::: Download the 9.15.2013 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes
::: Download the 9.15.2013 Bulletin
::: Download the 9.15.2013 Parent Bulletin
::: Listen to the 9.15.2013 Sermon Audio
image :: Sky Writing III, Seán Cotter (Irish, b.1969）
Preparation for Worship ::: Blessed
“There is no end to the blessing which God gives to His chosen. He is always blessing us with blessings upon blessings, grace upon grace, and then there will be glory to crown it all…Christ bestows all the goodness of the past, the present, and the future upon His people. In the mysterious ages of the past the Lord Jesus was His Father’s first elect, and in His election He gave us an interest, for we were chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)
:: O The Deep Deep Love of Jesus (Samuel Trevor Francis, c.1890) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2284543217 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=9]
:: Faithful One (Randall Goodgame, 2007)
:: Give Me Jesus (Traditional African-American Spiritual) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1078636175 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=10]
:: Kyrie (Ancient Greek hymn, 4th century) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3447115104 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]
:: Our God Our Hope In Ages Past (Isaac Watts, 1719)
:: Father Long Before Creation (Chinese Hymn, c.1952) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2817376614 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]
Call to Worship ::: Psalm 72:18-19
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel. He alone does wondrous things. Blessed be His glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen and Amen!
Sermon ::: Ephesians 1:3-6
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
We Confess Our Sin Together
Almighty God, to know You is Life itself, and the satisfaction of our most ardent desires. Yet foolishly we have sought our pleasures elsewhere. We have given ourselves to the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have run after deadly idols of our own making, and forsaken You. We have failed to love You with our whole heart, soul, and mind. We have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves, and there is no health in us. Forgive us our sins for the sake of Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Renew Your Bride, Your Church, as You have redeemed her. Amen.
Words of Encouragement ::: I Peter 2:9-10
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Old Testament Reading ::: Deuteronomy 7:6-9
You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God.