Here is the worship guide for Sunday, December 4, 2022.
PDF version of the worship guide to download or print.
The livestream will begin at 10:30 a.m. on our Facebook page or YouTube page.
Welcome and Announcements
Opening Prayer
Hymn: “Rejoice, the Lord Is King”
Words: Charles Wesley. Music: John Darwal.
Rejoice, the Lord is King: Your Lord and King adore!
Rejoice, give thanks, and sing, and triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Jesus, the Savior, reigns, the God of truth and love;
when He had purged our stains, He took His seat above.
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
His kingdom cannot fail, He rules o’er earth and heav’n;
the keys of death and hell are to our Jesus giv’n.
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Rejoice in glorious hope! For Christ the Judge shall come
and take His servants up to their eternal home;
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Advent Reading and Candle Lighting
Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV)
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Hymn: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
Words: Latin Hymn, trans. J. M. Neale, H. S. Coffin.
Additional words by S. Cook, B. Kauflin.
Music: Plainsong (“Veni Emmanuel”)
O Come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.
O Come, Thou, Dayspring from on high and cause Thy light on us to rise;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death’s dark shadow put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O Come, O come, true prophet of the Lord,
and turn the key to heaven’s door;
be Thou our comforter and guide and lead us to the Father’s side.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall by His word our darkness dispel.
O come, our great High Priest, and intercede; Thy sacrifice, our only plea;
the judgment we no longer fear; Thy precious blood has brought us near.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has banished every fear of hell.
O come, Thou King of nations bring an end to all our suffering;
bid every pain and sorrow cease; and reign now as our Prince of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel,
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come again with us to dwell.
Sermon: “Judgment”
Jude 5–16 (ESV)
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
Hymn: “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”
Words and Music: Stuart Townend.
How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure,
that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss, the Father turns His face away
as wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory.
Behold the Man upon a cross, my sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished.
His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom.
The Lord’s Supper
Hymn: “There Is a Fountain”
Words by William Cowper, music: early American melody
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in His day;
and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away:
wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away;
and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.
E’er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die:
and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
When this poor, lisping, stamm’ring tongue lies silent in the grave,
then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Your pow’r to save:
I’ll sing Your pow’r to save, I’ll sing Your pow’r to save;
then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Your pow’r to save.
Benediction
1 Thessalonians 5:23–24, 28
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.