This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you
that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life, so that you and your children may live
and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.

For the LORD is your life,
and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Prelude: Allan Koetz

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Worship in Song (Allan Koetz) 

• O Worship the King
• How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

Old Testament Reading:   Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (NIV)

New Testament Readings:  John 3:16  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

John 13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. 2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” 9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10 Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. 12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (NIV)

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (NIV)

Worship in Song (performed by Allan Koetz)–How Great

Prayer

Message—Barbara Shafer “The Night Love Came to Dinner”.

In our new series, “Who is this King of Glory?” we are answering the question, Who is God?   Today we see, “He is Love” and we see three aspects of love in this message entitled “The Night Love Came to Dinner”.

1. True Love is Humble
2. True Love Serves Others
3. True Love is Modeled after Jesus Christ.

 Response in song (Allan Koetz)  My Jesus I Love Thee

Benediction: Barbara Shafer

Postlude: Allan Koetz

Prelude: Allan Koetz

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Worship in Song (Allan Koetz)

Old Testament Reading:  Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…

Worship in Song (Allan Koetz)

New Testament Reading John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Prayer

Message—Barbara Shafer “He is the Creator.

In our new series, “Who is this King of Glory?” we are answering the question, Who is God? Today we see, “He is the Creator” and we look at the foundational understanding of God as Creator.

The two stanza hymn found in Colossians 1:15-20 shows God as Creator and creates a firm separation between who God is and what He created.

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Response in song (Allan Koetz)

Benediction: Barbara Shafer

Postlude: Allan Koetz

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Worship in Song (Adam Dolezal, Christ Church Lake Forest):

All Who Are Thirsty (Come, Lord Jesus)

New Testament Reading:  Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city….16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life…20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

Prayer

Message—Wyeth Duncan (Christ Church of Lake Forest)

Who is this King of Glory?  He is…here!

Psalm 139:7-12  English Standard Version (ESV) 

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?  8  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!   If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  9 If I take the wings of the morning  and dwell in the uttermost parts 0f the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say,“Surely the darkness shall cover me,  and the light about me be night,”  12 even the darkness is not dark to you;  the night is bright as the day,  for darkness is as light with you. 

Response in song (Adam Dolezal):  “Give Me Jesus”

Benediction: Wyeth Duncan

Prelude: Allan Koetz

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Worship in Song (Allan Koetz):

 Come, Now is the Time to Worship (written by Brian Doerksen)

 He Knows My Name (written by Paul Baloche)

Old Testament Reading: Daniel 3:24-27

Daniel 3:24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, O king.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” 26 Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, 27 and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisers crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them.

Worship in Song (Allan Koetz): I Need Thee Every Hour (Hymn 340)

 New Testament Reading 1 John 4:7-18a

1 John 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…

Prayer

Message—Barbara Shafer “He is the One Who Knows You…”

In our new series, “Who is this King of Glory?” we are answering the question, Who is God?  Today we see, “He is the One Who Knows You…” and we look at His immanence, His closeness, and His personal touch.

We see 3 statements of God’s personal touch in today’s passage, Jeremiah 1:5– 

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

1. I knew you,  
2. I set you apart; 
3. I appointed you

You don’t have to Let Go and Let God as throwing up your hands and surrendering to some impersonal force. You can, however, place your hope and your life in the hands of the One who knows you from before you were ever born, the One who sets you apart, and the One who has plans to prosper you. Maybe you don’t see Him now, but He’s present. He’s close. He’s there when you’re in the furnace of life, when you’re looking for Him, and when you wonder where He is. Trust in Him. Who is this King of Glory? He’s the immanent God—the One who knows you.

Response in song (Allan Koetz):  Great is Thy Faithfulness (Hymn 37) 

Benediction: Barbara Shafer

Postlude: Allan Koetz

These verses form the theme of a special one-day event occurring on May 5, 2012 entitled Tending the Gardens of our Souls, taking place at the Chicago Botanic Gardens!

Combining my love of God and my love of gardening, I offer a special presentation of Scripture and gardening advice to guide us in preparing our souls for a fruitful harvest now and to reap eternal joy now and forever.  Live.  Love.  Laugh.  Garden.

Registration for this women’s ministry event sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church of Libertyville is permitted through April 22nd and you can sign up via their home page by clicking HERE.  I hope you can join me as we nurture our souls, develop our keepsake Secret Gardener Journal, and enjoy some gardening along the way! 

Hope to see you there!  Barbara <><  (SeminaryGal)

Prelude: Allan Koetz

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

This week we begin a new series–“Who is this King of Glory?”–and we will be answering the question, Who is God?

