:: Download the 12.14.2014 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 12.14.2014 Bulletin
:: Download the 12.14.2014 Parent Bulletin
:: Download the 12.14.2014 Sermon Audio
image :: Simeon with the Christ Child in the Temple, Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, c.1666)
Preparation for Worship on the Third Sunday of Advent :: Simeon, Waiting to See Salvation
“He saved us from alongside us.” (Donald Macleod, The Person of Christ)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for December 14 include:
:: Creator of The Stars of Night (7th Century Latin Hymn) CHART [bandcamp track=2507463581 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (Henry Francis Lyte, 1834) CHART [bandcamp track=1377109738 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Love Came Down at Christmas (Christina Rossetti, 1885) CHART [bandcamp track=3311510953 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Why So Heavy, O My Soul? (Edward Caswall, 1873) CHART [bandcamp track=3977207874 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending (Charles Wesley, 1758) CHART [bandcamp track=1316143512 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: What Child Is This (W. Chatterton Dix, c.1865) CHART [bandcamp track=3999560521 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
Call to Worship :: Haggai 2:7-8
“In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the LORD Almighty.
Stir up Your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let Your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with You and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
Declaration of Faith :: from Article 17, of the Belgic Confession (1561)
We believe that our good God, by His marvelous wisdom and goodness, seeing that man had plunged himself into both physical and spiritual death and made himself completely miserable, set out to find him, though man, trembling all over, was fleeing from Him. And He comforted him promising to give him His Son, “born of a woman,” to crush the head of the serpent, and to make him blessed.
Old Testament Reading :: Jeremiah 23:5-6
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Confession of Sin :: adapted from Protestant Reformation confessions by Guy de Brès and John Calvin
Lord, You created man from the dust of the earth and made and formed him in Your image and likeness— good, just, and holy; we were able by our own will to conform in all things to Your perfect will. But when we were in honor we did not understand it, and we did not recognize our excellence. We subjected ourselves willingly to sin and consequently to death and the curse, listening to the word of the devil. For we transgressed the commandment of life, which we had received, and by our sin we separated ourselves from You, our true Life, and we corrupted our entire nature. So we made ourselves guilty and subject to physical and spiritual death, we became wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all our ways. We forfeited all the excellent gifts which we had received from Your hand, and we retained none of them except for small traces which are enough to make us inexcusable. Moreover, all the light in us is turned to darkness, as the Scripture teaches us: “The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not receive it.” Here John calls all of us “darkness.” Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.
Words of Encouragement :: Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.
Sermon :: Luke 2:22-35
22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”