We worship the God of Grace. The human plight never changed after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. These real historical people sinned against God and damned the whole of the human race. We sin today due to the nature we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. Also, we sin due to the bondage of our “will” to the sin nature. So, who changed? Man changed from walking in goodness and innocence to walking in sin and shame. God has never changed. He is perfect and still hates sin. Although God does not change, He…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call to Worship May 24 2015
We worship our God who raised the Lord Jesus from the grave and bestowed upon Him all dominion and honor. The Lord Jesus is one with the Father in deity, but His resurrection revealed the reality of His eternal authority with the Father (not that the authority was not already His from eternity past, but that the resurrection revealed it in time). Victory over death meant power beyond our understanding and authority above all authority on earth and in the heavens. Christ dominion was not simply a show of power, but was for the interest of the church. The church…
Call to Worship – May 17 2015
We worship our God who solved our greatest problem. Often we are concerned with the present moments and decisions of life and this is understandable. Yet, what Paul desires for the believers in Ephesus to understand goes beyond the present to the eternal. He prayed for them to see the eternal blessings of God’s calling, inheritance and surpassing greatness toward those who believe. Paul does not connect these eternal blessings to an activity in the present time of the believer’s life, but to the past. He revealed to them that all these blessings were brought about in Christ. He goes…
Call To Worship – May 10 2015
We continue to worship our God who illumines His truth to His people. So, “all ye who hear, now to His temple draw near and join me in glad adoration.” If you have heard of the glory of the Lord and worship God in Spirit and in truth, then you have been changed. The word has been illumined unto you by the Spirit. As a new creature in Christ be encouraged to ask for wisdom from God’s word and pray for illumination to take place according to the scriptures alone. “Here is the rock on which many make shipwreck at…
Call to Worship May 3 2015
We worship our God who not only regenerated us, but He opens the eyes of our heart to spiritually discern the truth of His word. Our Almighty King and Father all glorious gave us the Holy Comforter to rule in our hearts to continue to illuminate the scripture to our minds. When Jesus met with the travelers on the road to Emmaus, once they realized who He was, they remembered how their hearts burned as He explained the scriptures to them. Jesus explained the scriptures and the Spirit illumined how all the scriptures from Moses to the Prophets and Psalms…
Call to Worship April 26 2015
We worship the God who condescended to us in His word and gave us prayer to commune with Him through His word. Paul tells the church in Ephesus not only that he prays, but he also makes mention of them in his prayers. So, God through His servant Paul extends the importance of prayer from the Old Testament into the New Testament. Most of the prayers of the Psalmists declare the greatness of God especially toward His people. So, Paul follows suit in His letter to the saints at Ephesus. He prays that they are enlightened, among other things, to…
Call to Worship April 19 2015
We worship our God who makes sinners new men and women through the shed blood of His Son: “David prays that the Lord would wash him; therefore sin defiles, and he was made foul and filthy by his sin; and to wash him much, and to rinse and bathe him, to show that sin had exceedingly defiled him and stained him both in soul and body, and made him loathsome, and therefore he desireth to be washed, and cleansed, and purged from the pollution of sin. Hence we may learn what a vile, filthy and miserable thing sin is in…
Call to Worship, April 5 2015
We worship our God who raised His Son from the grave and will raise His people from the dead. He will not only raise His people but in the final accomplishment of redemption he will glorify them with Christ. “Each saint of God who dies has his own appointed season and therefore his own time to depart and be with Christ. We can see that this event is highly individualized. But it is not so with glorification. One will not have advantage over another—all together will be glorified with Christ. However glorious is the transformation of the people of God…
Call to Worship March 29, 2015
We worship our one God in three persons giving praise and thanks for the work of the Holy Spirit. He is not seen in visible form, yet He is not absent. He is often misunderstood, yet He is never complacent. The Holy Spirit was present and working at creation and His work is necessary for the soul’s regeneration. God glories in the work of the Spirit in illumination to aid in our sanctification and ultimate glorification. Apart from His work we would not understand the word of God, disconnecting our thoughts from the truth, promises and comfort of God. “The…
Call to Worship March 22 2015
We worship our God in thanksgiving of His grace toward sinners. Charles Spurgeon said, “What an honor to have been among the first to hope in Christ.” Quoting Paul, in Ephesians 1, Spurgeon reminds us of this great honor and blessing granted us by the Father, in the Son, through the Spirit. We come today in thanksgiving and praise remembering this honor. The honor reminds us of the grace of God in His plan before time and humbles us in His presence. The honor reminds us of the purposed painful plan of redemption and we bow in awe of its…