Pastor Steve Van Noort
God Calls Us to Worship
Prelude: Two settings of Psalm 46
“God is Our Refuge and Our Strength” arr. D. Johnson
“ God, Our Help and Constant Refuge” arr. M. Burkhardt
* Call to Worship
* God’s Greeting
* Gathering Songs: “Amid the Thronging Worshipers” PH 239:1-3
“Like A River Glorious” HFG 497:1-3
We Receive His Grace
Prayer of Confession
Assurance of Grace
Professing Our Faith: “In God the Father I Believe” PH 518:1-4
We Offer Our Gifts
Congregational Prayer
Offering for Faith Promise
Offertory: A medley of songs speaking of God’s excellence,
holiness and beauty
Prayer of Blessing for the Children
God Speaks to Us
* Song of Preparation: “O For A Thousand Tongues” PH 501:1,3-6
* Scripture: Psalm 27: 1-4 (p. 543)
Message: “Alive to the Beauty of God”
Prayer
* Song of Response: “How Great Thou Art” PH 483:1-4
We Depart with God’s Blessing
* Benediction
* Doxology: “O Christ, Our Hope, Our Heart’s Desire” PH 485:1,4
* Postlude
Organist: Marilyn Kooiman
Pastor Steve Van Noort
Gathering to Worship
Prelude: “Does Jesus Care?” arr. R.J. Hughes
“His Eye Is On the Sparrow” arr. M. Ham
Welcome & Opening Prayer
* Songs of Praise: “I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord” PH 169:1-2
“Jesus Paid It All” HFG 273:1-3
“Beautiful Savior” PH 461:1,2,4
Offering Our Prayers and Gifts
Time of Prayer
Offering for Lighthouse Mission
Offertory: “Bind Us Together”/”Blest Be the Tie That Binds”
Hearing God’s Word
* Song of Preparation: “Let It Be Said of Us”
Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9 (p. 9)
Message: “The Tower of Babel Part II:
Loneliness and True Unity in Relationships”
Prayer
Q & A Discussion Opportunity
Closing
* God’s Parting Blessing
* Doxology: “Glory Be to the Father” PH 635
* Postlude
Pianist: Jo Mans
CONGRATULATIONS to Homer and Betty Wigboldy who will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, August 21, and to Arlen and Eileen De Young on their 50th anniversary on Thursday, August 23, and to Art and Jackie Hommes who will celebrate their 56th wedding anniversary on Friday, August 24!
JOIN US AFTER THE SERVICE this morning for cake and coffee downstairs to celebrate Homer and Betty’s anniversary. Coffee will not be served upstairs.
WE EXTEND our Christian sympathy to Mary and Brent Kok in the death of her father, John Trojanowski on Wednesday.
UPCOMING SERVICES:
· Next Sunday evening is a Praise and Prayer service.
· Our worship time will move to 10:30 AM beginning September 2.
· A joint CRC evening service will be held at Second CRC on September 2.
· Kick-Off: The first day of Sunday School AND Lunch on the Lawn will be September 9.
SUNDAES ON SUNDAY TONIGHT: We invite you to enjoy ice cream & toppings on the side lawn after the evening service. Please invite your neighbors to our service and social!
FORMS: Youth Participation and Publication Consent forms are needed for each child/youth participating in Sunday School, nursery, and other youth activities. These forms must be filled in each year, and a separate form is needed for each child. Please turn in completed forms on the library table by September 3. If you need additional forms, contact Yuanita.
SHINE: Kick-Off Camping trip for high school students is scheduled on August 31 to September 2. More information will be available in your mailbox next week. Please RSVP before August 20 (tomorrow) if you are planning to come.
Mom’s Time Out is launching our second year and registration is now open to all Moms of children aged newborn through preschool (0-5 years old). If you, or someone you know, would like to be a part of our group, please take a registration form from the library table and pass it along. If you have any questions, please contact Dee or Mandy.
THE SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER will be published next week, Aug. 26. If you have pictures of summer activities please email them to office@bethelcrc.org. Thank you.
Psalm 27.1-4 | Alive to the Beauty of God
Introduction
- Big Idea: To be a Christian is to be alive to the beauty of God
- King David asks to become alive to this beauty
1. Alive to the Beauty of God’s Excellencies
- Ps 27 vs 4, we can say Dwelling in the house of the Lord is a poetic expression of living with God and being in relationship with and knowing who he is
- Hebrew word for beauty is Na’am, which refers to “that which causes delight”
- Examples in scripture of finding delight over the beauty of God’s excellencies: Isaiah 28.29, Ps 139, Ps 8
- What Does it look like in life to be alive to the beauty of God’s excellencies?
• Seek to know God better. Get more delightful ________ of God.
• Look at creation differently by seeing what ________ of God are in creation.
• Find beauty in the ___________ things of life.
2. Alive to the Beauty of Holiness
- Ps 27.4. Seeing God’s beauty in the temple was about seeing the beauty of God’s holiness.
- God’s holiness is in us. What is also beautiful is the holiness of our lives. Other scripture really draw this out: Galatians 6, Psalm 1. Proverbs 31.
- Holiness is not boring, dull, and joyless.
- What Does it Look like to be alive to the beauty of holiness?
• Holiness is _________ on your heart. You Strive for it. You use the beauty of it to fight sin. Drives you to ask God to sanctify you.
• Delight in living a holy life in times of _________.
3. Alive to the Beauty of Christ
- Everything of God’s beauty finds ultimate expression in Christ: 1 Corinthians 1.24, Colossians 2.3, 1 John 4.10, Matt 26.39
- What Does it Look like to be Alive to Christ’s Beauty?
• Jesus becomes your ________
• Your life becomes ____________ under beauty. Ps 27.1-3
- What If You are numb to beauty?
• You are not abnormal. We all go through ups and downs
• Your state condition shouldn’t worry you if you are worried
• God’s verdict on your life is not deepened on how you feel
• You could be stuck in sin and not repenting
• If you are in Christ you will look back on the time of dryness and see how God used it to be part of your resplendence and glory in heaven
• Stay in the Psalms
