Andrew Courtis

What a great joy adoring the Lord Jesus with my dear church family.

"O LORD,

We commune with thee every day,
but week days are worldly days,
and secular concerns reduce heavenly impressions.
We bless thee therefore for the day sacred
to our souls
when we can wait upon thee and be refreshed;
We thank thee for the institutions of religion
by use of which we draw near to thee
and thou to us;
We rejoice in another Lord’s Day
when we call off our minds from the cares
of the world
and attend upon thee without distraction;
Let our retirement be devout,
our conversation edifying,
our reading pious,
our hearing profitable,
that our souls may be quickened and elevated.
We are going to the house of prayer,
pour upon us the spirit of grace and supplication;
We are going to the house of praise,
awaken in us every grateful and cheerful emotion;
We are going to the house of instruction,
give testimony to the Word preached,
and glorify it in the hearts of all who hear;
may it enlighten the ignorant,
awaken the careless, reclaim the wandering,
establish the weak, comfort the feeble-minded,
make ready a people for their Lord.

Be a sanctuary to all who cannot come,
Forget not those who never come,
And do thou bestow upon us
benevolence towards our dependants,
forgiveness towards our enemies,
peaceableness towards our neighbours,
openness towards our fellow-Christians."

–Valley of Vision (https://banneroftruth.org/us/devotional/first-day-morning-worship/)

"Idelette and John Calvin proved that true joy is not found in living for one’s self; it is found only in serving God as number one, serving our spouse as number two, and serving ourselves as number three. That is the essence of the blueprint for a truly joyous marriage and joyous life that Paul outlines for us in Colossians 3:12–17." – Joel Beeke

Who Was Idelette Calvin? | Tabletalk John Calvin was devoted to Scripture and to the church. He emphasized God’s sovereignty and Christian living in his preaching and writing, and he was surrounded by many loyal Christian friends. Not surprisingly, he also had a very happy marriage.

'Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.'

–Isaiah 40:28

'Jesus Christ is able to set us free because He has dealt with the sin that enslaves us' –Sinclair Ferguson

By Grace, We Are Free in Christ In John 8:34 Jesus underlined the bo***ge in which we are held by nature. On the other hand, He spoke about the freedom into which He brings sinners by grace: "

'Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth and followed Thee.'

–Charles Wesley (1738)

‘My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again.
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness,
And clothed me with His light,
And wrote His law of righteousness
With power upon my heart.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside;
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly;
Whose every promise is enough
For every step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace.

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who reigns above;
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace,
Whose every thought is love.
For every day I have on earth
Is given by the King.
So I will give my life, my all,
To love and follow Him.’

–Townend and Getty (2004)

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love”. This is taken from one of my favourite hymns, 'Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing'. Can you relate to those words? Do they describe your experience? There are some days I feel the ugly effects of my wandering heart. Whether it is due to chasing after things that have no eternal value or simply placing my hope in anything other than Christ, such actions are the result of taking my eyes off the source of true satisfaction. What is the solution? For the believer in Christ, we are to gaze at the loveliness of Christ as revealed in Scripture and prize His precious words and works. The more we do this, the more we will agree with the final verse of the above-mentioned hymn, “Oh that day when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face. Full arrayed in blood-washed linen, How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace.”

Biblical Clarity

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16).

The words "redeeming the time" indicate that there is a price to pay if we are going to be diligent. We must make use of the opportunities God gives us. We have all been given the same amount of time each day. All of us have 168 hours every week. All of us are given opportunities to live for the Lord. And you only have a limited amount of time in your life. When time is lost, it can never be regained. Time is precious because it is a gift from God, it is passing quickly (James 4:14), and it is an opportunity given to us by God to honour Him and bless others.

What are the time wasters in your life? Laziness is wasting time. Living in sin is wasting time. Worldly pursuits are wasting your time. Arguing over secondary matters is a waste of time. Neglect of prayer is a waste of time. Knowing that time is precious, how do you make the best use of your time? In his sermon titled, 'The Preciousness of Time and the Importance of Redeeming It', Jonathan Edward gives three ways to improve your time:

(1) “improve the present time without any delay”. Edwards' point here is don’t wait until a later time in which you think you can change things. The longer you delay, the less time you have. Be like the psalmist who said, “I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments.” (Psalm 119:60).

(2) “be especially careful to improve those parts of time which are most precious”. Here Edwards reminds us that all of our time is precious, but some parts of time are more precious. This is especially true of the Lord’s Day. How do you prepare for the Lord’s Day? Do you pray that you will be blessed? Do you skip church for worldly things? Do you arrive late? Also, for all here who are young, make use of this time. While you have energy and the ability to learn so much, soak in God’s Word.

(3) “improve well your time of leisure from worldly business.” Edwards reminds us that we all have time when we are not working. Some have little spare time, and some have a lot. But what are you doing with it? Don’t waste it on things that are useless and unprofitable.

We need to be diligent with our time “because the days are evil”. We are living in an age that is characterised by evil. Though there may be times of reprieve and temporary blessing, things in this world will be evil and will grow worse. It will be like this until Jesus Christ returns. Only the physical return of Jesus Christ will usher in righteousness. So instead of walking like the world or retreating from the world, we are to make the best use of our time in the world to the glory of God. Number your days so that you gain a heart of wisdom (see Psalm 90:10, 12). Do as much as you can for the Lord. Make what you do today count for eternity.
When Jonathan Edwards was in his late teens he had penned 70 resolutions. 13 of them have to do with time management (5, 7, 17, 18, 19, 37, 40, 41, 50, 51, 52, 55, 61). His 5th resolution was,

“Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can”.

You are walking in wisdom when you are diligent with your time. What are you doing with your time? Are you being wise?

Biblical Clarity