Father and our God, what a joy it is to come before you this morning in the name of Christ, knowing that you have set this day aside for us. What a blessing to even now be able to anticipate the call to worship later this morning. But now, Lord, we ask that you’d help us as we consider your word. as we seek to use the Westminster Confession of Faith, especially with regard to scripture this morning. Help us to learn and grow in our knowledge of you and of Christ. Be with us now, we ask all this in Jesus’ name, amen.
So what did we do last week, anyone remember? Ah, yes, creeds and confessions. Did we come to the conclusion that creeds and confessions are good? Did we come to that conclusion? Did I convince you of that? Okay, all right, good. Then we can continue. I want to do this morning just a brief overview of the assembly. You know, what was it? Why did it come together? And then we’re going to, Lord willing, jump into the first chapter of the Westminster Confession.
But first, and you won’t be able to see this very well, but these are some notes that I took on a book written by Chad Van Dixorn, which I referenced last week, entitled God’s Ambassadors, the Westminster Assembly, and the Reformation of the English Pulpit.
And so in this book, Chad Van Dikshoorn writes primarily about the work of the assembly, but not with regard to the confession or the catechisms. He’s writing with regard to the assembly’s work in terms of building the church up with regard to its ministers, because its ministers were in shambles, so to speak. And so one of the purposes of the assembly was to get the church to what the reformers had been teaching, because the church had been straying. And we know that the church strays as its leaders stray. And so one of the focuses of the assembly was upon the ministers. and removing ministers from their pulpits, those who were not qualified, and then examining men who desired to be ordained to the ministry and working on that process. So a lot of their work was taken up with that. And that’s what Chad’s book is really mostly about.
But he begins, and this is what I wanted to open our session with this morning, and that is on the backdrop to the assembly. So I think as I mentioned last week, there was a civil war going on. King Charles had actually abandoned the real parliament and then he set up his own parliament in the midst of this civil war. And so there’s this battle going on with regard to power and certainly with regard to the church.
And that’s the backdrop of the assembly. They met during this bloody Civil War, 1642 to 1650. Those are the dates of the Civil War. And so you’ve got those who were with the king, Charles I, 1600 to 1649, and who were with the Anglican Church. especially William Laud. And then you had others, the other side, right, the Puritans, and those who were supporting the actual parliament.
And so you have these two parties warring against each other, and the church, in a sense, kind of in the middle. And so that’s the backdrop to the assembly going on during a civil war. And so as I mentioned, I think last week, you have to understand that the government and the church were linked together.
We don’t understand that. We see a separation there. We understand that God has instituted the civil government, and he has placed all those who are in those positions in those positions. He’s ordained that. And yet we also understand that we are not the civil government, and the civil government is not the church. There’s a separation there. I’m not sure that we in this country completely understand the separation of church and state. Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is that at this time, they were linked together.
And so it’s the parliament that actually calls the church together to this assembly. So King Charles is setting up his own parliament, or the real parliament, is still sitting and is opposed to the king. And so you have to understand that as the backdrop. By the outbreak of the war, it was obvious, more than ever, that the national church was troubled and deeply divided.
And so the parliament understands this, and the parliament wants to unite the church. The parliament wants to reform the church, as the reformers had already done. But remember, this is 1640, and as we spoke about the Reformation taking place in the 1500s. So this is 100 years after the Reformation had taken place. And so you see that the Church of England moving away from the Reformation. And so the Parliament is trying to, one aspect of what the Parliament’s trying to do is bring the Church back.
So the call of the Assembly. The English Parliament that summoned the Westminster Assembly required the Synod to effect governmental and liturgical reforms, suggest doctrinal clarifications, address practical concerns related to the Church. That’s what they were called to do. shape and main task of the Assembly were directed by the two Houses of Parliament. So it’s the two Houses of Parliament which actually select those who would sit on the Westminster Assembly.
It’s not from the church. They weren’t asking the churches to pick who you want to send. It was the members of the parliament who were actually selecting men to come and sit in the assembly. Well, it wasn’t a cohesive group. Members were selected by both houses, the nominations by political concerns as well as personal interests.
