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::: Listen to the 3.31.2013 Sermon
image :: Sunrise with a Boat between Headlands, William Turner (English,1840)
Preparation for Worship on Easter Sunday ::: Resurrection
O for an overcoming faith
To cheer my dying hours;
To triumph o’er the monster Death,
And all his frightful powers!
Joyful with all the strength I have
My quiv’ring lips should sing-
Where is thy boasted vict’ry, Grave?
And where the monster’s sting?
If sin be pardoned, I’m secure,
Death hath no sting beside;
The law gives sin its damning power;
But Christ, my ransom, died.
Now to the God of victory
Immortal thanks be paid,
Who makes us conquerors while we die,
Through Christ our living head.
Isaac Watts, “Hymn 17: Victory Over Death”, I Corinthians 15:55ff
Call to Worship
Good Christian Men Rejoice and Sing!
“I lay down My life for the sheep.” John 10:15; Cyril A. Alington, 1931; tune: Bullock
Song of Adoration
Christ the Lord is Risen Today
“O Death, where are your plagues?” Hosea 13:14; Charles Wesley, 1739; tune: Easter Hymn
Old Testament Reading ::: from Psalm 118
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies. I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things! The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!’ I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
We Confess Our Sin Together
Our gracious Father, You sent Your Son to die and rise to new life in order that death might be destroyed and that we might live. We confess that we have often chosen death over life and lived as if Jesus has not been raised. In our thoughts, words, and deeds we have rebelled against You. We have fled from You, Whose love is better than life and Whom to know is Life itself. We have sinned against others, sometimes unintentionally and sometimes deliberately, and have diminished their lives. We have damaged ourselves who were created to reflect Your beauty. Father, forgive us our sin for Jesus’ sake. Give us grace to live as followers of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ. To the glory of Your holy name. Amen.
Words of Encouragement ::: I Peter 1:3; II Corinthians 5:17
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Sermon ::: Mark 12:1-27
And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
Offering
“Jesus met them…they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” Matthew 28:9; 14th Century Latin Hymn; tune: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1791
Songs of Praise
Doxology
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6; Thomas Ken, 1709; tune: Lasst Uns Erfreuen
All Creatures Of Our God And King
“All You have made will praise You, O Lord.” Psalm 145:10; Francis of Assisi, c.1225; tune: Lasst Uns Erfreuen
Crown Him With Many Crowns
“On His head were many crowns.” Revelation 19:12; Matthew Bridges, 1851; tune: Diademata