:::  Download the 7.14.2013 Heart Prep Guide & Sermon Notes

:::  Download the 7.14.2013 Bulletin

:::  Download the 7.14.2013 WepcKids Parent Bulletin

:::  Listen to the 7.14.2013 Sermon 

image  :: Long Neck Deer, Yoota Azargeen (Iran, c.1975)

Preparation for Worship  :::  Habakkuk, How To Live

“Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violences which precede and follow them.” (Flannery O’Connor)

“Turn us, O good Lord, and so shall we be turned.” (Book of Common Prayer)

:::  Let The Glory of the Lord Endure Forever (Psalm 104:31)

::: What Wondrous Love is This (Southern Harmony, 1840) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=637168784 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=10]

:::  Help My Unbelief (John Newton, 1779) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2144117063 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=3]

:::  Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2351851484 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=10]

:::  My Hope is Built on Nothing Less (Edward Mote, 1834) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3283416963 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=8]

::: On Jordan’s Stormy Banks (Samuel Stennett, 1787) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=637168784 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=14]

Call to Worship ::: Psalm 25:1-2, 4-5

In You, Lord my God,
I put my trust.

I trust in You;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.

Show me Your ways, Lord,
teach me Your paths.

Guide me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are God my Savior,
and my hope is in You all day long.

Sermon  :::  Habakkuk 1:1-4, 3:16-19

^1:1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

² O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
³ Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
⁴ So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.

^3:16 I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.

¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

We Confess Our Sin Together

Lord God Almighty, when we are disoriented and angry at our circumstances, we demand, “How long?” from a heart of unbelief. We are given to self-deception instead of honesty with You. We love self-indulgence instead of enjoying You. We pursue self-reliance instead of resting in You. We do this because we lack faith. We are tempted to believe that You hear us. We doubt that You care. We despise Your redemption, and so try to make our own way. Forgive us and give us greater faith so that we might trust in You and walk in Your ways. To the glory of Your name.  Amen

Words of Encouragement  :::  Isaiah 43:25

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

New Testament Reading  :::  Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Benediction

:::  Download the 7.7.2013 Heart Prep Guide

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:::  Listen to the 7.7.2013 Sermon 

image  :: The Prophet Nahum predicts the destruction of Nineveh by the Lord, Romeyn de Hooghe (1705)

Preparation for Worship  :::  Nahum, Who Is In Charge?

Although in the Cross there is nothing but curse, this was nevertheless so swallowed up by the power of the Son of God, that the Cross has put on, as it were, a new nature. There is no tribunal so magnificent, no kingly throne so stately, no show of triumph so distinguished, no chariot so lofty, as the gallows on which Christ subdued death and the devil, the prince of death. Moreover, He has utterly trodden them under His feet.  (John Calvin)

Christ executes the office of a king, in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Jesus What A Friend For Sinners (J. Wilbur Chapman, 1910) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3401631397 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]

Hold Thou My Hand (Fanny Crosby, 1879) 

Hast Thou Heard Him, Seen Him, Known Him (Ora Rowan,1834-79) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2800896556 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=6]

Come To The Feast (Jeff Lawson, 2012) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3077911556 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=9]

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (Isaac Watts, 1707) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3563716376 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=11]

Before the Throne of God Above (Charitie Lees Bancroft, 1841-1923) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=784345862 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=14]

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]

Call to Worship ::: Psalm 18:1-3

I love you, Lord, my Strength. The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress and my Deliverer; my God is my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my Shield and the Horn of my salvation, my Stronghold. I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies.

New Testament Reading  :::  Colossians 2:13-15

You were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Sermon  :::  Nahum 1:1-15

¹ An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.

² The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
³ The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
⁴ He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
⁵ The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.

⁶ Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
⁷ The Lord is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
⁸     But with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
⁹ What do you plot against the Lord?
He will make a complete end;
trouble will not rise up a second time.
¹⁰ For they are like entangled thorns,
like drunkards as they drink;
they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
¹¹ From you came one
who plotted evil against the Lord,
a worthless counselor.

¹² Thus says the Lord,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
they will be cut down and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
¹³ And now I will break his yoke from off you
and will burst your bonds apart.”

¹⁴ The Lord has given commandment about you:
“No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from the house of your gods I will cut off
the carved image and the metal image.
I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

¹⁵  Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!
Keep your feasts, O Judah;
fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
he is utterly cut off.

