Lord, what tomorrow may bring is unknown to us. Whether life or death, whether sickness or health, whether plenty or want, the events of tomorrow belong to Your providence.

Yet, Lord, You have given us rules to live by. If we defy gravity, we shall die. If we drink poison, we shall die. If we live without God we shall die. If we run our lives, our homes, our churches, even our nation apart from the laws of God, we shall see the end of civility. Lord, are we seeing the end of honesty, integrity, and faith in our nation? Has the Empire come to an end? We have played loose and followed after sin, and now we are reaping what we have sowed. We have piled upon ourselves pleasure and debt, even when we were broke, and we are now reaping what we have sowed.

When men fail us where shall we turn? When the institutions we trust take the life out of us, where shall we turn? Lord, to Thee we turn this very day. We come to worship the God who sits upon His throne and who is not only just and Judge, but who is also the God of mercy and grace.

Lord, we confess that we have no hope apart from the work of Jesus Christ. He has inherited the throne because He was faithful even until death. We confess that You have raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. You have put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Lord, we pray for Thy Church. The only problem with the Church is that it is made up of people like us. The Church is fragile because we are fragile. We hurt others and we get hurt. We say things we should not say and we remain quiet when we should speak. We have not loved as we should. We have not been faithful to our vows. We have not supported the work to the best of our ability. Yet, the Church with all of her failures is still the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us never forget that the Church was here on earth before we were born, and she will be here on earth after we die. The Lord will love His Church whether we live or die. The Lord will be faithful to His Church whether we are faithful or not.

The Church has marched on down through history and no one has been able to stop her progress. Mad men have hated her. Tyrants have sought to destroy her. Critics have maligned her, and the arrogant have marginalized her. But Kingdoms rise and fall, and nations come and go. We sing the same hymns that our forefathers sang thousands of years ago. We confess the same confessions that our forefathers confessed hundreds of years ago. The Church is the Body of Christ on earth. The Church is our fortress in times of trouble and our delight in times of refreshing. Protect the Church and give Christ all the nations as His inheritance.

Lord, as we come to the Lord’s Table this morning, we remember that we are not worthy. Only Christ is worthy. Let every partaker be assured that Christ is his Lord and Savior. He is not just the Savior of a generic world. He is our personal Lord and Savior. Our names were written in the Lambs Book of Life before the foundation of the world. God had grace upon us even though He could have passed us by. We contributed nothing to our salvation. Grace gave us faith, and grace keeps us in faith. O Lord, be gracious unto us today.