Readings for February 20

This Sunday I'm going to be preaching on Paul's text from 1 Corinthians 3 about the houses we build with the biblical material we've been given.  There are several things I appreciate about this passage.  Paul appears to give us a wide degree of latitude:  we all need to have the same foundation, but beyond that the "houses" of our faith might look significantly different.  God's grace is such that even those whose construction will be completely undone on that day will have some hope of glory because of the foundation on which they rest: some of us will make into glory with nothing more than Jesus and the skin of our teeth.  Praise the Lord!

And finally, we need not wait for the fire of judgment and we do not need to regard as sacred any of the walls in our house - only the foundation.  Everything else is a candidate for demolition and renovation.  The work will not be complete until Jesus completes it.  That too is a reason to praise the Lord and to approach the construction of our faith with renewed vigor.

February 20, 2011

Call to Repentance

Isaiah 30:15 (page 1108)

Call to Worship

Psalm 67 (page 902)

OT Reading

Haggai 1:1-11 (page 1468)

NT Reading

John 13:34-14:4 (page 1675)

Message

Hardcore Building Inspection

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 (page 1774)

Family Altar

February 21 Haggai 1:1-6

February 22 Haggai 1:7-11

February 23 Haggai 1:12-15

February 24 Haggai 2:1-9

February 25 Haggai 2:10-14

February 26 Haggai 2:15-19

February 27 Haggai 2:20-23

Suggested Hymn

That Anne Steele wrote this hymn (based on Haggai 2:7) is something of a miracle of grace. Anne had suffered great disappointment in life, of the sort that would lead most people to self-pity and a demand that what had been taken from her be returned. But instead of looking for this world to satisfy the demands of her needy heart she prays that God's glory would shine in her heart until “life, love and joy divine a heaven on earth appear.” That's a prayer to pray with her whenever we sing this hymn. It is in the Common Meter and can be sung to any CM tune, such as Azmon (O For a Thousand Tongues).

Come, Thou desire of all Thy saints!
Our humble strains attend,
While with our praises and complaints,
Low at Thy feet we bend.

How should our songs, like those above,
With warm devotion rise!
How should our souls, on wings of love,
Mount upward to the skies!

Come Lord! Thy love alone can raise
In us the heavenly flame;
Then shall our lips resound Thy praise
Our hearts adore Thy name.

Dear Savior, let Thy glory shine,
And fill Thy dwellings here,
Till life, and love, and joy divine
A Heaven on earth appear.

Then shall our hearts enraptured say,
Come, great Redeemer! come,
And bring the bright, the glorious day,
That calls Thy children home.