December 10, 2017

We’re in the second week of Your Kingdom Come: Gospel Promises from Isaiah, our series for Advent. Read more about the season of Advent here! Here’s how you can prepare for this week:

1. Read through our text, Isaiah 35:1–10.

We often speak of “longing” during the Season of Advent—we look at the way things are and honestly say, “This is not the way this is supposed to be,” while we look at our King, Jesus, and say, “Come again, Lord, and make these things the way they are supposed to be!” Our text this week, not unlike Isaiah 11:6–9 last week, answers the question, “How are things supposed to be?” It’s a dream—wide-awake and truth-informed—of the Kingdom come.

2. Read, pray and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: The Lord’s Prayer, from Matthew 6:9–13

O Come, O Come Emmanuel (John Neale, Henry Coffin, arr. Chichi Agorom, The Christian Year)
Rejoice The Lord Is King (Joel Limpic, Charles Wesley)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From Scotty Smith’s Every Season Prayers

Almighty and most merciful Father,
we begin the season of Advent with the brokenness of the world in our eyes,
the cries of our neighbors in our ears,
and the reality of our sin in our hearts.
Thus, we look to Jesus—the author and perfecter of our faith;
sacrifice and priest of our salvation;
Lord and restorer of all things.
By Your grace, and for Your glory, forgive our sins and renew our hearts.
Help us to move through a worldly holiday of excess
unto a worshipful Advent and Christmas.
Help us to love as You love us, forgive as we’ve been forgiven,
and freely give as we have freely received.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.

Wash Me Clean (David Wilton)

His Mercy Is More (Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Isaiah 25:6–9

THE APOSTLES’ CREED:

I believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate;
was crucified, dead and buried;
He descended into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
I believe in the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sins;
The resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting.
Amen.

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Advent Song (Charlie Hall, Joel Limpic)
We Will Feast In The House Of Zion (Sandra McCracken)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

Advent Prayer Guide, Week One

As a part of our engaging in the season of Advent, we are inviting everyone at Park Church to join us in prayer on Wednesdays (Dec. 6, 13, 20) during the lunch hour in our sanctuary to pray. If you can’t join us physically, we hope you can join in personally or even get together with others and pray through the prayer guide offered below! Throughout these prayer times we will be focusing on particular phrases and petitions within the Lord’s Prayer.

What is the Lord’s Prayer and why are we praying it?

One of the main markers of Jesus’ life was not merely His powerful ministry, but also the intentional space Jesus made to get alone and pray to the Father. One might even say that prayer and dependence on His Father was the precise reason His ministry was so effective! He knew that apart from doing what His Father was doing, He could do nothing. From the beginning of His public ministry to the end of it, prayer was a centerpiece in the life of Jesus. When asked by His disciples how to pray, He taught them what is now known as “The Lord’s Prayer” and is found in Matthew 6:9-13:

Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

This prayer is short (only 52 words in the ESV!), and yet it is rich in depth… It begins with an address and then gives us 7 petitions. We’ll be focusing in and praying through the address and the first petition today.

The Address

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” -A.W. Tozer

Close your eyes for moment. Picture yourself walking into the throne room of God in order to speak with Him. As you come closer to His throne, what immediately comes to your mind? What does God’s face look like? Does he have a scowl or a grin? Is He busy and bothered, or caring and loving? Do you have part of His attention or the whole of it? For Jesus’ disciples to have a healthy prayer life, He knew they’d have to think rightly about God, so He intentionally starts with this address.

Jesus teaches us that we must see God rightly when we come to Him! Jesus calls Him Abba Father. First and foremost, God is our Father. We don’t come to God as distant servants, but as cherished sons and daughters who through the work and blood of Jesus have been adopted into God’s very own family. Not only is God our Father, but He is our Father in heaven. Our Father isn’t some weak powerless dad who can’t stand up for us, but rather is the King of the universe with unlimited power at His disposal. There is nothing impossible for Him, and there is no request too great!