Now, they were referred to as the divines, and we’re not saying that they’re They’re gods, that’s not what they use that term for, but theologians, you could say. And that’s the idea. These were men who were called 135 clergy to an assembly of divines or theologians. So the House of Lords, the House of Commons, then added 30 of their own members. So you’ve got these theologians, these ministers coming, But you’ve also got members of the government sitting with them. You see how the government and the church are connected, that you can’t separate them at this point.
And so the upside of the lack of a cohesive plan, or demographic in choosing the assembly, is these men display diversity. About the practice and theory of preaching. And so that comes together. They weren’t really unified in terms of where they were coming from. And so the assembly’s membership offers a century of working life from men of different temperaments and training and from across different localities. And so not everybody’s Presbyterian. Shocking, right? Right.
So part of Parliament’s goal was the reformation of the Church of England. Puritan Calvinists have been alleging that the Church of England was but halfly reformed. I don’t know that I know this, but you may. The famous Anglican vidia via media, halfway, not fully reformed. and needed a thorough alteration on the model of Calvin’s Geneva and the best reformed churches on the continent. So we know those documents that were produced, and that’s what we think of when we think of the Westminster Assembly, the Confession of Faith, which, Lord willing, we’re gonna be studying, and then the Larger Catechism, that was completed in 1647, the Shorter Catechism, which was for children, also completed in 1647. So the Confessions first, and then the Catechisms follow. Westminster Assembly appointed by Parliament to reform the Church of England since the majority of the Parliament wanted change and didn’t think the Church would reform itself. So the government steps in.
Assembly was charged to propose changes for the Parliament’s consideration. Think of that. It’s like our General Assembly meeting coming up in June, making some decisions and saying, well, but this is all subject to President Trump. That’s what it was like, right? We’ll make these decisions and then we’ll give it to Parliament and see what they say. We’ll come up with a confession and we’ll give it to Parliament and see if they approve it or not.
In addition, the Assembly established with Parliament’s blessing a national system of examinations. That’s what this book really is all about. A national systems of examining men for the ministry. They didn’t have it. And so you see how important it is for the presbytery here, as it does its work in examining men for the ministry. Well, that’s what the assembly did in a large part, was create a system to do that. So that’s just a backdrop. We won’t get into problems. But this was a problem.
The state of ministers in England in the early 1600s might be evidenced by the fact that the civil government had begun removing scandalous men from the pulpit. That was going on. The government was removing ministers who were scandalous already at the time the assembly was meeting. So that’s the state of the church. So let me ask if there are questions on the backdrop, not that I know much more than that, but that’s the backdrop to the assembly.
What did they consider scandalous? I’m trying to recall anything that was in the book. They were probably ministers who were just living in sin. Oh, probably not. No, I would think most likely it was very obvious. You had ministers who were living in sin. And everybody knew it. Parliament knew it.
And so we’re taking these guys out. That would be my guess. The other thing, the wealthy landowners and the nobles would set up men of their choosing to be in the parishes. So they were uneducated and just handpicked for their Yeah, and again, there was no system for ordaining men, for examining men, and so the assembly recognizes this and they began working with presbyteries to set up the system. Yeah. Sir?
Parliament was, at that time, made up by mostly Puritans or a majority of Puritans. I think there were at least Puritan leanings. Were they actually Puritans? I don’t know. But I think they were aligned more closely. And I think they were, yes. So I think the short answer to your question is yes. Anything else on the backdrop before we get into the confession itself? They must have compromised. It seems like just a Presbyterian thing. I’ve never heard about it until we were Presbyterians. You brought in people that obviously weren’t. Were they extremely dominant, the ones that were more Puritan? Were the Presbyterians dominant? I’m not sure I can answer that question. We need to get Chad in here. I think there were probably really strong discussions between the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians and how are we going to work this out. I think there was a lot of that.
