Son, He has made us worthy partakers of His blessing. He blesses us as He blesses Jesus, the One in whom He is well pleased. A child is content when he is welcomed and blessed at his father’s table. This is you. You have come to receive the blessing from the Father and the Son. His Holy Spirit rests upon you. Give thanks.

The Need for Cleansing

For some, confession is merely going through the motions. Because we think we are better than the next man or woman, then we give ourselves a pass. But what if we compare ourselves to God, the Father? Or to His Holy Son, Jesus? Or, to the Holy Spirit. God, in His perfections is Holy, the One who dwells in unapproachable light. 

         Our entire worship service is based upon how we approach a Holy God. Isaiah was concerned that he was going to die because He had seen the One Holy God. Beware saint, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. Such ground ought not to be defiled and where it is there is a great cost. A life must be given for such sacrilege. 

         Do you see this need? Do you come to God carefully? And only in the name of His Son, Jesus who died for You? And by the power of His Holy Spirit who gives you life? 

         Come to God respectfully in the name of His Son and receive the bounty of His blessing of forgiveness. Come to Him in your own name of comparative virtue and receive your just punishment. Choose, rather, to bow the knee to Jesus.

Genesis 26 Sermon, Wells of Salvation

Genesis 26:1-33

Wells of Salvation

June 9, 2019

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXHORDIUM

Isaac leaves the land in which he was dwelling in the face of a great famine. The crops had failed in the midst of a dearth of rain and there was not enough food to preserve them. In the land of his wandering, he finds water, the source of life. 

But he is hard pressed by the enemies of God. They claim his water without doing the work to dig the well. Isaac moves on trying to find peace and rest only to find more trouble.

God intervenes on his behalf, and uses the occasion of the lust of the Philistines to plunder them and bring great riches and wealth to Isaac.

In this land, God provides a well of springing water. Isaac sows and the blessing of God provides a one hundred fold increase. 

These stories of God’s provision of water should remind us of what water symbolizes. 

John says, “I baptize you with water but one is coming who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John 1:29-34 ²⁹ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which ^||taketh away the sin of the world. ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. ³¹ And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. ³² And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. ³³ And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. ³⁴ And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.^[1]

EXEGESIS

26 And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

Moses points out that this is a different famine than the one in Abraham’s day. The reason seems clear, that this story is so similar to the previous story of Abraham, that he doesn’t want to be confused and conflate them.

Living Water

From the side of Jesus flowed the water and the blood. Whomever the blood has covered, the waters come and wash and give life.

Jesus is the Temple of God and His water flows from His side. At first it is but a trickle and only waters 12 thirsty souls. But soon 120 are able to drink deeply, then 3000, then 5000 and finally a great multitude that no one can count. 

From Jerusalem to the ends of the Earth, the water and the blood flow, washing and giving life, so that all the world will live in the living waters.

We partake of Jesus, the water and the blood. We are cleansed in the blood, washed in the water, and filled with life giving power of His Holy Spirit. We give Him thanks.

Assurance

Romans 8:14-15 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Words of Assurance- Sons and Daughters

         Remember what Peter said on the day of Pentecost, “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” This is nothing less than the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit. By this Spirit we are made children of God, who are overjoyed at being adopted into the Triune Name. Thus, we call God, our Father, our Abba. He is our beloved Father and we are His beloved children.

         All of the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the provision of the wells of water that sustained life, were pictures of God’s promise to us to send us His Holy Spirit that we might have life and that life abundantly. Jesus has come, he has died, he has suffered. He has risen again and poured out the waters of the Spirit upon your heads. Rejoice you are forgiven!

Praise

SCRIPTURE OF PRAISE

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

PRAYER OF PRAISE

         Our Father in Heaven, we glorify Your Holy Name. We praise You for sending Your Spirit and giving us voices to utter Your praises so that we might call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved. You have granted us rivers of living waters that flow from the precious side of Your only begotten Son. Your Spirit has filled the temple and Your people are gathered to sing of Your glory, majesty, honor and might. We lift Your name, the name above all names, and pray that all men everywhere will humble themselves and call upon the name of the Lord. Amen!

Genesis 25:1-34

Genesis 25:1-34

Stomach Thinker

June 2, 2019

Lynchburg, Virginia

EXHORDIUM

         There is a great deal going on in this chapter. Isaac is now married, comforted after the death of his mother. Rebekah has become the new matriarch of the family. Abraham is reinvigorated after Isaac’s marriage and takes a new wife, Keturah, at the ripe old 140. He has six sons with Keturah.

         Rebekah and Isaac are married for twenty years but have no children. Like her mother-in-law, Sarah, that she never knew, Rebekah is also barren. It is important that these women must rely upon God for their offspring. God wants us to know without a doubt that His works come about by promise and by the Spirit and not by the arm of the flesh. 

         Isaac prays to God for Rebekah and God hears him and answers her prayer and Rebekah conceives. But the boys struggle within her, vying for the preference of their mother, even before they are born. A prophecy is given that the older will serve the younger. Again, a recapitulation of Ishmael, the eldest and first born of Abraham, who must serve the younger Isaac.

         Ishmael was a covenant member and yet Isaac was chosen because the seed would come from Sarah and not Hagar. In this story, Jacob and Esau are both delivered of the chosen mother of the faithful. And yet one of them is a son of the flesh and one of them a son of the spirit. 

         It is not remarkable that any are condemned but that any are saved. It is not unjust that God would choose Jacob and overlook Esau. God’s grace and mercy are extended to whomsoever He pleases. It is never unjust when mercies are extended by God. God’s justice would condemn all. His mercies flow from His graciousness. It does no good to claim they are unfair. Rather, repent of your sin and receive His mercies.