Let’s begin by worshipping our Father in heaven! Let’s start by praising Him in prayer… Think about God’s attributes and actions toward you, particularly as a Father. Meditate on those things, express gratitude for each one! Let’s take also take a moment to pray that Park would be a church that prays regularly because they know of their identity as children of God! Pray that God wouldn’t be a theoretically good Father to those at Park, but rather a Father whom they know intimately and walk with through His Spirit.

Song Ideas For This Prayer Section: Good Good Father, In Tenderness, Before The Throne

Petition #1: Hallowed be Your name

The first petition Jesus teaches us to ask our heavenly Father for is that His name would be “hallowed.” God reveals Himself throughout Scripture as the God who is thrice holy. If God is already holy, why would we need to pray that God’s name would be hallowed? Jesus wants the name of God to be the most important name in His disciples’ lives! What’s in a name? In Bible times, names got at the heart of who someone was. A name was tied to a person; to an identity and an essence. To pray for God’s name to be “hallowed” means to pray that His name would be set apart in our lives from every other name. That His name would be uncontested in our hearts! That we would honor God’s name, revere it, and ultimately treasure His name above any other name, even our very own names!

Take a moment to think about your own life. What are you treasuring most? What things are you honoring and seeking? In all of those pursuits, where does the pursuit of God lie? Is He chief among all pursuits or one among many? Or is He not even on your radar? Let’s take time to pray that God’s name would be:

  • Treasured in our lives first and foremost.
  • Esteemed by our friends and families.
  • Known and loved by our co-workers, neighbors, and those who don’t yet know Him!
  • Lifted up in Denver above all names! That Jesus would be the name that resounds the loudest throughout the city.

Song Ideas For This Prayer Section: Be Thou My Vision, Set A Fire, Forever Reign, Be Lifted Up (Josh Baldwin)

Resources

in Blog • Joel Limpic

December 3, 2017

This is the first week of Advent, the season that includes the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Advent is a season of waiting and longing, designed to help us cultivate awareness of God’s actions—past, present, and future. While we hear the Messianic prophecies of old and reflect that we have seen them fulfilled in Christ’s first coming, we also hear the prophecies of His second coming and cry out from our hearts for His return! Our series for Advent is called Your Kingdom Come: Gospel Promises from Isaiah. Here’s how you can prepare for week one:

1. Read through our text, Isaiah 11:1–11.

The season of Advent can help Christians to cultivate stale desires and reorient misguided desires. Through promises made in Isaiah—kept through Christ—we want our hearts stirred to long for Jesus above all other things.

2. Read, pray and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: From Matthew 6:9–13

O Come, O Come Emmanuel (John Neale, Henry Coffin, arr. Chichi Agorom, The Christian Year)
Come Thou Fount (Robert Robinson, John Wyeth)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From Scotty Smith’s Every Season Prayers

Dear heavenly Father, as we begin the season of Advent,
we rejoice in the gift of Your Son, Jesus—
Immanuel, God with us and God for us.
Even as we trust in His finished work,
we long for the fullness of Jesus’ kingdom.
Until that day, grant us power to grow in the love of Christ.
For we are weak and foolishly prone
to look to people, places, and things to fill us up.
Grant us grace to mature in the likeness of Jesus.
For we are broken, and we cannot change our hearts,
left to our own resources.
Grant us joy in living to the praise of Your glory.
For we are deceived, and we spend too much energy
living for comfort and the approval of people.
Have mercy on us, O Lord; have mercy on me.
In Jesus’ loving and trustworthy name we pray.
Amen.

Lord I Need You (Carson, Maher, Nockels, Reeves, Stanfill)

Oh Praise The Name (Anástasis) (Benjamin Hastings, Marty Sampson, Dean Ussher)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 1 Corinthians 1:4–9

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (Charles Wesley)
Build My Life (Younker, Martin, Kable, Redman, Barrett)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday