:: Download the 2.14.2016 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 2.14.2016 Bulletin
:: Download the 2.14.2016 Sermon Audio
image :: The Couple, Amedeo Modigliani (c. 1915, Italian)
Preparation for Worship :: Beauty & Honor
“If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire; if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize which God could, if he chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very center of reality.” C.S. Lewis
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday February 14 include ::
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing (Robert Robinson, 1758) CHART [bandcamp track=4015998502 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Magnificat (Luke 1:46-49) CHART [bandcamp track=3475501751 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Jesus Lover of My Soul (Charles Wesley, 1740) CHART [bandcamp track=1026515912 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
Call to Worship :: from I Chronicles 29
Praise be to You, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor. For everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all.
Praying the Psalms :: Psalm 27; Psalms 80:3 (refrain)
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.
Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Prayer of Confession
Most merciful Father, we have sinned against and are guilty before You. Forgive us the sins of our tongues: For deception and untruthfulness in our dealings with others; for resentment, coldness, impatience, and tempers out of control. Forgive us for the sins of our eyes: For impurity in our glances and imagination; for pining after more beauty, comfort, status, and wealth than You have given us. Forgive us the sins of our hearts: For hard-heartedness toward You and our neighbors; for pride, self-absorption, self-pity; and above all for rebelling against Your Lordship and doubting Your love. Now, Holy Father, kill our envy, remove our pride, melt our hearts. Give us grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, to labor for You and not for ourselves, to be transformed into Your likeness, to live wholly for Your glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
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 3:1-7
Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. 7 Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.