Worship in Song (Allan Koetz)

Old Testament Reading (Barbara Shafer)

Exodus 3:12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers– the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob– has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. 16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers– the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob– appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites– a land flowing with milk and honey.’

Message:  In today’s passage (Revelation 1: 1-8) we see…. “He is I AM.”  (Barbara Shafer)

Revelation 1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies to everything he saw– that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. 4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father– to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. 7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (NIV).

In this passage of Scripture, God wants us to see “He is I AM” in 4 ways:

1. As the Trinity
2. As Redeemer
3. As Returning King
4. As Alpha and Omega—The Eternal One.

Worship Response (Allan Koetz)

Benediction (Barbara Shafer)

These are specially adapted plants usually occurring in woodlands or wooded lowlands, known for completing their growth… to flower… to seed process in the vernal window before the trees leaf out.   The foliage of these heralds of spring often dies back to the ground as the plants go dormant until the following spring.  Spring beauties, trout lilies, trillium, and bluebells are among those considered to be spring ephemerals.  Here today.  Gone tomorrow.

With the change of the seasons, the plants and the birds all begin the transition.  The snowbirds (slate colored juncos) are suddenly gone and the hummingbirds will arrive soon.  The rose breasted grosbeak, indigo buntings, and scarlet tanagers will be passing through on their early summer vacation.  I have the pleasure of a rare sighting and suddenly they are gone. The Baltimore orioles will arrive to nest and they linger for a while.  During their stay in my yard, they prepare for making their long journey back to their residential winter habitat in Central America and by mid-summer, suddenly they are gone.  I love their orange brilliance so I attract them with oriole feeders and oranges.  I have since come to appreciate that others view them as nuisance birds because in some areas of the country they compete with hummingbirds for feeders.  Last year, I offered some strategies on how to keep orioles from dominating feeders and providing flowers especially favored by the tiny miracles called hummingbirds.

I love the ebb and flow of the seasons.  The way things come and go.  Even with the plants.  Look at my beautiful Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), one of the spring ephemerals in my yard.  Their blue color is absolutely breathtaking, rivaled only by Myosotis scorpioides (true forget-me-not) and Pulmonaria officinalis (lungwort) in my yard.  Bleedingheart often die back to the ground too.  My primrose from last year’s indoor cheer-me-up purchase in February got planted in a sheltered location last summer and are still rewarding me with their abundant mini-bouquets held proudly above the leafy whorl.

All of this is what the Bible speaks about.  God gives beauty to each in its season.  It’s the planned ebb and flow of the seasons of our lives and God cares for us all the time as His gracious gift. 

 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? “And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own
(Matthew 6:26-34)

As we celebrate Easter Sunday and prepare to descend the steps of the temple to resume our life of daily discipleship, let’s review the Songs of Ascents and what they mean for our journey beyond Easter Sunday:

15.   It’s All about Praise!

14.   The Gift of Unity

13.   Desired Dwelling Place

12.   Shalom, Simple Shalom

11.   Full Redemption

10.   Justice Gets Done!

9.     The Blessed Fear

* * *  

8.     Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

* * *

7.     Harvest of Joy 

6.     Blessings of Security

5.     Remembering God’s Ways

4.     Have Mercy!

3.     The Habitation of Peace—(Seek God’s Presence and Know His Peace)

2.     Gaze Beyond the Hills

1.     Listen: Expect Opposition

_______________

Our discipleship journey remains a spiritual one

and the lessons we gained while going Up to Jerusalem we will be ones we carry with us daily.  

Until Jesus returns or calls us to the place He has prepared for us,

we will be journeying home with songs in our hearts.  

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!

Happy Easter!

Prelude:  Allan Koetz

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Call to Worship:  Pastor Rick Sutton, Lakeview Presbyterian Church, Vernon Hills, IL

Isaiah 25: 1; 6-9 O Lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
^…
6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
⁷ And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
⁸ he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
⁹ It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Invocation (Pastor Rick Sutton)

Worship in Song (Allan Koetz):  Hymn #163 – Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

Reading from the New Testament: Barbara Shafer   

Luke 24: 1-8  But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,³but when they went in, they did not find the body.^*4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.⁵The women^* were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men^* said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.^*6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,⁷that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’⁸Then they remembered his words. 

Hymn #164 (Allan Koetz):   - Come, Ye Faithful, Raise The Strain

Sermon: “On the Third Day He Rose Again From the Dead”  Pastor Rick Sutton  (Psalm 49; I Corinthians 15)

Hymn #165 (Allan Koetz) – Low in the Grave He Lay

Benediction: Pastor Rick Sutton