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:: Download the 4.5.2015 Bulletin
:: Download the 4.5.2014 Parent Bulletin
:: Download the 4.5.2015 Sermon Audio
image :: The Three Marys at the Tomb Resurrection Morning, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1910, American)
Preparation for Worship on Easter Sunday :: Assurance to All
“We are adopted into God’s family through the resurrection of Christ from the dead in which He paid all our obligations to sin, the law, and the devil, in whose family we once lived. Our old status lies in his tomb. A new status is ours through His resurrection.” (Sinclair Fergusen)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Easter Sunday April 5 include ::
:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Crown Him With Many Crowns (Matthew Bridges, 1851) CHART [bandcamp track=92738205 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: In Christ Alone (Getty & Townend, 2002) CHART [bandcamp track=676321818 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
:: Christ the Lord is Risen Today (Charles Wesley, 1739) CHART
:: Worship Christ the Risen King (Jack Hayford, 1986) CHART
:: How Great Is Our God (Tomlin, Reeves & Cash, 2004) CHART
>>>AUDIO
Call to Worship :: The angel speaks to the women at the empty tomb, Matthew 28:5-6
“Do not be afraid, as you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.” Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Old Testament Reading :: Isaiah 65:17-25
“For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for the young man shall die a hundred years old,
and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,
for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
Sermon :: Acts 17:16-34
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Prayer of Confession
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 :: Hebrews 2:14-15
Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death— that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.