ONLINE WORSHIP:
“Beginnings - The Rainbow Covenant”
October 4th, 2020
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Confession: Psalm 32
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
To know the meaning of forgiveness, to not longer be plagued by past failures, to stand blameless and guilt-free before God is to be rich indeed.
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
When I try to handle my own guilt by ignoring it, rationalizing it, or just running away from it, my life is squeezed dry and I feel empty.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LOrd” - and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
When I face up to my failures and confess them, when I open my guilt-ridden heart to you, O God, then I realize the blessing of forgiveness.
Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found;Surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
When life’s storms rage, you, O Lord, are a place of refuge.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by a bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.
Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
The faithful and faithless both suffer with uncertainties and insecurities of life in this fallen world, but the child of God can depend on the love of the Father. There is light in the midst of darkness. There is joy even in sorrow. There is peace regardless of circumstances.
Absolution
Genesis 6:1-8
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, “My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. There were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
2 Peter 2:1-5
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is no asleep.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly…
Luke 17:22-27
And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
Children’s Sermon:
What love Is this That always gives
And never counts the cost
That beats within the heart of God
With passion for the lost
That lifts me from my wretchedness
And clothes me in his righteousness
Everlasting love, everlasting love,
Everlasting Love, be my joy and my light.