THE GOSPEL STORYSONG CYCLE FOR THE EASTER SEASON

Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015

HOPEIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and made man,

His most beloved creation, in His own image.But man sinned and caused separation from a Holy God.

So to fulf ill His promise, God sent His Son as a man to redeem men.Jesus, the servant King, lived a sinless life to show He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

So Jesus Christ laid down His life on a cross in payment for the sins of the world.But Jesus rose again in conquest of sin, death, and hell, to redeem God’s children. CHRIST IS VICTORIOUS!

CREATION SEPARATION PROMISE HOPE REDEMPTION RESURRECTION

THE SONG OF HOPEThe Lord’s Day, Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015

9:30 and 11:00 am Sanctuary ServicesToday, on our fourth service in the Gospel Song Cycle,

we rejoice in the life of Christ, who so lived and loved that He showed the world that He indeed was The Way, The Truth and The Life.

The flowers in the sanctuary today are given in loving memory of Alvin Pack in celebration of his birthday on April 3, by his family: Reg and Beverly Christopher; WIll and Sarah Christopher; Maggie, Sara Cabe, and Elle Christopher.

The Reflections for the Prelude

O Hosanna! Hail the long awaited king, come to set his people free. O Hosanna! Won’t you tear this temple down, raise it up on holy ground. O Hosanna! I will lift my voice and sing: you have come and washed me clean. Hosanna. Andrew Peterson “Hosanna!” from Resurrection Letters

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9

As we arrive at Jerusalem with Jesus [on Palm Sunday], the question presses upon us. Are we going along for the trip in the hope that Jesus will fulfill some of our hopes and desires? Are we ready to sing a psalm of praise, but only as long as Jesus seems to be doing what we want? The long and dusty pilgrim way of our lives gives most of us plenty of time to sort out our motives for following Jesus in the first place. Are we ready not only to spread our cloaks on the road in front of him, to do the showy and flamboyant thing, but also to follow him into trouble, controversy, trial and death? Tom Wright

Far down the ages now Her journey well nigh done, The pilgrim Church pursues her way And longs to reach her crown. Thus onward still we press Through evil and through good, Through pain, or poverty, or want, Through peril or through blood. No wider is the gate, No broader is the way, No smoother is the ancient path That leads to light and day. No feebler is the foe, No slacker grows the fight, Nor less the need of armor tried, Of shield and helmet bright. Still faithful to our God And to our Captain true, We follow where He leads the way, Hosannah! The kingdom still in view. Far Down the Ages Now Horatius Bonar, 1856

EAST COOPER BAPTIST CHURCH

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843.856.3222Equipping people to pursue

Jesus Christ passionately as they impact the culture.

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The following prayer may be used as you

prepare for worship:

Hosanna! Blessed Is He

Who Comes in the Name of the Lord!

O Lord, our Hope, at Your triumphal entry

You received the worship of those who hailed You

as their King:

Accept our praise and adoration,

our worship and love; and grant that we,

who now confess You with our lips,

may never fail to give You the service of our lives,

for the honor of Your holy name.

You showed us The Way.

May we live our lives in the assurance that our Hope is

in the Lord now and forever, for You live and reign with

the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world

without end.

Amen.

The Gospel Story Song Cycle for the Easter Season Our six corporate worshipopportunities leading up toand including Easter Sunday,will center on, and progressively build upon, the story line of The Gospel.

Today, on Palm Sunday, we celebrate the HOPE that the life of Christ brings in showing us The Way.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and made man, His most beloved creation, in His own image.But man sinned and caused separation from a holy God.So to fulfill His promise, God sent His Son as a man to redeem men.Jesus, the servant King, lived a sinless life to show He is The Way, the Truth and The Life.

Q: What kind of mediator and deliverer must we seek?

A. One who is a true[1] and righteous[2] man, and yet more powerful than all crea-tures; that is, one who is at the same time true God.[3][1] I Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:17. [2] Is. 53:9; II Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26. [3] Is. 7:14; 9:6; Jer. 23:6; John 1:1; Rom. 8:3, 4.

Q. Why must He be a true and righteous man?

A. He must be a true man because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should pay for sin.[1] He must be a righteous man because one who himself is a sinner cannot pay for others.[2][1] Rom: 5:12, 15; I Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16. [2] Heb. 7:26, 27; I Pet. 3:18.

