::  Download the 8.30.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
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image :: A Breton Sunday, Paul Serusier (1890, French)

Preparation for Worship :: Church

“Satan is loath to part with a great sinner. He says…’Do you think that Christ will foul His fingers with you? It is enough to make angels blush to see one so vile knock at heaven’s gates for mercy.  Will you be so abominably bold to do it?’

Thus Satan dealt with me, when at first I came to Jesus Christ.

And what did you reply? Why, I granted the charge to be true.

And did you despair?

No.  I said, ‘I am Magdalene, I am Zacchaeus, I am the thief, I am the harlot, I am the publican, I am the prodigal, and one of Christ’s murderers; yea, worse than any of these; and yet God was so far off from rejecting me, as I found afterwards, that there was music and dancing in His house for me, and for joy that I was come home unto Him.’

O blessed be God for grace!  Such a one is a continual spectacle in the Church, in whom to behold God’s grace and wonder.”  (John Bunyan)

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday August 30 include ::

:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Father Long Before Creation  (Chinese Hymn, c.1951) CHART [bandcamp track=165182312 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Thy Mercy, My God, Is the Theme of my Song (John Stocker, 1776) CHART [bandcamp track=2834013035 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Give Me Jesus (African-American Spiritual) CHART [bandcamp track=893825801 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: His Love Can Never Fail (E.S. Hall, 1897) CHART [bandcamp track=1064820664 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Holy, Holy, Holy (Reginald Heber,1826) CHART [bandcamp track=3071271614 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]

Call to Worship :: Zephaniah 3:16-17, 19-20

“Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Old Testament Reading :: Isaiah 62:11-12

Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.”

Prayer of Confession

Our Father, You are our Creator, and we are the work of Your hands; You are our Shepherd, and we are Your flock; You are our Redeemer, and we are the people You have purchased; You are our God, and we are Your inheritance. Yet we have lived as a people cut off from the Lord who loved us: Hard, cynical, defensive, proud and skeptical. We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. Purify for Yourself a people for Your own possession who are zealous for doing good. That the whole earth may see that You are our God and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Words of Encouragement :: Colossians 1:12-14

Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Sermon :: I Peter 1:1-2

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

::  Download the 8.23.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
::  Download the August 23 2015 Bulletin
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image :: Earth, Jean-Michel Basquiat (1984, American)

Preparation for Worship :: Elect Exiles

“The church exists today as resident aliens… a colony of heaven.”  (Stanley Hauerwas)

“He spares not His Son, but sends Him in quest of the exiles. He comes into the land of banishment, lies in an exile’s cradle, becomes a banished man for them, lives a banished life, endures an exile’s shame, dies an exile’s death, is buried in an exile’s tomb. He takes our place of banishment that we may take His place of honor and glory in the home of His Father and our Father. Such is the exchange between the exile and the exile’s divine substitute.”  (Horatius Bonar)

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday August 23 include ::

:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: All Creatures of Our God and King (Francis of Assisi, 1225) CHART [bandcamp track=3110760989 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Amazing Grace (John Newton, 1779) CHART [bandcamp track=2203479634 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Gloria Patri (2nd Century Hymn) CHART [bandcamp track=1717027862 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Come All Ye Pining, Hungry, Poor (Anne Steele, 19th cent.) CHART [bandcamp track=2538870965 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: The Church’s One Foundation (Samuel Stone, 1866) CHART [bandcamp track=4187815592 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: On Jordan’s Stormy Banks (Samuel Stennett, 1787) CHART [bandcamp track=1174694383 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]

Call to Worship :: Philippians 3:20-21

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.

