::: Download the 8.4.2013 Heart Prep Guide & Sermon Notes
::: Download the 8.4.2013 Bulletin
::: Download the 8.4.2013 WepcKids Parent Bulletin
::: Listen to the 8.4.2013 Sermon
image :: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Daniel O. Stolpe (2003)
Preparation for Worship ::: Zechariah, Exceedingly Jealous
“Zechariah utters the word of the Lord, ‘I am jealous for Jerusalem’… Her jealous Husband shall roll away her shame; her reproach shall be forgotten; her glory shall be fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners, for he that is jealous of Himself is jealous for her fair fame.” (Charles Spurgeon)
“The Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus 34:14)
::: God Is Love, Let Heaven Adore Him (Timothy Rees, 1922) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2843828554 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]
::: Abide With Me (Henry Francis Lyte,1847) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3307329660 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=4]
::: Amazing Grace (John Newton, 1779) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2679071235 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]
::: Dearly We’re Bought (Joseph Hart, 1712-68) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2189898526 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]
::: God, Be Merciful to Me (Psalm 51; Psalter, 1912) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=637168784 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=3]
::: Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder (John Newton 1774) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3957404521 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=11]
::: My Lord I Did Not Choose You (Josiah Conder, 1836) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=4120016334 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=9]
Call to Worship ::: Deuteronomy 7:6-8
You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you.
New Testament Reading ::: John 17:9-11
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are Yours. All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
Sermon ::: Zechariah 1:1-17
1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 2 “The Lord was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? So they repented and said, ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.’”
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 8 “I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ 10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.’ 11 And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.’ 12 Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?’ 13 And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. 16 Therefore, thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”
We Confess Our Sin Together
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, You are faithful in all Your ways, not one word has failed of all Your promises. You are exceedingly jealous for Your Church, but we have not longed for You: We have cherished secret sins, we have sought comfort in created things, we have doubted and disdained Your sovereign choice. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us, and forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God Declares Our Forgiveness ::: I Peter 3:3; 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. If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.