Fri.-Sabbath, 4/26-28/13 Devotion

Hip, hip, hooray--it's almost Sunday! As we prepare for church worship, may these words of Jonathan Edwards, from his sermon entitled, "A Warning to Professors of Religion," bless our hearts:

"When we are in attendance on the ordinances of divine worship, we are in the special presence of God. When persons come and attend on the ordinances of God, they are said to come before God, and to come into His presence. Jer. 7:10: 'Come and stand before Me, in this house which is called by My Name.'  Ps. 100:2: 'Come before His presence with singing.'

"In diving ordinances, people have immediate [interaction] with God, either in applying to Him (as in prayer and singing praises), or in receiv-ing from Him, waiting solemnly and immediately on Him for spiritual good (as in hearing the Word), or in both applying to God and receiving from Him (as in the sacraments [baptism and the Lord's Supper])."