:: Download the 9.21.2014 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
:: Download the 9.21.2014 Bulletin
:: Download the 9.21.2014 Parent Bulletin
:: Download the 9.21.2014 Sermon Audio
image :: Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt van Rijn (1630, Dutch)
Preparation for Worship :: Siege, Exile & Restoration
“O Lord, the house of my soul is ruinous, O repair it! It displeases Your sight. I confess it, I know. But who shall cleanse it, to whom shall I cry but to you? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord, and spare Your servant from strange sins.” (Augustine)
“When Jesus is attacked for eating with sinners, and taking as His disciple a despised tax collector, one might ask: ‘What could He possibly gain by doing so?’ Only the salvation of sinners.” (Gregory of Nazianzus)
Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for Sept 21 include:
:: Thy Mercy My God (John Stocker, 1776) chart [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=637168784 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=2834013035]
:: Come, All Ye Pining (Anne Steele, b.1717) chart [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2826557878 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=2538870965]
:: Rock of Ages, When the Day Seems Long (Sandra McCracken, 2005) chart [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3638870269 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=3793832028]
:: Jesus, I Come (William Sleeper, b.1840) chart [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3957404521 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=1190898373]
:: On Jordan’s Stormy Banks (Samuel Stennett, 1787) chart [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3572066182 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=none track=1174694383]
Call to Worship :: Psalm 36:5-7
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens. Your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like the great deep. Man and beast You save, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
Confession of Sin
Lord, forgive us our sins against You and our neighbor. You are the Great Physician, giving new life to all who come; but we cling to our familiar sickness. You are the Bridegroom, inviting us to feast on new wine; but we are slow to come to Your table. You said You came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Forgive our pride and unbelief, for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy upon us; upon us.
Words of Encouragement :: I Corinthians 1:9,18
God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful…The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Praying the Psalms :: Psalm 80; v.3 refrain
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us!
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.
Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Sermon
12 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month—that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 13 And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. (Jeremiah 52:12-13)
31 And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. 32 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 33 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, 34 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived. (Jeremiah 52:31-42)
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. (Matthew 1:12-16)