Lifespring Church—Sunday, December 1, 2019
The Gospel according to John: Hear, Believe and Live
John 11:45-57 The Gospel According to Caiphas (ESV 1067)
Announcements:
Call to Worship: 1st Sunday of Advent:Advent means coming. We are preparing for the full coming of God’s Kingdom. We light this candle to point to the coming light of Christ.
Isaiah 2:4-5 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Adoration
- O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (p 218)
- Sing We Now of Christmas (p 229)
Scripture Reading: Psalm 2 (ESV 528)
- I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day (p 249)
New City Catechism and Fighter Verse:
Week 48: What is the church? God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eteranl life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ’ kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another.
Scripture Memory: Proverbs 4:26-27 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
Prayer: Praises and Requests:
Proclamation from God’s Word: John 11:45-57 The Gospel According to Caiphas (ESV 1067)
Communion:Question 83: Are the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ? Answer: No. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ’s blood and does not itself wash away sins but is simply God’s sign and assurance,so too the bread of the Lord’s Supper is not changed into the actual body of Christ, even though it is called the body of Christ, in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments.
Question 84: Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood? Answer: And Paul uses the words, a participation in Christ’s body and blood. Answer: Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that as bread and wine nourish our temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood truly nourish our souls for eternal life. But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit’s work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance, and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins.
*Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (p 215)
*Joy to the World! (p 224)
Thanksgiving (Tithes and offerings)
Communion Benediction: Doxology (p 440)