Order of Worship
Sunday, August 23, 2020
We extend a warm welcome to all our visitors this morning! Visitors, please complete the Welcome card in the pew rack and put it in the offering plate, so we may know how best to minister to/with you. Let’s prepare our hearts with silent Bible reading, meditation, and prayer before the service begins.
PRAISE (We Acknowledge God’s Majesty)
PRELUDE Lord Have Mercy
*HYMN OF PRAISE All My Ways Are Known To You
*CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 51:15-17
All: O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
*PRAISE SONGS Only A Holy God
Oh Help My Unbelief
*INVOCATION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Leader: Almighty God, Maker of All things, visible and invisible: You sustain our every heart beat and breath—and our times are in Your hands. You are the only One to whom we may look and find true and lasting light, life and love. To You we come with our praise for Your worthiness; to You we come with the confession of our unworthiness; to You we come in with our cry for mercy and grace in Christ.
All: Your Word tells us that our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately sick—and in our thoughts and by our actions we know this is true! We are grieved that in our sin we boast from our hearts as if all that we have is ours by our own efforts. Our hearts are broken because, even as You bless us with your grace and good gifts, we then boast in these gifts instead of in You. Forgive us, Lord God, for such boasting! Forgive us, O Father, that we are still so easily satisfied with the glitter of things instead of the glory of grace.
Leader: O Lord our God, have mercy on us! As our heavenly Father, hear us as we confess our sin—and in your compassion and love through Christ our Lord forgive us!
All: Give us repentant hearts where we are stubborn and defiant; melt us in sorrow for trusting in the idols of our hearts; raise us by Your Spirit to the heights of Your throne, where by faith we see and savor the riches of Your grace! Cause us to boast in the glorious truth that You have brought us to know You and caused us to love You through Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. Teach us not merely to hate our sin but especially to love You with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!
Leader: In your mercy forgive us for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ, whom alone by Your grace we claim as our righteousness. Give, indeed, the grace You have promised, that we may boast alone in You and the cross of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in Whose Name alone we count our worth and satisfy our souls.
All: Amen!
SILENT CONFESSION
ASSURANCE OF PARDON Isaiah 53:6
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
CONSECRATION (We Surrender Our Lives to Christ)
*Psalm 35 (vv. 1-8 tune: When I Survey The Wondrous Cross)
THE OFFERING 1 Timothy 6:9
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”
Doxology: Hymnal, p. 733
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise Him, all creatures here below: alleluia, alleluia! Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Brian Boyer
SCRIPTURE TEXT Psalm 35
SERMON “Walking in Protection” John Armstrong
*HYMN 710 God Of Our Fathers
*BENEDICTION
*POSTLUDE Lord Have Mercy
For 2020, we are continuing to provide a basic Family Worship plan to help enable our families more regularly worship together during the week. In each weekly bulletin, we will provide a Daily Bible Reading plan from “M’Cheyne Daily Bible Reading Plan”, weekly questions from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and a hymn for you to learn together.
Week 34:
Weekly Hymn: 529 Divine Love, All Loves Excelling
https://youtu.be/J-6PMvgJHG0
Shorter Catechism–
- Q67 Which is the sixth commandment? /
Answer: The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.
- Q68 What is required in the sixth commandment? /
Answer: The sixth commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life, and the life of others.
Bible Reading:
Mon –8/24 – 1 Samuel 18, Romans 16, Lamentations 3, Psalms 34
Tue – 8/25 – 1 Samuel 19, 1 Corinthians 1, Lamentations 4, Psalms 35
Wed – 8/26 – 1 Samuel 20, 1 Corinthians 2, Lamentations 5, Psalms 36
Thurs – 8/27 – 1 Samuel 21, 22, 1 Corinthians 3, Ezekiel 1, Psalms 37
Fri – 8/28 – 1 Samuel 23, 1 Corinthians 4, Ezekiel 2, Psalms 38
Sat – 8/29 – 1 Samuel 24, 1 Corinthians 5, Ezekiel 3, Psalms 39
Sun – 8/30 – 1 Samuel 25, 1 Corinthians 6, Ezekiel 4, Psalms 40, 41
A Look at Next Week
Sermon Text: Psalm 36
Praise Music: His Mercy is More
Lord Have Mercy
Hymns: Psalm 36 (Manoah)
529 Divine Love, All Loves Excelling
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Hearing assistance and large print pew Bibles are available during the worship service. Please contact an usher for assistance.
Women in the Church – All women in the church are invited to participate in an upcoming new Women’s Bible study on the book of I Peter – A Living Hope in Christ by Jen Wilkin. Our inheritance through Christ is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. In 1 Peter, a man of faith and flaws and eyewitness to the life of Christ challenges us to look beyond our current circumstances to a future inheritance. He shares his concerns on big picture issues for the early church, describes believers’ true identity in Christ, and ultimately helps readers discover what it means to experience the Living Hope they have in Christ.
We will utilize Zoom video conferencing to conduct the study. Our first study will be Monday, September 14th at 6:30 pm and will continue to meet the 2nd & 4th Mondays of the month. The study book is available on Amazon.
If you have any questions, please contact Christine Stalnaker (CStalnaker786@cs.com)
You are Invited! Small Groups for Fall – Our small groups will each be studying “The Small Group and the Vine: Foundational Training for Group Leaders.” You don’t have to be a small group leader to get a lot out of this great study. Learning what makes a good study will help make you a better student. These studies will begin in mid-September, meeting bi-weekly, and they will be done before Thanksgiving. The various groups will be meeting at different dates and times which hopefully will allow for you to find a group that fits your schedule. We will be offering both in-person and online options as much as possible.
Youth Group – We will start our Fall Youth program September 13th. Please mark your calendar. More information will follow soon, it is a new beginning, with new people, and a new format.
Youth Group Meals – If you would like to provide a meal for the Youth Group beginning Sunday, September 20th, please sign up in the Narthex or send an email to: bwilson@faithreformed.org.
