I’ve been doing remodeling work on my own houses since the early 80s. Now I’m a contractor, and I’m working on other people’s houses.
The work I’ve done going in behind other folks as I have worked on my houses has given rise to a proverb in my household…
When you open that wall, you will rarely find hidden perfections.
Our Holy Father and our God, we give You thanks for this day You have given us, the days that have gone before and the days that lie ahead. We give You thanks for the change of the seasons and the stamp it puts upon Your covenant faithfulness. We thank You for the life You have given us, this temporal life in the midst of Your creation and eternal life in Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We thank You for the opportunity to join together with Christ’s church, both as we join together at His table and as we are raised 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.
We thank you for the fruitfulness of this congregation, for the blessing of children in and among us at worship, for the sounds of little ones in our midst.
We thank you that in Your providence You provide for our every need.
We thank You for faithful officers, for the faithful preaching of Your Word and the faithful administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We thank you for the new place we have for worship and for the schools, and for the fact that we seem to be running out of chairs. We thank You for those who have joined themselves to us by vow this morning.
Most of all, we thank You for being our God. We know that all of these other things for which we are thankful, and an infinite number of things we do not know to even be thankful for, flow from the fact that we bear the name of Christ, and in Him You are our God and our Father.
“…if you would make conscience to have your [conduct] rightly ordered, be very watchful over yourselves in that special sin your nature is most inclined to.”
Jeremiah Burroughs, sermon delivered March 8, 1645
Our Holy Father and our God, You have called us to enter into Your presence. We do not enter because of any good we have of ourselves, for we are unworthy to even take Your name upon our lips. Instead, we enter because we claim the shed blood of Christ, our Savior, who gave his life a ransom to purchase back His Bride-Church from sin and eternal death. In Him we come before You, O Father. Lend us Your ear. Hear our praises and thanksgivings. Hear our petitions.
Thank You, Father, for the salvation We have in Jesus Christ. With the sin of our first father, Adam, all of mankind bore a debt that we could not satisfy, and the curse of death and hell bore upon us. It pleased You, in Your eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, Your only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Savior of His Church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom You did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed, and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. We thank You, O God, that You have given us to Him and given Him for us.
Thank You, Father, for the fruitfulness of this congregation and the many covenant children You have brought forth among us. Thank You for the recent increase with the births of B and S. Thank You for the presence of these children among us in worship, and that life happens here. Thank You for faithful parents who work diligently to raise up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We pray, O God that You will work through their labors, and those of our whole congregation, to raise these children up to be of strong, unshakeable faith and that they might live to love and serve You with whole and glad hearts all of their days.
We thank You, Father, for Christ’s body here on earth, His Bride-Church, for this local body of believers, and for our sister churches in Knox Presbytery and in the whole of the CREC. Thank You for the voices and wisdom of our faithful elders and deacon, the voices and wisdom of those who have gone before us, and Your voice and wisdom as You speak to us through Your Word. We ask, Father, that if we find ourselves in a time of winnowing of the Church, led by Your Spirit and aided by these voices and wisdom, we would be found faithful. May Christ’s church be salt and light in a world that desperately needs them.
We thank you, Father, that we live in a country still of unparalleled freedom. We pray for those who govern in this country, at all levels, whether elected, appointed or employed, especially President Biden and Governor Little, the supreme courts and legislatures of the United States, and the State of Idaho, and the City Councils of Lewiston and Moscow, that they may govern in truth and righteousness. Your Scriptures tell us that You move the heart of the king as we might turn on a faucet. We pray, O God, that You would move the hearts of our government that we might have the government we need, as opposed to the one we deserve, that we might live quiet and peaceable lives.
We pray, O Father, for those of our families and those we love who have strayed from or have never been in Christ’s sheepfold. Our hearts break and we weep for their misery and destiny, O God. We know that You have sovereign power to turn them to Christ, and we implore You to do that. Through whatever and all means You have at Your disposal, please gather these lost sheep and bring them into the safety and rest of Christ’s fold. May they be blest with repentance, forgiveness and salvation, all of these gifts from Your gracious hand.
We pray, O Father, for those who need physical healing. We ask that S night be kept in safety from the medical complications inherent in her birth. We ask that B might grow strong and serene. We ask that A and A would have recovery both speedy and complete. We ask that H might have mind and tongue loosed to join fully in worship and the life of his family. We ask that R might be healed of the burden of Lyme disease. We ask that F would be relieved of the pain from his back problems. We hold up N, M, M and K before You, and ask that they would be healed of their infirmities. We ask You to keep sickness from our doors and sustain us in health.
