Dear Family at Christ Community, This Sunday we will gather to hear God's Word from Psalm 84 as well as the other aspects of our liturgy including the Lord's Table. Communion tangibly reminds us of God's presence with us in Christ. Donald M. Williams describes this reality in The Preacher's Commentary: Psalms 73-150: Like Israel of old, as we gather in (Jesus's) n...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we don't come prepared to be in Your presence on the Lord's Day Sabbath as a blessed necessity that helps sustain us in the days following (Psalm ...

Dear Family at Christ Community, This Sunday we will have the opportunity to celebrate God's goodness as Elowyn Audrey O'Sullivan receives the sign and seal of baptism. Baptism will not automatically save Elowyn. Psalm 95 will remind us that even those who witness and receive the signs of God's covenant can harden their hearts (95:8-11). Yet this does not mean that he...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that our willingness to sing on the Lord's Day Sabbath is more influenced by our preferences than the great things that You have done for us (Psalm 95)...

Dear Family at Christ Community, As we begin Worship: A Divine Invitation, we will hear of a beautiful historical example of the people of God engaging joyfully in worship as a blessed necessity from 2 Chronicles 30. The chapter begins with Hezekiah, the King of Judah, reinstituting the Passover for the first time since Solomon's reign (approximately 200 years!) and t...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we don't treat Lord's Day Sabbath worship as a blessed necessity that is critical to our relationship with You (2 Chronicles 30). We confess thes...

Dear Family at Christ Community, We will conclude our series on Romans 9-11 this Sunday with Romans 11:25-36 in which Paul will exemplify how the deepest theological mysteries ought to give way to hopeful and expectant worship. As Timothy Keller writes on this passage in Romans 8-16 for You: Paul does not find the deepest impulses for praise in looking at human accom...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We pause now to silently confess our individual sins before confessing together as a congregation from the text in Romans. We confess that we don't worship with h...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we often put greater trust in external signs of strength than in the internal work of the Holy Spirit (1 Samuel 17:31-47; 1 Timothy 4:12). We con...

Dear Family at Christ Community, This Sunday we will gather at God's invitation to participate in worship to be further shaped as redemptive instruments for His glory, our joy, and the life of the world. As part of our liturgy, we will hear from Romans 11:13-24 the call to mortify our pride to help cultivate our relationships with Him and those in our spheres of influ...