November 20, :30 p.m.

Transcription

1 JOINT THANKSGIVING SERVICE November 20, 2016 Providence Presbyterian Church, Lubbock, Texas Providence Presbyterian Church, Midland, Texas Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Amarillo, Texas * CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 100 A Psalm for giving thanks. Joint Thanksgiving Service with Providence Presbyterian Church Midland, Texas and Redeemer Presbyterian Church Amarillo, Texas November 20, :30 p.m. 1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Ronnie Rowe, Pastor th Street Lubbock, Texas / * Congregation Standing All music copied by permission of CCLI # All Scripture References from: The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV) Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, A publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. - Page 1 -

2 * HYMN 1 All People That on Earth Do Dwell Words: Psalm 100 (Williams Kethe, 1561). Tune: Old Hundredth. PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION PSALTER READING Psalm Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. - Page Page 3 -

3 15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. 19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul! * HYMN My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness Words and Music: Keith Getty and Stuart Townend Thankyou Music 1. My heart is filled with thankfulness To Him who bore my pain; Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace And gave me life again; Who crushed my curse of sinfulness And clothed me in His light And wrote His law of righteousness With pow'r upon my heart. 2. My heart is filled with thankfulness To Him who walks beside; Who floods my weaknesses with strength And causes fears to fly; Whose ev'ry promise is enough For ev'ry step I take, Sustaining me with arms of love And crowning me with grace. 3. My heart is filled with thankfulness To him who reigns above, Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, Whose ev'ry thought is love. For ev'ry day I have on earth Is given by the King; So I will give my life, my all, To love and follow him. For ev'ry day I have on earth Is given by the King; So I will give my life, my all, To love and follow him. PRAYER OF INTERCESSION - Page Page 5 -

4 * HYMN 32 Great Is Thy Faithfulness Words: Thomas O. Chisholm, Music: William M. Runyan, SERMON Matthew 6: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. - Page Page 7 -

5 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. * HYMN 98 Now Thank We All Our God Words: Martin Rinkart, 1636; translated by Catherine Winksworth, Music: Johann Crüger 34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. * BENEDICTION - Page Page 9 -

6 Now Thank We All Our God Martin Rinkart ( ) was the Bishop of Eilenberg, Germany during the Thirty Years War. Since Eilenberg was a walled city it became a place of refuge for fugitives of the war, and also a place of famine and disease due to overcrowding. In 1637 at the height of their misery, Rinkart was the only clergyman left in the city who could perform the 40 or 50 necessary burial services daily one of which was for his wife. As if that weren't enough, the city was sacked three times by invaders, one of which imposed a large tribute payment upon the people. During this time, Rinkart managed to find the time to write 7 dramas and 66 hymns. This text was written by Martin Rinkart sometime during the Thirty Years War in the 1630s, though it wasn t published until The hymn "Nun danket alle Gott" was originally titled "Tisch-Gebetlein," or a "little prayer before the meal." This humble prayer of thanksgiving is laid out simply and beautifully in the first verse, but it is the next two verses that expand the hymn's focus and have given it its lasting appeal. The Thirty Years War pressed on Rinkart s mind in verse two: And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed, And free us from all ills in this world and the next. After a verse of thanks, and a verse that asks for strength during the trials of life, he ends with a paraphrase of the doxology as if to say, "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, may the name of the Lord be praised." The third stanza is a paraphrase of the Gloria Patri, originally composed in Greek in the fourth century, though some of it was written as early as 95 A.D. Rinkart could recognize that our God is faithful, and even when the world looks bleak, He is bounteous and is full of blessings, if only we look for them. Blessings as seemingly small as a dinner meal, or as large as the end of a brutal war and unnecessary bloodshed are all reasons to lift up our thanks to God, with our hearts, our hands, and our voices. Great is Thy Faithfulness Scripture References: Genesis 8:22; Lamentations 3:22-23 Thomas Chisholm, the author of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and 1200 other poems was born in a log cabin in Kentucky in 1866, and he lived a pretty unremarkable life: he worked as a school teacher, a newspaper editor, and insurance agent, then he retired and spent his remaining days at the Methodist Home for the Aged in New Jersey. Unlike many hymns that have heart-wrenching stories behind them (for instance "It Is Well With My Soul"), "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" is inspired by the simple realization that God is at work in our lives on a daily basis. He wrote, "My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health in the earlier years which has followed me on until now. Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness." The hymn reminds us that God doesn't only work in dramatic or miraculous ways, but also in simple, everyday ways. It also reminds us that Jesus has never failed us in the past, so we have no reason to doubt his faithfulness in the future. My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness If we examine our personal devotions, or listen in on a prayer meeting, our thanksgiving often focuses on health and position, family and friends, home and belongings, (and all these are right and good the Bible tells us to give thanks in every situation). But the prayers of the early church in the New Testament never follow this pattern. The strong emphasis there is on giving thanks to God for spiritual blessings the blessings that have true value beyond life on earth. In "My Heart is Filled with Thankfulness," we give thanks to God for spiritual blessings past, present, and future. What Christ has done for us for forgiveness and new life, which only he could bring by coming here to earth and suffering for us. How he walks beside us each day and having lived, breathed and walked here on earth. How he promises to be with us whatever our future hold. Keith Getty, - Page Page 11 -