Guide for Home Worship
March 22, 2020

The following page will take you through the order of worship for this Sunday. To access the recorded songs and sermon, use the embedded audio players in each section.

Time of Reflection

“If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer, lay theologian and Christian apologist

“Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”

“The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it’s going to be a lot better and a lot bigger.”

~ Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), Christian missionary,  author and speaker

“Hope for the Christian isn’t just confidence in a certain, glorious future. It’s hope in a present providence. It’s hope that God’s plans can’t be thwarted by local authorities or irate mobs, by unfriendly bosses or unbelieving husbands, by Supreme Court rulings or the next election. The Christian hope is that God’s purposes are so unassailable that a great thunderstorm of events can’t drive them off course. Even when we’re wave-tossed and lost at sea, Jesus remains the captain of the ship and the commander of the storm.”

~ Elliot Clark, contemporary author specializing in cross-cultural church planting

“Money and machines anesthetize neediness. They put us in charge, in control.  As long as the money holds out and the machines are in good repair, we don’t need to pray.”

~ Eugene H. Peterson (1932-present), American clergyman and author

“…it is faith and hope in the midst of suffering, not miraculous deliverance from it, that display most clearly the all-sufficiency of God to a despairing world.”

~ Scott Hafemann (1954-present), American professor of the New Testament

“My barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon.”

~ Mizuta Masahide (1657-1723), Japanese poet and samurai

Opening Prayer

Call to Worship

from 1 Timothy 1:15-17 (NIV)

LEADER: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:

CONGREGATION: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

LEADER: But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

CONGREGATION: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Songs

(sing as a group or sing along to recorded versions)

MY HOPE IS BUILT
(Edward Mote & William B. Bradbury, 1863)

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

REFRAIN:
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil. (REFRAIN)

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay. (REFRAIN)

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne. (REFRAIN)
^{PUBLIC DOMAIN}

IN CHRIST ALONE
(Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My comforter, my all in all,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground his body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as he stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His, and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from his hand,
Till he returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
^{©2001 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) CCLI#1791178}

Sharing

(as a lead in to the Prayer Time, as a group share how you are feeling and what you learning; below are suggested questions)

• What are you learning about life/God lately?
• What do you want to pray for this week?
• What fears are you experiencing with this pandemic?

Prayer Time

(have an open time of prayer or appoint one or two to pray)

• Confession of sins
• Praise and thanksgiving to God
• Petitions

Listen to Sermon

“Earnestly Engaging God in Distress”
preached by Doug Cooper
Download

Habakkuk 2:20-3:16 (NASB)

Habakkuk 2

²⁰ “But the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before Him.” 

Habakkuk 3

¹ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

²  Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
³  God comes from Teman,
And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah.
His splendor covers the heavens,
And the earth is full of His praise.
⁴  His radiance is like the sunlight;
He has rays flashing from His hand,
And there is the hiding of His power.
⁵  Before Him goes pestilence,
And plague comes after Him.
⁶  He stood and surveyed the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered,
The ancient hills collapsed.
His ways are everlasting.
⁷  I saw the tents of Cushan under distress,
The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.
⁸  Did the Lord rage against the rivers,
Or was Your anger against the rivers,
Or was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
On Your chariots of salvation?

⁹  Your bow was made bare,
The rods of chastisement were sworn. Selah.
You cleaved the earth with rivers.
¹⁰ The mountains saw You and quaked;
The downpour of waters swept by.
The deep uttered forth its voice,
It lifted high its hands.
¹¹ Sun and moon stood in their places;
They went away at the light of Your arrows,
At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.
¹² In indignation You marched through the earth;
In anger You trampled the nations.
¹³ You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For the salvation of Your anointed.
You struck the head of the house of the evil
To lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah.
¹⁴ You pierced with his own spears
The head of his throngs.
They stormed in to scatter us;
Their exultation was like those
Who devour the oppressed in secret.
¹⁵ You trampled on the sea with Your horses,
On the surge of many waters.

¹⁶ I heard and my inward parts trembled,
At the sound my lips quivered.
Decay enters my bones,
And in my place I tremble.
Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress,
For the people to arise who will invade us.

Sharing Time

(have everyone share one thing that struck them from the sermon)

Songs

(sing as a group or sing along to recorded versions)

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS
(Thomas O. Chisholm & William M. Runyan, 1923)

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be.

REFRAIN:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Summer and winter, springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
(REFRAIN)

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
(REFRAIN)
^{©1951 Hope Publishing Company CCLI#1791178}

Closing prayer