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image :  Garden of Signs, Silviu Oravitzan (1998)

Preparation for Worship

“People who are no longer sure that God loves them and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons…Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce, defensive assertion of their own righteousness, and defensive criticism of others.”  —Richard Lovelace

“What more can He say than to you He hath said?”  —John Rippon

Jesus Lover of My Soul (Charles Wesley, 1740) [bandcamp track=1026515912  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

All Things New (Horatius Bonar, 1846) [bandcamp track=2373436171  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Give Me Jesus (Traditional African-American Spiritual)  [bandcamp track=893825801  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Abide With Me (Henry Francis Lyte, 1847) [bandcamp track=1465399194  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

In The Hours (H .L. Parmelee, 1871) [bandcamp track=1747787770  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Call to Worship   Psalm 36:7-9

How precious is Your steadfast love, O God!  The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.

Old Testament Reading   Isaiah 51:1-3

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.

Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.

For the Lord comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.

Sermon   Mark 8:1-21

¹ In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, ² “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³ And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” ⁴ And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” ⁵ And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” ⁶ And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. ⁷ And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. ⁸ And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ⁹ And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. ¹⁰ And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha^.

¹¹ The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. ¹² And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³ And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

¹⁴ Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. ¹⁵ And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”  ¹⁶ And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? ¹⁸ Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? ¹⁹ When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” ²¹ And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Preparation for the Lord’s Supper   I Corinthians 11:23-26

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

We Confess Our Sin Together

Almighty God, We seek blessings, but have not sought You.  You love us, but we have not loved You.  We demand a sign, but miss Your compassion.  We are unable to perceive or understand You unless You graciously give us new eyes, new ears and new hearts. Heavenly Father, help us to admit our sin and need of You.  Teach us to trust and remember our faithful Savior Jesus Christ.  By Your Holy Spirit, teach us to rest in You and receive forgiveness and freedom.  Amen.

God Declares Our Forgiveness   Ephesians 1:7

In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace.

Benediction

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image: Christ and the Canaanite Woman, Rembrandt Van Rijn (1650)

Preparation for Worship

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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

— Matthew 5:8

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In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and, therefore, know yourself as nothing by comparison – you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God.

— C.S. Lewis

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Come and Welcome (Thomas Haweis, 1792) [bandcamp track=2905232559  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Clean Am I (Aaron Tate, 1994)

Lord Speak to Me (Francis Havergal, 1872) — audio

Narrow Little Road (Leverett, 1995)

You Are My King (Foote, 1997)

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.

The Ministry of Prayer

Old Testament Reading — Isaiah 35:3-6, 9-10

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Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
‘Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.’

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.

But only the redeemed will walk there,
and the ransomed of the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
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We Confess Our Sin Together — Thomas Cranmer (1549)

Almighty Gods our Heavenly Father: in Your tender mercy You gave Your only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; He made there a full atonement for the sins of the whole world, offering once for all His one sacrifice of Himself; We do not presume to come to Your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Your table. But You are the same Lord, whose nature is always to have mercy.

God Declares Our Forgiveness — Romans 5:1-2

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.

Sermon — Mark 7:24-37

²⁴ And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. ²⁵ But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³² And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³ And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. ³⁴ And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷ And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Benediction

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image : The Heart, Henri Matisse (1943)

All Creatures of Our God and King (Francis of Assisi, 1225) [bandcamp track=3110760989  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Yes, God is Good (John H. Gurney, 1825) [bandcamp track=1502063583  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

There is a Fountain Filled with Blood (William Cowper, 1772)

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Wilt Thou Forgive (John Donne, 1633) [bandcamp track=1206600735  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Jesus, I Come (William Sleeper, 1887) [bandcamp track=1190898373  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

From Depths of Woe/Psalm 130 (Martin Luther, 1524) [bandcamp track=762862813  bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Preparation for Worship

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“One night, a [Pharisee] came to Jesus and he wanted to know what he could do to be saved. Jesus didn’t get bogged down in the kind of isolated approach of what he shouldn’t do. Jesus didn’t say, ‘Now Nicodemus, you must stop lying.’ He didn’t say, ‘Nicodemus, you must stop cheating if you are doing that.’…He didn’t say, ‘Nicodemus, now you must stop drinking liquor if you are doing that excessively.’ He said something altogether different, because Jesus realized something basic—that if a man will lie, he will steal. And if a man will steal, he will kill. So, instead of just getting bogged down in one thing, Jesus looked at him and said, ‘Nicodemus, you must be born again.’ He said, in other words, ‘Your whole structure must be changed.’ ”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Call to Worship —Hebrews 10:19-23

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Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

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The Ministry of Prayer

Old Testament Reading — Isaiah 29:13-14

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And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

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We Confess Our Sin Together

Most merciful Father, we have sinned against and are guilty before You. Forgive us the sins of our tongues:

For deception and untruthfulness in our dealings with others; for resentment, coldness, impatience, and tempers out of control.

Forgive us for the sins of our eyes:

For impurity in our glances and imagination; for pining after more beauty, comfort, status, and wealth than You have given us.

Forgive us the sins of our hearts:

For hard-heartedness toward You and our neighbors; for pride, self-absorption, self-pity; and above all for rebelling against Your Lordship and doubting Your love. Now, Holy Father, kill our envy, remove our pride, melt our hearts. Give us grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, to labor for You and not for ourselves, to be transformed into Your likeness, to live wholly for Your glory. Take away our mourning and give us music; remove our sackcloth and give us Your beauty. In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

God Declares Our Forgiveness — II Corinthians 5:21

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Sermon — Mark 7:1-23

¹ Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, ² they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
⁷ in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”‘ (that is, given to God)— ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

¹⁴ And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” ¹⁷ And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”(Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Benediction

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