December 3, 2023 Live Contemporary Worship Service 11:15 AM

Sermon Series: Advent Psalms | Longing for the Humble King Sermon Title: “Restore Us, O Lord of Hosts” Sermon Text: The Eightieth Psalm Delivered by: T.J. Campo Park Road Presbyterian Church A Reflection Before the Service: December 3rd,  2023 – First Sunday of Advent Oh, God, I beg you please. If you make this water go down, I will sit at your feet, and I will serve you for all eternity… I’ll adopt a Somalian kid, or I’ll work in Calcutta, or I’ll… Please just make the water go down… – Ben Stiller (“Reuben Feffer”) from the 2014 movie, Along Came Polly, directed by John Hamburg People are giving up on Christianity. They will continue to do so. And if you’re trying to predict the future religious landscape in America, according to Pew, the question is not whether Christianity will decline. It’s how fast and how far. In a new study out today, Pew projects that in 2070, Christians will likely make up less than half the US population… If the rate of switching continues to accelerate, as it has since the 1990s, the percent calling themselves Christians will drop to 35… “It is possible,” the report says, “that events outside the model—such as war, economic depression, climate crisis, changing immigration patterns or religious innovation—could reverse the reverse current religious switching trends.” Revival could happen. There’s just nothing in the current data that indicates it will. –  Daniel Silliman, “Decline of Christianity Shows No Signs of Stopping”, Christianity Today, (September 13, 2022; emphasis added) The most wise, righteous, and gracious God often leaves, for a season, His own children to various temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to correct them for their former sins, or to reveal to them the hidden strength of evil and deceitfulness in their hearts, that they may be humbled; and, to raise them to a closer and more constant dependence for their sustenance upon Himself, and to make them more vigilant against all future opportunities of sin, and for a number other just and holy purposes. –  The Westminster Confession of Faith (CH 5; Article 5; 1647) If you’ve ever suffered real devastation and worried about HOW your Non-Christian relatives will now be reinforced in their unbelief – “Wow! What good is it to be a Christian if THIS is what happens!?” If you’ve even wondered whether YOUR life is a good endorsement for Christianity because you’ve NOT had an easy go of it… THIS is a Psalm for YOU! I want to look at: 1) The Disorientation of Decline and Devastation 2) The Reasonable Request for Restoration 3) The Firm Feel of Freedom The Call to Worship:  Isaiah  64.1-4 Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, That the mountains might quake at Your presence-- As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil— To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! When You did awesome things which we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence. For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him. This Week’s Bulletin: https://parkroadpres.org/bulletins/ Keeping in Touch: https://parkroadpres.org/contact/ Giving: https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithe... Church Website: https://parkroadpres.org/