Preparing for a great day of privilege!

I appreciated this practical devotional to preparing for the Lord’s Day by Paul Tautages

Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day—a day of great privilege for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, let me suggest you take some time this evening to prepare your heart and mind so that you may serve the Lord effectively, as an instrument in the hands of the Redeemer to further His great work in the church and the world. Set aside 15-20 minutes. Here is a suggestion as to how you may use that time to prepare for tomorrow.

Begin by opening your Bible and reading Hebrews 10:19-25. Then…

Think about These Truths:

As sinners who have repented and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior…

1. We have direct access to God’s presence.
2. The finished work of Christ is the new and living way to the Father.
3. Jesus is our great High Priest who intercedes for us before God’s throne of grace.

Therefore, let us (together) go to our assembly determined to worship intentionally:

1. Draw near to God in sincerity.
2. Draw near to God in true faith (faith based on truth).
3. Remember that our consciences have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus.
4. Remember that our “sins of the body” have been forgiven by God upon our confession of faith.
5. Hold fast to the confession of our faith without wavering in doubt.
6. Rest in our faithful God’s promises.
7. Ponder how to encourage each other’s growth in love and truth while we fellowship together tomorrow.
8. Be firmly committee to not miss our worship/fellowship gatherings tomorrow.
9. Do not leave these gatherings without speaking an encouraging word to another brother or sister in Christ, to further spur them on toward Christlikeness.

Ways to Pray this Evening:

1. Praise and thank God for sending Jesus and providing salvation and eternal life through faith in His name.
2. Confess any sins of conscience or body that you have forgotten this week.
3. Confess any sins to others and ask for their forgiveness.
4. Confess sins of fear and doubt.
5. Thank God for His promises and His faithfulness to keep them.
6. Ask the Holy Spirit to set up an ‘appointment’ with another person who needs your encouragement or gentle admonishment.
7. Pray for the man whom God has appointed to preach the Word to you tomorrow and for your heart to be open, teachable, mold-able to the Holy Spirit’s work.

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom 12:10).

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Do you really need a local church?

 

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Where to look in congregational worship

Look up!  Look in!  Look around!  Look back!

Joe Thorn explains and offers Scriptural support here.

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A prayer for the Lord’s Day

Though the sun will rise tomorrow in the same way it does on every other day of the week, let us remember that tomorrow is the Lord’s Day. Help us to recognize that it is a high day, blessed, holy and honourable to you. Give us an abundance of grace to sanctify the day even as you have sanctified it from creation. Do wonders among us tomorrow. Enable us to set our minds on a proper work of preparation, since the Lord’s Day is now drawing near. [Exod 16:23; John 19:31; Isa 58:13; Gen 2:3; Josh 3:5; Luke 23:54]

When you saw everything you had made in six days, you declared that all was very good. But despite the perfections of our first father, we have all offended in many ways. Yet as we come to worship in repentance and trust in Christ’s blood, wash not only our feet, but also our hands, our head, and our heart. Cleanse us so we can teach transgressors your ways. Let us use this day to the fullest, encircling your altar, declaring our thanksgiving and recounting all your wondrous works. [Gen 1:31; James 3:2; John 13:9; Psa 51:3, 7, 13; 26:6-7]

Give us rest from all our works for this whole day. Let us leave all our worldly cares at the bottom of your holy hill as we do up the mountain to worship you. Then let us return refreshed to our labours. [Heb 4:10; Gen 22:5]

[Excerpted with minor change from Matthew Henry’s A Way to Pray] HT: Paul

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As you worship tomorrow

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
(Psalm 95:2, 6 ESV)

“As you raise your voices and hands in joyful praise and celebration for the grace of God toward you, remember to also bow your heads and hearts. We bow because the Lord is God, Maker of heaven and earth, Ruler over all, and we are drawing near to him. We bow because God is holy, just, and merciful, and we are sinners, always in need of grace. Our corporate worship should always include broken heartedness, for it is the heart’s attitude of humility that gives birth to genuine thanksgiving and joy as we embrace the grace found in Jesus Christ.”–Joe Thorn

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A prayer for Sunday!

Here’s a prayer for the Lord’s Day–a model for how we should prepare for Sunday morning:

We pray thee, assist us in all the religious services of this thine own holy day. Go along with us to the solemn assembly, for if thy presence go not up with us, wherefore should we go up? Give us to draw nigh to thee with a true heart, with a free heart, with a fixed heart, and in full assurance of faith. Meet us with a blessing: Grace thine own ordinances with thy presence, that special presence of thine which thou hast promised where two or three are gathered together in thy name. Help us against our manifold infirmities, and the sins that do most easily beset us in our attendance upon thee; let thy word come with life and power to our souls, and be as good seed sown in good soil, taking root, and bringing forth fruit to thy praise; and let our prayers and praises be spiritual sacrifices, acceptable in thy sight, through Christ Jesus.

