Dear Church Family,
This is a worship guide that we have prepared for use today. It follows our normal schedule of readings from the Old and New Testaments. We would encourage you to follow the order, then listen to the message.
I love you all!
Pastor Mike
Call to Worship: Psalm 142
1 With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.
3 When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
4 Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul.
5 I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
6 Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me!
7 Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.
Prayer of Adoration:
Song: How Firm a Foundation (link)
Song: He Will Hold Me Fast (link)
The Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 42:14-21
14 For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands, and dry up the pools.
16 And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
17 They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.” Israel’s Failure to Hear and See
18 Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious.
Prayer of Confession:
O Lord Most High, we confess that we have often tried to please You with our righteousness, instead of pleading the righteousness of Christ. We have tried to cleanse our sins by becoming better Christians, rather than receiving forgiveness through Your blood. We have constructed idols for pleasure and for ambition, and have not been joyful in Your presence, nor rested in Your accomplishment. We have sought our nourishment in vain activities and in setting our own course, instead of trusting in Your daily provision.
Merciful Father, continue to purge our darkened hearts with the light of Your Gospel. Help us not to fear the cleansing work of Your Spirit, but make us eager for it, delight in it, and rejoice with unspeakable joy that we are being conformed to the image of Your dear Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.
Assurance of Pardon: Isaiah 54:10
For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Song: Great is Thy Faithfulness (link)
New Testament Lesson: Ephesians 5:8-14
8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”