::: Download the 11.24.2013 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes
::: Download the 11.24.2013 Bulletin
::: Download the 11.24.2013 Parent Bulletin
::: Listen to the 11.24.2013 Sermon Audio
image :: Lonely Stranger, Nicholas Roerich (1931, Russian)
Preparation for Worship ::: No Longer Aliens
To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home. (G. K. Chesterton)
They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)
:: Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3957404521 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=11]
:: All Things New [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2826557878 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]
:: Before the Throne of God Above [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=784345862 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=14]
:: Upon a Life I Did Not Live [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2800896556 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=4]
:: Dearly We’re Bought [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2189898526 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]
:: The Gospel Is Good News Indeed [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2144117063 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=14]
Call to Worship ::: Psalm 68:4-6, 32-33, 35
Sing to God, sing praises to His name; lift up a song to Him who rides through the deserts; His name is the Lord; exult before Him! Father of the fatherless and Protector of widows is God in His holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, To Him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, He sends out His voice, His mighty voice. Awesome is God from His sanctuary; the God of Israel— He is the one who gives power and strength to His people. Blessed be God!
Old Testament Reading ::: Zephaniah 3:17-20
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 gather those of you who mourn for the festival,
so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
Behold, at that time I will deal
with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and 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.
Sermon ::: Ephesians 2:11-22
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 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. 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 “Love Shines at Calvary” from The Valley of Vision
Almighty God, You grace removes my burdens and heaps them on Your Son. made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me; 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, experienced reproach that I might receive welcome, closed His eyes in death that I might forever live. O Father, who did not spare Your only Son that You might spare me, All this Your love designed and accomplished: Help me to adore You with my words and my life, Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the Cross, mighty to subdue, comfort and save.
Words of Encouragement ::: Colossians 1:21-22
You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.