But, you know, one thing you don’t see in the Westminster Confession is really anything significant with regard to officers. It’s not there. In fact, if you listen to the Reformed Deacon podcast, there was an episode with Chad Van Dicksorn asking that very question. Why don’t we have anything in the Confession about officers and specifically about deacons.
So, yeah. And that could be one reason, right, because they weren’t all Presbyterian and they wouldn’t all recognize the significance of the offices. All right. Ready to go to Chapter 1? Yes? Okay. All right. What’s Chapter 1 about? Scripture. How many chapters are there? 33, I think. Yeah. Yeah. OK. It worked. Excellent. Do you all have one of these? Yes? All right.
Maybe the church can get some. So this sets forth the version of the Westminster Confession that the OPC has adopted. It’s not exactly the same version that the divines wrote. There were a few modifications that were made, not many. And at some point in time, we’ll talk about those, but not right now. So there are 33 chapters. Again, it’s kind of like a cookbook.
And the first one is on the Holy Scripture. Why do you think they would begin with Scripture and not God? As we study, what are we going to be studying? Scripture. So it’s kind of important to set that forth first. This is the basis for everything. This is the basis for, or is it?
Matthew chapter 10. Therefore everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my father who is in heaven. Again, this is just what we went over last week. Why do we have a confession? And so we can start right there.
Romans 10, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Which Jesus? What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord? How is it that you can confess this from your heart? Why do we have a confession? First Peter 315, but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that’s in you. What’s your hope? Can you define it? Can you tell somebody else what your hope is and why?
And again, from Dr. McGoldrick, creeds and confessions have been necessary because God left the task of organizing and explaining his revelation to believers. To insist upon no creed but Christ may appear to be the zenith of piety, but soon the question must arise, which Christ? Okay, so chapter one, the holy scriptures. Where is God revealed? In the scriptures. Well, any place else? John chapter 18. John 18 at verse 33.
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, did you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?
Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. Then Pilate said to him, are you a king? So are you a king? Jesus answered, you say that I am a king for this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, What is truth?
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover, so do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? He cried out again, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Do we need the Bible? Jesus speaks of truth. Pilate made a decision to free a murderer and to crucify the innocent one. Do we need the Bible?
So what is general revelation? Who’s heard of general revelation? Just raise your hand. Anybody down on that row? General revelation? Yes? OK. Your hand wasn’t up, so I couldn’t tell. So what is it? You’ve heard of it. What is general revelation? Creation. Okay. Reveal the whole world. Okay. Okay. Well, let me just start with what’s revelation? What is it to reveal? Uncover. Right. To reveal. That’s what I think of when I think of revealing. You uncover something.
General revelation, God reveals himself through it, doesn’t he? Not only his power and might, but his creativity, his beauty, his thoughtfulness, his care, his goodness, his kindness, his wisdom. Would you agree with that? If you understand what general revelation is, all of that revealed in what we can see, touch, even not see. We can’t see gravity, right? I don’t know, can you see gravity? I can’t see. Do you feel gravity? Yes, we feel it, because I’m like standing on the floor, but it’s pulling me down. All displayed as we observe and investigate his creation of all things from nothing. His handiwork here for us to marvel at daily, hourly.
That’s maybe a good description of general revelation. Psalm 19 begins with general revelation, doesn’t it? The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. Day to day pour forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. That’s general revelation, right? God’s creation speaks to us about who God is. Creation reveals God to us.
Is everybody in agreement on that one? Not everybody accepts that. Interesting, you would say that, Romans 1. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. What is being suppressed? Wait a minute, what is it to suppress? To hold something down, that’s kind of the idea. To suppress, to not let it come up, right? Fire hydrant. I can’t do that because it makes noise. If I were to run my truck into a fire hydrant, the water would no longer be suppressed. It would just shoot up into the sky, right? So the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. That suggests heaven is part of creation, right?
And so God’s wrath is being revealed from creation against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. You could stop there and just meditate upon that for a moment. that the creation itself is revealing God’s wrath. Where do we see God’s wrath being revealed in creation? Oh, you might think of storms, right? The power of God, the tornadoes that we’ve seen on the news most recently in the Midwest, right? The wrath of God.