We Confess Our Sin Together :::  from The Valley of  Vision, “Love Shines at Calvary”

My Father, enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips, supply words that proclaim “Love shines at Calvary.” There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on Your Son. made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me; There the sword of your justice struck the God-man: There Your infinite attributes were magnified, and infinite atonement was made; There infinite punishment was due, and infinite punishment was endured. Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy, cast off that I might be brought in, trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend, surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,stripped that I might be clothed, wounded that I might be healed, thirsty that I might drink, tormented that I might be comforted, made a shame that I might inherit glory. My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes, groaned that that I might have endless song, endured all pain that I might have unfading health, bore a crown of thorns that I might have a glory-diadem. Bowed His head that I might uplift mine, experienced reproach that I might receive welcome, closed His eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness, expired that I might forever live. O Father, who did not spare Your only Son that You might spare me, All this action Your love designed and accomplished: Help me to adore You with my words and my life, O that my every breath might be ecstatic praise, my every step buoyant with delight, as I see my enemies crushed, Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed, sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood, Hell’s gates closed, heaven’s portal open. Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the Cross, mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

God Declares Our Forgiveness  :::  Romans 5:9-11

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Benediction

:::  Download the 6.30.2013 Heart Prep Guide

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:::  Listen to the 6.30.2013 Sermon

image  :: The Prophet Micah, Jacob Pynas (17th century)

Preparation for Worship  :::  Micah, God’s Lawsuit

“Wait, O soul; thy God will presently arise to plead thy cause, and execute judgment for thee; do not put forth thine hand to save thyself; wait on Him, He will deliver thee; He will bring thee forth to the light, and thou shalt behold his righteousness in the ordering of thy life.”  (F.B. Meyer)

“No one can judge a criminal until he recognizes that he is just such a criminal as the man standing before him, and that he perhaps is more than all men to blame for that crime. When he understands that, he will be able to be a judge.” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

Gloria (Mejias & Byrd, 2009) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=588404472 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=9]

Jesus Lover of My Soul (Charles Wesley, 1740) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3165625088 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=6]

Rock of Ages When the Day Seems Long (Sandra McCracken, 2005) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3638870269 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=4]

Help My Unbelief (John Newton, 1725-1807) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2144117063 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=3]

None Other Lamb (Christina Rossetti, 1892) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1038326589 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=1]

Crown Him With Many Crowns (Matthew Bridges 1851) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2315225179 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=3]

 Call to Worship :::  based on John 2:24; II Cor 5:17-21

Let us worship God. who reconciled us to himself through Christ. We are new creations; the old has gone, the new has come. Let us worship God as Christ’s ambassadors. Through us and through our worship may we announce the good news to all. Let us worship God in spirit and in truth. Praise God! We are reconciled, redeemed, renewed!

Sermon  :::  Micah 7

¹ Woe is me! For I have become
as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
² The godly has perished from the earth,
and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
and each hunts the other with a net.
³ Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together.
⁴ The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
now their confusion is at hand.
⁵ Put no trust in a neighbor;
have no confidence in a friend;
guard the doors of your mouth
from her who lies in your arms;
⁶ for the son treats the father with contempt,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
⁷ But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.

⁸ Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be a light to me.
⁹ I will bear the indignation of the Lord
because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
I shall look upon his vindication.
¹⁰ Then my enemy will see,
and shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
now she will be trampled down
like the mire of the streets.

¹¹ A day for the building of your walls!
In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹² In that day they will come to you,
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³ But the earth will be desolate
because of its inhabitants,
for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴ Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
in the midst of a garden land;
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
¹⁵ As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them marvelous things.
¹⁶ The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷ they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they shall be in fear of you.

¹⁸ Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹ He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
²⁰ You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.

We Confess Our Sin Together  :::   from Valley of Vision, “A Cry for Deliverance”

Heavenly Father, Save me entirely from sin. I know I am righteous through the righteousness of another, but I pant and pine for likeness to thyself; I am thy child and should bear thy image, Enable me to recognize my death unto sin; When it tempts me may I be deaf unto its voice. Deliver me from the invasion as well as the dominion of sin. Grant me to walk as Christ walked, to live in the newness of his life, the life of love, the life of faith, the life of holiness. I abhor my body of death, its indolence, envy, meanness, pride. Forgive, and kill these vices, have mercy on my unbelief, on my corrupt and wandering heart. When thy blessings come I begin to idolize them, and set my affection on some beloved object – children, friends, wealth, honour; Cleanse this spiritual adultery and give me chastity; close my heart to all but thee. Sin is my greatest curse; Let thy victory be apparent to my consciousness, and displayed in my life. Help me to be always devoted, confident, obedient, resigned, childlike in my trust of thee, to love thee with soul, body, mind, strength, to love my fellow-man as I love myself, to be saved from unregenerate temper, hard thoughts, slanderous words, meanness, unkind manners, to master my tongue and keep the door of my lips. Fill me with grace daily, that my life be a fountain of sweet water.

Words of Encouragement  :::  Psalm 130:7-8

O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

New Testament Reading  :::  Luke 1:68-69

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.

Benediction