The text this week is 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 where the people of Judah are given permission to return from Babylon. This is really a return not only to the land, but the Lord and to the law. Our worship theme will be “The Joy of the Lord is your Strength,” which is from Nehemiah 8, where the sermon will end. Our visual theme will be Thomas Kinkade houses. because to return from exile is to go home to the Lord.
Here is the link to the YouTube playlist: 161120 Heart Prep
Prelude:
By the Rivers of Babylon – Lamb
Psalm 137:1-6 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2On the willows there we hung up our lyres. 3For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? 5If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! 6Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee – Hymn #1
Nehemiah 8:8-10 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. 9And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. 10Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
1 Peter 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Break Forth in Joy (lyrics in comments)
Offertory:
Rejoice – Dustin Kensrue
Benedictions:
Joy of the Lord – Twila Paris
For Today – David Jackson
