Home Worship Guide

Thank you so much for joining us! The following page will take you through the order of worship for this Sunday.

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A few tips for parents:

• Plan for your time – read through the guide and prepare the room where you are gathering
• Make your time joyful – have fun!!!
• Remember, it’s primarily about a relationship, not a task to scratch off
• Have your kids participate in age and maturity appropriate ways – reading, singing, etc.
• You are welcome to print out this week's Children's Bulletin here.

“To rejoice is a command, yes, but there is all the difference in the world between rejoicing and being happy. You cannot make yourself happy, but you can make yourself rejoice, in the sense that you will always rejoice in the Lord. Happiness is something within ourselves, rejoicing is ‘in the Lord’.

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”

~Martin Lloyd-Jones, 20th Century preacher and author of a classic of pastoral care, Spiritual Depression

“Our self help culture is preoccupied with ‘self-talk’, with your inner-monologue. Does what you say cheer you up or tear you down? Are you consciously self-affirming or obsessively self-critical?...But [God’s Word] gets you out of the monologue business entirely. It gets you about the business of a living dialogue with the person whose opinion finally matters.”

~David Powlison, Pastoral theologian and author with CCEF (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation)

“Causeless depression cannot be reasoned with, nor can David’s harp charm it away by sweet discoursings. As well fight with the mist as with this shapeless, undefinable, yet all-beclouding hopelessness.

I note that some whom I greatly love and esteem, who are, in my judgment, among the very choicest of God’s people, nevertheless, travel most of the way to heaven by night.

No sin is necessarily connected with sorrow of heart, for Jesus Christ our Lord once said, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.’ There was no sin in Him, and consequently none in His deep depression.”

~Charles H. Spurgeon, 19th Century English preacher and longterm struggler with depression

[Notes from a senior demon to an apprentice tempter in the novel, The Screwtape Letters] “Do not be deceived...Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

“Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about him. The conclusion I dread is not ‘So there’s no God after all,’ but ‘So this is what God’s really like. Deceive yourself no longer.’”

~C. S. Lewis, 20th century Oxford professor and author (his works include Narnia and Mere Christianity)

Psalm 40:1-3 (NASB)

LEADER: I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.

PEOPLE: He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.

LEADER: He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;

ALL: Many will see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.

A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD
(Martin Luther, 1529)

A mighty fortress is our God
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus it is He,
Lord Sabaoth, His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim–
We tremble not at Him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo His doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
^{PUBLIC DOMAIN}

PSALM MEDITATION – Psalm 40:4-17 (ESV)
 
LEADER: Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

PEOPLE: You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

LEADER: In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

PEOPLE: Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

LEADER: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

PEOPLE: I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.
 
LEADER: I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

PEOPLE: As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

LEADER: For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.
 
PEOPLE: Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!

LEADER: Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!

PEOPLE: Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

LEADER: But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

PEOPLE: As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

HOUSE OF GOD FOREVER
(Jon Foreman)

God is my shepherd,
I won’t be wanting,
I won’t be wanting.
He makes me rest in fields of green,
With quiet streams.
Even though I walk through the valley
Of death and dying,
I will not fear ‘cause You are with me,
You are with me.

CHORUS:
Your shepherd’s staff, comforts me,
You are my feast in the presence of enemies,
Surely goodness will follow me
Follow me
In the house of God forever.

God is my shepherd,
I won’t be wanting,
I won’t be wanting.
He makes me rest in fields of green,
By quiet streams.
Even while I’m walking through the valley
Of death and dying,
I will not fear ‘cause You are with me,
You're always with me.
(CHORUS)
^{©2008 Rubadub Rublishing Publishing CCLI #1791178}

“The Paradox of Faithful Depression”
Psalm 88
preached by Alasdair Groves
We hope to have an audio recording of the sermon available by 11:30 am.

Scripture Passage:  Psalm 88 (NIV)

¹  Lord, you are the God who saves me;
   day and night I cry out to you.
²  May my prayer come before you;
    turn your ear to my cry.
³  I am overwhelmed with troubles
    and my life draws near to death.
⁴  I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am like one without strength.
⁵  I am set apart with the dead,
    like the slain who lie in the grave,
    whom you remember no more,
    who are cut off from your care.
⁶  You have put me in the lowest pit,
    in the darkest depths.
⁷  Your wrath lies heavily on me;
    you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
⁸  You have taken from me my closest friends
    and have made me repulsive to them.
    I am confined and cannot escape;
⁹  my eyes are dim with grief.
    I call to you, Lord, every day;
    I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰ Do you show your wonders to the dead?
    Do their spirits rise up and praise you?
¹¹ Is your love declared in the grave,
    your faithfulness in Destruction?
¹² Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
    or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
¹³ But I cry to you for help, Lord;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, Lord, do you reject me
    and hide your face from me?
¹⁵ From my youth I have suffered and been close to death;
    I have borne your terrors and am in despair.
¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me;
    your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷ All day long they surround me like a flood;
    they have completely engulfed me.
¹⁸ You have taken from me friend and neighbor—
    darkness is my closest friend.

Heidelberg Catechism (1563) Lord’s Day 1

LEADER: What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

CONGREGATION: That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

COME BEHOLD THE WONDROUS MYSTERY
(Matt Boswell, Matt Papa, and Michael Bleecker)

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry
In the dawning of the King.
He the theme of heaven’s praises,
Robed in frail humanity.
In our longing in our darkness,
Now the light of life has come.
Look to Christ who condescended,
Took on flesh to ransom us.

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry,
He the perfect Son of Man.
In His living in His suff’ring,
Never trace nor stain of sin.
See the true and better Adam,
Come to save the hell-bound man.
Christ the great and sure fulfillment
Of the law in Him we stand.

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry,
Christ the Lord upon the tree.
In the stead of ruined sinners,
Hangs the Lamb in victory.
See the price of our redemption,
See the Father’s plan unfold.
Bringing many sons to glory,
Grace unmeasured love untold.

Come behold the wondrous myst’ry,
Slain by death the God of life.
But no grave could e’er restrain Him,
Praise the Lord; He is alive!
What a foretaste of deliv’rance,
How unwavering our hope.
Christ in power resurrected,
As we will be when He comes.
^{©2012 Bleeker Publishing (Admin. by Michael Bleeker) CCLI #1791178}

(The leader or individual should read this aloud relishing in the confident assertion that Christ has conquered.)

Luke 12:29-32

LEADER: Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

PEOPLE: Amen!