:: Download the 11.15.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 11.15.2015 Bulletin
:: Download the 11.15.2015 Sermon Audio
image :: Flowers in Stone, Paul Klee (1939, Swiss)
Preparation for Worship :: Living Stones
“God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man. It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better but like turning a horse into a winged creature.” (C.S. Lewis)
“If you are a Christian, the story that tells you who you are is not the story of your parents, ancestors, ethnic group, or social class. It is instead, the story of the Bible– the promise to Abraham, the deliverance from slavery to Egypt and sin, the gift of land to landless Israelites, and life to dead sinners. This story of promise, deliverance, and gift is your family history, the story that defines you.” (Graham Tomlin)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday November 15 include ::
:: Rock of Ages (Augustus Toplady, 1776) [bandcamp track=1565825434 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: In Christ Alone (Getty & Townend, 2002) CHART [bandcamp track=676321818 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus (Louisa Stead, 1882) CHART [bandcamp track=3021677932 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Lord I Need You (Matt Maher, 2013) CHART >>> AUDIO
:: Oh to Be Loved by Jesus (Thad Cockrell, 2009) CHART >>> AUDIO
Call to Worship :: Psalm 118:19-24
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Gospel Reading :: Matthew 21:33-46
“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.
Prayer of Confession
Almighty Father, we are gathered before You, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, whose chosen dwelling place is with the broken and contrite. We confess that we have sinned against You in thought and word and deed; we have not loved You with all our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. You call us to worship You in spirit and in truth, but we often worship only what we wish You to be. We are quick to ask You to bless what we do, rather than seeking to do what You bless. We have sought concessions, when we required guidance. We have used Your gifts for private ambition, instead of for Your mission and glory. We use worship to shape You, rather than seeking to be formed into the likeness of the One we worship.
Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us; Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us; Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world, grant us Your peace.
Words of Encouragement :: II Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Sermon :: I Peter 2:4-8
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.