Psalm 11 “[Matthew] Henry: ‘Though honest good people may be run down, and trampled upon, yet God does and will own them, and favor them, and smile upon them, and that is the reason why God will severely reckon with persecutors and oppressors, because those whom they oppress and persecute are dear to him; so that, whosoever touches them, touches’ the apple of his eye,’” v. 7.[1] “[John] Morison closes his comments on this Psalm thus: ‘Impenitent sinner! read this Psalm, and mark your approaching doom! To flatter yourself with the hope of escape is vain. The elements of omnipotent…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call to Worship January 23 2022
“We never are secure from trials In Hebrew, to tempt, and to try, or to prove, are expressed by the same word. Every trial is indeed a temptation, and tends to show the dispositions of the heart, whether holy or unholy. But God proved Abraham, not to draw him to sin, as Satan tempts. Strong faith is often exercised with strong trials, and put upon hard services. The command to offer up his son, is given in such language as makes the trial more grievous; every word here is a sword. Observe, 1. The person to be offered: Take thy…
Call to Worship January 16 2022
Genesis 19:24-25 “Then, when Lot had got safely into Zoar, then this ruin came; for good men are taken away from the evil to come. Then, when the sun had risen bright and clear, promising a fair day, then this storm arose, to show that it was not from natural causes. Concerning this destruction observe, 1. God was the immediate author of it. It was destruction from the Almighty: The Lord rained–from the Lord (v. 24), that is, God from himself, by his own immediate power, and not in the common course of nature. Or, God the Son from God…
Call to Worship January 9 2022
Ephesians 4:17 “I would remind you that the particular matter here is, that as Christians, we are entirely new men and women, that regeneration is the profoundest change in the world, and that therefore we must always keep this in the forefront of our minds. A Christian is not just a man who has decided to be a little bit more moral than he was, or who has decided to join a church, or who has decided this or that, whatever it may be. What makes a man a Christian is that he has been born again, he has been…
Call to Worship January 2 2022
“As Jesus grew he became increasingly conscious of God’s timetable for his life. He referred to his ministry as a ‘time’ that had been set out in the divine plan. Hence such comments as, ‘My time has not yet come’…even more precisely…his ‘hour’. In John’s Gospel this refers to his passion and crucifixion, which, along with his resurrection, are seen as the foreordained climactic events of his life…There was a definite plan for Jesus. His life was foreordained for him by his heavenly Father. ‘Foreordination’ and ‘predestination’ are sometimes seen by Christians as controversial terms. Certainly we need to handle…
Call to Worship December 19 2021
“In a day not dissimilar to our own the prophet Isaiah announced that Immanuel will come: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). It is easy for us to lose sight of the fact that ‘Immanuel’, ‘God with us’, was one of the most familiar and important convictions of the Old Testament. It lay at the heart of the promise God gave to Jacob (Gen. 28:15); and was a key to help Moses to understand the significance of God’s name Yahweh – he would be God-with-him (Ex. 3:12). Think of…
Call to Worship December 12 2021
“When I was a child, Christmas seemed to die every year by bedtime on December 25th. The anticipation seemed long; the realization all too brief. I even tried wrapping up my presents again and opening them the following day. But my childhood disappointment could not be relieved. It was gone for another whole year. I know now why that was true for me, as it is for every child. It was because the true meaning of Christmas eluded me. In that sense Christmas never did really ‘happen.’ I was looking in the wrong direction for the wrong things instead of…
Call to Worship December 5 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 31 While David had been rescued by God from joining the Philistines against his people and from the wiles of the Amalekites (Ch. 29&30), Saul was in a battle for his livelihood and life (31:1). When the Philistines were fighting against Israel, they killed Saul’s sons and eventually the king himself. Just as Samuel foretold, Saul’s reign as King of Israel came to an awful end. After the archer’s arrows mortally wounded him, he chose to fall on his sword. His armor bearer had been unable to end what Saul finished for himself. His head…
Call to Worship November 28 2021
Expository Thoughts 1 Samuel 30:21-31 After the reckoning with the Amalekites, the reclaiming of goods, and reconnection with their families, much joy returned to the people. David was no longer under scrutiny and they praised him as their king once again. While traveling home many said the spoil taken from the Amalekites was David’s, but some “wicked men” were plotting amongst themselves to have their way with the valuables. So David was confronted with trouble from within his regiment (17-22). Some of the men tried to take advantage of those who were completely exhausted from the first return to Ziklag…
Call to Worship November 21 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 30:1-20 There must have been some relief for David and his men as they traveled back to Ziklag. God spared David the difficulty of defending Achish at the upcoming Philistine battle against Israel. He and his men got to go home and see their families. Nevertheless, when David and his men arrived at Ziklag another frowning providence was evident. Ziklag was burned to the ground, all their possessions stolen, and their families kidnapped. All thought of rest after their journey evaporated and rational thought failed to resonate in their minds. They were immediately and literally…