The texts for this week are Isaiah 11:1-10, Isaiah 53:1-10 and Psalm 16:7-11. These texts are prophecies of the incarnation, sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, made more than 700 years in advance of the events. Our worship will reflect the beginning of the Christmas season, in that Jesus was born to be a kings. Our visual theme will be growth from stumps. (“A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse”)
Here is the link to the YouTube playlist: 161204 Heart Prep
Prelude:
Let All Mortal Flesh
Worship Set:
How Many Kings – Downhere
I Wonder as I Wander – Hymn #139
What Child is This? – Hymn #137
Hark the Herald Angels Sing – Hymn #133
Offertory:
The Suffering Servant – Dustin Kensrue
Invitation to Communion:
He Who is Mighty – Sovereign Grace Music
Benediction:
We Three Kings – Hymn #166
Scripture for Meditation:
Isaiah 11:1-5 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
Isaiah 53:1-6 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Isaiah 53:8-10 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
Psalm 16:7-11 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. 8I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 11You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