[Heidelberg Catechism Q 15 & 16

Morning Welcome and Prayer

Prelude Fanfare and Processional on Lobe Den HerrenECBC Orchestra

The Palm Sunday Hymn All Glory, Laud and Honor St. theodulph

Palm SundayOn Palm Sunday Christians

celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into

Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection.

Palm Sunday, often referred to as “Passion Sunday,”

marks the beginning of Holy Week, which

concludes on Easter Sunday.

The Bible reveals that whenJesus entered Jerusalem,the crowds greeted him

with waving palm branches, shouting

“Hosanna!”(an acclamation of praise

meaning ‘save us’)and by covering his path

with palm branches.

They took palm branches and went out to meet him,

shouting, “Hosanna!”“Blessed is he who comesin the name of the Lord!”

John 12:12-13

The Biblical account of Palm Sunday can be

found in

Matthew 21:1-11;Mark 11:1-11;

Luke 19:28-44; andJohn 12:12-19.

Immediately following thisgreat time of celebration

in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the

cross, where the cheers soon turned into jeers.

COME PRAISE AND GLORIFYSovereign Grace Music, 2011

Come praise and glorify our God The Father of our Lord In Christ He has in heav’nly realms His blessings on us poured

For pure and blameless in His sight He destined us to be And now we’ve been adopted through His Son eternally

To the praise of Your glory To the praise of Your mercy and grace To the praise of Your glory You are the God who saves

Come praise and glorify our God Who gives His grace in Christ In Him our sins are washed away Redeemed through sacrifice

In Him God has made known to us The myst’ry of His will That Christ should be the head of all His purpose to fulfill

Come praise and glorify our God For we’ve believed the Word And through our faith we have a seal The Spirit of the Lord

The Spirit guarantees our hope Until redemption’s done Until we join in endless praise To God, the Three in One

Children’s Choir Praise Be-Bop-A-Lujah!

Be-bop-a-lujah, hallelujah Praise the name of the Lord with meBe-bop-a-lujah, hallelujah Sing, sing, sing

Be-bop-a-lujah, hallelujah Worship Jesus Christ the KingBe-bop-a-lujah, hallelujah - Sing

Praise the Lord in the morning, Praise the Lord all day longPraise the Lord when the sun goes down, My heart will sing His song

Praise the Lord when I’m happy, Praise the Lord when I’m sadPraise the Lord without stopping, Singing praise makes us gla-a-a-ad

The Gospel Song Cycle Proclamation LEADER: In the beginning, God, who has always existed exactly as He is now, spoke, and everything came into existence. By His command, the entire universe was created and filled with a dramatic dis-play of galaxies, stars and planets – including Earth, on which was a perfect garden of paradise called Eden. Of all the beauty He created, the masterpiece was a man and a woman. God made Adam and Eve in His image to reflect Him. They were created with the grand purpose of worshipping Him by loving Him, serving Him, and enjoying relationship with Him. By God’s design, all of creation was in harmony and was exactly the way it was supposed to be. During this time there was no pain, suffering, sickness or death. There was complete love, acceptance, and intimacy between God and man, between Adam and Eve, and throughout creation. It was all very good.

But then something tragic happened.

Adam and Eve were far from being equal with God, yet He lovingly placed them in charge of all that He had created in Eden. He gave them the freedom to make decisions and govern the earth with one rule: not to eat fruit from a specified tree. One day, God’s enemy, a fallen angel named Satan, wanted to overthrow God so he took the form of a serpent and lied to Adam and Eve. He deceived them into thinking God was not good and did not have their best interest in mind. As a result, they knowingly disobeyed God. In rebellion, Adam and Eve ate the fruit, deciding that they, not God, would determine right from wrong. The consequences of their actions were devastating! Like a virus, sin entered into all of creation and into the hearts of Adam and Eve. Sin, suffering, and pain were passed down from generation to generation; all of creation was distorted from its original design. War, poverty, disease, greed, scandals – all evil today is a result of sin. When we think about the perfection and love that existed at the beginning of creation, we realize “we are far more flawed and far more sinful that we can dare imagine.” An honest glance into our own hearts reveals the truth: we are all guilty. Everyone has sinned, and the ultimate consequence, even worse than physical death, is eternal separation from a living God, in terrible misery.

