The King is Coming

ORDER OF WORSHIP

Welcome
Song of Praise “Build Your Kingdom Here”
Call to Worship Psalm 47:5-9
Song of Praise “O Worship the King”
Confession of Faith Revelation 17:14
Song of Praise “Before the Throne of God Above”
Prayer of Adoration
Greet One Another
Ministry Spotlight Aldo Mondin
Prayer of Intercession
Giving of God’s Tithe and Our Offerings
Song of Preparation “Christ is Mine Forevermore”
Scripture Reading Mark 1:1-8
Sermon “Identity in the King: Here Comes the King” Craig Swartz
Prayer of Commitment
Song of Response “In Christ Alone”

Benediction

SERMON NOTES:

Tim Keller:

“The Bible says that our real problem is that every one of us is building our identity on something besides Jesus.”

Eugene Peterson:

“My identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself. There is something previous to what I think about myself, and it is what God thinks of me.”

1. THE  OF A NEW IDENTITY (VS. 2-3)

C. S. Lewis:

“Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy.

I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers.  I am speaking of the best possible ones.  There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. The spouse may be a great spouse, the scenery has been excellent, this turned out to be a pretty good job. But what we were really looking for has evaded us.”

Malachi 3:1

2. THE  OF A NEW IDENTITY (VS. 4-5)

Mark 1:4-5

Nathan Cole:

“My hearing him preach gave me a heart wound.  By God’s blessing, my old foundation was broken up, and I saw that my righteousness would not save me.”

3. THE  OF A NEW IDENTITY (VS. 6)

Mark 1:6

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“The life of discipleship can only be maintained so long as nothing is allowed to come between Christ and ourselves — neither the law, nor personal piety, nor even the world. The disciple always looks only to his master, never to Christ and the law, Christ and religion, Christ and the world. Only by following Christ alone can he preserve a single eye.”

4. THE  OF A NEW IDENTITY (VS. 7)

Mark 1:7: And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”

John Stott:

“People who actually met the real Jesus always reacted in an extreme way.

If you actually heard the real Jesus, if you really heard what he was saying, you either hated him, trying to wipe him out, or you were scared to death of him and tried to get as far away from him as possible.

Third, you knelt at his feet and as it were you laid the sword of your life at his feet and said command me.

You gave your life to him utterly in adoration.”

Anonymous:

“A love that can never be fathomed

A life that can never die

A righteousness that can never be tarnished

A peace that can never be understood

A rest that can never be disturbed

A joy that can never be diminished

A hope that can never be disappointed

A glory that can never be clouded

A light that can never be darkened

A purity that can never be defiled

A beauty that can never be marred

A wisdom that can never be baffled

Resources that can never be exhausted”