Deus Misereatur

  (From my letter to my congregation today - 30 March 2022) I want to tell you about the God of the “Nevertheless”. First, some background, then the point.   Last Sunday evening we were walking our way through Nehemiah 9. After God’s people longingly hear the Law of God (9:1-5) it brings them to a long confession of sin (9:6-37). In that confession of sin God’s people are fueled with hope and recount and confess: (1) God’s story from God’s own being, through creation to Abram and all the way to their moment. (2) God’s right to judge them and their forebearers for their faith-breaking. Thus they have no room for blame-shifting. And (3) God’s faithfulness , his faithfulness to justice AND mercy. You might want to listen to the sermon so you can have this outline filled in. If you have the ability to listen online you can find it here: https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/heritagepca/sermons/32822153703708/   And in this long confession of sin we come to the highpoint of v...

  A Prayer Shaped by Psalm 63 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. There is nowhere else we can go to find our deepest satisfaction, but to you. When times are tough, your tender care lifts our hearts. When loved ones betray us, you are utterly trustworthy! May we always seek you when walking in plenty or dragging ourselves along through dry and weary lands where there is no water. We pray now for our own or others’ present situations (…). O Lord, hear our prayer. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. We regularly find ourselves distracted and driven to distraction by our immediate frets and fears, catastrophes and calamities. But your steadfast love is better than life! O God who is e...

  We worship you for there is none like you, O God, who rides through the heavens to our help, through the skies in your majesty. You, O eternal God, are our dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:26-27). It is to you we pray. Look, O Good Shepherd, with compassion on your one flock all around the world, and around the OKC area to include: Graceway Baptist Church, Greater Antioch Full Gospel Baptist, Greater Marshall Memorial Baptist, and Greater Mt. Carmel Baptist. With rod and staff, comfort the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand. Seek out your sheep and rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. Seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak (Ezekiel 34:12, 16). Look, O Good Shepherd, with compassion upon this part of your one flock, Heritage Presbyterian Church. Bring us to dwell securely; to be a more successful extension of your promise t...

  Decades ago, a Christian artist penned a delightful song reflecting on Jesus’ boyhood. The artist was Rich Mullins, and in that song lie these words: “And did they tell You stories 'bout the saints of old? Stories about their faith? They say stories like that make a boy grow bold. Stories like that make a man walk straight” (Rich Mullins, “Boy Like Me/Man Like You”). Those song lyrics resonate in my head on occasion, especially when diving into church history. And those words sang out as I read a new 176-page paperback, “Redemption: The Church in Ancient Times” written for kids from 12 and up. It’s a retelling of stories ‘bout the saints of old, stories about their faith. Stories that make a boy grow bold. Stories that make a man walk straight! And Luke H. Davis, who teaches ethics and church history at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, and has authored several fiction and nonfiction works, has made these stories enjoyable, memorable, and personable.   Davis take...

  O our Father in heaven, we come near to you with all holy reverence and confidence, as children drawing close to a father who is able and ready to help us. May your name be hallowed  by us and all others so that we may glorify you in every way that you make yourself known. May your name be hallowed in our vocations, in our families, in our relationships, and in our civil engagements. Arrange all things, even all of our conduct, hardships, desires, marriages, singleness, occupations, governmental and civil events of this world and our country – to your own glory. Arrange the unfolding of the conflict in Ukraine to your own glory. Arrange the world response to that conflagration to your own glory. Hallowed be Thy name. O Lord, hear our prayer. May your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven . We implore you to destroy Satan’s kingdom, here and worldwide, and advance your kingdom of grace. May we all be brought into your kingdom of grace and firmly kept...

  O LORD, our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: you are the LORD our God, who teaches us to profit, who leads us in the way we should go (Isaiah 48:17); to you we pray. You who have called your people; you who are the first and the last, the beginning and the end (Isaiah 48:12); we pray for your universal Church and these churches in the larger OKC area: First Indian Baptist Church, Followers of Christ Baptist, Friendship Baptist, and Galilee Baptist . May we press on to know you, and may you come to us as the dawn, as the showers and spring rains that water the earth. Help us to sow righteousness, to reap steadfast love, to break up our fallow ground, to seek you so that you will come and rain righteousness on us. And by your restraining hand and truth-guiding Spirit, may we not plow iniquity, reap injustice, or eat the fruit of lies by trusting in our own way, in the multitude of our own strength (Hosea 6:3; 10:12-13). For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things...

  You who will tend your flock like a shepherd; who will gather the lambs in your arms; who will carry them in your bosom, and gently lead those that are with young (Isaiah 40:11); we trustingly present our entreaties and appeals to you, confident that what we ask faithfully, you will give effectively because you have assured us that if we ask in your Son’s name, you hear us and answer us. Look lovingly and tenderly on your global Church, and these congregations in the larger OKC area; Fifth Street Baptist Church, all the 1 st Baptist churches in OKC and Bethany, and 1 st Free Will Baptist. Restore her life and lead her in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. Take her lack and fill it lavishly. Guide her under-shepherds so that we will be shepherds after your own heart who will feed your people with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15). Watch over and build up agencies like “For the Children’s Sake Foundation,” International Justice Mission, Project 66, Hope Center...