Dear Brothers and Sisters, Prayer will be held at the Brown’s Barn.

Our scripture focus this week is Matthew 27:45-50 which records the last moments of Jesus life and finally His death. Nic Ruiz, who explained the text to the mens Bible study this morning, reminded us that the context encompasses the whole of redemptive history which begins in Genesis, is typologically communicated in the sacrificial system, and continues to the events in this passage. He noted that this scene is the foundation of our faith. The essence is this: Jesus died. It is a simple truth with endless implications. He noted that Matthew emphasizes three things. First, the question Jesus asks, “why have you forsaken me.’ Second, the confused darkened understanding of his crowd around his death. Third, the righteous die for the ungodly. The question our Lord asks, “why have you forsaken me, is the deepest and most important question of the universe. When Jesus points us to this question, it brings us to the heart of the Gospel. The answers are in 1 Cor 15:3, Christ died for our sins; Rom 4:25, He died for our offenses; Prov 17:15, it is an abomination for God to justify the wicked; John 3;16, He died because of love.

Robert Zieglar will be preaching on Sunday.

Dan and I will both be out of town this week. I am speaking at Kevin Swanson’s Economics Conference in St Louis, and then after that, I am headed to Indiana for Jordan and Sarah’s wedding. Dan is on a cruise with Kendra and his parents in the Baltic Sea and will be returning home next week.

Also, as many of you know, I was involved in a Moody Radio debate on youth ministry. You can listen by clicking on the link above.

The songs are as follows:

In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone! – who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand!

The Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it someday for a crown

O the old rugged cross, so despised by the world
Has a wondrous attraction for me
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it someday for a crown

To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true
Its shame and reproach gladly bear
Then He’ll call me someday to my home far away
Where His glory forever I’ll share

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it someday for a crown

Beneath the Cross of Jesus
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would make my stand
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way
From the burning of the noon-tide heat and the burden of the day

Upon that cross of Jesus mine eyes at times can see
The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me
And from my smitten heart, with tears, two wonders I confess:
The wonder of His glorious love, and my unworthiness

I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face
Content to let the world go by, to know no gain or loss
My sinful self, my only shame, my glory all the cross

Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
By His Son now God has spoken
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.

Behold the Lamb
Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away
Slain for us and we remember
The promise made that all who come in faith
Find forgiveness at the cross

So we share in this bread of life
And we drink of His sacrifice
As a sign of our bonds of peace
Around the table of the King

The body of our Saviour Jesus Christ
Torn for you eat and remember
The wounds that heal the death that brings us life
Paid the price to make us one

So we share in this bread of life
And we drink of His sacrifice
As a sign of our bonds of love
Around the table of the King

The blood that cleanses ev’ry stain of sin
Shed for you drink and remember
He drained death’s cup that we may enter in
To receive the life of God

So we share in this bread of life
And we drink of His sacrifice
As a sign of our bonds of grace
Around the table of the King

And so with thankfulness and faith we rise
To respond and to remember
Our call to follow in the steps of Christ
As his body here on earth
As we share in His suffering
We proclaim Christ will come again!
And we’ll join in the feast of Heaven
Around the table of the King

Immovable Our Hope Remains
Immovable our hope remains
Though shifting sands before us lie
The One who washed away our stains
Shall bear us safely to the skies
The floods may rise, the winds may beat
Torrential rains descend
Yet God His own will not forget
He’ll love and keep us till the end
You’ll love and keep us till the end

This is eternal life: to know
The living God and Christ, the Son
The Savior will not let us go
Until His saving work is done
Our debt was great, as was our need
But now the price is paid
Who can behold Immanuel bleed
And doubt His willingness to save?
We trust Your willingness to save

The Lord acquits, who can condemn?
Though Satan’s accusations fly
His pow’r can never reach our names
To blot them from the Book of Life
The Son has surely made us free
His Word forever stands
And all our joy is knowing we
Are graven on His wounded hands
We’re graven on Your wounded hands

Built into Christ, secure we stand
For with His Spirit we’ve been sealed
By grace we’ll see the promised land
Where every sorrow shall be healed
To God who gave His only Son
To Jesus Christ, our Lord
To God the Spirit, Three-in-one
Be songs of praise forevermore
We’ll sing Your praise forevermore