Preparing for Worship: Second Sunday of Christmas - January 1
God Calls Us to Worship Him
Call to Worship:
Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together. (Isaiah 40:3, 5)
Hymn of Adoration: "Joy to the World"
Joy to the world the Lord is come Let earth receive her King Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing And heaven and nature sing And heaven and heaven and nature sing Joy to the world the Savior reigns Let all their songs employ While fields and floods rocks hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy Repeat the sounding joy Repeat repeat the sounding joy Chorus Joy unspeakable joy An overflowing well No tongue can tell Joy unspeakable joy It rises in my soul Never lets me go He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love And wonders of His love And wonders wonders of His love
God Graciously Renews Us in Christ
Confession of Sin
Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. (Numbers 11:1-2)
Forgiveness of Sin through Christ
“Our souls do magnify the Lord,
and our spirits have rejoiced in God our Savior.
For he has regarded our lowliness;
for he that is mighty has magnified us and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations.”
Hymn of Assurance: “Break Forth, O Beautious Heavenly Light”
Break forth O beauteous heavenly light And usher in the morning O shepherds shudder not with fright But hear the angel's warning This child now weak in infancy Our confidence and joy shall be The power of Satan breaking Our peace eternal making Break forth O beauteous heavenly light To herald our salvation He stoops to earth the God of might Our hope and expectation He comes in human flesh to dwell Our God with us Immanuel The night of darkness ending Our fallen race befriending
Thanking God for What He Has Done
“Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has [including money] cannot be my disciple.”
(Luke 14:33)
Giving Our Tithes and Offerings
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)
Hymn of Affirmation: “What Child Is This?”
What Child is this who laid to rest
On Mary's lap is sleeping
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping
This this is Christ the King
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing
Haste haste to bring Him laud
The Babe the Son of Mary
Why lies He in such mean estate
Where ox and ass are feeding
Good Christian fear for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading
Nails spear shall pierce Him through
The cross be borne for me for you
Hail hail the Word made flesh
The Babe the Son of Mary
So bring Him incense gold and myrrh Come peasant king to own Him The King of kings salvation brings Let loving hearts enthrone Him Raise raise the song on high The Virgin sings her lullaby Joy joy for Christ is born The Babe the Son of Mary
God Instructs Us Through His Word
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 13:11-26 (HCSB)
Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel. His son came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. His sons also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king. Then their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” His sons had seen the way taken by the man of God who had come from Judah. Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he got on it. He followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”
“I am,” he said.
Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”
But he answered, “I cannot go back with you, eat bread, or drink water with you in this place, for a message came to me by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or go back by the way you came.’ ”
He said to him, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ”
The old prophet deceived him, and the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water. While they were sitting at the table, the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back, and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you rebelled against the command of the Lord and did not keep the command that the Lord your God commanded you— but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place that He said to you, “Do not eat bread and do not drink water”— your corpse will never reach the grave of your fathers.’ ”
So after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back. When he left, a lion attacked him along the way and killed him. His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too. There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived. When the prophet who had brought him back from his way heard about it, he said, “He is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the Lord. The Lord has given him to the lion, and it has mauled and killed him, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke to him.”
God Feeds and Nourishes Us through His Supper
Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. (Romans 12:4-5)
Don’t you know that your bodies are a part of Christ’s body? So should I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of a prostitute? Absolutely not! Don’t you know that anyone joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For Scripture says, The two will become one flesh. But anyone joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:15-17)
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for all of us share that one bread.
(1 Corinthians 10:17)
For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. So the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” in spite of this it still belongs to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? Now there are many parts, yet one body. So the eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” But even more, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary. And those parts of the body that we think to be less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have a better presentation. But our presentable parts have no need of clothing. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
God Blesses and Sends Us Out
“May the Lord establish you as a holy people to Himself,
May He hover over you as an eagle over its young,
who spreads its wings and catches them and carries them on its pinions.
To the end that you who have put your hope in Christ Jesus would be to the praise of His glory.” (Deuteronomy 32:11; Ephesians 1:12)
