Let’s Finish Well!
Let’s prepare our hearts and minds for Sunday, October 31, 9:30 AM In-person, 11:00 AM In-person/Livestream Worship Service, and the sermon by reviewing the bible readings, confession, and reflection.
Bible Reading 1: Psalm 95:6-11 (ESV)
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.”
Confession/Creed: Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 17. (Paragraphs) 1,3
Of the Perseverance of the Saints
1. They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.
3. Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and, for a time, continue therein: whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.
Bible Reading 2: Hebrews 3:7-19 (ESV)
A Rest for the People of God
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Reflection
The grand and terrible lesson of Israel’s history is that it is possible to begin well and end poorly.
– Kent Hughes
We hope you can join us on October 31 (In-Person at 9:30 AM or In-person/Livestream at 11:00 AM), as Pastor John speaks about these verses. Here are the complete details for Sunday’s Service. The link for Sunday’s 11:00 Livestream is below. Lastly, if you like, listen to Sunday’s song selection.
October 31 Sermon by Pastor John Yenchko is at 9:30 AM In-Person and at 11:00 AM In-person and here via YouTube.
Miss a recent service/sermon? Here is the "Worship Service Archive" page.