::: Download the 6.30.2013 Heart Prep Guide
::: Download the 6.30.2013 Bulletin
::: Download the 6.30.2013 WepcKids Parent Bulletin
::: Listen to the 6.30.2013 Sermon
image :: The Prophet Micah, Jacob Pynas (17th century)
Preparation for Worship ::: Micah, God’s Lawsuit
“Wait, O soul; thy God will presently arise to plead thy cause, and execute judgment for thee; do not put forth thine hand to save thyself; wait on Him, He will deliver thee; He will bring thee forth to the light, and thou shalt behold his righteousness in the ordering of thy life.” (F.B. Meyer)
“No one can judge a criminal until he recognizes that he is just such a criminal as the man standing before him, and that he perhaps is more than all men to blame for that crime. When he understands that, he will be able to be a judge.” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
Gloria (Mejias & Byrd, 2009) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=588404472 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=9]
Jesus Lover of My Soul (Charles Wesley, 1740) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3165625088 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=6]
Rock of Ages When the Day Seems Long (Sandra McCracken, 2005) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3638870269 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=4]
Help My Unbelief (John Newton, 1725-1807) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2144117063 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=3]
None Other Lamb (Christina Rossetti, 1892) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1038326589 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=1]
Crown Him With Many Crowns (Matthew Bridges 1851) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2315225179 size=small bgcol=333333 linkcol=0f91ff t=3]
Call to Worship ::: based on John 2:24; II Cor 5:17-21
Let us worship God. who reconciled us to himself through Christ. We are new creations; the old has gone, the new has come. Let us worship God as Christ’s ambassadors. Through us and through our worship may we announce the good news to all. Let us worship God in spirit and in truth. Praise God! We are reconciled, redeemed, renewed!
Sermon ::: Micah 7
1 Woe is me! For I have become
as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
2 The godly has perished from the earth,
and there is no one upright among mankind;
they all lie in wait for blood,
and each hunts the other with a net.
3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together.
4 The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
now their confusion is at hand.
5 Put no trust in a neighbor;
have no confidence in a friend;
guard the doors of your mouth
from her who lies in your arms;
6 for the son treats the father with contempt,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
8 Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be a light to me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord
because I have sinned against him,
until he pleads my cause
and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light;
I shall look upon his vindication.
10 Then my enemy will see,
and shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will look upon her;
now she will be trampled down
like the mire of the streets.
11 A day for the building of your walls!
In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
12 In that day they will come to you,
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13 But the earth will be desolate
because of its inhabitants,
for the fruit of their deeds.
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
in the midst of a garden land;
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
15 As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them marvelous things.
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
their ears shall be deaf;
17 they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they shall be in fear of you.
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.
We Confess Our Sin Together ::: from Valley of Vision, “A Cry for Deliverance”
Heavenly Father, Save me entirely from sin. I know I am righteous through the righteousness of another, but I pant and pine for likeness to thyself; I am thy child and should bear thy image, Enable me to recognize my death unto sin; When it tempts me may I be deaf unto its voice. Deliver me from the invasion as well as the dominion of sin. Grant me to walk as Christ walked, to live in the newness of his life, the life of love, the life of faith, the life of holiness. I abhor my body of death, its indolence, envy, meanness, pride. Forgive, and kill these vices, have mercy on my unbelief, on my corrupt and wandering heart. When thy blessings come I begin to idolize them, and set my affection on some beloved object – children, friends, wealth, honour; Cleanse this spiritual adultery and give me chastity; close my heart to all but thee. Sin is my greatest curse; Let thy victory be apparent to my consciousness, and displayed in my life. Help me to be always devoted, confident, obedient, resigned, childlike in my trust of thee, to love thee with soul, body, mind, strength, to love my fellow-man as I love myself, to be saved from unregenerate temper, hard thoughts, slanderous words, meanness, unkind manners, to master my tongue and keep the door of my lips. Fill me with grace daily, that my life be a fountain of sweet water.
Words of Encouragement ::: Psalm 130:7-8
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
New Testament Reading ::: Luke 1:68-69
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.