Because of all this, we need to consider the questions: Can anything be done? Is there any hope?

God removed Adam and Eve from Eden as a result of their sin but left them with a promise of rescue and hope. He promised them that one of their descendants would someday rescue mankind from sin. Over the next centuries, God prepared the way for this person who would become the Savior of the world. Exact details of His birth, life and death were recorded in the Bible many centuries before His coming. In fact, the whole Bible ultimately points to this one person as the focal point of all human history. His purpose in coming was “to seek and to save what was lost.” So who was He? The promised Savior, simply, was God. God became human in the person of Jesus Christ fulfilling all the predictions in the Old Testament. The Long-expected One, the promised Messiah has come. Born of the Virgin Mary and “given the name Jesus because He would save His people from their sin.“ Emmanuel – God is with us.

And He showed us the Way.

CONGREGATION: Jesus’ life was unique. Not only in the miraculous birth through a Virgin, but He perfectly enjoyed and obeyed God without sin. Jesus grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him. Jesus went about teaching, doing great wonders, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. Along the way He called men to follow Him as His disciples to teach and to train and to become like Him in every way. He was tempted and tried like every human, but He never yielded. He never sinned. He knew great sorrow. He knew great happiness. He understood our condition because He was fully human. He taught us how to love, how to pray, how to live and how to die. He would do what no other man could do – He would become sin for us and take the weight of all our sin and the sins of the world upon Him. He would take our punishment for us. This was the plan. This was His destiny. This is our hope. He lived to show us The Way.

COME THOU FOUNT, COME THOU KING[With Additional Lyrics from Hymn “Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness”]

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise;

Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above;Praise His name, I’m fixed upon it, Name of Thy redeeming love

Praise the One who breaks the darkness With a liberating light;Praise the One who frees the pris’ners, Turning blindness into sight.

Praise the One who preached the gospel, Healing every dread disease. Calming storms and feeding thousands With the very Bread of Peace.

Praise the One who blessed the children With a strong yet gentle word;Praise the One who drove out demons With a piercing two edged sword

Praise the One who brings cool water To the desert’s burning sand;From this well comes living water Quenching thirst in every land.

Come, Thou Fount, Come, Thou King; Come Thou Precious Prince of Peace.

Hear Your Bride, To You We Sing, Come, Thou Fount of our blessing! (repeat)

I was lost in utter darkness ‘til You came and rescued me I was bound by all my sin when Your love came and set me free!

Now my soul can sing a new song, now my heart has found a home!Now Your grace is always with me, and I’ll never be alone!

O to grace, how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to beLet Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandring heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

Offertory Prayer Tyler Rains, Deacon of the DayOffertory Psalm 150The Morning Sermon

Behold Your KingTimothy Dudley Smith

No tramp of soldiers‚ marching feet with banners and with drums,no sound of music’s martial beat The King of glory comes!To greet what pomp of kingly pride no bells in triumph ring,no city gates swing open wide:BEHOLD YOUR KING!

Yet he comes. The children cheer; with palms his path is strown.With every step the cross draws near the King of glory’s throne.Astride a colt he passes by as loud hosannas ring,or else the very stones would cry:BEHOLD YOUR KING!

What fading flowers his road adorn; the palms, how soon laid down!No bloom or leaf but only thorn the King of glory’s crown.The soldiers mock, the rabble cries,the streets with tumult ring, as Pilate to the mob replies:BEHOLD YOUR KING!

Now he who bore for mortals‚ sake the cross and all its painsand chose a servant’s form to take, the King of glory reigns.Hosanna to the Savior’s Name till heaven’s rafters ring, and all the ransomed host proclaim:BEHOLD YOUR KING!

The Morning SermonOn the Basis Of...

Conrad “Buster” Brown, Senior Pastor2 Corinthians 5:9-21

9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. 11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassa-dors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heav-ens…” (???) 2 Corinthians 5:1

We’ve been given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our future in heaven… (???) 2 Corinthians 5:5

“So we are always of good courage….” (???) 2 Corinthians 5:6

All of the above is based on 2 Corinthians 5:21.

