Bowman Community Church A small church with a great Savior. https://bowmanchurch.org Tue, 10 Jan 2023 10:13:39 +0000 Tue, 10 Jan 2023 10:13:39 +0000 hourly 1 3600 SnapPages.com Lead Me in Your Faithfulness Psalm 25: 5-6 ESV I just picked up and started reading this book (free until end of the month). It walks through Psalm 25 to 37. I think we tend to struggle with the Psalms—whether it's figuring out how to pra...]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/28/lead-me-in-your-faithfulness Tue, 28 Mar 2023 09:12:37 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/28/lead-me-in-your-faithfulness
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
6 Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
for they have been from of old.
Psalm 25: 5-6 ESV

Tracing the Ways of God

I just picked up and started reading this book (free until end of the month). It walks through Psalm 25 to 37. I think we tend to struggle with the Psalms—whether it's figuring out how to pray (and not to) the "imprecatory psalms" (calling down judgment) or trying to find the rhyme, Psalms can be hard. We could use all the help we can get, I'd say. Here's a snippet that encouraged me: 
"His second petition is for the enjoyment of God’s ways (vv. 4–5): ‘Make me to know your ways, Yahweh, teach me your paths.’ And then, ‘Lead me in your faithfulness.’ What are we to make of these ‘ways’ and ‘paths’? We usually think of them, I suppose, as the ways of God’s commandments, the ways He requires of us. And sometimes that is clearly the sense (e.g., Exod. 32:8; Ps. 119:32, 33).

But the more I ponder this text the more I lean to J. A. Alexander’s position that here the ‘ways’ and ‘paths’ are not referring to the ways God commands but to the ways He operates, not to the ways of precepts but of providence, not what He demands but how He deals with His people. Verse 5a seems to support this, since the traditional ‘lead me in your truth’ is better translated ‘in your faithfulness’.

Moreover, verse 10 seems to carry the same sense: ‘All the paths of Yahweh are unfailing love and faithfulness to those who keep his covenant and testimonies.’ So he seems to be praying that Yahweh will teach him how He is working in his case (v. 4) and to let him experience His faithfulness (v. 5) as he goes on. Isn’t this what so thrills a Christian believer? He or she can look back and sometimes trace those ‘ways’ of the saving God. Ways and paths that sometimes seemed twisted, looking as if they operated by hook or by crook, and yet we found that disappointments led to deliverances, frustrations to escapes from temptations, and difficulties strangely prevented disaster. And when the Lord gives us a glimpse of those ways, we know why we long for Him all day long (v. 5b)."

 Dale Ralph Davis, In the Presence of My Enemies: Psalms 25–37 (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2020), 16–17.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/28/lead-me-in-your-faithfulness#comments 0 Lloyd-Jones https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/06/lloyd-jones Mon, 06 Mar 2023 10:52:17 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/06/lloyd-jones
I defy you to read the life of any saint that has ever adorned the life of the Church without seeing at once that the greatest characteristic in the life of that saint was discipline and order. Invariably it is the universal characteristic of all the outstanding men and women of God.… Obviously it is something that is thoroughly scriptural and absolutely essential.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/06/lloyd-jones#comments 0 Collect of the Day https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/04/collect-of-the-day Sat, 04 Mar 2023 21:54:31 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/04/collect-of-the-day
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Eve of The Second Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities that may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/03/04/collect-of-the-day#comments 0 Collect of the Day https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/25/collect-of-the-day Sat, 25 Feb 2023 21:14:46 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/25/collect-of-the-day
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Eve of The First Sunday in Lent

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations, and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/25/collect-of-the-day#comments 0 Collect of the Day https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/18/collect-of-the-day Sat, 18 Feb 2023 21:54:01 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/18/collect-of-the-day
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Eve of The Last Sunday of Epiphany: Transfiguration, or Quinquagesima

O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/18/collect-of-the-day#comments 0 Collect of the Day https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/11/collect-of-the-day Sat, 11 Feb 2023 22:16:25 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/11/collect-of-the-day
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Eve of The Second to Last Sunday of Epiphany: World Mission Sunday, or Sexagesima

