Home Worship Guide March 29, 2020

Since it is unwise for us to gather as a church at the moment, we’ve compiled a worship guide for you to use at home. Set aside time on Sunday morning to worship through the readings, songs, prayer, and sermon below. 

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I. SCRIPTURE READING

​Psalm 145:1-9 

A Song of Praise. Of David.

I will extol you, my God and King,
    and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
    and his greatness is unsearchable.

One generation shall commend your works to another,
    and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
    and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
    and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
    and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
    and his mercy is over all that he has made.

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II. WORSHIP IN SONG

“His Mercy Is More”

What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father so tender is calling us home?
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment His life was the cost
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more

Praise the Lord! His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, new every morn’
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more


“My Worth Is Not In What I Own”

My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love at the cross

My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed at the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest Treasure, Wellspring of my soul
I will trust in Him, no other! 
My soul is satisfied in Him alone.

As summer flow'rs we fade and die
Fame, youth and beauty hurry by
But life eternal calls to us at the cross

I will not boast in wealth or might
Or human wisdom's fleeting light
But I will boast in knowing Chris at the cross

Two wonders here that I confess
My worth and my unworthiness
My value fixed - my ransom paid, at the cross

​(Optional Kids Song): "New City Catechism, Q. 6: How Can We Glorify God?"

III. PRAYER

Read: Romans 3:10-13

“None is righteous, no, not one;
 no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”

Pray: Most holy and merciful Father,
     we confess to you and to one another,
     that we have sinned against you
     by what we have done
     and by what we have left undone
We have not loved you with our whole heart
     and mind and strength.
We have not fully loved our neighbors as ourselves. We
     have not always had in us the mind of Christ.
You alone know how often we have grieved you
     by wasting your gifts,
     and by wandering from your ways.
Forgive us, most merciful Father;
     and free us from our sin.

Read: Romans 3:21-25

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith."

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IV. KIDS' LESSON

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(Optional, after which parents can listen to full sermon)

Option #1: Jesus Storybook Bible
“Get ready! God’s people return from being slaves,” from Nehemiah 8-10, Malachi 1, 3 and 4, Ezra 7.

Option #2: NCC Review
Question 6. Q: How can we glorify God?
A: We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law.
Deuteronomy 11:1: You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.

Option #3: Video Lesson. Link on Webpage.

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V. SERMON

“Confident Hope from a Reliable Word,” John 7:53-8:11.

• Why the brackets? “Not in the earliest manuscripts”

• Murray Harris summarizes the evidence under three headings: 
  • No church father before the 12th century comments on this passage. 
  • It isn’t found in the early Greek manuscripts, but is found in most of the medieval manuscripts where it is sometimes added at 7:36, 7:44, or 21:25, and even Luke 21:38. 
  • The style & vocabulary are foreign to John.

• This is a blessing, not a curse:
  • An abundance of evidence gives us confidence that we have exactly what God intended us to have in the original writings of the old and new testaments. 
  • The Baptist Faith & Message 2000: “The Bible is “a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy."

​Psalm 19:7–11 (ESV): The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; 
  the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; 
 8  the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; 
  the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; 
 9  the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; 
  the rules of the Lord are true, & righteous altogether. 
 10  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; 
  sweeter also than honey & drippings of the honeycomb. 
 11  Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 

2 Timothy 3:14–17 (ESV): But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 

2 Peter 1:21 (ESV): For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 

• The effect of coming to this section of John right now is that it would: 
  • Increase our trust in the reliability of the Scriptures. 
  • And as that confidence increases so does our steadfast hope & joy.

Application Questions

• What are some passages of Scripture that the Lord is using to strengthen or sustain you right now? 
• If the Bible is profitable for teaching, instruction, reproof, and correction, how do we make the most of profiting from it? 
• How can you encourage other members of the body in the word from a distance this week? 
• Spend a few minutes meditating on 2 Timothy 3:14-17. What does it look like for you to “continue in what you have learned” as you profit from the word this week?

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VI. PRAYER OF RESPONSE 

“Preserve Me Through This Day"

(Robert Parker, from Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans, pg. 260)

Lord God, you know I need to call on you for my daily bread. But how much more reason I have to crave the graces of your Holy Spirit—for supplying my soul with heavenly food, and especially with saving faith.

When I am tossed about with the storms of doubts and fears, show me how to lay hold of your word and promises. Then all the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil will never prevail over me, since I know in whom I have believed. 

Increase the light of my faith, that it may daily cast forth more clear beams. Preserve that faith in the darkness of death, that It may guide me to eternal life. 

And rule and govern me by your Holy Spirit, that I may never lose faith in agreeing to do anything that is against the light of conscience. 

Confirm the good work you have begun in me, strengthen me inwardly, and preserve me blameless until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may inherit eternal life. Amen.

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Helpful resources (mentioned in sermon):

Article on Textual Variants
How We Got the Bible by Timothy Paul Jones