The text this week is Joel 1:13-20 where we are reminded that in difficult circumstances the reflexive response of a believer is to cry out to God. The worship theme is “We Cry Out,” and the visual theme is bleak landscapes – because thing are still pretty bleak in Joel, and sometimes they feel that way to us as well.
Here is the link to the YouTube Playlist: 200906 Heart Prep
Psalm 107:10-22 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, 11for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. 13Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. 15Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 16For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.
17Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; 18they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. 19Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! 22And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah (no video available)
Grant Me Grace – David Jackson (no YouTube version available)
Preparation for Communion:
We Cry Out- Christopher Williams
Closing Worship:
O Come to The Altar
Scripture for Meditation
Jeremiah 4:7-8 A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant. 8For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.”
Zechariah 12:9-10 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 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 11:10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