Old Testament Reading :: Jeremiah 29:4-7,10

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare…. For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

Prayer of Confession

O Lord, no day of our lives passes that does not prove us guilty in Your sight. Our best services are filthy rags.  All things in us call for our rejection. However, all things in Christ plead our acceptance.  Grant us to hear Your voice assuring us that by Your stripes we are healed, that You were bruised for our iniquities, that You became sin for us, that we might be robed in Your righteousness. Grant that we might walk in newness of life as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Words of Encouragement :: I Peter 2:9-10

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Sermon :: I Peter 1:1-2

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

::  Download the 8.9.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
::  Download the 8.9.2015 Bulletin
::  Download the 8.9.2015 Sermon Audio

image :: Fear and Desire, Roger Weik (2005, American)

Preparation for Worship :: The Tenth Commandment: Do Not Covet

“There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets things with a deep and fierce passion…The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.” (A.W. Tozer)

“I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness….I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war…Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:7-8, 22-25)

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday August 9 include ::

:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Before the Throne of God Above (Charitie Lees Bancroft, 1863) CHART [bandcamp track=3844385493 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Abide With Me (Henry Francis Lyte, 1847) CHART [bandcamp track=1465399194 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Whate’er My God Ordains is Right (Samuel Rodigast, 1675) CHART [bandcamp track=3568458930 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]

:: Sing to the King (Billy James Foote, 2003) CHART 
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::  Lord I Need You (Matt Maher, 2013) CHART
>>> AUDIO

Call to Worship ::  Isaiah 55:1-3

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to Me;
hear, that your soul may live”

New Testament Reading :: James 4:1-10

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Declaration of Faith :: The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 113-115

What is the aim of the tenth commandment? That not even the slightest desire or thought contrary to any one of God’s commandments should ever arise in our hearts. Rather, with all our hearts we should always hate sin and take pleasure in whatever is right.

But can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly? No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God’s commandments.

Since no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly? First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that we may never stop striving, and never stop praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.

Prayer of Confession :: The Book of Common Prayer

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us.

Words of Encouragement :: Psalm 32:5

I acknowledged my sin to You,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Sermon :: Exodus 20:1-2,17

And God spoke all these words, saying,

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

::  Download the 8.2.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
::  Download the 8.2.2015 Bulletin
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image :: Job Rebuked by His Friends, William Blake (1805, English)

Preparation for Worship :: The Ninth Commandment: No False Witness

“Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”  (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

“Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth… who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” (Revelation 1:5)

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sunday August 2 include ::

:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]::  Gloria Patri (2nd Century Hymn) CHART [bandcamp track=1717027862 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]::  A Mighty Fortress (Martin Luther, 1529) CHART [bandcamp track=1521952589 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]::  Jesus, Lover of My Soul (Charles Wesley, 1740) CHART [bandcamp track=1026515912 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: Let Us Love And Sing And Wonder (John Newton, 1774) CHART [bandcamp track=3505470677 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]::  Gloria Patri (2nd Century Hymn) CHART [bandcamp track=3887420126 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]:: I Need Thee Every Hour (Annie Hawks, 1872) CHART [bandcamp track=110765075 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]::  Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness (Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, 1739) CHART

Call to Worship :: Psalm 86:9-12

All the nations You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous things; You alone are God. Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify Your name forever.

Gospel Reading :: John 8:31-36

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Declaration of Faith :: The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 112

What is the aim of the ninth commandment? That I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one’s words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone rashly or without a hearing.  Rather, in court and everywhere else, I should avoid lying and deceit of every kind;  these are the very devices the devil uses, and they would call down on me God’s intense wrath. I should love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. And I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor’s good name.

Sermon :: Exodus 20:1-2,16

And God spoke all these words, saying,

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”

¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Prayer of Confession :: based on the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17

O LORD, our God who brought His people out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery and by Christ delivered us from sin, You have been faithful to keep all the promises of Your covenant. But we, O LORD, have been a stiff-necked people who love unfaithfulness. We have loved other gods before You and become their servants. We have not worshiped You in spirit and in truth, so we have mocked Your glory in heaven. We have used Your name in vain and profaned Your reputation on earth. We have desecrated Your Sabbath because we have not trusted You to give us rest. We have not honored our fathers and mothers, and so we have proved ourselves rebels. We have hated our neighbors and murdered them in our hearts. We have made adulterers of ourselves in the lust of our eyes or in the deeds of our flesh. We have stolen honor and wealth and privileges that are not ours. We have lied and falsely accused for we love gossip more than truth. We have coveted blessings which You wisely and righteously gave to others. O LORD, have mercy on us for we have not kept Your Law.

Words of Encouragement :: I Timothy 1:18a

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.