:: Download the 8.30.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 8.30.2015 Bulletin
image :: A Breton Sunday, Paul Serusier (1890, French)
Preparation for Worship :: Church
“Satan is loath to part with a great sinner. He says…’Do you think that Christ will foul His fingers with you? It is enough to make angels blush to see one so vile knock at heaven’s gates for mercy. Will you be so abominably bold to do it?’
Thus Satan dealt with me, when at first I came to Jesus Christ.
And what did you reply? Why, I granted the charge to be true.
And did you despair?
No. I said, ‘I am Magdalene, I am Zacchaeus, I am the thief, I am the harlot, I am the publican, I am the prodigal, and one of Christ’s murderers; yea, worse than any of these; and yet God was so far off from rejecting me, as I found afterwards, that there was music and dancing in His house for me, and for joy that I was come home unto Him.’
O blessed be God for grace! Such a one is a continual spectacle in the Church, in whom to behold God’s grace and wonder.” (John Bunyan)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday August 30 include ::
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Father Long Before Creation (Chinese Hymn, c.1951) CHART [bandcamp track=165182312 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Thy Mercy, My God, Is the Theme of my Song (John Stocker, 1776) CHART [bandcamp track=2834013035 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Give Me Jesus (African-American Spiritual) CHART [bandcamp track=893825801 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: His Love Can Never Fail (E.S. Hall, 1897) CHART [bandcamp track=1064820664 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Holy, Holy, Holy (Reginald Heber,1826) CHART [bandcamp track=3071271614 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
Call to Worship :: Zephaniah 3:16-17, 19-20
“Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.
Old Testament Reading :: Isaiah 62:11-12
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.”
Prayer of Confession
Our Father, You are our Creator, and we are the work of Your hands; You are our Shepherd, and we are Your flock; You are our Redeemer, and we are the people You have purchased; You are our God, and we are Your inheritance. Yet we have lived as a people cut off from the Lord who loved us: Hard, cynical, defensive, proud and skeptical. We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. Purify for Yourself a people for Your own possession who are zealous for doing good. That the whole earth may see that You are our God and Savior. In Jesus’ 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 whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Sermon :: I Peter 1:1-2
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.