Good Works are Dangerous…

Good works are dangerous, if they be made the Foundation in the great point of Justification by Faith, but if they be used in the Superstruction, then they are very useful.

From “To the Reader”
Gospel Conversation
Jeremiah Burroughs

Blessedness

“It is good to take Christ’s judgment rather than our own about blessedness.”

Jeremiah Burroughs

Death of Sin in the Death of Christ

“There is no death of sin without the death of Christ.”

John Owen, MoS Chapter VII

A Safer Path to Hell

When a man on some outward respects forsakes the practice of any sin, men perhaps may look on him as a changed man. God knows that to his former iniquity he hath added cursed hypocrisy, and is got in a
safer path to hell than he was in before.

John Owen

MoS

Corporate Prayer: May 14, 2023

Our Holy Father and our God, we give You thanks for this day You have given us. We thank You for the beauty of this place you have set us in, where we see Your glory writ large upon sky and mountain, river and field. We thank You for the families You have blessed us with, as husbands for the wives you have given us, as wives for husbands, as parents for the olive trees you have set around our tables, and as children for the parents you have given us to. We thank You for the strength and skills we have been given as men, that allow us to labor to sustain and maintain our households. We thank You for the gifts, talents and skills you have given the wives and mothers in this congregation,  with which they beautify, glorify and sustain life in our homes. We thank you for the strength you have given our sons, that they might in turn labor to sustain and maintain households, and for the spirit You have placed in our daughters, that they might follow their mothers and be fruitful vines in the households you place them in.

We thank You for the physical provision of our homes, of food on our tables, of roofs over our heads, of vehicles, gasoline, electricity, water, and all those things which sustain our lives. We give You thanks for safe travels completed, and travels to come.

We thank you for Your gracious providence, both sweet and hard. We thank You as our Heavenly and Holy Father, for the ways in which You succor us and form us, for the times of comfort and the times of chastisement.

We thank You for hearing our prayers, for condescending to hear our insufficient thanks and our seemingly endless petitions. Hear, O God, and stretch out Your mighty right arm in our defense and aid.

For those we love who have strayed, or have never claimed Christ we pray that you would change hearts and minds, that they would turn or return to Christ, that they would be blest with repentance and forgiveness.

We pray that by Holy Spirit we, as a church, would be found faithful. Faithful in our attendance, faithful in our giving, faithful in our Bible-reading, faithful in our prayers, faithful in our fellowship, faithful in our care-giving. Give us eager ears and hearts to hear Your word read and preached, eager hands and feet to serve within and without. May Christ’s whole church, this church, Palouse Fellowship, our sister churches in Knox Presbytery, the CREC,  and Christ’s whole church-bride be found faithful and, where it is not, may it be disciplined to come to faithfulness or shuttered by Your hand.

For those among us with physical infirmities we pray for Your sustaining strength and for healing. For F and B that they would be relieved of pain in back and neck. For R that he would be sustained in health. For H that he would be given all those things he needs to loose his tongue and integrate with life around him.

For those among us carrying infants in the womb we pray for safe pregnancies, safe deliveries, healthy mother and healthy baby.

As we begin another political season we ask that You would give us the government we need, and not the one we deserve. May those who claim Christ vote, and vote with that as their guide. May those who govern, elected, appointed and employed, be brought to saving faith in Christ, and may the governing of this land and all lands conform to Your law. May the spectre of abortion be removed from among us. May the knowledge of the Lord cover the whole earth as the waters cover the seas.

We understand, O God, that none of these things for which we thank You come of their own. None of that for which we ask could be ours through our own power or means. All of these, and the infinite blessings we receive, are ours solely through Your grace and favor. And we are thankful for that grace and favor which are ours solely through Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. He has bought us back from sin and death by His work finished on the cross of Calvary. It is only in Him that there is salvation, only in Him that there is healing, only in Him that there is life. We thank You, His Father and our Father, His God and our God, for the salvation wrought, for the reconciliation You have brought between us and Yourself through the blood of the cross. We are thankful, O God, as thankful as we can be, yet not as thankful as we should be. And we thank You that a day will come when we will join those souls the righteous made perfect, when our praise to You will be made perfect as well.

O LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Corporate Prayer, March 5, 2023

“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

Our Holy Father and our God, You have called us into Your holy presence, and we have come. Week by week You call us to leave behind the world, with its enticements and its troubles, and instead to Mount Zion, to join with Christ’s church of all ages and nations. We join in their unending hymn, Holy! Holy! Holy! are You, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Your glory! Hosanna in the highest!

Thank You, Father, for the great goodness that is ours each day in Christ Jesus. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love You and are the called according to Your purpose. Temporal goods and temporal evils…work together for our good. Sickness and health, the blessings of home and hearth and political persecutions…work together for our good. We pray that You would instill in each of our hearts that faith which is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things unseen, that we might believe and obtain a good testimony. Give us hope as an anchor of our souls, sure and steadfast, set for us within Your heavenly Holy of holies. By Your Spirit move in our hearts that we might rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.

Father, we come to You as children, knowing that our strength and capabilities are severely limited, and that You are all-powerful, and can accomplish all Your holy will.

