:: Download the 6.5.2016 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 6.5.2016 Bulletin
:: Download the 6.5.2016 Sermon Audio
image :: Noontime, St. Botolph Street, Boston, George Luks (1928, American)
Preparation for Worship :: Where is the Promise of His Coming?
“The judgment consists in the very fact that men prefer darkness to light…The characteristic of lost souls is their rejection of everything that is not simply themselves.” (C.S. Lewis)
“Jesus, our true and faithful Lord, Your promise we receive,
You are not slow to keep Your Word, But we are, to believe:
Should we throughout our seventy years For Your appearing stay,
A thousand, when Your face appears, Would seem but as one day.” (Charles Wesley)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday June 5 include ::
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: O God Our Help in Ages Past (Isaac Watts, 1719) CHART [bandcamp track=650804974 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: All Things New (Horatius Bonar, 1846) CHART [bandcamp track=503053927 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come Ye Sinners (Joseph Hart, 1759) CHART [bandcamp track=1984899776 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come, All Ye Pining (Anne Steele, b.1717) CHART [bandcamp track=2538870965 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: How Great Thou Art (Carl Boberg, 1885) CHART [bandcamp track=4153898077 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Our Lord, Come (I Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20) CHART
Call to Worship :: Psalm 90:1-4, 12-14
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Gospel Reading :: Matthew 24:34-44
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Confession of Sin
O Lord, we have not longed for Your coming nor for Your Kingdom as we ought. We have not denied ourselves, taking up Your cross, following You. Instead, clinging to the things of this world and counting them dear, we have grown callous to our neighbor. We have not cried out for justice nor cared about those who are without Christ and without hope in this world. Lord, forgive us for our offenses and grant that by the power of Your Spirit, we might live in light of Your coming again.
Words of Encouragement :: Psalm 130:3-4
If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared.
Sermon :: II Peter 3:1-10
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.