— From Matthew Henry’s “A Family Prayer for Lord’s Day Morning” in A Method For Prayer (HT:  9Marks)

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This Sunday is just as special as last Sunday

So, Easter Sunday (or as we like to call it Resurrection Sunday) is history for this year again. I hope you had a great day celebrating with other believers the glorious truth of the Resurrection!  Up from the grave He arose!

However, in another sense I hope you will realize that this Sunday is just as glorious as the last one.  Oh, maybe you won’t have as much special music and you probably won’t have a new outfit or one that you just save for special occasions but this Sunday is just as special as the last one.

I’m thankful to Jeremy Walker for pointing out “this snippet from Spurgeon here“which he provides in slightly fuller form. As you read it ask yourself, “What about this Sunday?”

There is no ordinance in Scripture of any one Lord’s-day in the year being set apart to commemorate the rising of Christ from the dead and for this reason every Lord’s-day is the memorial of our Lord’s resurrection. Wake up any Lord’s-day you please, whether in the depth of winter, or in the warmth of summer and you may sing –

Today he rose and left the dead,
And Satan’s empire fell!
Today the saints his triumph spread,
And all his wonders tell.

To set apart an Easter Sunday for special memory of the resurrection is a human device for which there is no Scriptural command. But to make every Lord’s-day an Easter Sunday is due to him who rose early on the first day of the week. We gather together on the first, rather than upon the seventh day of the week, because redemption is even a greater work than creation and more worthy of commemoration and because the rest which followed creation is far outdone by that which ensues upon the completion of redemption! Like the apostles, we meet on the first day of the week and hope that Jesus may stand in our midst and say, “Peace be unto you.” Our Lord has lifted the Sabbath from the old and rusted hinges whereon the Law had placed it long before and set it on the new golden hinges which his love has fashioned. He has placed our rest day, not at the end of a week of toil, but at the beginning of the rest which remains for the people of God. Every first day of the week we should meditate upon the rising of our Lord, and seek to enter into fellowship with him in his risen life.

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Do we have to go to church on Sunday?

In our theology class on Wednesday evenings, we were discussing the doctrine of the church and whether or not Christians have to attend church on Sunday or not?

That very question seems to me to start the whole discussion off on the wrong foot.  Once we think in terms of  having to go to church, it smacks  of church attendance as merely a duty.  I don’t  have to go to church on Sunday; I get to go to church on Sunday!  It’s a privilege!

Michael Horton recently wrote, “The very fact that we have to address this question, even in evangelical circles, demonstrates the true measure of the church’s worldliness. It is not a superstitious attachment to days, but respect for the Lord’s generous service to us, that gives us one day in seven to be swept into the drama of redemption. When the holy day is reabsorbed into the common week, the church is bound to be reabsorbed into the world’s bloodstream.”

After tracing the view of the Lord’s Day in historical theology and church practice, Horton then remarks,

“The key to a Christian use of the Lord’s Day is not drawing up a list of what can and cannot be done, but to give the whole day to basking in God’s Word, loading ourselves up with the treasures of Christ. Churches themselves are making this more difficult, as they trim down the public worship to a single service of an hour or so. Some churches suspend worship on “Superbowl Sunday”; others incorporate the new holy day into the service. Yet even in “rightly ordered” churches, the question has to be asked, especially by pastors and elders: Are we preparing a feast each week or are we contributing to the trivializing of the Lord’s Day and then blaming the people for not taking it seriously enough?”

I find that many Christians are increasingly adopting a less serious view of the Lord’s Day and of being with the body of believers when the church gathers on Sundays.  I encourage you to think seriously about your view of this day, even if you are faithfully attending the worship services.  Don’t fall into a mindset of having to go to church but view it as a great opportunity to worship, to serve, and to fellowship!

 

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How to be best prepared for Sunday

In the past several weeks I can recall several meetings and/or conversations that I have wanted to be very prepared for so as to make them the most effective possible.

Whenever we go on  a trip to visit family or friends like we did this last week, I work hard at being prepared to go: packing, fuel in vehicle, pets cared for, house secured, etc.

Big home project:  again pre-planning makes the job more enjoyable and more profitable normally.

So would preparing for Sunday be helpful? What can we do to prepare for Sunday worship with God’s family in our church?  I have given some suggestions throughout the years to our congregation and implemented them in our family.  Paul Tautges has put together a great list of ways you can practically and spiritually prepare for the Lord’s Day–and it all begins on Saturday evening!  I’d encourage you to print it out, put it somewhere to be seen by all in the house and start doing many if not all of these suggestions!  Watch your heart and body be better prepared for worship:

Thanks for putting together this list, Paul!

When one reflects upon Hebrews 12:18-29, it is obvious that God considers corporate worship a serious matter, not the game that the modern church so often plays. Take a few minutes to open your Bible and read that portion of God’s Word.

