For The Lord's Day

"Modern culture is a mighty force. It is either subservient to the Gospel or else it is the deadliest enemy of the Gospel. For making it subservient, religious emotion is not enough; intellectual labor is also necessary. And that labor is being neglected. The Church has turned to easier tasks. And now she is reaping the fruits of her indolence. Now she must battle for her life." ~ J. Gresham Machen

For The Lord's Day

“The effort to repay God, in the ordinary way we pay creditors, would nullify grace and turn it into a business transaction. If we see acts of obedience as installment payments, we make grace into a mortgage… Let us not say that grace creates debts; let us say grace pays debts… Past grace is glorified by intense and joyful gratitude. Future grace is glorified by intense and joyful confidence. This faith (confidence) is what empowers us for venturesome obedience in the cause of Christ.”  – John Piper in Future Grace

For The Lord's Day

Trinity Sunday*

Meditation before Worship – “Until our consciences are bound by Scripture so that our actions are the product of conviction, we will be the victims of fluctuating fancies and susceptible to the “security” that is offered in conformity to a long list of human taboos. Convinced, grace-filled, spirit-led obedience to God’s Law really is the pathway to freedom. Remember, the law is not the dynamic of our sanctification, God’s love for us is not on the basis of duty, but neither does His love for us free us from duty.” 

 ~ Alistair Begg, Pathway to Freedom

*The celebration of Trinity Sunday by much of Christendom dates from the consecration of Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162. Within Protestantism Anglicans, Lutherans and Methodists mark the day. This Sunday begins the longest period in the church year, which continues until Advent.

For The Lord's Day - Pentecost

“Nothing makes God more supreme and more central in worship than when people are utterly persuaded that nothing – not money or prestige or leisure or family or job or health or sports or toys or friends – nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their sinful, guilty, aching hearts besides God. This conviction breeds a people who go hard after God on Sunday morning. They are not confused about why they are in a worship service. They do not view songs and prayers and sermons as mere traditions or mere duties. They see them as means of getting to God or God getting to them for more of his fullness – no matter how painful that may be for sinners in the short run.” ~ John Piper in God’s Passion for His Glory

For Ascension Sunday

The golden gates are lifted up; the doors are opened wide;

The King of Glory is gone in unto his Father’s side.

That where thou art, at God’s right hand, our hope, our love may be:

Dwell Thou in us, that we may dwell forevermore in Thee.

 -- Cecil Frances Alexander

For The Lord's Day

“… our audience in corporate worship is not people. Corporate worship is not about pleasing people, whether ourselves, the congregation, or unbelieving seekers. Worship in the corporate gathering is about renewing our covenant with God by meeting with Him and relating to Him in ways that He has prescribed. We do this specifically by hearing and heeding His Word, confessing our own sinfulness and our dependence on Him, thanking Him for his goodness to us, bringing our requests before Him, confessing His truth, and lifting our voices and instruments to Him in response to and in accord with the way that He has revealed Himself in His Word.”

-- Mark Dever in The Deliberate Church