The power in his hand is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which is known about God is evident within them. What does that mean? Can you know about God because of who you are? You’ve been made in God’s image. Are unbelievers made in God’s image? Are believers made in God’s image? Who’s not made in God’s image?
As far as human beings. Not talking about dogs or cats. Everyone. And so that’s what Paul’s speaking of. Said everyone actually knows God because of the way we’ve been made. in His image, and because you can see the handiwork of God in creation. Unbelievers, those who would deny the Lord Jesus Christ, now are suppressing the truth. So they’re holding down this idea, the truth, that they’re made in the image of God. They’re holding down this connectivity that they have with their creator in unrighteousness.
They’re suppressing it. It’s there. It can’t be denied. And so this is actually a connection point for evangelism. Everyone knows that they’ve been made by God, although they will not admit it, and they will suppress it in unrighteousness. But this is general revelation. So do we need any more? Is this enough? Westminster Confession, you thought I wasn’t gonna get to the Westminster Confession, didn’t you? We’re there.
Chapter one, although the light of nature, creation, and the works of creation and providence, what’s providence? The will of God being worked out, right? Do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God as to leave men inexcusable. That’s a reference back to Romans 1. So, we’ve got all this stuff. Do we need anything else?
Is the Bible sufficient? Excuse me, whoa. Is creation sufficient? Ladies, what do you think? Yet I see some shaking of heads, and you say no. It’s not sufficient. OK. Any other opinions, thoughts? Well, they wouldn’t have given us the Bible if we didn’t need it. OK. Interesting. The Old Testament didn’t have it. They didn’t have it, so did they need it? They lived longer. They did. They lived a lot longer.
Well, so creation should point you to God. Well, it does, right? That’s what we’ve been learning already. So do we need anything else? Isn’t this enough? Can we just? No, because you can’t hug a tree on Sunday morning in college. But you could What do you mean What do you mean? In a big storm everybody prays no matter what you are you always hear about people praying but it’s to some random Touchy-feely thing that made up the Bible is It pushes us along the right path to explain everything.
OK. So you would vote yes, we do need the Bible. Oh, yeah. OK. All right. I don’t know. I think it’s still a question. Well, the fact that God gave it to us would be an indication that we needed it. Well, I mean, using that argument, it’s kind of silly, but he did give us dogs as well. And many times, I don’t think we need our dog. But it’s through preaching of the Bible that gives us our faith in Jesus Christ. Oh. It brings us the Holy Spirit to draft us to him. Interesting.
So where in creation can you go and find Jesus Christ? Where would you go in creation and find that you’re a sinner? Well, I mean, the wrath of God is being revealed from the heavens. And so can you tie the latest tornadoes in the Midwest to your sinfulness?
Can you do that? Oh, oh, it has to be explained. Interesting. Do we need more? Well, let’s consider the garden just for a minute. The Lord took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man. Now, this is kind of important. He had a place to live. He had things to eat. He had work to do. He didn’t have a wife yet.
But God gives Adam his word. That’s interesting. You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. So just think of Adam in the garden right now.
He’s placed there, but what’s he supposed to do there? Now he’s put there to work it and keep it, but now he’s got a rule, he’s got a law, he’s got the word of God to direct him as to how he should live. Could he know which tree in the garden was the one he was not supposed to eat from if God had not told him.
Was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, did it produce fruit that really looked wretched? Like, oh, I want to stay away from that tree. Wait a minute. Everything was very good, including The tree of knowledge of good and evil. Everything was very good as God made it.
And so there was probably absolutely no way for Adam to discern between, I don’t know what kind of fruit that was. We don’t know. But from the orange tree and the apple tree, the peach tree, I don’t know what kind of tree this was. But it was that tree which he wasn’t supposed to eat from and there was absolutely no way for Adam to know that was this tree unless God had told him.
