May 19, 2019
It’s our 16th week in the book of Exodus, a book about God’s mission to redeem a people for His Kingdom in the world.
This is also the fifth week of Eastertide, the 50 days after Easter where we celebrate Jesus’ victory over the grave and explore its implications for the redemption of all things. You can learn more and find some resources for Eastertide worship and prayer over at The Christian Year, our artistic accompaniment to the church calendar.
Here’s how you can prepare for Sunday:
1. Read through our text, Exodus 16:1–17:7.
Several weeks after the miraculous gift of water at Marah, the people resume their faithless grumbling, this time about food. They go as far as to say that it would have been better if they died by the hand of the Lord along with the Egyptians in Egypt than to be killed by hunger in the wilderness.
The Lord again responds to their distrust with miraculous provision, sending quail for meat in the evening, and “bread from heaven” (which they called “manna”) in the morning. He instructs them to gather the food in a way that will teach them about rhythms of work and rest and the nature of His daily provision. This manna would be their daily bread throughout their 40 years in the wilderness. Next they came to a place called Massah and Meribah, where yet again the people begin to fight and complain about a lack of water. Moses, exacerbated by their perpetual distrust and contentious attitude, turned to the Lord to ask Him what he should do. The Lord told Him that He Himself would stand before him and the elders on the rock at Horeb, and that Moses should strike the rock with His staff, and water will flow out of it for the people to drink. Moses trusted the Lord and the Lord provided water for His people.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: John 6:27, 32–35, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):
To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners,
the Conqueror of the grave, the resurrection and the life.
Welcome!
Come Thou Fount (Above All Else) (Shane Barnard, Robert Robinson, John Wyeth)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From Every Season Prayers by Scotty Smith:
Dear heavenly Father, for calling us to life in Christ,
sealing us with Your Spirit, and making us Your beloved children,
we love and adore You.
Because the Gospel is true, our standing in grace is irreversible;
the riches of our inheritance are incomparable;
the glories of our future are inconceivable.
In gratitude and humility, we confess our sins to You.
We grieve the many expressions of our self-centeredness.
Forgive us for the ease with which we complain and grumble.
Forgive us for overspending on ourselves and under-sharing with others.
Forgive us for being generous with criticism and miserly with forgiveness.
Forgive us for crying “victim” more readily than we cry “Abba.”
Forgive us for preferring control over contrition.
Have mercy on us, Lord; have mercy on me.
In Jesus’ name, we make our prayer.
Amen.
Better (Pat Barrett, Ed Cash, Chris Tomlin)
We Will Feast In The House Of Zion (Sandra McCracken, Joshua Moore)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Isaiah 53:4–6
GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
Is He Worthy (Andrew Peterson, Ben Shive)
On Christ The Solid Rock (William Batchelder Bradbury and Edward Mote, arr. Austin Stone)