We pray, O Father, for the persecuted church around the world, In China, North Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, West Africa, and wherever else the saints are trod upon and killed for their belief. We thank You for the growth of Christ’s church in these areas in spite of these persecutions, and pray for their protection and for the sustaining presence and power of Your Spirit to be upon them.
Father, the government of our country could leave us in dismay. We have ended four years of a president whose tongue paraded through the earth, yet whom You used to bring about some restraints. Now we are faced with a president at the head of a political party which sees the abomination of child sacrifice as an inalienable right. God help us! Father, we implore You, make this cease. Convert the wicked hearts of this people and turn this nation to Christ. Purify Christ’s church and return her to her first love. Bring abortion to an end, here and everywhere. And if that means that we are crushed with them, let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy right hand to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Our Holy Father and our God, Creator of all things, Judge of all men, we have come here, together, because You have called us out of the darkness into Your marvelous light. For in Galilee of the Gentiles a light shone. Those who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Upon those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, a great light has shined. That was the true Light which gives light to every man, Who came into the world.
We come to You this morning, O Father, in praise and thanksgiving for who you are. You alone, O God, Triune Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are from eternity. There was never a time when the Triune Godhead was not, nor will there ever be. You are light, and in You is no darkness, not a single one. Your being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.
In Your mercy, O God, from all eternity and merely for Your good pleasure, You purposed to give to us a Savior, Your Son, Jesus Christ. In great humiliation He condescended to take on human flesh and be born to a young virgin. Made like us, sharing in our infirmities, that He might become our faithful, compassionate, and ultimate High Priest, making the offering once, for all, of Himself as propitiation, atoning for our sins and reconciling us to Yourself.
We could not have reconciled ourselves to you, Father. We are by nature sinful and unclean, and no sacrifice we could offer could atone for the cosmic treason we have committed. Only by the one offering of Jesus Christ are we able to come before You. In Him we are the adopted of God, and we come to You as children to our Father, praising your for your goodness, bringing you our concerns, praying to You in submission, knowing that You are in control of all things.
Our Holy Father and our God, Creator of all things, Judge of all men, we have come here, together, because You have called us out of the darkness into Your marvelous light. For in Galilee of the Gentiles a light shone. Those who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Upon those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, a great light has shined. That was the true Light which gives light to every man, Who came into the world.
We come to You this morning, O Father, in praise and thanksgiving for who you are. You alone, O God, Triune Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are from eternity. There was never a time when the Triune Godhead was not, nor will there ever be. You are light, and in You is no darkness, not a single one. Your being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.
In Your mercy, O God, from all eternity and merely for Your good pleasure, You purposed to give to us a Savior, Your Son, Jesus Christ. In great humiliation He condescended to take on human flesh and be born to a young virgin. Made like us, sharing in our infirmities, that He might become our faithful, compassionate, and ultimate High Priest, making the offering once, for all, of Himself as propitiation, atoning for our sins and reconciling us to Yourself.
We could not have reconciled ourselves to you, Father. We are by nature sinful and unclean, and no sacrifice we could offer could atone for the cosmic treason we have committed. Only by the one offering of Jesus Christ are we able to come before You. In Him we are the adopted of God, and we come to You as children to our Father, praising your for your goodness, bringing you our concerns, praying to You in submission, knowing that You are in control of all things.
Those who have left the flock
Those in need of encouragement because of their circumstances
Physical healing
Children
That life happens here
In the wombs of the congregation
Saints in persecution
Government
Session
Thankful for faithful officers
Sustain them in their lives
Wisdom in their ruling
Pastoral search
Ministries
Christ’s church and sister churches in CREC
The preaching of Your Word
ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and forever. Amen.
All God’s strokes are strokes of love and mercy, All God’s ways are mercy and truth, to those who love Him and fear Him (Psalm 25.10).
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Banner of Truth, 60.
Thus, a gracious heart thinks in this way: ‘The Lord has been pleased to bring down my circumstances; now if the Lord brings down my heart and makes it equal to my circumstances, then I am well enough.’
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Banner of Truth, 46
How to join these two together: to be sensible of an affliction as much as a man or woman who is not content; I am sensible of it as fully as they, and I seek ways to be delivered of it as well as they, and yet still my heart abides content – this is, I say, a mystery, that is very hard for a carnal heart to understand.
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Banner of Truth, 40
“So though we be shut up in great afflictions, and we may think of this and that and the other means to come out of the affliction, we should be willing to stay; God put us in, and God will bring us out.”
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Banner of Truth, p. 38
Not only must the tongue hold its peace; the soul must be silent. Many may sit silently, refraining from discontented expressions, yet inwardly they are bursting with discontent. This shows a complicated disorder and great perversity within their hearts.
Jeremiah Burroughs, “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment,” 20
Livin' in the foothills 