:: Download the 2.19.2017 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 2.19.2017 Bulletin
:: Download the 2.19.2017 Sermon Audio
image :: After A Rain, Arkhip Kuindzhi (19th century, Ukrainian)
Preparation for Worship on February 19 2017 :: Share in Our Comfort
“I remember a professor saying that his brother had just died in his late twenties, leaving a wife and several children. My professor asked, ‘How can I look at that and say that God is good?…I can’t. But that is not all that God has given me to look at.’ He went on to say that he looked not to his own limited evaluation of the fairness of history for his assurance of God’s character, but to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Everything else is seen in that light.” (Richard Keyes)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for February 19 include ::
:: King of Saints (Joseph Hart, d.1768) CHART [bandcamp track=3854459982 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: All Ye Refugees (Scott, Haddock & Paris, 2015) CHART [bandcamp track=281721869 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come Ye Sinners (Joseph Hart, 1759) CHART [bandcamp track=3508703207 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923) CHART [bandcamp track=3717975761 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Oh To Be Loved (Thad Cockcrell, 2008) CHART >>> AUDIO
Call to Worship :: Isaiah 51:9,11-12
Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord;
awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago…
The ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
“I, I am He who comforts you.”
Confession of Sin
Father of mercies and God of all comfort, We confess that we are often weary with doing good. We have been slow to love, weak in faith, hard of heart. We have become rebellious in our affliction instead of waiting for You. We have attempted to flee from You, seeking a comfort of our own design. Forgive our fear and sin born of unbelief. Lead our wandering hearts back to You, Strengthen us by the power of Your Holy Spirit: to draw our consolation and courage from the love of Jesus Christ, to share in Christ’s sufferings, to comfort the afflicted and to walk joyfully in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.
Words of Encouragement :: Romans 8:31-32, 38-39
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?… For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Old Testament Reading :: Isaiah 66:12-14
For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,
and bounced upon her knees.
As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
your bones shall flourish like the grass;
and the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants,
and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.
Sermon :: II Corinthians 1:1-7
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.