All My Ways are Known to You
Words and Music by Jonny Robinson, Rich Thompson, Michael Farren, and Dustin Smith
© 2016 CityAlight Music

In days of peace and days of rest
In times of loss and loneliness
Though rich or poor, your word is true
That all my ways are known to you

No trial has come beyond your hand
No step I walk beyond your plan
The path is dark outside my view
Still all my ways are known to you

And oh what peace that I have found
Wherever I may be
For all my ways are known to you
Hallelujah, they are known to you!

I do not fear the final night
For death will be the door to life
You take my hand and lead me through
For all my ways are known to you

Open up my eyes so I may see
That you have made these ways for me
Open up my eyes so I may see
That you my God, will walk with me

The New City Catechism asks,

Question: What do we believe about the Holy Spirit?

Answer: That he is God, co-eternal with the Father and the Son, and that God grants him irrevocably to all who believe.

The Heidelberg catechism answers that same question this way:

“First, He is true and co-eternal God with the Father and the Son, and secondly, that He is also given to me, to make me by a true faith partaker of Christ and all His benefits, that He may comfort me and abide with me for ever.”

The apostle John records these words about the Holy Spirit, spoken by Jesus:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:16–17

16th century English scholar, Lancelot Andrewes, in his private devotions prays:

Thou, who at the third hour didst send down
thy Holy Ghost on the apostles:
take not away the same Spirit from us,
but renew him daily within us, and save us.

Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God (w. Ezekiel 37:1–6)
Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
© 2006 Thankyou Music

(verse 1)

Holy Spirit, living Breath of God
Breathe new life into my willing soul
Bring the presence of the risen Lord
To renew my heart and make me whole
Cause Your Word to come alive in me
Give me faith for what I cannot see
Give me passion for Your purity
Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me

The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

(verse 2)

Holy Spirit, come abide within
May Your joy be seen in all I do
Love enough to cover ev’ry sin
In each thought and deed and attitude
Kindness to the greatest and the least
Gentleness that sows the path of peace
Turn my striving into works of grace
Breath of God, show Christ in all I do

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

(verse 3)

Holy Spirit, from creation’s birth
Giving life to all that God has made
Show your power once again on earth
Cause Your church to hunger for Your ways
Let the fragrance of our prayers arise
Lead us on the road of sacrifice
That in unity the face of Christ
Will be clear for all the world to see

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" – but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him?

In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:9–12

Let’s allow the words of Augustine inform our worship as we pray to that same God he prayed to.

Prayer

And now, O Holy Spirit, love of God, who proceeds from the Almighty Father and his most blessed Son, powerful advocate, and sweetest comforter, infuse your grace, and descend plentifully into my heart; enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling, and scatter there your cheerful beams!

Dwell in that soul which longs to be your temple; water that barren soil, over-run with weeds and briars, and lost for want of cultivating, and make it fruitful with your dew from heaven.

O that it may please you to come to me, kindest comforter of mourning souls. You are a mighty defense in distresses, always ready to help in time of need.

Come, purifier of all inward pollutions, and healer of spiritual wounds and diseases.

Come, strength of the feeble, and raiser of all who fall.

Come, putter down of the proud, and teacher of the meek and humble.

Come, hope of the poor, and refreshment of all who languish and faint.

Come, Holy Spirit, in much mercy, come. Make me able to receive you, and condescend to my infirmities, that my meanness may not be disdained by your greatness, nor my weakness by your strength – all which I beg for the sake of Jesus Christ, my only Savior, who in the unity of you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns with the Father, one God, world without end. Amen.

Come Down, O Love Divine!
Words by Bianco da Siena (died 1434), Jubilate Hymns; Music by Walt Harrah

Come down, O Love divine!
Seek out this soul of mine
And visit it with your own ardor glowing
O Comforter draw near
Within my heart appear
And kindle it, your holy flame bestowing
O let it freely burn
Till earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming
And let your glorious light
Shine ever on my sight
And make my pathway clear by your illuming

Let holy charity
My outward vesture be
And graciousness become my inner clothing
True gentleness of heart
Which takes the humbler part
And for its own shortcomings weeps with loathing
Soon may the yearning strong
With which the soul will long
Surpass by far the pow’r of human telling
None can foresee its grace
Till they become the place
In which the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling

Offering

Offertory:

Prayer of Illumination

God of grace and mercy, open the eyes of the blind, breathe life into the dead, release those bound by sin and Satan, and, through your Holy Spirit’s power, may hearts be challenged, minds convinced and wills conquered. In the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen.

Sermon

The Lord’s Supper

[instrumental music played or congregational singing]

The Mystery of the Faith

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again!

Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove
Words by Isaac Watts (1707); Music by John B. Dykes (1866)

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all thy quickening powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

O raise our thoughts from things below,
From vanities and toys,
Then shall we with fresh courage go
To reach eternal joys.

Awake our souls to joyful songs;
Let pure devotion rise,
Till praise employs our thankful tongues,
And doubt forever dies.

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all thy quickening powers;
Come, shed abroad the Savior’s love,
And that shall kindle ours.

Benediction

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:17-19