Worship: March 31st, 2019

On Sunday, March 31st, Pastor Nathan began a sermon series: Lamentations for Today – Honestly Facing Suffering and Sorrow in the Light of God’s Sovereignty and Steadfast Love. He reminded us that Christian hope for suffering is not based on wishful positive thinking but on the character and track record of God Almighty.

Preaching: Rev. Nathan Currey (Sermon Audio Page| Other Sermons)

Text: Lamentations 3:1-33

[1] I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; [2] he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; [3] surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. [4] He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; [5] he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; [6] he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. [7] He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; [8] though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; [9] he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. [10] He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; [11] he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; [12] he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. [13] He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; [14] I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. [15] He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. [16] He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; [17] my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; [18] so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” [19] Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! [20] My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. [21] But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: [22] The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; [23] they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. [24] “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” [25] The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. [26] It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. [27] It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. [28] Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; [29] let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope; [30] let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. [31] For the Lord will not cast off forever, [32] but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; [33] for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.

Worship Hymns:

Hymn of Adoration: # 5 God, My King, Thy Might Confessing
Hymn or Spiritual Songs: # 521 My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
Hymn of Response: # 32 Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Dismissal Hymn: # 716 Sing to the Lord of the Harvest (4)

Additional Readings: The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

Full Liturgy for March 31st, 2019 (PDF)

Sermons from Lamentations for Today
(click on the link for the sermon page with audio) 

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