He had to have special revelation in order to live the way that God desired him to live, right? Am I proving to you yet the need for special revelation? Okay. All right, I think we need more. Adam needed more. Adam needed more. than the garden to understand who God is. God spoke to him. God in that, in those words, and there are likely many, many more words that God spoke to Adam that we don’t have recorded for us. But in these words, God is saying, I’m your maker, right? And you have an obligation to obey me. This is who I am. I’m the one who made you. I possess you. I own you. I love you. But you need to love me back.
Because this is who I am. And so he’s describing to Adam who he is, even by and through that first command. Adam needed to be told what duty he had to his creator. In short, Adam needed to be told especially how he could live. Right? I mean, that’s, we think of the command as negative, but the command also was very positive. If you live this way, I will give you eternal, unchangeable life. So Adam needed to be told. Do we need more? Yes, Adam needed to have the word of God to accompany the physical revelation of God in creation so that he could understand who he was under God. Does it make sense? Adam needed more.
No way to distinguish the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the other trees, the tree of life. Unless God identified it for Adam and told Adam of its purpose. Right? The tree was named, but the tree had a purpose. And so God revealed that to Adam. And so did the tree of life. He had to be specially revealed to Adam.
Romans 1 19 for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power. Divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Yes, we can get much from general revelation so much that Paul’s saying that those who have cast off Jesus Christ, those who have rejected Jesus Christ are without excuse. Because they can get what they need, at least in part, from what’s been made. They can understand the invisible attributes of God as eternal power and divine nature from what’s been made. But do we need more? I think we’ve answered that question, haven’t we?
Think of Pilate once again. He had the very and only Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Kings, seated before him. Did Pilate know truth? Obviously, he didn’t. He even asks, what is truth? Did he know God truly? Well, he was suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. He was without excuse. Even more so, as Jesus the truth was sitting before his very eyes, he needed to have the personhood of Jesus revealed to him. And in a sense it was, right, because he understood Jesus as being innocent. And yet he cast him off. He rebelled. He was suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. And he had a bit more than merely the trees around him. He had the savior of the world sitting before him. What about us? Do we need more? Pilate needed truth as his heart was corrupt in Adam. He could not judge truly or justly. His heart was unable to know and pursue righteousness. Let me put it this way. He didn’t desire to know and pursue righteousness.
Just like our hearts are corrupt in Adam, how can we truly know anything? How can you know your purpose? God revealed the purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to Adam. Without that, he wouldn’t have known. What about you? What is your purpose? Can you tell your purpose from general revelation? I don’t think so. Where does absolute truth come from? How can anyone know about sin, eternal death, and salvation?
It’s only by special revelation. Do we need more? Okay, getting back to Westminster Confession. You can’t find that in creation, can you? So we need that special revelation. We need scripture. I’m trying to pound this into our heads because it’s so important. This is where the confession begins. This is where the divines thought the church needed to begin with the importance of scripture.
If scripture is not important, then what happens when you go to worship service? Well, what are you focused on? What are you hearing? Isn’t that what happens as churches stray from the Word of God? What are you hearing when you go to a church which is cast off the Word of God?
We need special revelation. Creation does not tell us who God is, who we are, how we were created, why we’re here, where we’re going. Our current condition as sinners, the need for salvation, and God’s plan of salvation. It’s all in the Bible. It’s not in these trees out here. It’s not in the rocks. The Bible, the Holy Scripture is the very word of God. It’s exactly what Adam received in the garden. It’s exactly what Eve cast off as Satan comes to her. This is how important scripture is. Satan knew it. And he convinced Eve to cast it off. Did God really say? You surely will not die. He persuaded Eve to set it aside.
That’s how important scripture is. Satan knows how important scripture is. It is the absolute truth, which can be found nowhere else. Where else can we find the truth? You’ve got a library on the other side of the wall there. What other books, other than the Bible, contain absolute truth?
