Begin your time this morning reading Psalm 103

Psalm 103

Of David.

¹ Praise the Lord, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

² Praise the Lord, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

³ who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

⁴ who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

David urges us to "count our blessings". Blessings like forgiveness, healing, redemption, and renewal. Notice as well one of those blessing - the benefits of the LORD - is that he works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed (v.6).

Today we will be thinking about how life doesn't always feel fair - how it doesn't always seem like justice is done for the oppressed. How does God do it? Will he really work righteousness and justice?

The Book of Revelation shows us how God works righteousness and justice for people, in a surprising way which this Psalm foreshadows; in a way where God is still upright and just and he doesn't treat us as our sins deserve or treat us according to our iniquities (Ps 103:10). We have much to praise God for!

We are God’s people. God has saved us and drawn us to himself. Yet as Scripture reminds us, we still sin. We still turn away from God's Word.

As John writes: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

Confession of sin both privately and corporately, is a great way to undeceive ourselves. It is so important for drawing near to God and enjoying him.

Please use this prayer of confession - either silently or "out loud" with those you're meeting with.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father,

we confess that we have gone our own way,

We have not loved you as we ought,

We have not loved our neighbour as ourselves.

We have sinned against you and others in our thoughts, in our words and deeds

We have left undone the good that you want us to do.

We deserve your condemnation.

Father, forgive us.

Help us to love you and our neighbour, and to live for your honour and glory;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hear the promise of Scripture

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.(1 John 1:9)

Thanks be to God for his grace and his mercy through Jesus Christ.

Throughout the month of August the Queensland Theological College encourages churches throughout the State to "put a spotlight" on their ministry. Here's a short video that gives you a feel for what QTC is about. In a moment Glen will pray for the work of the College. It's good for us to remember as a congregation we've been blessed and greatly encouraged by QTC's ministry through the ministry of the College Students among us.

We have no homegrown audio this week... but you can listen here https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Rev.16

16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

² The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

³ The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

⁴ The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. ⁵ Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,

you who are and who were;

⁶

for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,

and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

⁷ And I heard the altar respond:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty,

true and just are your judgments.”

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in agony ¹¹ and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

¹² The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.¹³ Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵ “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

¹⁶ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” ¹⁸ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. ¹⁹ The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.²¹ From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds,^[a] fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail,because the plague was so terrible.

This week's Kids Catechism video - Question 19