:: Download the 9.6.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 9.6.2015 Bulletin
:: Download the 9.6.2015 Sermon Audio
image :: Hope, Toko Shinoda (2005, Japanese)
Preparation for Worship :: Living Hope
“How fair and lovely is the hope which the Lord gave to the dead when He laid down like them beside them. Rise up and come forth and sing praise to Him who has raised you from destruction.” (from the Syrian Orthodox Liturgy)
“You thought God was an architect. Now you know He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow.” (Jason Isbell, “24 Frames”)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday September 6 include ::
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: 10000 Reasons (Redman & Myrin, 2011) CHART [bandcamp track=2659759028 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: In Christ Alone (Getty & Townend, 2002) CHART [bandcamp track=676321818 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: None Other Lamb (Christina Rossetti, b.1830) CHART [bandcamp track=798046000 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Love’s Redeeming Work Is Done (Charles Wesley, 1739) CHART [bandcamp track=135949962 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: My Heart is Steadfast / Psalm 108 (Ellie Holcomb, 2011) CHART >>> AUDIO
Call to Worship :: Psalm 63:1-4
O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; My soul thirsts for You, my body longs for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You. I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.
Old Testament Reading :: Jeremiah 17:12-14
A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
O Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake You shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from You shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for You are my praise.
Prayer of Confession :: Heidelberg Catechism, Q & A 3-8
How do you come to know your misery? The law of God tells me.
What does God’s law require of us? Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Can you live up to all this perfectly? No. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.
Did God create people so wicked and perverse? No. God created them good and in His own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their Creator, love Him with all their heart, and live with Him in eternal happiness for His praise and glory.
Then where does this corrupt human nature come from? From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners–corrupt from conception on.
But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil? Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God.
Words of Encouragement :: John 5:24
Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Sermon :: I Peter 1:2-9
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.