:: Download the 3.8.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 3.8.2015 Bulletin
:: Download the 3.8.2015 Parent Bulletin
:: Download the 3.8.2015 Sermon Audio
image :: Waiting, John Brosio (1994, American)
Preparation for Worship :: Blood & Disaster
“What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the Cross.” (Flannery O’Connor)
In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.
Sure, never to my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
My conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.
Alas! I knew not what I did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!
A second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.”
Thus, while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now is filled,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I killed! (John Newton)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for March 8 include ::
::: Arise! My Soul Arise! (Charles Wesley, 1742) CHART [bandcamp track=1534263805 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: When I Survey The Wondrous Cross (Isaac Watts, 1707) CHART [bandcamp track=3207629541 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Amazing Grace (John Newton, 1779) CHART [bandcamp track=2203479634 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Lord I Need You (Matt Maher) CHART
> AUDIO
:: In Need (Ross King, 1996) CHART
Call to Worship :: Psalm 9:11-14,19
Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples His deeds! For He who avenges blood is mindful of them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O You who lift me up from the gates of death. That I may recount all Your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation. Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before You!
New Testament Reading :: II Corinthians 5:10-11,16-19
We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others… We regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Sermon :: I Kings 21:17-29
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. 19 And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.”’”
20 Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. 21 Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. 22 And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you have made Israel to sin. 23 And of Jezebel the Lord also said, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel.’ 24 Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat.”
25 (There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. 26 He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.)
27 And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. 28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house.”
Prayer of Confession
Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14-15)
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. (Psalm 32:1-5,7)
Words of Encouragement :: II Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.