:: Download the 11.1.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 11.1.2015 Bulletin
:: Download the 11.1.2015 Sermon Audio
image :: Sower, Vincent van Gogh (1888, Dutch)
Preparation for Worship :: Imperishable
So brief a life, and then an endless life
Or endless death;
So brief a life, then endless peace or
strife:
Whoso considereth
How man but like a flower
Or shoot of grass
Blooms an hour,
Well may sigh “Alas!”
Yet saints are singing in a happy hope
Forecasting pleasure,
Bright eyes of faith enlarging all their
scope;
Saints love beyond Time’s measure:
Where love is, there is bliss
That will not pass;
Where love is,
Dies away “Alas!” (Christina Rossetti)
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” (John 6:63)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday November 1 include ::
:: Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing (Robert Robinson, 1758) CHART [bandcamp track=4015998502 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Streams of Living Water Flow (Thomas Kelly, 1768-1855) CHART [bandcamp track=2488897534 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: How Deep the Father’s Love for Us (Stuart Townend, 1995) CHART [bandcamp track=4169581556 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Jesus I Come (William Sleeper, 1887) CHART [bandcamp track=1190898373 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]
:: In Need (Ross King, 1996) CHART
Call to Worship :: Isaiah 55:10-12
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Old Testament Reading :: Isaiah 40:1-8
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
Prayer of Confession
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, forgive us. Instead of being separated from the world, we coddle our secret sins. Instead of hearing Your Word, we are shaped by every other voice, belief, and perspective. Instead of eagerly following You in Your mission to the world, we choose sheltered and self-focused lives. Lord Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us. Our only hope is in Your finished work. You lived the life we should have lived. You died the death we should have died: in our place, as our substitute, to make atonement for our sins.
Words of Encouragement :: John 5:19,24
Jesus said to them, “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 1:13-25
13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.