Veritas Gathered: Preparing for Sunday – December 8th, 2013

Derek Nicol

SERMON

This weeks sermon will come from the book of Isaiah. We are taking a brief break from our Romans series to look at Isaiah 9:1-7 as we enter into our Advent season.  We will also get a chance to hear from Gary Aston who is the pastor of our partner church in Leeds, England.  As if that weren’t enough we are also celebrating baptisms! This will be a jam packed sunday that you do not want to miss!

LITURGY

C: Merciful God, we confess that in our longing, we have worshipped the idols of this world instead of worshipping You, the true God. We realize the sin in our own hearts and the destruction that it brings to the world around us. We ask for your forgiveness and mercy and ask that, in your grace, you would restore our broken hearts and lives. We celebrate as we remember the Birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior. We rejoice because He alone has provided relief to the longing in our hearts by freeing us from sin. Praise be to God!

This is our confession reading this week. As we move into the season of Advent it is extremely important that we understand that this is a season of waiting.  As sinful people we have distracted ourselves by worshiping idols rather then Jesus and rather than trusting in God’s promise. We know that Jesus came once and it has been promised that he will return. Lets spend time considering the things in our lives that we long for more than Christ and his return, prepared to come before our father with repentant hearts as one gathered people.

 

MUSIC

Check out this list of some of the songs we will be singing together this week:

  • “Your Love Shines” – a new song that beautifully portrays the essence of the Gospel as well as praises God for his trinitarian nature.
  • “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” – a Christmas classic that speaks of a longing attitude for Christ to be with us in flesh.
  • “Joy To The World” – Another classic proclaiming our need for Christ as our savior!

Here is a link to a Spotify playlist.

Even though our arrangements might be slightly different, listen through these songs and see the great truths that they speak about our God and then come prepared to sing them out loudly and joyfully as a gathered church.

See you Sunday!