November 10, 2019
We’re in week 10 of Exodus at Park Church. The book of Exodus is about God’s mission to redeem a people for His Kingdom in the world. We’re in Part Two of this series. You can always go back and listen to sermons from Exodus Part One starting here!
Including this Sunday, there are only three weeks left of Exodus before the series ends and we move into Advent. But here’s how you can prepare for this Sunday:
1. Read through our text, Exodus 33:1–34:35.
After the devastating incident with the golden calf, the Lord tells Moses that He will not continue to dwell among the people of Israel due to their perpetual sin. This was a disastrous word for the people of Israel, and yet again Moses interceded for the people, and pleaded to God for mercy. The passage says that Moses prayed to God in the tent of meeting and the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” At this point in Moses’ life, he had become desperate for God’s continued presence. He begged the Lord to continue with them on their journey to the promised land, and the Lord graciously promised that He would do exactly what Moses had asked.
Encouraged by God’s willingness to grant his requests, Moses takes this desire to be with God to another level, praying, “Please show me Your glory.” Yet again, the Lord was willing to accommodate this request, at least in part. The Lord passed by Moses, allowing Moses to have a partial glimpse of His glory, and revealing His character as a God who is marked by unfathomable mercy, grace, patience, love, faithfulness, and forgiveness, and yet, mysteriously, is committed to absolute justice and righteous judgment. He immediately demonstrates this character to Israel by renewing His covenant with them, promising to bless them with His presence and to fulfill His purposes to spread the knowledge of His glory through them.
This section leaves the reader wondering how the mercy and grace of God can be reconciled with His holy justice. This mystery would ultimately be resolved through the arrival of One who was better than Moses, whose life would radiate God’s glory perfectly, and whose sacrificial death would bring a reconciliation of God’s love and justice.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Exodus 33:18–21, 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,
Welcome!
Our Great God (Fernando Ortega, Mac Powell)
I Will Exalt (Amanda Cook)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:
There are many times we think we love You well, O God.
But upon hearing Your call to love You with all our heart,
and all our mind, and all our strength,
we confess that our love for You is a diluted love,
made insipid and flat by lesser loyalties and a divided heart.
Our love seems pure only for brief moments;
soon our affections are drawn away.
How easily our devotion dies.
Forgive us;
in deep mercy spare us, despite our lost love for You;
in grace rekindle our love for You
in seeing anew Jesus’ love for us. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Galatians 4:4–7
No Longer Slaves (Joel Case, Jonathan David Hesler, Brian Johnson)
GREETING, SERMON, RESPONSE, BAPTISMS & COMMUNION
Here Is Love (William Edwards, Robert S. Lowry, William Rees arr. Matt Redman)
Be Thou My Vision (Mary Elizabeth Byrne, Eleanor Henrietta Hull, Reuben Kendall, arr. Ascend The Hill)