:: Download the 12.18.2016 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 12.18.2016 Bulletin
:: Download the 12.18.2016 Sermon Audio
image :: Feast of the Redeemer, Maurice Prendergast (1899, American)
Preparation for Worship on Dec 18, the Fourth Sunday in Advent :: Redeemer
“Almighty God, You make us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of Your Son Jesus Christ: grant that, as we joyfully receive Him as our Redeemer, so we may with sure confidence behold Him when He shall come to be our Judge.” (Thomas Cranmer)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for December 18 include ::
:: Gloria (Luke 2:14) CHART [bandcamp track=3705156614 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (Charles Wesley, 1744) CHART [bandcamp track=1664620326 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: In Christ Alone (Getty & Townend, 2002) CHART [bandcamp track=676321818 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: O Come All Ye Faithful (attr. John Francis Wade, 1743) CHART [bandcamp track=1923573538 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Once He Came in Blessing (Jan Roh, 1485-1547) >>> AUDIO
Call to Worship :: Isaiah 65:17-19, 24,25
“Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.
Declaration of Faith :: The Belgic Confession, Article 15 (1561)
We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race. It is a corruption of all nature— an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother’s womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God’s sight that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolished or wholly uprooted even by baptism, seeing that sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring. Nevertheless, it is not imputed to God’s children for their condemnation but is forgiven by His grace and mercy— not to put them to sleep but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan as they long to be set free from the “body of this death.”
Confession of Sin :: Puritan Prayer, from The Valley of Vision
Lord Jesus Christ, Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper, born in my birth, alive in my life, strong in my character, dominating my affections, following me as a shadow, intermingling with my every thought, my chain that holds me captive. Yet Your compassions yearn over me, Your heart hastens to my rescue, Your love endured my curse, Your mercy bore my justice, Your incarnation unites God and Man, And in Man crushes the Serpent’s head. Let me walk in humility, cleansed in Your blood, tender of conscience, living in triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil as an heir of Your salvation through Your blessed name. Amen.
Words of Encouragement :: Colossians 1:12-14
Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son. In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Gospel Reading :: Luke 2:36-38
The account of Anna, who waited for the Lord’s redemption
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Sermon :: Ruth 2:19-23
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-in-law.