Please give physical healing to those among us and those close to us. We make supplication for A and B, that their pain would be mitigated. We know that You are powerful to do that, and we call on You for their relief. We make supplication for Z, that his healing might proceed unabated, and that he would be restored to health. We make supplication for E, that his liver would function properly, and that he would live a long and fruitful life. We make supplication for H, that his fine motor skills would be improved that his tongue would be loosed and he be able to function in the world around him.

We make supplication for those we love. For those who have never called on the name of Christ and for those who have wandered from Him, we ask that they would be blessed with repentance and forgiveness. It lies within your sovereign power to change their hearts more easily than we turn a water faucet on and off. Turn them from their evil pathways, O God, and set them on Christ’s pathways.

We make supplication for those who govern in country, state, county and municipality, whether elected, appointed or employed. May they act as Your ministers to praise the good and punish evil. Where they themselves are evil, we pray that they might be given regenerate hearts and govern in accordance with Your law. Give us faith immovable and hope steadfast that we would know with certainty that these evil times work together for our good and Your glory.

We make supplication for the ministries we support. May each of them find favor in the eyes of local churches and government, may their pathways be made smooth and straight, may they be a blessing in the Valley and in Moscow.

We make supplication for Christ’s church here on Earth. May she be found faithful, and where she is not, may she be blessed with holy discipline to bring her to faithfulness. May the CREC, her presbyteries and churches be a light in darkness, acting continually to proclaim the Name of Christ, crucified, dead, buried and risen, Judge and only Hope of all the world. May Covenant Presbyterian Church in Cochrane be blest with faithfulness and fruitfulness. And may this church be found faithful and made full of faith and joy.

We pray, O God, be faithful to bring to completion the good work You have begun in us in the day of Jesus Christ. May we bear the family likeness of the family of God.

Now may our worship be superintended by Holy Spirit, that it would be pleasing in Your sight, a pleasing aroma to Your nostrils. May Your word be faithfully preached, and Christ’s sacrament be faithfully administered, to the honor and glory of the Name of the Triune God.

All this in Christ’s holy name we pray. Amen

Exhortation: May 1, 2022

Christians, hear Psalm 1…

1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

This is the Word of the Lord

Psalm One begins with “Blessed is the man…” and then goes on to talk about what that blessed man does not and does do. To be clear up front, Jesus Christ is the only man who has ever really lived up to that, who has not done the things He is not supposed to do, walked in the counsel of the wicked, stood in the path of sinners, sat in the seat of the scornful. He alone among men has fully delighted in the law of the Lord.

And it is a great blessing to us that Jesus has not done, and done, those things. His sinless life, atoning sacrifice, and glorious ascension gives us the opportunity to be among His people. The Psalmists and Prophets make it clear that the Christ, as that One Blessed Man, is blessed to have a people prepared for Him, and our greatest blessing is being among that people.

But Psalm One is not solely a description of Jesus. Paul tells Timothy that “all Scripture is…profitable…for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” I am not going out on a limb, much less skinny branches, by saying that we are supposed to become more like Jesus, to take on the very family likeness of the family of God, and the Scriptures are there to help us do that.

Psalm One does that by giving us wisdom about how to curate our lives. Let me explain what I mean by that. The curator of a museum has control over the collection in the museum. The curator decides which pieces are going to be displayed, which pieces will be displayed together, and where and how they are going to be displayed. And, since most museums have a lot more stuff than they can put on display, the curator decides what will not be displayed at any point in time. If you will, the curator decides what you will and won’t see in the museum.

One of the things the blessed man of Psalm One curates is the soundtrack of his life. “His delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in his Law he meditates day and night.” There are words in the Hebrew that describe the concept of ‘think.’ But the word translated here as “meditates” is not one of them. It implies a sort of muttering, an internal dialog. And in the Hebrew, to say ‘day and night,’ is a way of saying ‘all the time.’ So the life of the blessed man has a soundtrack. It is the Law of the Lord, the Torah of Yahweh, it is the constant background music of his life, and it tempers everything else about his life as his constant guide.

Our lives all have soundtracks. And it’s more complex than that blessed man in agrarian Palestine. Our devices have become part of our lives, and bring soundtrack with them. Anybody got a Spotify account? Podcasts? Twitter and Facebook? I used to listen to classic rock and country in the car. I figured out I can’t do it anymore. It’s not helping me to be more like Jesus.

The reality of it is that I don’t even need any of that to lead me astray. Nor do you. In the prayer of general confession that Sam uses, he confesses the sin of the words of our lips. They really aren’t anything compared to our mutterings, that internal dialog, now are they? At least mine aren’t. And you know that I generalize from my sin to your sin. And the lusts of our hearts? Wow.

I want to offer two things here. First, we need to curate the soundtracks of our lives. We need to steep ourselves in the Word of God, to become our background music not only in curating our soundtracks, but in guiding us in every circumstance of our lives, that we might be blessed men and women, taking on the family likeness of the family of God.

