This Sunday is Easter Sunday, where we celebrate the victory of Christ over sin and death at His resurrection. It’s the hopes of the world realized in the completed work of Jesus. Here’s how you can prepare for our exuberant time together!
1. Read through our text, Matthew 28:1–10.
What do we do with the empty tomb? Though the response of the elders of the people was a conspiracy attempt to falsify the resurrection through a lie and a bribe, its historical reality is well-recorded and richly-realized in countless hearts as the Gospel fills the earth through God’s people. We see a clear choice emerge: excuse and reject Jesus’ resurrection or draw near to Him and worship!
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
GREETING, BAPTISMS, & PROCESSIONAL
Roll Away The Stone (Latifah Alattas, David Wilton)
Oh Happy Day (Philip Doddridge, Edwin Hawkins)
Jesus Paid It All (Elvina Hall, Kristen Stanfill)
CALL TO WORSHIP: Matthew 28:1–6, 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,
To all who hunger and thirst for righteousness;
And to whomever will come:
This church opens wide her doors
wand offers her welcome in the name of Jesus Christ
Doxology (Amen) (Bourgeois, Ken, Owens, Wickham)
Up From The Grave He Arose (Robert Lowry arr. The Christian Year)
CONFESSION OF SIN:
Jesus, You said, “I am the resurrection and life,” and yet we constantly live as if life could be found apart from You. The brokenness we find in ourselves and in the world around us reminds us that nothing could be further from the truth. Only You have the words of life. Only You can resurrect our dead hearts and lives. Please forgive our sin and waywardness that leads only to death, and guide us in the way everlasting. In Your powerful name, amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Ephesians 2:4–7
Is He Worthy? (Andrew Peterson, Ben Shive)
Living Hope (Brian Johnson, Phil Wickham)
SERMON
Man Of Sorrows (Matt Crocker, Brooke Ligertwood)
BENEDICTION
This Friday, April 19 is Good Friday, the day we remember Jesus’ death. But why do we call this day “good,” of all things? When we consider the implications of Jesus’ death for the redemption of mankind, no word may be quite as effective as “good.”
Our Good Friday services will be at 5:30pm and 7pm, including scripture reading, singing, and a short message. Darkness is an important theme of the service both visually and artistically, and the service will end with communion and departure in silence. Why should you come to such a somber service? Thomas Watson writes, “Til sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” We encourage you to use this service to ponder the implications of sin and the good work of Jesus before we gather together again on Sunday for Easter—the sweet and night-crushing contrast. But first, here’s how you can prepare for Good Friday:
Read, pray, and sing through the service:
READING ONE: Matthew 26:36–56
Nothing But The Blood (Robert Lowry arr. Page CXVI)
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us (Stuart Townend, Charlie Hall arr. Chichi Agorom, The Christian Year)
READING TWO: Matthew 26:57–75
Psalm 22 (Joel Limpic arr. The Christian Year)
Jesus Paid It All (Elvina Hall, Kristen Stanfill)
READING THREE: Matthew 27:1–31
Man Of Sorrows (Matt Crocker, Brooke Ligertwood)
In Christ Alone (Keith Getty, Stuart Townend)
READING FOUR: Matthew 27:32–66
HOMILY
COMMUNION
Person
Our artwork for Easter and Good Friday this year was done by Bruce Butler of Art /Rhetor. In addition to being a graphic designer and artist, Bruce co-leads a Gospel Community and often plays electric guitar at Park Church (and all around Denver). Most recently, Bruce has also joined the team at Sweet Bloom Coffee as a barista.
Piece
This piece aims to represent all that we celebrate on Easter. The white line coming in from the left represents Jesus entering into the sinful world in purity, as joined by the darker lines made from images signifying death. The left hand illustrates His work on Good Friday: the climax where all the consequences of our rebellion from God met in Jesus, were taken on by Him, and He died under the wrath of God and at the hands of sinful men.
Between the two hands, the darkness and hopelessness of the 3 days Jesus lay in the tomb is illustrated. For his followers, and I imagine for Satan himself, this time must have been a space where sin and death seemed like it had won. Though Jesus had foreshadowed His resurrection (John 2:19, etc.), the visceral reaction of seeing a close friend and leader you believed to be God incarnate viciously beaten and slain must have put the disciples in a state of deep pain and shock.
However, as we know, Jesus rose from the grave on the third day, claiming victory over sin and death. Sin and death’s reign over humanity came to a conclusion at the work of Jesus’ still-pierced hands (John 20:27). Now the life of Jesus, experienced by those who physically met him hundreds of years ago, is a light still continuously shown and refracted, able to be experienced by all who put their faith in Him through the Holy Spirit. This is illustrated by the right hand, where on the other side of Jesus’ death was a radiant joyous life that flows forever.
Click the image below to enlarge.