Almighty God, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, you revealed the way of eternal life to every race and nation: Pour out this gift anew, that by the preaching of the Gospel your salvation may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/11/collect-of-the-day#comments 0 Collect of the Day https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/04/collect-of-the-day Sat, 04 Feb 2023 22:00:19 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/04/collect-of-the-day
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Eve of The Fifth Sunday of Epiphany, or Septuagesima

O Lord, our heavenly Father, keep your household the Church continually in your true religion, that we who trust in the hope of your heavenly grace may always be defended by your mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
Amen.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/04/collect-of-the-day#comments 0 Machen on public education https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/04/machen-on-public-education Sat, 04 Feb 2023 10:00:12 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/04/machen-on-public-education
Machen in 1922: ” When one considers what the public schools in America in many places already are—their materialism, their discouragement of any sustained intellectual effort, their encouragement of the dangerous pseudo-scientific fads of experimental psychology—one can only be appalled by the thought of a commonwealth in which there is no escape from such a soul-killing system.“
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/02/04/machen-on-public-education#comments 1 Collect of the Day https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/28/collect-of-the-day Sat, 28 Jan 2023 21:58:40 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/28/collect-of-the-day
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Eve of The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

O God, you know that we are set in the midst of many grave dangers, and because of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant that your strength and protection may support us in all dangers and carry us through every temptation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/28/collect-of-the-day#comments 0 Collect of the Day https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/21/collect-of-the-day Sat, 21 Jan 2023 20:56:08 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/21/collect-of-the-day
COLLECT OF THE DAY
Eve of The Third Sunday of Epiphany

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/21/collect-of-the-day#comments 0 All Glory Be to Christ All Glory Be to Christ, which begins with:“Should nothing of our efforts stand, No legacy survive,
Unless the Lord does raise the house, In vain its builders strive.
To you who boast tomorrow’s gain, Tell me, what is your life?
A mist, it vanishes at dawn,All glory be to Christ.”How at odds with the message our culture repeats with gusto every new year?! It seem...]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/13/all-glory-be-to-christ Fri, 13 Jan 2023 23:00:30 +0000 https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/13/all-glory-be-to-christ
On New Year’s Day at Bowman we sang All Glory Be to Christ, which begins with:

“Should nothing of our efforts stand, No legacy survive,

Unless the Lord does raise the house, In vain its builders strive.

To you who boast tomorrow’s gain, Tell me, what is your life?

A mist, it vanishes at dawn,
All glory be to Christ.”

How at odds with the message our culture repeats with gusto every new year?! It seems everyone is convinced and is obsessed with convincing you that you just need better work-outs for your bod, better storage solutions for your clutter, better books for your brain and you — you alone — will be able to transform 2023 into a year of satisfaction.

There is certainly something to be said for the natural inclination of man’s heart to thirst for newness of life. Scripture reminds us over and over again that this earthly home is but a decaying shell of the heavenly home we’re made for.

“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:13

“For behold, I create new heavens
        and a new earth,
    and the former things shall not be remembered
        or come into mind.” Isaiah 65:17

And so we understand that the mantra, “New year, new you!” is likely rooted in a legitimate thirst for things to be put right.

The problem though is that newness of life cannot be found by reaching my full, earthly potential, because my full earthly potential is but a decaying shell of who I am called to be.

If I succeed in all my earthly endeavors and reach December with every goal achieved, but do not seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, then I will have strived in vain for that which I ultimately cannot keep.

I am not promised a productive year, but I have a promise for every day of this year that is far better:

       “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
        his mercies never come to an end;
            they are new every morning;
        great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

We have everything we need for 2023: a faithful God who has promised his mercy for all our successes and failure; his mercies are what will ultimately allow us to remain steadfast as we await the new and better Eden.

With that in mind, we can venture onward with the words of our New Year’s anthem confidently on our lips:

“All glory be to Christ our King,

All glory be to Christ.

His rule and reign we’ll ever sing,

All glory be to Christ”

]]> https://bowmanchurch.org/blog/2023/01/13/all-glory-be-to-christ#comments 2