If God, Who is “a consuming fire,” receives worship from sinners like you and me (indeed He seeks it! – Jn 4:23), should we not be intentional in how we approach Him? If worship demands reverence and awe should we not prepare to meet our God? It is questions like these that have spurred me to develop the following practical suggestions in preparing for Sunday worship. I have included practical, mundane preparations that free up more time for personal, heart and soul preparation. As you prepare for Sunday, may the application of this counsel lead you into a deeper, more God-centered, and heartfelt worship experience.

SATURDAY EVENING

1. Practical Preparations [The purpose of these practical preparations is to limit distraction and decrease tension in the home, which often results in irritations and conflicts.]
   1. Prepare Sunday’s meals. Have breakfast made and table set. Perhaps choose simply self-serve breakfasts such as muffins or fruit bread, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, etc. Avoid a high sugar, high carb meal that may to drowsiness. Prepare the noon meal as well.
   2. Gas up the car (this was important when we lived in Missouri and had a 40 min. commute to church)
   3. Pick out clothes and take care of needed ironing
   4. Find Bibles (and shoes!) and lay them out
   5. Set aside your offering (2 Cor. 9:7)
   6. If you wear hearing aids put in fresh batteries.
   7. Teachers: make final lesson preparations
   8. Have children take baths
   9. Get to bed early. Avoid late night Saturday activities as much as possible. Avoid television, video games, and fluffy books.  Avoid anything that trivializes, or tends to put your mind in neutral. God’s thoughts are deep (Ps 92:5).

1. Personal/Heart Preparations [The purpose of these personal preparations is to sensitize your heart and mind to meet the Lord in corporate worship. The goal is to go to bed with the Lord on your mind.]
   1. Delight in the Word.
   2. Read Psalm 32 or 51 and spend time in confession.
   3. Read some Scripture about worship (E.g. Heb 12:18-29; Ps 95-100).
   4. For communion Sundays: read a Gospel account of the crucifixion.
   5. For communion Sundays, especially, resolve interpersonal conflicts, seek forgiveness where needed (Mt 5:23-24).
   6. Read a chapter from a solid devotional-style book such as The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer.
   7. Devote yourself to prayer for tomorrow’s worship service and all participants: ushers and greeters, Scripture readers, musicians, choir, and songleader, preacher, nursery workers, Bible class teachers, visitors, unbelievers who may be present.
   8. Bible teachers: pray for your students, other classes and fellow teachers.
   9. Discipline your mind with song. Fill the house with worshipful music. Sing some hymns.

SUNDAY MORNING

1. Practical Preparations
   1. Get up early
   2. Keep the television off (the latest news from CNN can wait).
2. Personal/Heart Preparations
   1. The Word – read a Psalm or two
   2. Prayer – Pray for yourself and your family, your pastor, the worship service and all who will be present.
   3. Song – Play psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as background music in your house. Listen to hymns and praise songs in the car on the way to church.
   4. Get to church at least 15 minutes before the service begins so that you may take care of miscellaneous details, give a word of encouragement to at least one other person, take babies to the nursery and have other children use restrooms. Remember to silence pagers, cell phones, and other electronic devices (consider leaving them at home).
   5. Be seated in the sanctuary. Spend time looking up songs and Scripture and/or pray.
   6. Worship the Lord with all your heart in the company of the redeemed (Ps 107:1-2).

There’s a bit more here.

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Listen with all your might this Sunday!

If you go to church every Sunday morning and attend an adult Bible fellowship you will hear approximately 100 sermon/lessons every year. If you are a Christian for 10 years that means you will have listened to 1000 in that time.

But how often do we really listen as we should.  The Constructive Curmudgeon has a challenge for us:

Listen . . . with all your might; hear the living and active word. The teaching and preaching of God’s imperishable word is truly a sacred event whereby the Truth penetrates hearts and minds, consciences are quickened, sin is disclosed, salvation is offered, wisdom is imparted . . . if we listen, if we actively engage ourselves in hearing, if we participate as the Holy Spirit works in our midst.

We are all too accustomed to being entertained and passively amused. Television often hypnotizes or anaesthetizes us; it demands little response and by its very nature stimulates stagnation, not spiritual encounter. Video games, cell phones, and internet access offers an endless source of possible distraction. But when we come together as the Body of Christ we come as participants not as spectators, we come to hear and obey the Truth not to be entertained. Neither Moses nor Paul captured their audience through eloquence or style. They were not entertainers but Truth-tellers: they spoke God’s word with a power that provoked response. Our Lord, when teaching by parable, alerted his hearers: “Therefore, consider carefully how you listen” (Luke 8:18). We are to be engaged in listening, intent on hearing.

The rest is so good!  So before you head off to church for another week, read the whole article here!  It won’t hurt you and it will likely help you to listen better this Sunday!

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