Download: Readings and Song Lyrics for August 21, 2022
Reflection
You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling,
whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the stead,
unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet.
That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me.
In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.
I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing;
the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms.
The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet.
But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal
who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful,
and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape?
C. S. Lewis
Surprised By Joy
Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
Isaiah 60:1; 61:10 (ESV)
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.
Our Sung Call to Worship
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Verse 1
Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise:
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Verse 2
Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home:
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Verse 3
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Words by Robert Robinson, Music: Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music
©Public Domain
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
Based on Psalm 101:5; Revelation 12:10; 1 John 2:1; Isaiah 6:3, 5 (ESV)
Hear the word of the Messiah:
Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
I will destroy.
Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
I will not endure.
O Lord, forgive us, for we have sinned against you.
You have called us to love our neighbor as ourselves,
but we have used our words to hate and destroy.
In secret, we have attacked and maligned,
destroying the reputation of our neighbors.
When we sin, Satan is the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
but Jesus is our advocate before the Father.
But we have joined Satan in accusing our brothers and sisters
instead of joining Jesus in seeking their good before you.
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips,
and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Time of silent confession.
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
Isaiah 6:6–7; Hebrews 9:24, 26 (ESV)
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
having in his hand a burning coal that
he had taken with tongs from the altar.
And he touched my mouth and said:
“Behold, this has touched your lips;
your guilt is taken away,
and your sin atoned for.”
Christ has entered into heaven itself
to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Be Thou My Vision (Distribution Song)
Verse 1
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art:
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Verse 2
Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord:
Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son,
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Verse 3
Riches I heed not, or man’s empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
Verse 4
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Words by Mary E. Byrne & Eleanor H. Hull, Music: Traditional Irish Melody
©Public Domain
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper
Before the Throne of God Above
Verse 1
Before the throne of God above,
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands.
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in heav’n He stands,
No tongue can bid me thence depart,
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
Verse 2
When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me,
To look on Him and pardon me.
Verse 3
Behold Him there, the risen Lamb!
My perfect, spotless righteousness.
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of Glory and of Grace.
One with Himself, I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood.
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God,
With Christ, my Savior and my God.
Words and Music by Charitie Lees Bancroft and Vicki Cook
©1997 Sovereign Grace Worship
Nothing But the Blood
Verse 1
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus)
Chorus
Oh! Precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Verse 2
For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing, this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus)
Verse 3
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus)
Verse 4
This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus 2X’s)
Music and Words by Robert Lowry
©Public Domain
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.
You may give electronically at gabcames.org/giving/ or place your offering in the boxes at the back of the sanctuary or send a check in the mail.
Scripture Reading
Isaiah 33:1-24
1 Ah, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.
2 O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 At the tumultuous noise peoples flee; when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.
7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways lie waste; the traveler ceases.
Covenants are broken; cities are despised;
there is no regard for man.
9 The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10 “Now I will arise,” says the LORD,
“now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.
11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16 he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
17 Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
they will see a land that stretches afar.
18 Your heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
Where is he who counted the towers?”
19 You will see no more the insolent people,
the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the LORD in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
22 For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;
the LORD is our king; he will save us.
23 Your cords hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even the lame will take the prey.
24 And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
This is the word of the Lord.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Sermon
Isaiah 33:1-24 – The King In His Beauty – Pastor Michael Felkins
Sermon Discipleship Questions
1. What encouraged you?
2. What convicted you?
3. Is there anything in your life that needs to change?
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
In Christ Alone
Verse 1
In Christ alone, my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
Verse 2
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For every sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.
Verse 3
There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
Verse 4
No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.
Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
©2001 Thankyou Music
Blessing
Based on Isaiah 35:10
O, ransomed people of Jesus,
go out into the world with singing!
May everlasting joy be upon your head
and all sorrow flee away!
We shall! For our Lord Jesus reigns!
Scripture passage for next Sunday: Isaiah 34 & 35