Worship Next Sunday
September
16, 2012
Preaching:
Pastor Stephen Magee
Sermon
text: Acts 15:19-29
Sermon
title: The
Word, the Holy Spirit, the Councils of the Church, and Love
Music:
Opening
hymn 12 Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim
Preparation
hymn 38 Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
Response
hymn 128 God Moves in a Mysterious Way
Closing
hymn 353 I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord
Confession
of Faith: Heidelberg Catechism
Old
Testament Passage: Leviticus
19:17-18
Preparation
Guide
Sunday:
Review morning sermon
(evening service @ 5pm)
Monday:
Acts 15:19-29
Tuesday:
2 Kings 25:1-12
Wednesday:
2 Kings 25:13-30
Thursday:
Leviticus 19:17-18
Friday:
Exodus 20:17
Saturday:
Acts
15
Suggested Bible Study and Prayers
(Passages
that we will refer to in next Sunday's worship)
2
Kings 25
Father, we love
You and cling to You. We have no one left but You. Our pride and
our joy have been taken away. Yet through it all, You are God. We
will trust You. You have the words of life. The cross is still the
only atoning sacrifice for sin. The resurrection is still our only
hope. Our words flee from us. What can we say in the depths of our
grief? Where is Your glory, O God? Will we provoke You to wrath
even now? How can there be more wrath when our sins have been atoned
for? Surely our hope in Christ is still secure, and we will eat at
Your table in glory forever.
Leviticus 19
Father
God, we must be holy, for You are holy. Help us to turn away from
all idolatry, and to love and serve You as a matter of first
importance. Grant to us such an overflowing love for You that we
will love our neighbors with generous hearts. Help us to love the
weak and even our adversaries. Guard our hearts and our tongues. We
should be honest in our communications and kind to others. Grant
that we would be pure in all of our dealings with others. Help us to
look to Christ moment by moment for the strength that we need to live
disciplined and godly lives. Protect our families from a world full
of depravity. We will turn away from all false religion and
oppression. We will also pursue justice and truth in all our
commerce with one another. Forgive our many sins through the mercy
and love of Christ.
Acts 15
Great
God, there was much dissension in the early church, and there are
important disagreements in the church today. Help us to distinguish
between those matters where love must cover a multitude of sins, and
those matters that must be more fully discussed for Your good
purposes. Give us the courage and discipline to call together
eminent and godly servants of the truth in order to gain greater
clarity by Your Word and Spirit. Make their deliberations a
productive and worthwhile use of Your resources. Thank You for the
wonderful truth that was displayed so powerfully in Your church in
days of old when the age changed from the time of the Law to the new
day of the gospel. Thank you for the way of life by grace through
the faith that remained the same in both ages. Yet thank You once
again for the clarity that the ceremonies of the Law have been
fulfilled in Christ. It is now clear that we do not need to be
Jewish before we can be Christians. The way of life for us in not
through circumcision, Passover, and the regulations of clean and
unclean. Nonetheless, we thank You for the record of these matters
in the Law, for they show us the wonders of Christ. He has become
our circumcision through His death on the cross. Through Him alone
we have been rescued from sure destruction, for He is our Passover.
By His blood sprinkled upon our hearts we have been cleansed by the
Holy Spirit from the guilt and stain of sin.
