Lord, give us great faith. Help us to believe Your word. Thy word is truth. Help us to trust Your providence. You do all things well. Help us to praise You not only on the mountaintop, but help us to praise You in the deep and dark valleys. Maybe this is our greatest test - that even though the Lord slay us, we shall trust Him. Even though we are Your people and we have followed Thee for many years, yet we find ourselves suffering while the wicked walk the earth like peacocks strutting in their pride. Like the Psalmists, we can only say that it was hard to understand until we saw their end. The Day of Judgment will make right all the wrongs. The thief who stole and escaped will be exposed. The murderer who killed will stand before God with blood on his hands. The false prophet will hang his head in disgrace. Those who stir up trouble will be punished. Those who speak evil of good men will be silenced. Those persecuted for the faith will receive their own crown of glory.

O Lord, as we consider the Lord in His holiness, where can we flee from God. Where can hide ourselves from Your wrath? What can the sinner do before a God who will not overlook sin, whether it be great or small? Lord, when we consider all these things, how wonderful Jesus becomes to us. How marvelous the gospel becomes. That the God who sends men to the grave, sent His Son Jesus to the grave for us - this is wonderful news. That the Lord God in heaven who is just in all His ways, allows a lamb without blemish to be a substitute for us - Lord this is knowledge almost more than we can bear. That the blood of Jesus was sprinkled upon the Ark of the Covenant containing the tablets of the law that we might be delivered from the curse of the Law - Lord this is knowledge almost more than we can bear. It is the gospel. It is the good news. Our sins are put upon Christ and the righteousness of Christ is accounted as our righteousness. Lord, is this really true? Lord, do we have it down right? Yes, O Lord, we believe, because the Your Spirit has put in our hearts the faith to believe. Thy word is truth.

Lord, we come to Church week after week to hear the gospel. We need to know how to live better. We need to know how to love our wives and husbands better. We need to know how to raise our children better. We need to know what the Bible says about all the things in life that try us and test us. But Lord, what we need to hear most is the good news that Christ paid the penalty for our sins and that we are justified by faith and not by works. Lord, in the midst of the modern Church which seeks to be modern, let us never forget the centrality of the gospel. The gospel is the foundation. Without it everything else only becomes self-fulfillment. Everything else only becomes entertainment. Everything else becomes empty and will only hold the attention of men for a time. The only thing that will keep us in Church is the gospel. The only thing that should keep us in Church is the gospel. Lord, remind us today why we are here. Rekindle in our hearts the love of Christ as He gave His life for sinners for the forgiveness of sins. Lord, our faith may waver, we may be slow to understand, but one thing we do know is that we are great sinners and Jesus is a great Savior.

Lord, help us to live in peace with one another. Humility of spirit will allow us to do that. When we see that our neighbor is more important that we are, then we shall know peace. When we deny ourselves for the sake of our brothers in the faith, then we shall find little trouble in our midst. Remind us that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Expunge from us all of our pride and give us meekness in all things.