CHELTENHAM EVANGELICAL
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
A Congregation of
the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England & Wales
Session:
Tim Horn (Minister), Stephen Johnston, David Cross
Meet:
Holy Apostle’s Primary School, Battledown Approach
Mail:
338 London Road
Cheltenham GL52 6YJ
Telephone:
(01242) 587 740
Email:
[email protected]
Website:
www.cheltenhampres.org.uk
The Lord’s Day
The 29th of April 2007
On the Cover: Rembrandt, The Mennonite Minister Cornelis Claesz.
Anslo in Conversation with his Wife, Aaltje, 1641
IF YOU ARE VISITING WITH US TODAY...
We are delighted to have you worshiping with us! We hope that you feel
welcome wherever you are on your spiritual journey. Please take a
moment after the service to sign our guest book on the church
information table. Also, please join us for a time of fellowship after the
services where tea, coffee and biscuits will be served.
NOTICES
The Free Book Table is available to everyone. If you see a book that
interests you, please take it. Please write down the title of the book on
the sheet so we can keep a record. If you would like to make a donation
for the book, you can do so through the morning offering collection.
Outreach/Leaflet Drops - We plan over about the next 5 years to cover
all 50,000 homes in Cheltenham. A number of brethren are participating
dropping leaflets in various areas of town. Obviously the more helpers
the more we can cover - if you would like to assist either doing it on your
own or working with a team please let Stephen Johnston know.
Prayer Meeting will be meeting this Thursday evening at 7:30 pm at the
home of Stephen and Audrey Johnston (2 Maitlands, Brookthorpe).
University Fellowship will be Friday, the 4th of May, at 8:00 pm at the
home of Courtney Jordan and Davina Murray (129 Prestbury Road). We
will be having a pudding party (so bring your favourite pudding) followed
by a game of Capture the Flag near Pittville Park.
Lord’s Supper - We will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper on Sunday, the
6th of May in the morning service.
The Rev. Steve Marusich will be preaching in our morning service next
week. Steve and his wife Kelly (and 3 children) will be moving to
Cheltenham within the next year to take oversight of the church’s
university ministry.
FOR REFLECTION
God doesn't want you to come to him empty-handed.
No, you can't come to him full of yourself, and you can't come to him
based on your track record, and you can't use your performance as a
recommendation.
No, you can't come to him based on your family, your personality, your
education, your position in life, the successes you've had, the possessions
you've accumulated, or the human acceptance you've gained.
But God requires you to come with your hands full.
He requires you to bring to him the sweetest of sacrifices,
The sacrifice of words, He calls you to bring Hosea's offering.
"Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, your sins have been your
downfall!
Take words with you and return to the Lord.
Say to him; Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may
offer our lips as the sacrifice of bulls."
God doesn't want you to come to him empty-handed.
He asks of you a sacrifice.
Not a grain offering, not a lamb or a bull, No, that requirement had been
satisfied by the blood of the Lamb.
Yet God asks of you a sacrifice, it is the offering of words, words of
humility, words of honesty, words of moral courage, words of moral
candour, words that could only be spoken, by one who rests in grace.
Words of confession is what you must bring.
Place words, free of negotiation or excuse, on his altar of grace, and
receive forgiveness and cleansing.
Uncover your heart, exposed by words, and say:
"We will never again say, 'Our gods' To what our own hands have made,
For in you the fatherless find compassion."
What David willingly did he requires of you, Come with words, it is the
way of grace, it is the way of freedom, it is the way to God.
* Quotes are from Hosea 14:1-3.
- Paul Tripp, on Psalm 51: Something in My Hands I Bring
MORNING WORSHIP - 10:30
3
Prelude -Please use these moments to quietly prepare your heart for worship.
Welcome and Notices
Call to Worship
Revelation 5:9And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the
scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed
people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10and
you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on
the earth.”
“Praise Him, Praise Him!”
Frances Van Alstyne, 1869
1
Praise Him, praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer;
Sing, O earth, His wonderful love proclaim!
Hail Him, hail Him! highest archangels in glory,
Strength and honour give to His holy Name.
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long;
O ye saints that dwell in the mountains of Zion,
Praise Him, praise Him! ever in joyful song.
2
Praise Him, praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer;
For our sins He suffered and bled and died.
He, our rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him, hail Him! Jesus the crucified.
Loving Saviour, meekly enduring sorrow,
Crowned with thorns that cruelly pierced His brow;
Once for us rejected, despised, and forsaken,
Prince of glory, ever triumphant now.
Praise Him, praise Him! Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer;
Heavenly portals loud with hosannas ring!
Jesus, Saviour, reigneth for ever and ever,
Crown Him, crown Him! Prophet and Priest and King!
Death is vanquished, tell it with joy, ye faithful!
Where is now thy victory, boasting grave?
Jesus lives, no longer thy portals are cheerless;
Jesus lives, the mighty and strong to save.
Prayer Seeking God’s Presence and Blessing
“Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”
Thomas Kelly, 1804
1
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected; yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet, David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it: ’tis a true and faithful Word.
2
Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning, was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning, foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him, none would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that Justice gave.
3
Ye who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed! See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed, Son of Man, and Son of God.
4
Here we have a firm foundation, here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation, Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded who on Him their hope have built.
Prayer Confessing Our Sins to God
Lord Jesus Christ, though being in very nature God, when you came to redeem
us you humbled yourself and made yourself nothing. Though you were rich, for
our sakes you became poor, so that through your poverty we might become rich.
We confess how unlike you we are in our attitudes and actions. We strive for
recognition from others, and we sulk and become bitter if we do not get it. We
attend to our own needs and concerns, yet fail to care for others except when it
serves our purposes. Forgive us our sin and renew our hearts. Grant us to
realize that we only achieve greatness and gain our lives by giving them away.
