Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 2:11-36 These passages reveal the justice and faithfulness of God amid all the circumstances of life. Also, they contrast the ideas of trust, obedience, and blessing with unbelief, disobedience, and judgement. Furthermore these verses tell of the consequences of sin in an immediate and future context. Eli’s sons were thoughtless unbelieving men (vs. 12), and even worse, they sowed their seeds of evil as priests on behalf of Israel before the one living holy God. Hophni and Phinehas took advantage of their office and its blessings (13-16). They were not only irreverent as priests, but…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call to Worship March 21 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 1:20-2:10 Hannah gave birth to a son and this gift from God reminds us of His power and grace. After Hannah weaned her son she returned to Shiloh to offer sacrificial worship unto the LORD. Her son’s name was in reference to Hannah’s prayer. Samuel refers to the idea of asking, or a petition (Davis, pg. 21). She dedicated Samuel to the LORD and prayed unto Him in thanksgiving. Hannah’s prayer recognized three important concepts of worship and practice in life. God is worthy of our spiritual and physical worship (2:1-3). She speaks of exalting…
Call to Worship March 14, 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1 Samuel 1:1-18 1 Samuel opens with an introduction of a man with a fair amount of financial means and a lineage from the line of Levi. Elkanah was a devoted man to the Lord in sacrifice and worship, including leading his family to take part in the yearly sacrifice at Shiloh. Yet, his family life is far from perfect. Although he has two wives only one of them has been able to bare children. Peninnah bore him several children, but devoted some of her time to the harsh harassment of her fellow wife Hannah. Hannah had…
Call to Worship March 7 2021
In preparation for worship please read the scriptures in the Order of Worship. Also read Matthew 5-7 referred to as The Sermon on the Mount, it takes ten minutes or less to read through it, depending on how many times you pause to think. After you read it, you may note some verses and phrases that you desire to consider with more thought. Hopefully, the preaching over time will help you understand some of those verses. Also, if you decide to read more extensively on Matthew 5-7 then there are some good books available. Lord willing next week Sinclair Ferguson’s book, The Sermon…
Call to Worship February 28 2021
MATTHEW 28:1-10 “The principal subject of these verses is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. It is one of those truths which lie at the very foundation of Christianity, and has therefore received special attention in the four Gospels. All four evangelists describe minutely how our Lord was crucified. All four relate with no less clearness, that He rose again. We need not wonder that so much importance is attached to our Lord’s resurrection. It is the seal and headstone of the great work of redemption, which He came to do. It is the crowning proof…
Call to Worship February 21 2021
“Let us cling firmly to the resurrection of Christ, as one of the pillars of the gospel. It ought to produce in our minds a settled conviction of the truth of Christianity: our faith does not depend merely on a set of texts and doctrines; it is founded on a mighty fact which the skeptic has never been able to overturn.” “It ought to assure us of the certainty of the resurrection of our bodies after death. If our Master has risen from the grave, we need not doubt that His disciples shall rise again at the last day. Above…
Call to Worship February 14 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1Corinthians 15:1-26 Previously in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul stated the importance of orderly thinking and activity in some secondary matters in the life of the church, alongside issues of Christian liberty. His goal was for the Corinthians to not only properly understand and order these matters, but live with one another in the grace of Christ. He turned his attention in chapter 15 to matters of “first importance” (vs.3). His thoughts focused on the very gospel itself and its value as a baseline understanding for Christ-like living in the church. The Gospel as a term…
Order of Worship January 31 2021
“We have, for one thing, in these verses, a vivid picture of a false teacher of religion.Our Lord says that he is one who ‘enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way.’ The ‘door,’ in this sentence, must evidently mean something far more than outward calling and commission. The Jewish teachers, at any rate, were not deficient in this point–they could probably trace up their orders in direct succession to Aaron himself. Ordination is no proof whatever that a man is fit to show others the way to heaven. He may have been regularly set…
Call to Worship January 17 2021
Expository Thoughts on 1Corinthians 15:1-26 Previously in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul stated the importance of orderly thinking and activity in some secondary matters in the life of the church, alongside issues of Christian liberty. His goal was for the Corinthians to not only properly understand and order these matters, but live with one another in the grace of Christ. He turned his attention in chapter 15 to matters of “first importance” (vs.3). His thoughts focused on the very gospel itself and its value as a baseline understanding for Christ-like living in the church. The Gospel as a term…
Call to Worship January 10 2021
“Each member of the household has a part in the family life, and the fullest happiness and blessedness of the home can be attained only when each one’s part is faithfully fulfilled. If any one member of the family fails in love or duty, the failure affects the whole household life, just as one discordant voice in a company of singers spoils the music. The husband has a part all his own, which no other can do. How does the Word of God define his duties? What is involved in his part in the marriage relation? What does he owe…