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We hope these readings, prayers, songs, sermon notes + quotes are beneficial to you this week. See you next Sunday at 9 or 11 am, 10 am on TVC Online or anytime!
Sermon Notes for August 23, 2026
Acts 15:36-41
Trust the Slow Work of God
Pastor Matt Pierson
What has happened, and how can it be fixed?
What can we do?
What can only God do?
1. Broken Shalom: Broken Relationships
“The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom…. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.
Sin is culpable disturbance of shalom— that is, culpable in the eyes of God.
Ultimately, the only human beings we know are people who have been created to please God and build shalom but who, to a greater or lesser degree, mysteriously live against the purpose of their existence.”
Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin
2. Seek Peace
“Seek peace and pursue it.”
Psalms 34:14
“I am increasingly aware that I cannot seek God’s peace and mission in the world without beginning right where I am, in my home, in my neighborhood, in my church, with the real people right around me.”
Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary
Repentance + Forgiveness = Reconciliation
“Only the gospel prepares you for both sides of the Christian reconciliation model. It humbles you enough to make you able to be a forgiver and, at the same time, affirms and fills you with such a sense of worth and love that it makes you able to be a repenter. It is only great humility and great joy that will help us as a church, a community, to keep relationships in repair.”
Tim Keller, Forgive: Why Should I and How Can I?
3. Trust the Slow Work of God
“If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes.”
Charles Spurgeon
“For God alone my soul waits in silence.”
Psalm 62:1
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.”
Psalm 40:1
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you…”
2 Peter 3:9
Songs, Readings & Prayer for August 23, 2026
Songs
“Come Christians Join To Sing“ by Christian Henry Bateman
“All The Way My Savior Leads Me“ by Fanny Jane Crosby and Robert S. Lowry
“I Will Wait For You (Psalm 130)“ by Jordan Kauflin, Keith Getty, Matthew Merker, and Stuart Townend
“He Is Making All Things Right“ by Ben Shive, Bryan Fowler, Skye Peterson
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used with permission. CCLI License no. 2003690
Looking for our Hymns of the Week or resources to worship anytime? We’ve curated a playlist of hymns TVC Worship has led on our YouTube Channel!
Call To Worship: Steady Dependence
Compose our spirits to a quiet and steady dependence on Your good providence,
that we may not be anxious for anything,
but by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
still make known our requests to You, our God.
Help us to pray always and not faint;
in everything to give thanks,
and offer up the sacrifice of praise continually;
to rejoice in hope of your glory;
to possess our souls in patience;
and to learn in whatsoever state we are, there to be content.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Confession of Faith
New City Catechism
Part 2, Christ, Redemption, Grace
Q 25, 26
Leader: Does Christ’s death mean all our sins can be forgiven?
People: Yes, because Christ’s death on the cross fully paid the penalty for our sin, God graciously imputes Christ’s righteousness to us as if it were our own and will remember our sins no more.
Leader: What else does Christ’s death redeem?
People: Christ’s death is the beginning of the redemption and renewal of every part of fallen creation, as He powerfully directs all things for His own glory and creation’s good.
Classic Prayer: Charles Spurgeon
Oh! Bring us, we pray, near to yourself, Lord. Let us immerse ourselves in communion with our God. Blessed be the love which chose us before the world began! We can never sufficiently adore You for Your sovereignty, the sovereignty of love which saw us in the ruins of the Fall, yet loved us anyway. And now to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be glory forever and ever.
TVC Prayer Ministry
TVC Ministry: College Ministry
Vocation: Education
Mission Highlight: Hands & Feet Project
Praying for the Persecuted Church: Turkmenistan
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Discussion Questions for August 23, 2026
- Are you more like Paul or Barnabas?
- Why is it easier to “be Jesus” to people we rarely see?
- What does it mean that God continued to use Paul and Barnabas after they separated?
- What is Shalom, and what disrupts it?
- Psalm 34:14 says we are to seek and pursue peace in our relationships. Do you find it harder to initiate forgiveness when wronged or repentance when you’re in the wrong?
- Why is the gospel the only thing that can prepare you for both sides of the formula: repentance plus forgiveness equals reconciliation?
- Why should we, and how can we encourage each other to trust in the slow work of God in our lives?
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