Father in heaven, we are ignorant of many truths, so teach us. We have forgotten many lessons, so remind us. We are wayward in many things, so rebuke us. We are weak in many ways, so strengthen us. Give us faith to hear Your Word and not only to hear but to believe and to […]
Genesis
A Flood of Judgment
Our Father in heaven, we need to hear from You. We come to You as a needy people. We’ve heard from so many voices this week and now we want to hear from You and so please speak clearly. May the sermon that I’m about to preach be by the work of Your Holy Spirit, […]
A Fork in the Road
Our text this morning comes from Genesis chapter 13. We’ll be reading all 18 verses. Follow along as I read from Genesis chapter 13. “So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, […]
A Glorious World and a Good Design
God, we come to You again, not merely out of habit or custom, but out of a sincere sense of our need, that You would speak to us. Whether we have heard from this chapter in the Bible hundreds of times or it is our first time considering it, we pray that You would teach […]
A Great Nation, A Great Name, A Great God
Lord, we have been praying and we say to you once again, and ask that You would speak, O Lord, until Your Church is built, until Your glory covers the earth as the water covers the seas. Would You give to us just what we need to hear. May we not neglect so great a […]
A Guilty Conscience
Our Father in heaven, as we come to Your Word now we pray that You would give us ears to hear, that the seed of Your Word would not fall on hard soil, but would find root in good soil, it would spring up and bear fruit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. Our Scripture […]
A Marriage Made in Heaven
Father in Heaven, we need your help so that these next moments are not wasted time with distracted thoughts and wandering hearts. I pray that you would give me grace to speak your word clearly, helpfully, truthfully, and you would give to your people ears to hear and to apply. May we not listen for […]
A Nervous Family Reunion
As we have just sung, now we bring back to You as our petition, O Lord, that You would revive Thy work, Thy mighty arm make bare, speak with the voice that wakes the dead and make Thy people hear. Open Your mouth, O Lord, teach us from Your Word. We are hard of hearing. […]
A New Covenant For A New World
Come, thou long expected Jesus, loosen now thy sacred tongue. Speak and may our ears receive Thee, give us hearts for Thee alone. Set us free from love of sinning, teach us from Thy sacred page. Fit us for our heavenly dwelling, be our joy from age to age. We ask, O Lord, that You […]
A New Start, Same Old Sin
O Lord, whom have we in heaven but You and there is nothing and no one on earth we desire besides You. Our flesh and our hearts may fail, but God, You are our strength and our portion forever, and so we pray, O Lord, that You would convict, correct, comfort, forgive, speak, teach, draw […]
A Successful Man Lands in Prison
We come this morning to Genesis chapter 39 as we con with our series we’ve been in for some time now, and Lord willing we will make our way through the end of Genesis by the time we get to a summer break. Genesis chapter 39. I’ll be reading all 23 verses. “Now Joseph had […]
A Table and a Tower
An Everlasting Covenant
O God of Abraham, we praise you, Ancient of everlasting days and God of love. You are the great I am, by earth and heaven confessed. We bow and bless Your sacred name, forever blessed. Speak to us, we pray. Give us ears to hear Your voice. In Jesus’ name. Amen. I’ve heard before that […]
An Ugly Fall
No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in us. O Lord, You have given us grace to conquer the grave, to conquer our fears, and now we ask that You would give us more grace to uncover our ears, that we would hear, that we would listen, we […]
And Behold, It Was Very Good
Our Father in heaven, we claim Your promise that though You oppose the proud, You give grace to the humble, and so I ask that my heart would be humble before You that You might give me grace to preach Your Word faithfully, joyfully, and in great power. And that You might give humble hearts […]
Blessing and Anti-Blessing
It’s one of the most famous openings to a novel in all of literature, “Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” That is the first sentence to Leo Tolstoy’s 1878 novel Anna Karenina. It’s lots of hundreds of pages, and I’m a pretender in giving this opening illustration. […]
Blessings and Burials
I wonder if you remember where you were on August 30, 2020. Besides being one of my children’s birthdays, although it’s not hard to land on one of their birthdays, it’s also the day that we began studying from the pulpit the book of Genesis, almost two years ago. I know some of you were […]
Do Not Be Afraid, Your God Has Given You Treasure
O Lord, we ask now that You give us grace; we need grace as we come to the reading and preaching of Your Word. I need Your grace that I would speak only what is true, what is edifying. Give me humility in myself and absolute confidence in Your Word. Give to all these Your […]
Every Intention, Only Evil, All the Time
Our heavenly Father, that is our prayer, that you would open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things out of Your law. We ask now that you teach us, You shape us, You correct us, lead us. Give us eyes to see Christ on every page of Your holy book. Give us ears to […]
Forgotten by Man, Remembered by God
In the unfolding story of your life, who are the most important actors? Or to ask the question a different way, who are the two agents most responsible for who you are and what your life is like? The answer, not surprisingly, you and God. The two agents most responsible for who you are and […]
From Jacob to Israel
Almighty God and merciful heavenly Father, we humbly submit ourselves and fall down before Your throne, asking You from the bottom of our hearts that the seed of the Word now to be sown among us may take such deep root that neither persecution nor the worries of life could choke it out, but as […]
