Enhancing the Lord's Day through Worship Connected + Household Worship Guide Ezra 1
By way of reminder, at Springs Reformed Church we distribute a weekly guide running from the Lord's Day to Saturday with Monday-Wednesday reviewing the sermons that were preached the Lord's Day at the start of the week and Thursday-Saturday previewing the sermons that will be preached the coming Lord's Day.
However, for the posts here I am linking below to the guide from Thursday to Wednesday so that all are aimed at the Lord's Day as the peak of the 7-day rhythm as seen in the image above. The Lord's Day post includes links to the sermons.
This week we are considering God's anointed and God stirring hearts from Ezra 1
Thursday Ezra 1:1-4—Cyrus, God’s Anointed Servant.
Friday Ezra 1:5–11—Onward to Jerusalem.
Saturday 1 Corinthians 11:23-34—The Lord’s Supper (Communion Prep).
Lord’s Day
Monday Luke 4:16–22—The Spirit of the Lord is on Jesus.
Tuesday Acts 1:1–8—The Promised Holy Spirit.
Wednesday Ephesians 5:22-33—Jesus’s Beautiful Bride.
If you find it useful to use these in your household/family worship, consider asking your pastor to speak to me about him developing something similar in your congregation.
Thoughts for Pastors:
Friday’s here. Jump and cheer. Shabbat is coming. … Hurray! Shabbat is here! So begins the children’s book, Shabbat is Coming! Do we have that attitude about Sunday, the Lord’s Day? It’s Thursday, Sunday’s coming! It’s Friday, Sunday’s coming soon! It’s Saturday, Sunday is tomorrow! Hurray, it’s the Lord’s Day! Sunday is here!
The Exodus account of the fourth commandment uses the Hebrew word zākar that is translated remember most of the time. The Deuteronomy account uses the Hebrew word šāmar that is usually translated keep, guard, or observe. According to the TWOT, the basic idea of the root is to exercise great care over.
There does seem to be, in the words our LORD used, a slight difference in emphasis that some others have noted. Remember, of course has a backward look. And the Deuteronomy account also includes remembering, You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt (Deut. 5:15). Observe, however, tends to point forward. I think it’s reasonable to conclude that the observing in Deuteronomy is complementary to the remembering in Exodus. One is to look back, remembering the Sabbath past, even as one prepares to observe the Sabbath to come.
Worship Connected is particularly interested in this looking back and looking forward to Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, throughout the week and in celebrating the Sabbath each first day of the week. Connecting the household worship with your preaching ministry has the aim of helping your church members look back at the Lord’s Day just past, as well as preparing them for the Lord’s Day to come. While the Lord’s Day is about more than the worship service and the preached Word, assembled worship ought to be the highlight of the Christian’s week.
