Announcements — Pastoral Update
Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
(Psalm 95; Hebrews 12)
Today, on this day that You have made
We come to worship and bow down.
We kneel before you, O Lord, our Maker.
You, alone, are our God.
We, collectively, are Your people
Pastured by the still waters,
Fed by Your hand
Guided by Your Spirit.
Today, we long to hear Your voice.
Today, do not let us harden our hearts.
Soften us.
Prepare us for the planting of Your Word.
Bury it deep within.
Let it yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness
That touches our families, our neighbors and our world.
To You be the glory and the dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
Our Sung Call to Worship
O Great God (of Highest Heaven)
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
(adapted from Octavius Winslow The God of Comfort)
Lord, this season of fiery trial has been sanctified by the grace of Your Holy Spirit.
Let it do its work to break up the crusted ground of our hearts,
to penetrate beneath the surface,
to dissect and winnow and separate the wheat from the chaff.
Detect and expose our secret sins.
Reveal the carelessness of our walks.
Uncover the spiritual decay of our souls
And lead us to a deep self-loathing that only a crucified and risen Savior can mend.
Our Sung Confession
I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
(adapted from The Valley of Vision)
O Father, You have loved us and sent Jesus to redeem us;
O Jesus, You have loved us and assumed our nature,
Shed Your blood to wash away our sins,
And worked righteousness to cover our unworthiness;
O Holy Spirit, You have loved us and entered our hearts,
There You implanted eternal life,
And revealed to us the glories of Jesus.
Three Persons and one God, we bless and praise You,
For love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous,
So mighty to save the lost and raise us to glory.
To You be the glory and the dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Man of Sorrows
Thanksgiving and Petition
We Give Thanks in Prayer and Offer Petitions to God
We express our gratitude to God our Father for Christ’s work on the cross for us and bring our requests before him. In bringing our requests, we confess that we believe God truly is a good father, who cares about our needs and gives us what he knows is best.
We Give Thanks by Giving
We give financial offerings to support the work of the church because of our gratitude to God. By giving we confess we are trusting in God’s provision for us as well. On the first Sunday of each month, we have two offerings—one for the general fund and a second one for the benevolence ministry of our church.
You may give electronically here.
You may also send a check by mail.
We Give Thanks in Song
Speak O Lord
Scripture Reading
Hosea 13:9-16 (ESV)
9 He destroys you, O Israel,
for you are against me, against your helper.
10 Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
Where are all your rulers—
those of whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
and I took him away in my wrath.
12 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
his sin is kept in store.
13 The pangs of childbirth come for him,
but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
at the opening of the womb.
14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
I shall redeem them from Death.
O Death, where are your plagues?
O Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Though he may flourish among his brothers,
the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come,
rising from the wilderness,
and his fountain shall dry up;
his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip his treasury
of every precious thing.
16 Samaria shall bear her guilt,
because she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
and their pregnant women ripped open.
Sermon (video | mp3 | manuscript)
Hosea 13:9-16 -“Yahweh Promises Destruction” – Pastor Eric Schumacher
Sending
Having heard and confessed the Gospel, we are sent into the world on mission in Christ, which we express in both song and spoken word.
Sending Song
How Sweet and Aweful is the Place
Benediction
(from the letters of John Berridge)
May this season of trial be sweetened with a sense of the Lord’s presence,
bringing many tokens of His fatherly love,
and sanctifying the painful visitation by drawing your heart more vigorously to Him and fixing it on Him!
May the Lord bring eternity nearer to our minds,
and Jesus nearer to our hearts.