::: Download the 9.29.2013 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes
::: Download the 9.29.2013 Bulletin
::: Download the 9.29.2013 Parent Bulletin
::: Listen to the 9.29.2013 Sermon Audio
image :: Red Wall Destiny, Wassily Kandinsky (1909, Russian)
Preparation for Worship ::: Predestined & Sealed
“The whole struggle was over, and yet there seemed to have been no moment of victory. You might say, if you liked, that the power of choice had been simply set aside and an inflexible destiny substituted for it. On the other hand, you might say he had delivered from the rhetoric of his passions and had emerged in unassailable freedom. Ransom could not for the life of him, see any difference between these two statements. Predestination and freedom were apparently identical. He could no longer see any meaning in the many arguments he had heard on the subject.” (C.S. Lewis, Perelandra)
“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” (Revelation 21:5)
:: Jesus Savior Pilot Me (Edward Hopper, 1871)
[bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1193777015 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5]
:: He Loves Us (David Crowder) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 track=488626504 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5]
:: You’re Beautiful (Phil Wickham) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 track=2812602318 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5]
:: 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]
:: In Christ Alone (Getty & Townend, 2001) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1060200358 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=12]
Call to Worship ::: Psalm 134, 65:4
Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!
May the Lord bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth!
Blessed is the one You choose and bring near,
to dwell in Your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house,
the holiness of Your temple!
WEPC Stories ::: Healing for the Sick, Hope for the Hopeless
Old Testament Reading ::: Isaiah 43:10-11,18-19
“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“and my servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed,
nor shall there be any after me.
I, I am the Lord,
and besides me there is no savior.”
“Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.”
Sermon ::: Ephesians 1:3-14
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,to the praise of his glory.
We Confess Our Sin Together
Gracious Father, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. In our hostility toward You, we squandered life and inheritance. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which Your Spirit transforms us into the likeness of Your Son; and grant us grace to grow more and more in Your image, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Words of Encouragement ::: I Peter 2:9-10
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.