::  Download the 12.22.2013 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes

::  Download the 12.22.2013 Bulletin

:: Download the 12.22.2013 Parent Bulletin

::  Listen to the 12.22.2013 Sermon Audio

image :: La Nativité à la Torche, Antoine, Louis & Mathieu Le Nain (17th century, French)

Preparation for Worship  ::  Incarnation

Jesus, equal to the Father in the form of God, became like us in the form of a servant, and refashions us into the likeness of God. The only Son of God, having become the Son of Man makes many sons of men the sons of God.   (Augustine of Hippo, “Sermon on the Nativity”, 5th century)

:: O Come, All Ye Faithful

:: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

::  Veiled in Darkness Judah Lay

::  Amen, Amen

::  All Glory Be To Christ

::  It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

Call to Worship  :: Psalm 98:1-3

Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things! His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Declaration of Faith :: The Belgic Confession, Article 15 (1561)

We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race. It is a corruption of all nature— an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother’s womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God’s sight that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolished or wholly uprooted even by baptism, seeing that sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring. Nevertheless, it is not imputed to God’s children for their condemnation but is forgiven by His grace and mercy— not to put them to sleep but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan as they long to be set free from the “body of this death.”

We Confess Our Sin Together

Lord Jesus Christ, Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper, born in my birth, alive in my life, strong in my character, dominating my affections, following me as a shadow, intermingling with my every thought, my chain that holds me captive. Yet Your compassions yearn over me, Your heart hastens to my rescue, Your love endured my curse, Your mercy bore my justice, Your incarnation unites God and Man, And in Man crushes the Serpent’s head. Let me walk in humility, cleansed in Your blood, tender of conscience, living in triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil an heir of Your salvation through Your blessed name. Amen.

Words of Encouragement  ::  Galatians 4:4-7

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Sermon  ::  Ephesians 3:1

For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 

New Testament Reading  ::  Romans 11:25-7,33-36

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”… Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Advent Musical Offering

“All Glory Be To Christ”, Dustin Kensrue (2012); Traditional Scottish Folk Tune [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=4004735516 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=5]

Benediction

::  Download the 12.15.2013 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes

::  Download the 12.15.2013 Bulletin

::  Download the 12.15.2013 Parent Bulletin

::  Listen to the 12.15.2013 Sermon Audio 

image :: Study for The Annunciation, Henry Ossawa Tanner (c.1893, American)

Preparation for Worship  ::  Dwelling Place

Where the understanding is outraged, where human nature rebels, where our piety keeps a nervous distance: there, precisely there, God loves to be; there He baffles the wisdom of the wise; there He vexes our nature, our religious instincts. There He wants to be, and no one can prevent Him. Only the humble believe Him and rejoice that God is so free and grand, that He works wonders where man loses heart, that He makes splendid what is slight and lowly. Indeed, this is the wonder of wonders, that God loves the lowly. “God has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden.” God in lowliness – that is the revolutionary, the passionate word of Advent.  (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

:: Gloria [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=588404472 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=9]

:: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3505305395 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=4]

:: What Child Is This? [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2254475816 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=7]

:: In Christ Alone [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1060200358 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=12]

Call to Worship  :: Malachi 3:1

Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

Confession of Faith :: from Article 17, of the Belgic Confession (1561)

We believe that our good God, by His marvelous wisdom and goodness, seeing that man had plunged himself into both physical and spiritual death and made himself completely miserable, set out to find him, though man, trembling all over, was fleeing from Him. And He comforted him promising to give him His Son, “born of a woman,” to crush the head of the serpent, and to make him blessed.

New Testament Reading  :: Romans 8:18-25

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Sermon  :::  Ephesians 2:19-22

¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We Confess Our Sin Together :: based on Isaiah 60:1-3

“Arise, shine: for your Light has come.” Heavenly Father, forgive us; we have lived as if the Light of the World had not overcome the darkness of our sin.

“And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Lord Jesus Christ, redeem us; We confess that we sought our own glory as we grew impatient for Your advent.

“For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” Holy Spirit, renew us; We have often grown accustomed to darkness, and so hardened the true yearnings of our waiting hearts.

“And nations shall come to Your light, and kings to the brightness of Your rising.” Almighty God, You came to us in the fullness of time. Draw us to live in Your presence and grace. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Words of Encouragement :: Matthew 1:21

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.

Benediction

::  Download the 12.8.2013 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes

::  Download the 12.8.2013 Bulletin

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image :: Golden Door, Richard Pousette-Dart (1989, American)

Preparation for Worship  ::  Access

“Because God’s promises seemed impossible to men– equality with the angels in exchange for mortality, corruption, poverty, weakness, dust and ashes– God established a Mediator, not a prince or angel or archangel, but His only Son. He wanted, through His Son, to show us and give us the way He would lead us to the goal He has promised. It was not enough for God to make His Son our guide to the way; He made Him the Way itself. Therefore, the only Son of God was to come among men, to take the nature of men, and in this nature to be born as a man. He was to die, to rise again, to ascend into heaven, to sit at the right hand of the Father, and to fulfill His promises among the nations, and after that to come again.”  (Augustine of Hippo, 5^th century)

“He deigns in flesh t’appear, widest extremes to join; To bring our vileness near, and make us all divine: And we the life of God shall know, for God is manifest below.” (Charles Wesley, 18^th century)

:: Rejoice the Lord Is King (Charles  Wesley, 1744)

:: This is the Christ (Martin Luther, 1531) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=748307140 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=8]

:: Creator of the Stars of Night (7th century Latin Hymn) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2254475816 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]

::  A Baby is Born (Bill Wolf, 2008)

::  O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Latin Antiphons, 8th century) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3797952345 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]

Call to Worship  ::  Haggai 2:7-8

“In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,” says the LORD Almighty.

Confession of Faith ::  from the Belgic Confession (1561), Article 18

We profess that God fulfilled the promise that He had made to the early fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets when He sent His only and eternal Son into the world at the time set by Him. The Son took the “form of a servant” and was made in the “likeness of man,” truly assuming a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, except for sin; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit. And He not only assumed human nature as far as the body is concerned but also a real human soul, in order that he might be a real human being. For since the soul had been lost as well as the body, He had to assume them both to save them both together. In this way he is truly our Immanuel— that is: “God with us.”

Old Testament Reading  ::  Zechariah 2:10-13

“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.” Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Sermon  :::  Ephesians 2:11-22

¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

We Confess Our Sin Together

Good and gracious God, we lay our sins before You, confessing the ways we have not lived in light of Your coming. We have lived in fear by not trusting You in our relationships and circumstances, by putting our hope in our finances or accomplishments, and by demanding comfort. We have sought to control our lives by attempted to forge a peace apart from You, by refusing to listen to Your voice, and by our cynicism and anger. We have tried to pay for our own sins by being dominated by shame and guilt, by not believing that we are forgiven, and by seeking to do good works to gain access to You. We have only lived for this life, by centering our lives on created things, by demanding more riches, and by disregarding those around us. Because Jesus was made incarnate, lived, died, was raised, and ascended into heaven, we confess our sins with the great confidence that You will forgive, accept, and renew us.

Words of Encouragement  ::  Romans 5:1-2

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.    

Benediction