Pastoral Prayer 9/29/2019 Morning Service based on Based on Psalm 92, Exodus 19:7-15, 1 Cor 14:1-25, Luke 1:46-56, BCP1928

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,

to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

to declare your steadfast love in the morning,

and your faithfulness by night,

to music.

For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work;

at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

  How great are your works, O LORD!

Your thoughts are very deep!

Father, we feel a lot of fears and wonder what you are doing in our world. We lift up to you many things going on in our world, we trust you to work them out, and  we ask you to bring what is best in them all, because we humbly confess that while we might think we know what is best, we just are not sure. We lift up to you Brexit and the British People and European politics; the Afghan elections—that you would keep them from corruption; and the current impeachment proceedings, asking that the truth be made known, whatever it might be.

The stupid man cannot know;

the fool cannot understand this:

that though the wicked sprout like grass

and all evildoers flourish,

they are doomed to destruction forever;

but you, O LORD, are on high forever.

Lord, there is so much wickedness around us: gangs in prisons using cell phones to coordinate fights, lawyers that use their position to abuse justice, and much more. We also confess wickedness in our own hearts, anger and hatred of others, even our brothers and sisters in Christ, our own manipulating to get our own way, and much more. O Lord, bring justice and, O God, bring mercy. Let there people delivered from their sin through Christ, but where that will not be, let justice reign, evildoers be caught, and those that oppose what is good to be punished.

For behold, your enemies, O LORD,

for behold, your enemies shall perish;

all evildoers shall be scattered.

My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;

my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

  The righteous flourish like the palm tree

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

They are planted in the house of the LORD;

they flourish in the courts of our God.

They still bear fruit in old age;

they are ever full of sap and green,

to declare that the LORD is upright;

he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

We trust in you, Jesus our Rock and Redeemer, and we ask by your grace, Holy Spirit, that you would indeed make us upright in heart that we would live lives of blessing others, flourishing in righteousness and love. You have set your Church apart by calling us as your Holy People, so sanctify us that we would live lives of justice, mercy, peace, fearing the Lord, doing justice, and walking humbly with our God, especially here at Heritage and in Oklahoma City and Edmond.

AsHills and Plains Presbytery meets this week, we ask you to strengthen our ministers and elders and deacons. Keep us always true to your Word, preaching Your gospel, and living lives worthy of those called to the offices of your Church, that lives would be an example to all that see us and that we would wisely shepherd the sheep put into the care of the churches in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. Give the presbytery wisdom in business. May all of our churches be full of love, full of people that would preach and teach your word rightly, that your people may be built up.

Also, help all of us here today to speak to others of our faith in Christ, of salvation in Jesus in ways that wouldn’t be nonsense or insensitive, that wouldn’t be utterly foreign or weird, but Holy Spirit, truly give us words, reverse Babel, so when we would talk about the Bible and our Savior to other-than-Christian people around us they would hear, understand, and even believe. Give many people here the privilege of talking with others about Jesus and even getting to lead others to salvation in Jesus. We lift up to you now specific people we would like to see come to know Jesus Lord. (Silence)

Open up chances for us to talk with those people about our faith in Jesus this week or this month.

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

And yet as we trust in you, we know that physical maladies, spiritual oppression, and biological malfunction can lead to immense emotional and psychological problems. We lift up to you especially those military men and women struggling with suicidal thoughts and ask that you deliver them from tragically killing themselves, we lift anyone we might know of struggling with suicidal thoughts up to you now. (Short Silence) We also lift up to you all those who are struggling with depression, anxiety, fear, and other spiritual and psychological problems, for we know that often our problems are truly far beyond our control, because of malfunctions of the body and mind, but this not beyond your reach. We lift those suffering up to you now. (Silence) Heal them, O Lord. Provide them the care they need, and minister to their minds, souls, and bodies.

KEEP, we ask you, O Lord, your Church with your

perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without

you cannot but fall, keep us ever by your help from all

things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our

salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer from Heritage Evening Service 9/22/19

O Lord, we thank you that you have indeed spoken to us. Help us to obey your word in all that we would do. Holy Spirit, make it true of us and help us believe what the Psalmist says:

The law of the LORD is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the LORD are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the LORD is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the LORD is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the LORD are true,

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

  Who can discern his errors?

Declare me innocent from hidden faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;

let them not have dominion over me!

Then I shall be blameless,

and innocent of great transgression.

  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Lord, help us to obey you in all that we would do. We are tempted in so many ways to corruption, whether it’s temptation to love money and do wicked things in our business practices, whether it’s temptation to sexual sin like pornography or worse, whether it’s temptation to hate others and slander them because we don’t like something about someone, whether it’s temptation to put our hope anywhere but in Christ, there are so many temptations. Where we have given us, O Lord, have mercy on us and forgive us, we confess our sins to you now. (Silence)

As we go into the world this week, help us be free to be a servant of all we would come across. Help us even to have wisdom to know when and where and how to share the gospel with others, that we might see conversions or at least have winsome conversations about Jesus this week. Help us be a blessing to all that we may share the gospel with all. We lift up to you now those we would like to talk with about Jesus, and we ask you, Holy Spirit, to give them new birth in Christ. (Silence)

Make us wise as serpents, yet gentle as doves. Give us wisdom all week long. We thank you that we live in a country where there is no significant persecution of Christians at this time, and we ask that it may never be. But there are places where people still die in order to confess your name, Lord Jesus. Father, open up those countries where there is deadly persecution, soften hearts, move politics, create situations where Christians in those countries could freely follow you and confess you openly, without fear of death, and in the meantime, Holy Spirit, give our brothers and sisters in those oppressed countries wisdom, and even, yes, endurance to die for you. Spirit give them words to speak, and may the blood of the martyrs be the seed of the church.

