Hello OCBC family!
During my quite time, normally I use, beside my Bible, a hymnal, and read a hymn as a devotional lecture, and many times, I read a Christmas hymn during non-Christmas  time. This happened to me last week. I read, and enjoyed, the old hymn “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.”

This hymn is from an ancient liturgy, the Liturgy of St. James, from the 4th century. The lyrics that we sing during Advent season are more modern than the original ones, a work by Gerard Moultrie in 1864.

This hymn evokes the incarnation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the melody is in minor key and to be sung in unison; this brings some mysterious feelings that makes you to meditate in this mystery, God in flesh, coming to this world to save man from his sins.

Read the first two stanzas of this hymn.

1 Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly minded,
for, with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand.

2 King of kings, yet born of Mary,
as of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture,
in the body and the blood.
He will give to all the faithful
His own self for heav'nly food.

The last stanza is a reference of the vision of Isaiah in the temple, when God called him to be a prophet.

Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
(Isaiah 6:2-3)

 4 At His feet the six-winged seraph,
cherubim with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the Presence,
as with ceaseless voice they cry,
“Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia, Lord Most High!”

OCBC use this hymn to worship our incarnate God.
​
In His service,
Israel

Hello OCBC family,
Psalm 72:1-2 says, “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!” What a wonderful psalm. Isaac Watts, the father of the English hymn, used this psalm to write a hymn to proclaim that Jesus is the real King of the whole universe. This is a very familiar hymn for us, its name is “Jesus Shall Reign.”  

Isaac Watts was the son of a schoolmaster and was born in Southampton, July 17, 1674. He was a very intelligent boy; he learned Latin when he was four years old, and he was able to write verses when he was seven years old. In 1702 he became pastor in London. 

“Jesus Shall Reign” is a wonderful missionary hymn, but when Watts wrote this hymn there was not a great mission effort in England. Sixty years later, England sent its first missionary, William Carey, to India.

The first stanza tells us about Jesus as the real King, and His kingdom is over the whole world,
“Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does its successive journeys run,
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.”

Some churches use this hymn for Advent season, the time when Christendom is waiting for the long-expected Messiah, but we can and must use this hymn in any season, because our King, who came as baby, is coming back to this earth as the triumphant King.

“Blessings abound where'er he reigns:
the prisoners leap to lose their chains,
the weary find eternal rest,
and all who suffer want are blest.”

Please, use this hymn as part of your quiet time, rejoicing in our glorious King.

“Let every creature rise and bring
the highest honors to our King,
angels descend with songs again,
and earth repeat the loud amen.”
​
In His service,
Israel

Announcements                                                                          Pastor Shannon Whisenhunt
Adoration
- Prelude
- Psalm – Psalm 19
- “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”                                                                                      #26
Confession
- Welcome and Invocation                                                                  Pastor Hunter Hawkins
- New Testament – 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Assurance
- “Jesus Shall Reign”                                                                                                              #120
- “At the Name of Jesus”                                                                                                       #140
Thanksgiving
- Gospel – Luke 4:14-21
Petition and Intercession
- Pastoral Prayer                                                                                          Pastor Matt Jackson
- “I Need Thee Every Hour”                                                                                                  #416
Instruction from God’s Word
- Sermon                                                                                                        Pastor Matt Jackson
- “Jesus Paid It All”                                                                                                                  #281
Charge and Benediction
- Benediction
- “I’m So Glad, Jesus Lifted Me”                                                                        Worship Hymn

Hello OCBC family,
If you are following the new Bible reading plan that we just started two weeks ago, perhaps you noticed an obscure hymn, “The God of Abraham Praise.” This is a wonderful hymn to worship the God that Abraham praised a long time ago. I want to share with you some of the background story of this hymn.

The original lyrics were penned by Daniel ben Judah, a Jew that lived in Rome in the fourteenth century. He used a previous work from another Jewish man called Moses Maimonides from the twelfth century. What Daniel ben Judah did was to create a metrical form to be sung in the synagogue, for special celebrations or regular meetings; he called this hymn The Yigdal. Around 1763 or 1779, Thomas Olivers heard this hymn in the Great Synagogue of London, and because he was Christian, he rewrote the hymn with a Christian language. In fact, in the last verse, we can read or sing about the mystery of the Trinity, which was not in the original poem of Daniel ben Judah.
Meyer Lyon, was a Jewish cantor who transcribed the tune upon Olivers' request; this is the melody that we are now singing.

It is a minor key, but this doesn’t mean that this is a sad hymn, but one to sing for joy.
I encourage you to use this hymn during your quiet time, singing or reading it. I know it will be a blessing to you. Remember the words of Exodus 3: 6, “And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

The God who reigns on high
the great archangels sing,
and "Holy, holy, holy!" cry
"Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same,
and evermore shall be:
Jehovah, Lord, the great I AM,
we worship thee!"
​
In His service,
Israel

Announcements                                                                                   Pastor Hunter Hawkins
Adoration

• Prelude
• Psalm – Psalm 36:5-10
• “High in the Heav’ns, Eternal God”                                                        Worship Hymn

Confession

• Welcome and Invocation                                                                Pastor Matt Jackson
• New Testament – 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Assurance

• “To God Be the Glory”                                                                                                     #19
• “Be Still, My Soul”                                                                                                            #60

Thanksgiving

• Gospel – John 2:1-11

Petition and Intercession

• Pastoral Prayer                                                                                       Pastor Mike Holt
• “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”                                                                           #164

Instruction from God’s Word

• Sermon                                                                               Pastor Shannon Whisenhunt
• “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”                                                                    #104

Charge and Benediction

• Benediction
• “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah”                                                                           #61