The Lord’s Day

July 29, 2007

  Prelude

  Apostolic Greeting

*Call to Worship                                                 Psalm 77:11-15

Minister: I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;

Congregation: Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

Minister: I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds.

Congregation: Your way, O God, is holy; what god is great like our God?

Minister: You are the God who works wonders and You have made known Your strength among the peoples.

Congregation: You have by Your power redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

*Gloria Patri                                                                      No. 734

*Prayer of Invocation

*Hymn                Lord, Our Lord, In All the Earth           (inside front)

Give Praise to God       (previous page)

  Public Confession

All: Our hearts are filled with praise, heavenly Father, as we recall Your goodness and grace. We have been delivered from sin and made to dwell as children of light. Our sin, therefore, troubles us, so we make this confession.

Forgive us for our pride and conceit. Forgive us for our lack of complete honesty in all our relationships. Forgive us for failing to help another when You presented the opportunity.

Forgive us for sinful anger, for uncharitable opinions, and for counting ourselves more important than others. Forgive us for complacency and for not being thankful for what You have provided in our families and our church.

By Your Spirit, work in us so that we desire to excel in righteous living and demonstrations of grace to one another. Make us merciful people in all situations.

Children: Our Father in heaven, forgive us for not obeying quickly and happily. Forgive us for complaining, and make us thankful for all You have given us.

Words of Assurance                                      Colossians 2:13-14

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

 Response                      Searcher of Hearts           (inside back)

  Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings

  Collection of the Tithe and Offerings

*Doxology                                                                          No. 731

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host:

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen.

*Declaring Our Faith The Larger Catechism (36, 37)

Who is the Mediator of the covenant of grace?

The only Mediator of the covenant of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, of one substance and equal with the Father, in the fullness of time became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two entire distinct natures, and one person, forever.

How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

Christ the Son of God became man by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance, and born of her, yet without sin.

  Pastoral Prayer

*Responsive Reading                                      Proverbs 12:1-14

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,

But he who hates reproof is stupid.

A good man will obtain favor from the Lord,

But He will condemn a man who devises evil.

A man will not be established by wickedness,

But the root of the righteous will not be moved.

An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,

But she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.

The thoughts of the righteous are just,

But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,

But the mouth of the upright will deliver them.

The wicked are overthrown and are no more,

But the house of the righteous will stand.

A man will be praised according to his insight,

But one of perverse mind will be despised.

Better is he who is lightly esteemed and has a servant than he who honors himself and lacks bread.

A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal, but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.

He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,

But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense.

The wicked man desires the booty of evil men,

But the root of the righteous yields fruit.

An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips,

But the righteous will escape from trouble.

A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his words,

And the deeds of a man’s hands will return to him.

*Hymn                         We Are God’s People                  No. 355

*Public Reading of the Word                          1 Corinthians 12

*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word

  Sermon                                                            Matthew 9:27-38

  Hymn                      Come unto Me, Ye Weary               No. 482

  Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper⁺

*Hymn                           Lift High the Cross                    No. 263

*Benediction

*Threefold Amen                                                               No. 740

* Congregation will please stand

⁺ Visitors: please see the note on the back of this bulletin