The following is the prayer I wrote to be prayed before the sermon. This was inspired by a quote I heard from a person who used to be a faithful teacher of the Bible but now says that Scripture is from human origin; basically, not the inspired Word of God. Sad really. So I couldn’t help but lament the negative conversion of this pastor and seek God’s blessing as we listen to this holy Word.

Let’s pray…

Lord God almighty, holy scripture is breathed out by you; inspired by you; and therefore are words that come from Your holy mouth. This is nothing to take lightly but yet many take Your holy words and claim they are nothing more than mindless babble from human minds long dead and irrelevant. What a travesty. May we never see Your words that way but rather see them as words of life; revealing our salvation through faith Jesus Christ. And so, speak life, oh God. Create, strengthen and nourish faith here. May we heed Your words to listen to Jesus in order to bring glory to Your holy name. Send Your Spirit now and bless these words. May they come from Your mouth and not mine. All praise, glory and honor be to You, oh God, our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

And let’s continue praying that God’s Word is considered holy and true. It was written by men but inspired by God.

May God bless your hearing of his holy Word and the proclamation of that Word.

The Pastor -|—