Second, DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scriptures tell us, in many places, to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not try to mislead, nor cloak them before the face of, Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient hearts; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart, and humble voice, unto the throne of the heavenly grace, kneeling as you are able;

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But You, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent; According to Your promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live godly, righteous, and sober lives, To the glory of Your holy Name. Amen.

[Assurance of pardon\

May God grant us true repentance, and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him, which we do at present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure, and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Corporate Prayer: Easter Sunday 2022

Our Holy Father and our God, we have come into Your presence this morning because You have called us. You have called us from slavery to sin and death to become slaves of righteousness. You have called us from darkness into Your inestimable light. You have called us not only into Your light, but You have called us to be light, light in Christ.

As with the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, O God, you have called us to remember, as You remember. To remember Your creation of all things out of nothing, that before what we know as the beginning, there was the Triune God, and nothing else. To remember that after You created everything else, You created Man in your very image, different from all other created things. To remember that our first father, Adam, sinned against You, taking all of mankind into darkness and curse with and after him. To remember that even in the midst of that first onslaught of darkness You promised a Savior, Who would crush the serpent’s head, even as the serpent bruised His heel. To remember that in the fullness of time You remembered Your promise, and a virgin conceived by Holy Spirit and brought forth our Savior, Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, the One who would turn back the curse. To remember that according to Your purposes He took upon Himself our sin and shame, dying an accursed death upon the cross, that we might be cloaked in His righteousness and have the adoption as sons and daughters of the Living God. To remember that by Your power and glory, on the third day He rose again, showing forth the vindication of Your purposes, that Death could not hold Him, and cannot hold us. To remember that the day is coming when He will return in glory to judge all of mankind, the living and the dead, to establish His kingdom that will have no end. To remember that Your covenant faithfulness endures forever.

And on this Easter Sunday, O God, we remember and celebrate especially the glorious and joyous truth that Jesus Christ is, indeed, risen from the tomb, to turn back the curse and bring eternal life!

Corporate Prayer: November 14, 2021

Our Holy Father and our God, we give You thanks for this day you have given us, for the beauty of this land that surrounds us, for the change of the seasons that puts the stamp on Your covenant faithfulness. Thank you for the great mercies You show forth to us day by day, food and clothing and shelter, family and work and rest. Of all that You have blest us with, the greatest is that You have given Your Son for us, and given us to Him. We thank You for the salvation wrought through the atoning sacrifice and glorious ascension of Jesus Christ and the benefits that are ours in adoption as Your children in Him.

We give You thanks, O God, for Christ’s body and bride, the church. We thank you for our denomination, the CREC, for brothers and sisters who stand with us shoulder to shoulder in the service of the Gospel, in Presbytery and over the face of the globe. We pray, O Father, that in Your shepherding we and they might be found faithful. We ask that Christ’s church, wherever she may be found, would return to the faith once received, and that You would exact the discipline necessary to bring that about.

We thank You for faithful elders and deacons. We pray for their wisdom in service, that they and their families would be protected, that we, as a congregation, would be a light and joyful burden for them to bear.

We give You thanks, O God, for the children placed in our midst, that our worship is accompanied by gurgles, cries and screams. We pray that these would be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and that those carrying babies in the womb would be protected and they would carry them to full term and we would see healthy mother and baby among us.

We give You thanks that You have given us a Shepherd, Jesus Christ. We pray that You would move us, like Him, to seek the lost sheep. Place in our pathways those who need to hear and embrace to Gospel, give us boldness, wisdom and winsomeness to communicate to them the Gospel of eternal life in Jesus Christ. And we pray, O Father, for the lives and souls of those connected to this congregation who have strayed or have never been a part of Christ’s church. In all these things You are sovereign, and we entrust them to Your care, asking for them to be blest with repentance, forgiveness and salvation in Jesus Christ.

We give You thanks that we live in a land of freedom. We pray for those at all levels of our government, whether elected, appointed or employed, that they would govern and administer in keeping with Your holy character. May they govern in righteousness, that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives. We pray that You would bring revival upon our land, that our government and people would be a people of the Lord. We pray that the abomination of abortion would cease, here and over all the earth.

Father, the Apostle tells us in Your word that we do not even know what to pray for. By Your Holy Spirit, may our prayers be made complete. As He plumbs the depths of our hearts may He present to you our deepest and even unknown concerns and longings. May our thanksgiving and our praises be made complete until that day when Your place is among men, ever tear dried and every wound made whole.

And we ask that the remainder of our worship would be superintended by Your Holy Spirit, that what we do here may be pleasing in Your sight. May Your Word be faithfully preached and Your sacrament be faithfully administered, equipping and preserving the saints of Valley Covenant Church to Your praise and glory.

All this we pray in Christ’s Holy Name.

Amen

Would it have been that hard?

I am not an electrician. But I have done some electrical. In Florida you could do your own, and my inspectors encouraged me to do that. Most of it is not rocket science.

Using modern (as in the last 30 – 40 years) electrical cable, it is easy to ground a metal electrical device box. Of course, for a lazy electrician, it’s even easier to cut off the ground wire in the cable and leave the box and switch ungrounded. And unsafe. Ask me how I know they do it.