Preparing our Hearts to Worship
In an effort to help you prepare for the September 3, 2017, Sunday morning corporate worship gathering and to aid you in your own reflections on the The Gospel. I wanted to pose a few questions and provide a few resources to prayerfully consider over the coming days. Our sermon is entitled, “What is The Gospel?”. The main Scripture for the day is Titus 3:4-7. 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 Titus 3:4-7, 1Corinthians 15:1-11, Romans 6:23, 1John 4:2-3).
(You can read or listen to all of these passages in a variety of translations at Bible.is.)
From the Creeds and Confessions
Heidelberg Catechism Q15-17
Q15. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?
One who is a true1 and righteous2 human, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.3
1 Rom. 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:17
2 Isa. 53:9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26
3 Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Jer. 23:6; John 1:1
Q16. Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human?
God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned must pay for sin;1 but a sinful human could never pay for others.2
1 Rom. 5:12, 15; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16
2 Heb. 7:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:18
Q17. Why must the mediator also be true God?
So that the mediator, by the power of his divinity, might bear the weight of God’s wrath in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.1
Heidelberg Catechism Q35
Q35. What does it mean that he “was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary”?
That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God,1
took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit,2 from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary,3 a truly human nature so that he might also become David’s true descendant,4 like his brothers and sisters in every way5 except for sin.6
1 John 1:1; 10:30-36; Acts 13:33 (Ps. 2:7); Col. 1:15-17; 1 John 5:20
2 Luke 1:35
3 Matt. 1:18-23; John 1:14; Gal. 4:4; Heb. 2:14
4 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Ps. 132:11; Matt. 1:1; Rom. 1:3
5 Phil. 2:7; Heb. 2:17
6 Heb. 4:15; 7:26-27
Heidelberg Catechism Q91
Q91. What are good works?
Only those which are done out of true faith,1 conform to God’s law,2 and are done for God’s glory;3 and not those based on our own opinion or human tradition.4
1 John 15:5; Heb. 11:6
2 Lev. 18:4; 1 Sam. 15:22; Eph. 2:10
3 1 Cor. 10:31
4 Deut. 12:32; Isa. 29:13; Ezek. 20:18-19; Matt. 15:7-9
From the songs, hymns and spiritual songs of the Church
The Love of God is greater far: Lyrics, Video
For Thoughtful Reflection, Prayer, or further Study
Read and reflect on the Boundless of God
How often do you try to appeal to something you have done as a reason for being saved?
Define the gospel in your own words. Is it God centered and initiated? Does it reference the incarnation? The work of the Holy Spirit? Human sin?
The Sermon will be available online on September 3, 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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