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Aug 09, 2020

Strange Home

Strange Home

Passage: 1 Peter 4:1-11

Speaker: Andrew Kerhoulas

Series: Strange Faith

Our worship service will revolve around the theme of God as our true Home. We move strangely through the world with another home fixed firmly on our minds and emblazoned on our hearts. This strange but glorious home that we have in God will mean that we part ways with those who try to make the road--life’s journey--a home. As Jamie Smith says, "Conversion is not a magical transport home...Conversion doesn't pluck you off the road; it changes how you travel." And that is the strangest thing of all: that by the Spirit, we become Christ-like travelers who serve in word and deed and who love earnestly on our journey home together with him.

Order of Worship

CALL TO WORSHIP: Responsive reading from The Worship Sourcebook
PRAYER: Sustained (The Valley of Vision)
OT READING: Deuteronomy 8:2-10
CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Peter 4:1-11
MESSAGE: Strange Home
BENEDICTION: Romans 8:38-39 

Readings & Lyrics for Outdoor Worship Service

Children's Lesson

Readings & Scripture

CALL TO WORSHIP:
LEADER: As we are called into worship today,
it is sobering to remember
that when God appeared on earth in the person of Jesus,
most of the world did not recognize him
and therefore did not worship him.
Today we ask for the faith that will open our eyes
to see Jesus for who he is,
that we might worship him in truth.
People of God, behold and see your God!

ALL: We open our eyes to see his glory.
We open our ears to hear his wisdom.
We open our hands to offer him gifts.
We open our mouths to sing his praise.
We open our hearts to offer him our love.
He is Lord!

PRAYER: Sustained (The Valley of Vision)
LEADER: Gracious Savior, You have created and supported us. Saved and kept us.

ALL: May we live by and for You. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. Never satisfied with progress but as we grow into the image of Christ alone.

LEADER: May Your love constrain us to holy obedience. Move us to good works.

ALL: Renewed by your grace. Sustained by Your Spirit. Compelled by love and mercy to all.

OT READING: Deuteronomy 8:2-10

2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land... 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing...10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Peter 4:1-11
LEADER: Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. 4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. 7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen

BENEDICTION: Romans 8:38-39
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:

  • John 14:1-6
  • Gal 5:24-25
  • Ephesians 2:16

ILLUSTRATIONS:

8.9.20 Album

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. How does viewing God as your true Home change the way you travel through this life? In what ways does that clash with the values of the world around us?
  2. Tim Keller says “The main problem our heart has is not so much desires for bad things, but our over-desires for good things.” How did this manifest itself in your life this past week? In what ways can the gospel curb your desires?
  3. What is hospitality according to Rosaria Butterfield? Who is one stranger that could become a neighbor and eventually family in your life? How does the gospel help here?

QUOTES:

  • Conversion is not a “solution.” Conversion is not a magical transport home, some kind of Floo powder to heaven. Conversion doesn’t pluck you off the road; it changes how you travel. James K.A. Smith, On The Road With Saint Augustine
  • Hospitality is making strangers into neighbors, and neighbors' family of God. Rosaria Butterfield, The Gospel Comes With a Housekey
  • Like Israel, like migrants everywhere, we could never brave this treacherous road alone. Conversion is joining a caravan, not setting out alone. James K.A. Smith, On The Road With Saint Augustine
  • Against the prevailing mindset of our day—you are what you make of yourself—union with Christ tells you that you can discover your real self only in relation to the One who made you. You are not, you cannot be, self-made. Union with Christ tells you that you can only understand who you are in communion with God and others. And that is a wildly countercultural claim. Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

BOOKS / DOCS:

  • James K.A. Smith, On the Road with Saint Augustine
  • Rosaria Butterfield, The Gospel Comes with a Housekey
  • Douglas Webster, Outposts of Hope: First Peter’s Christ For Culture Strategy

SERMONS / TALKS: