:: Download the 3.9.2014 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes
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:: Download the 3.9.2014 Parent Bulletin
:: Download the 3.9.2014 Sermon Audio
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image :: Les Terrassiers / The Stone Breakers, Georges Seurat (1883, French)
Preparation for Worship and Communion :: Hardness of Heart
“Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” (Mark 8:17)
“Self-love so blinds us that we make the smallest faults in the world to be akin to heinous and unpardonable sins. We have this evil so deeply rooted in our hearts that if we are told of our duty, it only half moves us…. What, then, can break down all hardness in us, what can mortify all our excessive passions, what can correct all our cruelty, bring low all our pride and loftiness and sweeten all our bitterness? What God has done towards us. He has so loved the world that He has given up His only Son to death for us.” (John Calvin)
Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs for March 2
:: Be Thou My Vision (8th Century Irish Hymn) chart // audio
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1674 / Tallis Canon) chart // audio
:: Kindness (Giglio, Reeves, Tomlin, 2000) chart // audio
:: Thy Mercy, My God, Is the Theme of my Song (John Stocker, 1776) chart // audio
:: Give Me Jesus (African-American Spiritual) chart // audio
:: O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus (Samuel Trevor Francis, c.1890) chart // audio
Call to Worship :: Isaiah 55:2-3
Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to Me;
hear, that your soul may live.
Declaration of Faith :: The Apostles’ Creed, 2nd Century
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Old Testament Reading :: Ezekiel 36:22-28
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Sermon :: Ephesians 4:17-24
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
We Confess Our Sin Together
Almighty God, to know You is the fulfillment of our deepest longings and the satisfaction of our most ardent desires. To live in the light of Your salvation is our highest call and purpose. Yet foolishly we have sought our life and pleasures elsewhere. We have put the seeking of idols above seeking You, and they have left us empty and ashamed. We have failed to love You with our whole heart, soul, and mind. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have forsaken Your Kingdom for our own. Forgive us our sins for the sake of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. And grant that we might serve You in newness of life. 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.
Benediction