Work in us by the power of your Spirit so that we become more like you and so
bring glory to our Father in heaven. Amen.
4
Prayer for Ourselves and Others
Bible Reading– Ephesians 5:21-33 (p.1177)
“O Love Divine, What Have You Done”
1
O Love divine, what have You done!
The immortal God has died for me!
The Father’s co-eternal Son
Bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th’immortal God for me has died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
2
3
Is crucified for me and you,
To bring us rebels back to God.
Believe, believe the record true,
Our lives are bought with Jesus’ blood.
Pardon for sin flows from His side:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
Look on Him, all you passing by;
The bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Saviour die,
And say, “Was ever grief like His?”
Come, feel with me His blood applied:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified! Charles Wesley, 1742
Then let us sit beneath His cross,
And gladly catch the healing stream:
For Him account all things but loss,
And give up all our hearts to Him:
Of nothing think or speak beside,
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
Presentation of Our Tithes and Offerings to God
Children’s Sunday School Begins
Prayer for Understanding
Sermon - Rev Tim Horn
“Jesus Christ and the Church, Husbands and Wives”
“Psalm 128”
1
How blessed are all who fear the LORD,
Who walk the way that he has shown.
Success and blessing will be yours;
You'll eat the fruit that you have grown.
2
Your wife will be a fruitful vine;
And round your table will be placed
Your children like young olive shoots.
Thus he who fears the LORD is blessed.
3
May you behold Jerus'lem's good;
From Zion may God's blessing flow.
Your children's children may you see.
May God on Isr'el peace bestow!
Benediction
Sing Psalms, 2003
EVENING WORSHIP - 6:30
5
Welcome & Notices
Call to Worship
Psalm 102:18Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet
to be created may praise the LORD: 19that he looked down from his holy
height; from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, 20to hear the groans of the
prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, 21that they may declare in
Zion the name of the LORD, and in Jerusalem his praise, 22when peoples
gather together, and kingdoms, to worship the LORD.
“Psalm 27”
Graham Stuart Harrison, b. 1935
Unless I had believed to see His goodness while below,
What else in this sad land of sin but faintness would I know?
Wait on the Lord, with courage wait, and thy weak heart shall find
The mighty strength of God within thy heart and soul and mind.
Prayer Seeking God’s Presence and Blessing
“God Moves in a Mysterious Way”
1
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
1
Whom shall I fear on earth below with such a God on high?
My light to guide, my strength to save – Thou, Lord, art ever nigh.
Let wicked men, my enemies, rise in malicious pride,
In this will I be confident: safe in my Lord I hide.
2
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
2
One thing desired I of the Lord, one thing alone I’ve sought:
That long as life shall last on earth I may to Thee be brought.
Within Thy house my days I’d spend, Thy beauty to behold,
Enquire of Thee, and sing that praise whose end can ne’er be told.
3
3
He’ll hide me in His secret place when trouble rages sore;
Upon the rock of steadfast love my feet are set secure.
He lifts my head in triumph high mine enemies above;
And so with joy my praise shall rise to God, the King of love.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
4
4
Hear, gracious Lord, this voice that cries; have mercy, is my plea:
Let not Thine anger hide Thy face far, far away from me.
Thou only hast my helper been; forsake me not, I sigh;
Lift up Thy lovely face, and shine its beauty from on high.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
5
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
William Cowper, 1774
6
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
“Whate'er My God Ordains Is Right”
Samuel Rodigast, 1676
1
Whate’er my God ordains is right: His holy will abideth;
I will be still whate’er He doth; and follow where He guideth;
He is my God; though dark my road,
He holds me that I shall not fall: wherefore to Him I leave it all.
Evening Prayer
2
Commit now all your griefs and ways into His hands
To His sure Truth and tender care, who earth and heaven commands.
Who points the clouds their course, whom winds and seas obey,
He shall direct your wandering feet, He shall prepare your way.
Whate’er my God ordains is right: He never will deceive me;
He leads me by the proper path: I know He will not leave me.
I take, content, what He hath sent;
His hand can turn my griefs away, and patiently I wait His day.
3
Give to the winds your fears; hope, and be undismayed;
God hears your sighs, and counts your tears, God shall lift up your
head.
Through waves and clouds and storms He gently clears your way;
Wait, then, His time, so shall this night soon end in joyous day.
Whate’er my God ordains is right: His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup that my Physician sends me.
My God is true; each morn anew
I’ll trust His grace unending, my life to Him commending.
4
Whate’er my God ordains is right: He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm, though many storms may
gather,
Now I may know both joy and woe,
Some day I shall see clearly that He hath loved me dearly.
5
Whate’er my God ordains is right: though now this cup, in
drinking,
May bitter seem to my faint heart, I take it, all unshrinking.
My God is true; each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart, and pain and sorrow shall
depart.
6
Whate’er my God ordains is right: here shall my stand be taken;
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, yet I am not forsaken.
My Father’s care is round me there;
He holds me that I shall not fall: and so to Him I leave it all.
“Commit Now All Your Griefs”
1
2
Paul Gerhardt, 1656
3
Still heavy is your heart? Still sink your spirits down?
Cast off the weight, let fear depart, and every care be gone.
He everywhere has sway, and all things serve His might;
His every act pure blessing is, His path unsullied light.
4
Far, far above your thought His counsel shall appear,
When fully he the work has wrought that caused your needless fear.
Leave to His sovereign will to choose and to command;
With wonder filled, you then shall own how wise, how strong His hand!
Bible Reading– Selections from Job 32-37 (p. 525)
Prayer for Understanding
Sermon - Rev Tim Horn
“ Elihu’s Contribution”
Benediction