prepared by Rev Daniel Yovan – 16th February 2025
Call to worship
Psalm 100 (A psalm for giving grateful praise).
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his[a]; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations
In Christ Alone My hope is found STF 351
Please read Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Reflection:
‘The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart’ said Oswald J smith. The root cause of all human issues lies within our own internal motivations, desires and emotions. That is why it is important to make sure our hearts are in the ‘right’ place and we are tasked with guarding our heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4: 23). Proverbs 4 talks about guarding our hearts by listening to the wise council of God. The greatest command from God to all those who are willing to follow him is to love God with all their heart. The whole hearted devotion is demanded by God who calls us to follow him. Through the scriptures we see that God calls his people to whole hearted worship. God complained about his people through Isaiah (29: 13), ‘these people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught’.
Our devotion to God requires the whole re-orientation of life from our hearts not just outside actions in the form of ‘religious duties’. To have this re -orientation of life we do need to read, listen and meditate on the word of God. When we spent time on the word of God, our life will be immersed with the ‘voice’ of God, our thoughts and meditations will become a pleasing offering in the sight of God.
As we have read in Psalm 1 there are two ways and two kinds of people in the world. The godly people will follow the righteous way and the ungodly will follow the way of destruction. We often find ourselves in between these two ways and two kinds of people. To walk in the right direction, we do need the help of our God who is righteous and eternal.
Reading and meditating on the word of God is the commitment we have all made when we were baptised and confirmed into the church of Jesus Christ. It is good to remind ourselves again and try our best to come back to the ‘first love’ we have had for Jesus. Some passages in the bible is hard to understand. However, we have enough scriptures, in the Old and the New, for us to know God and follow his ways. The author of the scriptures will reveal the things we need to know. Let us leave the ‘hidden/secrets’ things (Deut 29: 29) to God and hold onto the things that are revealed to us and follow them. God is our good shepherd who doesn’t only show us the way but becomes the Way the Truth and the Life. Friends, if you do not have the practice of reading scriptures, please start today. I pray that God will give us the desire to spend time with him in prayer and reading of the scriptures. AMEN.
Intercession:
Please bring all your prayers, personal, communal and the prayers for the world in a moment of silence.
The Lord’s prayer.
STF481 THE LORD’S MY SHEPHERD, I’ll not want
He makes me lie in pastures green.
He leads me by the still, still waters,
His goodness restores my soul.
And I will trust in You alone.
And I will trust in You alone,
For Your endless mercy follows me,
Your goodness will lead me home.
(Descant)
I will trust, I will trust in You.
I will trust, I will trust in You.
Endless mercy follows me,
Goodness will lead me home.
He guides my ways in righteousness,
And He anoints my head with oil,
And my cup, it overflows with joy,
I feast on His pure delights.
And though I walk the darkest path,
I will not fear the evil one,
For You are with me, and Your rod and staff
Are the comfort I need to know.
Blessing
May the Good shepherd lead you and guide you in the right path and give you the grace to follow him faithfully. And May the blessings of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you all now and evermore. Amen.