Ladies? Which one? Okay. None of them. What about John Calvin? Come on. What about John Calvin? Absolute truth? No. I don’t want to burst bubbles here, but no. Nothing else. Nothing else. The Bible is exclusive. For I’m not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. Paul’s not ashamed of the gospel. Sometimes he puts things in the negative to really emphasize the positive. He loves the gospel. He was in prison for the gospel. So much so that he would never deny it. He would never deny Christ. It’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
We need it. General revelation serves as a backdrop for special revelation. And as such, it is not fully sufficient. I hesitate to say general revelation isn’t sufficient. It’s it’s it is sufficient as God made it sufficient. It’s sufficient for the purposes for which he made it. Right. So we’re not saying it’s it’s insufficient in that way. We’re saying that it doesn’t reveal to us the fact and the truth that we’re sinners.
That we need a savior, and there is a savior, Jesus Christ. It’s not sufficient to bring man to the self-conscious choice of good or evil. Martin Smith, Systematic Theology. We need special revelation. Therefore, so the first chapter continues. Because general revelation doesn’t reveal everything to us.
Therefore, please the Lord at sundry times. What does that mean sundry? Various times throughout history. Did God reveal his word to us all at once? No. Over how many years approximately? Yeah, about that. That’s a long time. Sundry times. And diverse manners. What does that mean? Different ways, right? Some had dreams, right?
Moses was spoken to out of a burning bush. Balaam’s donkey spoke. Diverse manners. Who spoke to Paul? Jesus, right? Directly, right? Jesus spoke to his disciples directly. Diverse manners, meaning different ways. Is he speaking to men today? Is there a more special revelation being given today? Okay. You hope not. We have enough. We have all we need. But if I were to say this morning, last night I received a dream from God. I have a new special revelation for you. Listen up. What do you think? Ah, good. Good answer. Good answer. You should start running.
Why is that? How do we know that revelation, special revelation is closed? Yes Yes, so diverse manners those diverse manners are done complete now Okay, and so we have this 66 books God’s special revelation Everything he wants us to know now Here, is this the original? That’s right. Which translation?
No, it’s not the original. So when we speak, we’ll talk about inspiration and that kind of thing in the future. But no, it’s not the original. Do we have the original? Yes. No. We’ve got something we think is pretty close. But we don’t have the original. We don’t have Paul’s actual letter he wrote to the church at Thessalonica. Don’t have it. Don’t have it.
Anyway, in diverse manners, to reveal himself and to declare that his will unto his church. And afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth. And for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and of the world. Commit the same wholly unto writing. So you see what the divines are saying, that the Word of God preserves the truth. The Bible preserves the truth. It propagates, that means it projects the truth. The establishment and the comfort of the church. Do you find the Bible to be comforting? You should. Yeah.
I think we’ll see this morning the establishment of the church at Thessalonica. It’s based upon the word of God against the corruption of the flesh. We won’t see that in this first chapter of the first letter to Thessalonica, but we will see it later on. In that letter, against the corruption of the flesh, the malice of Satan, and the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing.
Special revelation. It’s the word of God. It’s given to us. Which makes holy scripture to be most necessary. Those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased. Okay, have I convinced you that we need both general revelation and special revelation? What’s eternal life? To know God and his son, Jesus Christ. How do we do that? Through general revelation and special revelation. We need the Bible. All right. Questions? There’s the answer. Yes. Questions? I think that was just the first paragraph. I think this is the longest. I think this is the longest chapter in the confession. I think there are 10 paragraphs. Questions? OK. What about UFOs? OK. I’m not going to opine on those right now. All right. Well, let’s close in prayer.
Our Father and our God, we thank you so much for your word. We would be lost, completely lost without it. And so we pray that you’d use it within us, plant it deeply, that by your Holy Spirit you would give us understanding and discernment and not merely head knowledge, but a deep abiding understanding of who you are and who your son is and what you’ve done and how you call us to be holy. And by the work of sanctification, how you’re making us more holy, holy, holy. Help us, Lord, to revere your word. To study it. And to love it and then, Lord God, to use it. Certainly in our lives, but to proclaim Jesus Christ. Help us now prepare us for worship. We ask all these things in Jesus’s name. Amen.