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This week is Palm Sunday. We will be in our 12th week in the book of Exodus, discussing God’s mission to redeem a people for His Kingdom in this world.
Holy week continues after this Sunday with Good Friday services on Friday, April 19 at 5:30 and 7pm, and Easter services on Sunday, April 21 at 6:30, 8, 9:30, and 11am. Here’s how you can prepare for Palm Sunday this week:
1. Read through our text, Exodus 7:14–11:10.
In the midst of the series of plagues, a major theme begins to take shape—the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. As the first five plagues wreak havoc in Egypt, the text tells us that either “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” (v.7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7) or that “Pharaoh hardened his heart” (v.8:15, 32). Pharaoh has chosen to harden his heart in opposition to the explicit warnings of God and the clear displays of His power. Then, throughout the last five plagues, we see that the Lord Himself “hardened the heart of Pharaoh” (v.10:1, 20, 27; 11:10, 14:8). Here we see the sovereign judgment of God, hardening the heart of Pharaoh to accomplish His own redemptive purposes. Taken as a whole, we find one of the mysterious tensions of the Bible: On the one hand, human beings are responsible and accountable for our actions, and at the same time, God is absolutely sovereign and nothing happens outside His sovereign purposes. Above all, God wields His sovereign purposes to judge rebellion and to redeem a people for His Kingdom.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Zechariah 9:9
All Creatures Of Our God And King (William Henry Draper, St. Francis of Assisi addl. verse by Sovereign Grace Music)
Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery (Michael Bleecker, Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:
O Lord, who on this day entered the rebellious city that later rejected You,
we confess that our wills are as rebellious as Jerusalem’s,
that our faith is often more show than substance,
that our hearts are in need of cleansing.
Have mercy on us, Son of David, Savior of our lives.
Help us to lay at Your feet all that we have and all that we are,
trusting You to forgive what is sinful, to heal what is broken,
to welcome our praises, and to receive us as Your own. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 1 John 4:14–16
Reckless Love (Cory Asbury, Caleb Culver, Ran Jackson)
GREETING, SERMON, RESPONSE, & COMMUNION
Crown Him (Majesty) (Bridges, Cash, Elvey, Maher, Thring, Tomlin)
Hosanna (Praise is Rising) (Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown)
BENEDICTION
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This will be our 11th week in the book of Exodus, discussing God’s mission to redeem a people for His Kingdom in this world.
This is also the fifth week of Lent, the ending of the season of 40 days leading up to Easter. Next Sunday, April 14, will be Palm Sunday, followed by Good Friday on April 19 and Easter Sunday on April 21. But here’s how you can prepare for the Sunday ahead of us:
1. Read through our text, Exodus 7:14–11:10.
The drama of the Exodus story increases with God’s decree of the ten plagues. Far from being a cavalier showcase of power, the plagues are each aimed at very specific purposes. First and foremost, each of the plagues are an escalated judgment against Pharaoh’s evil and hard-hearted determination to keep God’s people in slavery. Second, the plagues are also specifically designed to show the people of Egypt the sovereign power of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Each plague makes a disrupting example out of a specific Egyptian deity, explicitly targeted at the three realms of Egypt’s primary sources of life—the Nile, the land, and the sun.
Last, the plagues are also intended to show the Israelites the sovereign power of Yahweh, their Redeemer. When the people experience deliverance from their brutal experience in slavery, and when they are free to live in their own land with their God, they will be forever look back and see that it was not their strength or cunning that saved them—There was was no epic human hero. It was Yahweh, and Yahweh alone.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 91:1–6, 9–10
Build My Life (Barrett, Kable, Martin, Redman, Younker)
Yet Even Now (Joel Limpic)
CONFESSION OF SIN:
Oh God who is both fearful and merciful,
We confess that we often forget whose people we used to be,
and whose people we are now.
Forgive us when we consider ourselves above judgement
and surely on the “Israel” side of the plagues,
for this is only true so far as Christ, our Passover Lamb, has borne our judgement.
Forgive us also when we consider ourselves targeted by You,
afflicted by You, and surely on the “Egypt” side of the plagues,
for Christ, our Passover Lamb, is the one who was truly smitten by You,
and afflicted by You on our behalf.
Father, as we consider the endless joy You now take in us as a result of Your Son’s work,
we repent both of our ignorance to our sin and our ignorance to our salvation.
We gratefully receive His work,
and we ask You for greater joy in all that it means for us,
through Jesus Christ our Savior, amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 1 Peter 2:9–10
What A Beautiful Name (Ben Fielding, Brooke Ligertwood)
GREETING, SERMON, RESPONSE, & COMMUNION
King Of My Heart (John Mark McMillan, Sarah McMillan)
Stronger (Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan)
BENEDICTION
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Our guest is Neil Long. Neil is the Director of Formation and Missions at Park Church.