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer 9.22.2019 Morning Service Based on Genesis 1, Psalm 34, Phil 1:18-30, John 15:1-17, BPC1928

(Genesis 1) Lord God, we come to you today amazed and thankful you have created all things. You have created us in your image, you have invited us in to be your friends, your children, in Jesus Christ. You have given us good work to do. We lift up to your our jobs and our vocations now. (Silence) We especially lift up to you those who teach, that you would enable them and provide for them and use them to prepare our next generation for serving you. We lift up those scientists that study your creation and understand you better, and we pray for you to guide them and show yourself to them.

We lift up all to you who are being treated as other than the image of You. Lord, have mercy, where there is still sex slavery, bring it to an end, where there are tyrannical overlords and dictators, bring them down.

(Psalm 34) And in all this we will bless you at all times, and your praise shall be continually on our mouths. “My soul makes its boast in the LORD, let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. We bring to you troubles today LORD: houses that have been ravaged by storms, cars that have died and left us financially unstable, unexpected surgeries and sicknesses, and so much more trouble, that we lift up to you now (silence). We know LORD, that your angels encamp around those who fear you and deliver us, oh LORD, deliver us. Let us taste and see that LORD is good! Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him!

The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous

and his ears toward their cry.

The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Lord, there are an epidemic of meth cookers and meth dealers and heroin and all sorts of drugs ravaging our state and our nation. Oh Lord, deliver many from addiction. Bring many dealers to yourself, showing them mercy and forgiveness and bringing them to repentance. And where that will not be, let justice be done and bring a new cleanness to our state.

When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Lord, there are homeless people who genuinely seek you, and wonder where you are. Lord have mercy. Give our society wisdom to know how to deal with homelessness, and give our church wisdom and resources to be a small part of caring for the “least of these.”

(Phil 1) Give us joy. May we honor you Lord in all we do, never ashamed to make the good news of Jesus known. Bring many in Edmond and Oklahoma City that are not in church, that are not in Christ, this morning, to places where they will seek you. Put something in their hearts that they would be looking for Christ, that they would come across Christians, and that our lives would be worthy of the gospel of Christ, and so use us to invite many to know Christ. Let us see salvations and let us see your church grow, and not only ours, but all gospel preaching church. We pray for the mega churches and their very public pastors: North Church, Life Church and Craig Groeshel, Christ Community Church, and other big churches around us, keep them faithful to the gospel and use those churches for your purpose to serve this world and make the gospel known. Protect those pastors from arrogance and pride and from falls.

Jesus, thank you that we are in you. May we abide in you. Holy Spirit, help us, that we may keep our Father’s commandments, because we love you. Especially because we have the greatest love and friendship of all, the friend that would die on the cross for us. Help us love as we have been loved, here at Heritage Presbyterian Church.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and love; and, that we may obtain that which you have promised, make us to love that which you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer for Heritage Presbyterian Church, September 15, 2019 (Based on Ps 1, Gen 15, Romans 8:18-30, Luke 10:18-20, BCP1928 Collect 13th Sunday after Trinity)

We come to you and thank you that this morning we have been able to consider your word, and we are happy that we get to hear it, because we know your law and your gospel are both gifts to us, they’re both good and they’re both good news. Holy Spirit help us to live in light of them both.

We thank you that by your mercy we who once were considered sinners and now considered the righteous. Would you bring many others sinner to come to know your love, just as you’ve done for us. Would you use us, or would you Holy Spirit let us, see many souls walk through these doors and the doors of other churches in Edmond and Oklahoma City, would you let us see many salvations, many baptisms of new believers. Would you grow Your Church, here at Heritage, at City Pres, at Christ the King Norman, and all the churches of many denominations around us.

Let many know the pleasures of being planted by your streams, watered and ministered to. And where there is wickedness, bring your mercy and your judgment, that your glory would be seen, that sinners would be forgiven, that justice would be done, that lives would be healed.

Lord, you have made promises to your people that you will redeem this world through the offspring of Abraham, your Church, by your grace. We thank you that even when we fail, you will not let your promises be undone! Wherever you will, please be at work in us preparing us for the work you have for us to do in our neighborhoods, use us to reach the places you call us: in our neighborhoods, which we lift up to you now: (pause), in our workplaces, which we lift up to you now: (pause).

We also bring to you our suffering and our groanings. We know that all of creation is groaning because of sin and brokenness. There is so much brokenness in our lives, broken relationships that we lift up to you now: (pause), sicknesses and other suffering that we lift up to you now (pause). Depressions, anxieties, uncertainties, and we ask you Holy Spirit to help us with all of these, which we lift up to you now (pause). We thank you that because of Jesus, who is the Christ, the Savior, the one who has done everything, that we can trust you to work even this stuff that we hate, that stinks, somehow for our good. We thank you that we can take comfort that you will bring all your people into glory and that all our suffering is only temporary. Oh come, soon, Jesus, end this soon, Jesus. We long for you.

In the meantime, ALMIGHTY and merciful God, it is only by your gift that there are any faithful people that do you true and commendable service; Grant, we beg you, that we may

so faithfully serve you in this life, that we will not finally fail to attain your heavenly promises; and even this is only through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, who on the first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life. Amen.

(Based on Ps 1, Gen 15, Romans 8:18-30, Luke 10:18-20, BCP1928 Collect 13th Sunday after Trinity)