New Sermon Series: Isaiah

This coming Sunday we will beginning a new sermon series, the Book of Isaiah.  I am really looking forward to this book.  I think it is going to be a wonderful year looking at this all important text in the Old Testament.

John Oswalt writes this in his commentary.

"Of all the books in the Old Testament, Isaiah is perhaps the richest.  Its literary grandeur is unequaled. Its scope is unparalleled.  The breadth of its view of God is unmatched. In so many ways it is a book of superlatives. Thus it is no wonder that Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament, and along with Psalms and Deuteronomy, one of the most frequently cited of all Old Testament books. Study of it is an opportunity for unending inspiration and challenge."

Sermon Text: Psalm 88

Psa. 88:1 O LORD, God of my salvation;
I cry out day and night before you.
Psa. 88:2 Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!
Psa. 88:3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
Psa. 88:4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
Psa. 88:5 like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
Psa. 88:6 You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.
Psa. 88:7 Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah
Psa. 88:8 You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror* to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
Psa. 88:9 my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
I spread out my hands to you.
Psa. 88:10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
Psa. 88:11 Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Psa. 88:12 Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Psa. 88:13 But I, O LORD, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Psa. 88:14 O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me?
Psa. 88:15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.*
Psa. 88:16 Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
Psa. 88:17 They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
Psa. 88:18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.*

Sermon Text: Psalm 86

Psa. 86:1 Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Psa. 86:2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;
save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
Psa. 86:3 Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day.
Psa. 86:4 Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
Psa. 86:5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Psa. 86:6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for grace.
Psa. 86:7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
for you answer me.
Psa. 86:8 ¶ There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
Psa. 86:9 All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
Psa. 86:10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.
Psa. 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.
Psa. 86:12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
Psa. 86:13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Psa. 86:14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me;
a band of ruthless men seek my life,
and they do not set you before them.
Psa. 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Psa. 86:16 Turn to me and be gracious to me;
give your strength to your servant,
and save the son of your maidservant.
Psa. 86:17 Show me a sign of your favor,
that those who hate me may see and be put to shame
because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Sermon Text: Psalm 85

Psa. 85:1 LORD, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
Psa. 85:2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
Psa. 85:3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
Psa. 85:4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
Psa. 85:5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Psa. 85:6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Psa. 85:7 Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,
and grant us your salvation.
Psa. 85:8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
Psa. 85:9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
Psa. 85:10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Psa. 85:11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Psa. 85:12 Yes, the LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Psa. 85:13 Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.

Sermon Text: Psalm 81

Psa. 81:1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Psa. 81:2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
Psa. 81:3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
Psa. 81:4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule of the God of Jacob.
Psa. 81:5 He made it ma decree in Joseph
when he went out over* the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
Psa. 81:6 “I relieved your* shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
Psa. 81:7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
Psa. 81:8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
Psa. 81:9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
Psa. 81:10 I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
Psa. 81:11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
Psa. 81:12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
Psa. 81:13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
Psa. 81:14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
Psa. 81:15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
Psa. 81:16 But he would feed you* with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Sermon Text: Psalm 77

Psa. 77:1 I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
Psa. 77:2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
Psa. 77:3 When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
Psa. 77:4 You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Psa. 77:5 I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
Psa. 77:6 I said,* “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
Psa. 77:7 “Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
Psa. 77:8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Psa. 77:9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
Psa. 77:10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”*
Psa. 77:11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
Psa. 77:12 I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Psa. 77:13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
Psa. 77:14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
Psa. 77:15 You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
Psa. 77:16 When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
Psa. 77:17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
Psa. 77:18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
Psa. 77:19 Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints were unseen.*
Psa. 77:20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Sermon Text: Psalm 75

