Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

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

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell  

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

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

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)

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

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

Luke 22:7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed… (13b) So they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Today is Good Friday and the day we remember Jesus’ death on the cross.  At first blush, the name Good Friday seems kind of incongruous.  How can it possibly be good that Jesus died?

Jesus said, John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered,

 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

What’s so good about Good Friday?  It’s good for us.  Jesus had to leave in order to prepare a place for us by first making peace with God on our behalf. 

The Gift of Unity we experience is because–apart from the sinless Son of God–every man, woman, and child ever born shares one fallen nature, one sin condition, one common need for a Savior, and for all who believe, Jesus provided the one and only way. 

This Gift of Unity is seen in no more profound expression than in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist.   It is here that Christians—everywhere in the world and from Jesus’ Last Supper onward in time—we have a pilgrimage to share a simple meal remembering the one and only Messiah. 

Our pilgrimage is no longer once a year to a holy place like Jerusalem or to a temple in that city.  We journey spiritually and remember continually.  We climb the steps Up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Gift of Unity made possible by the new covenant in His blood.  Blood that was shed as the Good of Good Friday.

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup,

you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes

(1 Corinthians 11:26)

Reminder: The Lenten devotional series entitled “Up to Jerusalem ” began on February 22, 2012 (Ash Wednesday) and will continue until Holy Saturday (the day before Easter). For Chapel viewers, you can still receive devotionals via email by entering your email address in the form provided on my Home Page. Respond to the verification email and you will be scheduled to receive the Lenten devotionals. If you’ve received this update, you’re automatically subscribed. Thank you!

If you would like to explore more about Jesus, consider attending Holy Week and Easter services at any of the churches which have participated in this Chapel ministry. Christ Church Lake Forest’s Easter services feature soloist John Easterlin, tenor with the Metropolitan Opera, and my home church, Christ Church Highland Park, will be celebrating a special Maundy Thursday service celebrating Christ Our Passover in which I will provide the historical perspective from the Old Testament.

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Palm Sunday, April 1, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

Prelude:  Allan Koetz
Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Scripture Reading: NIV Mark 11:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'” 4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

Worship in Song:  Allan Koetz 

Message:  “Hosanna…because” by Barbara Shafer (Psalm 147)

Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. 7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp. 8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; 11 the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. 12 Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, 13 for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. 14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. 15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? 18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. 19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.

Hosanna (Save, I pray) because:
1. The Lord is great and we are broken vv 1-6
2. God’s love is unfailing and we hope in Him. vv 7-11
3. His plan has been to save us and give us peace.
4. God reveals Himself through this Jewish Messiah.  Jesus is the hope of Israel and us.

Response in Song:  Allan Koetz

Benediction:  Barbara Shafer

Reminder: The Lenten devotional series entitled “Up to Jerusalem ” began on February 22, 2012 (Ash Wednesday) and will continue until Holy Saturday (the day before Easter). For Chapel viewers, you can still receive devotionals via email by entering your email address in the form provided on my Home Page. Respond to the verification email and you will be scheduled to receive the Lenten devotionals. If you’ve received this update, you’re automatically subscribed. Thank you!

If you would like to explore more about Jesus, consider attending Holy Week and Easter services at any of the churches which have participated in this Chapel ministry.  Christ Church Lake Forest’s Easter services feature soloist John Easterlin, tenor with the Metropolitan Opera,  and my home church, Christ Church Highland Park, will be celebrating a special Maundy Thursday service celebrating Christ Our Passover in which I will provide the historical perspective from the Old Testament.

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Scripture Reading:  Psalm 146:1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. 2 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. 4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them– the LORD, who remains faithful forever. 7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, 8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked. 10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD. (NIV )

Worship in the Word–Psalm 146:  “Hallelujahs” by Barbara Shafer

Today in our ongoing series entitled “Our God of Hope, a Journey through the Psalms,” we come to Psalm 146.  This belongs in the final group of 5 psalms, all of which have a focus on praise, literally Hallelujah.  Psalm 146 begins and ends with the word Hallelujah!  In this psalm, we see that happiness is found in the center of a life of hallelujahs.

Psalm 146:5 Blessed [Happy] is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God.

Happiness is connected to centering our help and our hope in our hallelujahs.   

The summer schedule for Chapel Worship at Advocate Condell is here! 

Many thanks to our area churches and to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for your ministry to the hospital’s patients and staff.  I will be filling in the preaching dates and Scriptures on a first-responder basis.

The theme will be

Who is This King of Glory?”

Service Order for 9:00 AM
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Nemmers Family Chapel at Advocate Condell 

Welcome: Barbara Shafer, Christ Church Highland Park

Worship through song with Michael Webb,Christ Church Lake Forest and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Blessed Be Your Name

It Is Well With My Soul

In Christ Alone

A reading of Psalm 130: Michael Webb

Psalm 130 A Song of Ascents.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
² O Lord, hear my voice!  Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
⁶ my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

Message: Psalm 130: “Our Hope In Affliction”  by Matthew Haslar, Christ Church Lake Forest and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

We respond to affliction with prayer, repentance and hope

1. We respond to affliction with prayer (Ps. 130:1-2)
   1. In verse 1 we see the Psalmist crying “from the depths” which is a place of hardship.  Notice the honesty we see in the prayers of the Bible.
   2. But verse 2 shows us the proper response, to turn to God in humble prayer
   3. We respond to affliction with repentance (Ps. 130:3-4)
      1. Verse 3 shows us that no man is righteous before a holy God and all fail (see also Romans 3:23)
      2. That’s why we need forgiveness, which is always found in God as we see in verse 4 (see also Colossians 1:21-22)
      3. Notice at the end of verse 4 that purpose of our repentance and God’s forgiveness if the fear of the Lord, for we worship what we fear
      4. We respond to affliction with hope (Ps. 130:5-8)
         1. In verses 5-6 we see the Psalmist waiting on the Lord, but in worry but in hope, because of God’s word, his promises.
         2. Verse 7 shows the result the result of sure hope: God’s love and redemption from sin
         3. Verse 8 looks forward to God sending a redeemer for mankind, a redeemer that has come into the world to save us: Jesus Christ!  Salvation is found in him alone.

For those of us who know Christ as our Lord and Savior this passage encourages us to examine if we are truly letting all of our hopes rest in God and God alone.  For those who do not know Christ this is a gracious invitation to do so now and find not only strength for the moment, but the promise of eternal life.

Hymn of Response:  It Is Well With My Soul

Benediction: Matthew Haslar