:: Download the 10.26.2014 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 10.26.2014 Bulletin
:: Download the 10.26.2014 Parent Bulletin
:: Download the 10.26.2014 Sermon Audio
image :: Munich-Schwabing with the Church of St. Ursula, Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1908)
Preparation for Worship :: Restore Us To Yourself
“Somehow, we never see God in failure, but only in success—a strange attitude for people who have the Cross as the center of their faith.” (Cheryl Forbes)
“He spares not His Son, but sends Him in quest of the exiles. He comes into the land of banishment, lies in an exile’s cradle, becomes a banished man for them, lives a banished life, endures an exile’s shame, dies an exile’s death, is buried in an exile’s tomb. He takes our place of banishment that we may take His place of honor and glory in the home of His Father and our Father. Such is the exchange between the exile and the exile’s divine substitute.” (Horatius Bonar)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for October 26 include:
:: Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise (Walter C. Smith, 1867) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2438982198 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=3601257253]
:: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Robert Robinson, 1758) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=4120016334 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=1902663909]
:: All Things New (Horatius Bonar, 1846) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=873132608 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=503053927]
:: His Love Can Never Fail (E.S. Hall, 1897) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3165625088 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=1064820664]
:: In Christ Alone (Getty, 2002) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3360921683 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=957447859]
Call to Worship :: from Isaiah 35
Be strong, and do not fear! Your God will come to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf be unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Then will the wilderness rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice and shout for joy. And we, the ransomed of the Lord, will enter with singing. Everlasting joy will crown our heads. Open your eyes and see now the glory of the Lord, and the splendor of our God.
Confession of Sin
O Lord, no day of our lives passes that does not prove us guilty in Your sight. Our best services are filthy rags. All things in us call for our rejection. However, all things in Christ plead our acceptance. Grant us to hear Your voice assuring us that by Your stripes we are healed, that You were bruised for our iniquities, that You became sin for us, that we might be robed in Your righteousness. Grant that we might walk in newness of life as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Words of Encouragement :: I Peter 2:24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.
Praying the Psalms :: Psalm 13; Psalm 80:3 Refrain
Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved!
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? [Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved!]
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. [Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved!]
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. [Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved!]
Sermon :: Lamentations 5:1-22
1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;
look, and see our disgrace!
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
4 We must pay for the water we drink;
the wood we get must be bought.
5 Our pursuers are at our necks;
we are weary; we are given no rest.
6 We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria,
to get bread enough.
7 Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
and we bear their iniquities.
8 Slaves rule over us;
there is none to deliver us from their hand.
9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
because of the sword in the wilderness.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven
with the burning heat of famine.
11 Women are raped in Zion,
young women in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes are hung up by their hands;
no respect is shown to the elders.
13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,
and boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The old men have left the city gate,
the young men their music.
15 The joy of our hearts has ceased;
our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head;
woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 For this our heart has become sick,
for these things our eyes have grown dim,
18 for Mount Zion which lies desolate;
jackals prowl over it.
19 But you, O Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures to all generations.
20 Why do you forget us forever,
why do you forsake us for so many days?
21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!
Renew our days as of old—
22 unless you have utterly rejected us,
and you remain exceedingly angry with us.