Preparing our Hearts to Worship
In an effort to help you prepare for the August 20th, 2017, Sunday morning corporate worship gathering and to aid you in your own reflections on the Life of Elijah. I wanted to pose a few questions and provide a few resources to prayerfully consider over the coming days. Our sermon is entitled, “Beware how you walk?”. The main Scripture for the day is 2Chronicles 21. The other passages are either referenced in the message or provide additional insight for reflection.
(Pick and choose from the many resources and options, which I have tried to make available for your devotional life.)
From the Scriptures
Read and prayerfully reflect upon some or all of these Scriptures. Ask God to shape your life and your church’s life to match the heart of God:
Read or listen to 2Chronicles 21, Psalm 1, John 4:24, 1Corinthians 10:11.
(You can read or listen to all of these passages in a variety of translations at Bible.is.)
From the Creeds and Confessions
Westminster Shorter Catechism Q1-3
1. What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
The Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
Heidelberg Catechism 86-91
- Q. Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace alone through Christ, without any merit of our own, why must we yet do good works?
Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit to be His image, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His benefits,[1] and He may be praised by us.[2] Further, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits,[3] and that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbours for Christ.[4]
[1] Rom. 6:13; 12:1, 2; I Pet. 2:5-10.
[2] Matt. 5:16; I Cor. 6:19, 20.
[3] Matt. 7:17, 18; Gal. 5:22-24; II Pet. 1:10, 11.
[4] Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 14:17-19; I Pet. 2:12; 3:1, 2.
- Q. Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent walk of life?
By no means. Scripture says that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, greedy person, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like shall inherit the kingdom of God.[1]
[1] I Cor. 6:9, 10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5, 6; I John 3:14.
88 Q. What is the true repentance or conversion of man?
It is the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new.[1]
[1] Rom. 6:1-11; I Cor. 5:7; II Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:5-10.
- Q. What is the dying of the old nature?
It is to grieve with heartfelt sorrow that we have offended God by our sin, and more and more to hate it and flee from it.[1]
[1] Ps. 51:3, 4, 17; Joel 2:12, 13; Rom. 8:12, 13; II Cor. 7:10.
- Q. What is the coming to life of the new nature?
It is a heartfelt joy in God through Christ,[1] and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works.[2]
[1] Ps. 51:8, 12; Is. 57:15; Rom. 5:1; 14:17.
[2] Rom. 6:10, 11; Gal. 2:20.
- Q. But what are good works?
Only those which are done out of true faith,[1] in accordance with the law of God,[2] and to His glory,[3] and not those based on our own opinion or on precepts of men.[4]
[1] Joh. 15:5; Rom. 14:23; Heb. 11:6.
[2] Lev. 18:4; I Sam. 15:22; Eph. 2:10.
[3] I Cor. 10:31.
[4] Deut. 12:32; Is. 29:13; Ezek. 20:18, 19; Matt. 15:7-9.
From the songs, hymns and spiritual songs of the Church
Psalm 1 Song: Video
For Thoughtful Reflection, Prayer, or further Study
At the end of your life, will people say you walked the path of God or idolatry? Why?
If Jehoram had repented, how might God have responded?
What would repentance have looked like for Jehoram?
Read and Reflect upon Richard Baxter’s Directions for Walking with God
Note: This is a 300+ page chapter out of his Christian Ethics.
The Sermon will be available online on August 20, 2017 at 12:30 pm.
Disclaimer: Reference to a particular article or website does not constitute endorsement or agreement with everything in that article or on that website.
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