Psa. 75:1 We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks, for your name is near.
We* recount your wondrous deeds.
Psa. 75:2 “At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
Psa. 75:3 When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah
Psa. 75:4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
Psa. 75:5 do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with haughty neck.’ ”
Psa. 75:6 For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
Psa. 75:7 but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
Psa. 75:8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup
with foaming wine, well mixed,
and he pours out from it,
and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain it down to the dregs.
Psa. 75:9 But I will declare it forever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
Psa. 75:10 All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Sermon Text: Psalm 73

Psa. 73:1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
Psa. 73:2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
Psa. 73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Psa. 73:4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
Psa. 73:5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Psa. 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Psa. 73:7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
Psa. 73:8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
Psa. 73:9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Psa. 73:10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.*
Psa. 73:11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Psa. 73:12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
Psa. 73:13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
Psa. 73:14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
Psa. 73:15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
Psa. 73:16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
Psa. 73:17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their wend.
Psa. 73:18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
Psa. 73:19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
Psa. 73:20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
Psa. 73:21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
Psa. 73:22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
Psa. 73:23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
Psa. 73:24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Psa. 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
Psa. 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion forever.
Psa. 73:27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
Psa. 73:28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Sermon Text: Galatians 6:16-18

Gal. 6:16 And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
Gal. 6:17 From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Gal. 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Sermon Text: Galatians 6:11-15

Gal. 6:11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.
Gal. 6:12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
Gal. 6:13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Gal. 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which* the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Gal. 6:15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Sermon Text: Galatians 6:6-10

Gal. 6:6 One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.
Gal. 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
Gal. 6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
Gal. 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Gal. 6:10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Sermon Text: Psalm 67

This Sunday is going to be special.

Trust me. I will be using material from a sermon preached on Feb. 6, 1812. That is all I will say about it for now, come Sunday to find out more!

10:00 am, not 10:30 a.m.

Sermon Text: Galatians 6:1-5

Gal. 6:1 ¶ Brothers,* if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Gal. 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Gal. 6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Gal. 6:4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
Gal. 6:5 For each will have to bear his own load.

Guest Speakers - May 8, 15, 22

For the next 3 Sundays, we will be having guest speakers at Christ Presbyterian. Seems weird, but I will be out of the pulpit until Memorial Day weekend.

We have some wonderful men coming to minister at CPC. Starting this Sunday, May 8, with Jeremy Mullen, a RUF Chaplain at Harvard University.

Jeremy has preached before at CPC, the folks are looking forward to his arrival.

May 15 it is Ted Ogley. A native on NH, Ted is working with another church in our Presbytery to start a new PCA church in NH. This will be Ted's first visit to CPC.

Finally, May 22 is Dave Stewart. Dave is a Teaching Elder from Portland, ME and has been to CPC before. He will be administering the Lord's Supper on May 22 as well as preaching.

Thanks men for letting me step out of the pulpit!

Sermon Text: Galatians 5:4-6

Gal. 5:4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified* by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Gal. 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
Gal. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

This Sunday => Guest Speaker

I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but this coming Sunday is going to be special. The sermon text is First Corinthians 12. Please plan to join us!

Sermon Text: Galatians 5:2-3, 10-12

²Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. ³I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

¹⁰I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. ¹¹But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. ¹²I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

Sermon Text: Galatians 4:21-31

Gal. 4:21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
Gal. 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
Gal. 4:23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
Gal. 4:24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
Gal. 4:25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;* she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Gal. 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Gal. 4:27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”
Gal. 4:28 ¶ Now you,* brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Gal. 4:29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
Gal. 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
Gal. 4:31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

Sermon Text: Genesis 4:12-20

Gal. 4:12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong.
Gal. 4:13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first,
Gal. 4:14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
Gal. 4:15 What then has become of the blessing you felt? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.
Gal. 4:16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?*
Gal. 4:17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.
Gal. 4:18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you,
Gal. 4:19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ dis formed in you!
Gal. 4:20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Sermon Text: Galatians 3:19-25

Gal. 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
Gal. 3:20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
Gal. 3:21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
Gal. 3:22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Gal. 3:23 ¶ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Gal. 3:24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Gal. 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,