“21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righ-teousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:21-22

“Faith then is not a naked knowledge either of God or his truth…but a sure knowledge of God’s mercy, which is received from the gospel and brings peace of conscience with regard to God, and rest to the mind. The sum of the matter is this – that if salvation depends on keeping of the law, the soul can entertain no confidence, but all of the promises offered to us by God will become void: [and therefore] we will become wretched and lost.”

John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentary to the Romans, p. 171

“Faith is a sure and steadfast knowledge of the fatherly good will of God toward us, as he declares in the gospel that for the sake of Christ he will be our Father and Savior.”

The Geneva Catechism

The Spoken WordCD’s of today’s sermon ($3

each) may be special ordered through the church office during the week. The

messages may also be heard online at the church website.

Responding to the Word

As we sit under the reading and teaching of Scripture, it calls for a re-

sponse as we ask ourselves “what will we do with the

truth presented today?”

The Christian life is marked by the offering of one’s

self to God to be shaped, empowered, directed,

and changed by God. In worship, God presents us

with the costly self-offering of Jesus Christ. We are

claimed by Christ and set free.

In response to God’slove in Jesus Christ we

offer our lives, our gifts, our time, our abilities, and our

material goods, for God’s service, His glory, and our

ultimate good.

Babies & ToddlersIn order to maintain

a worshipful atmosphere and for the comfort of our

little ones, we ask that parents exit the service with their cry-ing babies and talkative tod-dlers. We would encourage parents to use our excellent nursery and trained staff to

care for your children.

Information 03.29Please complete and place in the offering plate

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“I therefore confess that all our righteousness, by which we are acceptable to God, and in which we alone ought wholly to rest, consists in the remission [forgiveness] of sins which Christ purchased for us, by washing us in his own blood…and I hold the pride of those intolerable who attribute to themselves one particle of merit, in which one particle of the hope of salvation can reside.”

John Calvin, Tracts and Letters, Vol. II, p. 132

“And therefore we always hold fast this foundation, ascrib-ing all the glory to God, humbling ourselves before Him, and acknowledging ourselves to be such as we really are, without presuming to trust in anything in ourselves, or in any merit of ours, relying and resting upon the obedience of Christ crucified alone , which becomes ours when we believe in Him. This is sufficient to cover all our iniquities, and to give us confidence in approaching to God; freeing the conscience of fear, terror, and dread, without following the example of our first father, Adam, who, trembling, attempted to cover himself with fig-leaves. And, verily, if we should appear before God, relying on ourselves or on any other creature, though ever so little, we should, alas! be consumed. And therefore every one must pray with David: O Lord, enter not into judgment with Thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.”

Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 23 (1561)

On the basis of 2 Corinthians 5:211. We live with a sober-minded and joy-filled significance. (5:10-11)2. The pressure is off! (The pressure of earning God’s favor or pleasing man). (vv. 12-15)3. The new reality has come. (vv. 16-20)

Questions for Discussion:1. What is the basis for joy-filled certainty and solid hope in the life of the believer? (See v. 21)2. Why did Calvin say that “I hold the pride of those intolerable who attribute to themselves one particle of merit, in which one particle of the hope of salvation can reside”? 3. What is the hymn writer saying in this stanza from “Before the Throne of God Above”? What do you do when you feel despair or doubt or self-loathing?

When Satan tempts me to despairAnd tells me of the guilt within,Upward I look and see Him thereWho made an end of all my sin.Because the sinless Savior diedMy sinful soul is counted free.For God the just is satisfiedTo look on Him and pardon me.

4. Why is “the pressure off” (regarding earning the favor of God or trying to please man)?5. Why do we not believe in the mystical approach of climbing a ladder of perfection in going deeper into the character of the triune God? Who is “the ladder”?6. How does character development occur in the life of a be-liever?

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$ -246,445**Please note that as good stew-ards of what God has blessed us with, our spending is always based on actual giving.ecBc info361 egypt road MP, sc 29464Main Office 856-3222Emergency Line ext. 7777fax 856-1136Web eastcooperbaptist.com

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HannaH’s HeartIs the desire to be parents an important mat-ter of prayer for you? If you are a couple deal-ing with infertility concerns and wish to meet with a like minded group for Prayer, please join us at 8:45 am on the second Sunday of each month in the ECBC Prayer Room. Come pray with us, or fill out this tear-off and we will pray for you.

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Please pray for us as we deal with infertility.

Please pray for us as we deal with infertility.

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