* Here are some worship notes for you individually or for you and your family. These are intended to go along with the sermon though you don’t need to use the notes to make sense of the the sermon. If they help you, use them to guide you in your worship of our Lord!
- If you have children who can read, you may want to have them read some of the Scripture passages themselves.
- Read Psalm 57
- Sing together or mediated on the hymn “Arise, My Soul Arise.” If you are able, print out the hymn pages for everyone with you! If you need help with the music you can find the tune played here.
- I am encouraging you to pray for perseverance this week. How easy it is to be discouraged during a time like this! Here is a model prayer for perseverance. It is adapted from the puritan prayer “A Christian Prayer” in the book “Valley of Vision.”
“Blessed God,
Ten thousand snares are mine within us and without us. Defend us we pray.
- When sloth and inaction seize us, give us a view of heaven.
- When sinners entice us, give us no taste for their ways.
- When sensual pleasures tempt us, purify and refine us.
- When we desire worldly possessions, help us to be rich toward You.
- When the vanities of the world ensnare us, let us not plunge into new guilt and ruin.
May we remember the goodness of our spiritual release, may we never be too busy to attend to our souls, and may we never be so taken up with time that we neglect the things of eternity so that we would not only live, but grow towards you!
Form our minds to right notions of godliness so that we may not judge grace by wrong thinking nor our spiritual growth by the efforts of our own abilities.
May we seek after an increase of divine love to You, after unreserved submission to Your will, after extensive sacrificial giving to humanity around us, after patience and strength of soul, after a heavenly mindset, and after a concern that we would please You in public and in private.
Draw upon our souls the face of Jesus in His every feature of Your delight. For we are your workmanship created in Christ Jesus. We are Your letter written by the Holy Spirit. And we are Your tilled soil ready for sowing and then harvest.
In Jesus Name, Amen.”
4. Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1-19
5. Sermon – Pastor David. You can find an audio version here. Or there is a video version here.
Let us conclude with the lyrics of a hymn that many of us feel the weight of these days. The first four stanzas are in our hymnal. The last two point us to our text in Romans 8.
Blest be the tie that binds
our hearts in Christian love;
the fellowship of kindred minds
is like to that above.
Before our Father’s throne
we pour our fervent prayers;
our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
our comforts and our cares.
We share our mutual woes,
our mutual burdens bear,
and often for each other flows
the sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part,
it gives us inward pain;
but we shall still be joined in heart,
and hope to meet again.
This glorious hope revives
our courage by the way;
while each in expectation lives
and waits to see the day.
From sorrow, toil, and pain,
and sin, we shall be free;
and perfect love and friendship reign
through all eternity.