The Lord’s Day

March 21, 2010

 

O clap your hands, all peoples; shout to God with the voice of joy.

(Psalm 47:1)

 

 

Prelude

 

Apostolic Greeting

 

*Call to Worship     Psalm 30:1–5

I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up,

And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O Lord my God, I cried to You for help,

And You healed me.

O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;

You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones,

And give thanks to His holy name.

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime;

Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.

 

*Gloria Patri      No. 734

 

*Prayer of Invocation

 

*Hymn God, the Lord, a King Remaineth   No. 64

 

Public Confession

We come before You this day, O God, to confess our transgressions. We have stumbled at times and have used Your gift of speech to tear down. We have sometimes repaid Your mercy with selfishness toward others. Please forgive our sins and grant to us the assurance of our salvation.

 

Words of Assurance          1 John 3:23, 24

This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

 

Response Searcher of Hearts (facing page)

 

 

 

 

Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings

 

Collection of the Tithe and Offerings

 

*Doxology   No. 731

 

*Declaring Our Faith[†]    The Catechism of the Church in Geneva

In what way are we saved by faith alone?

While we embrace the promises of the gospel with heartfelt confidence, we obtain possession of the righteousness of Christ.

Once we have been embraced by God, are the works which we do under the direction of His Holy Spirit accepted by Him?

Our works are accepted and they please God.

But how can our imperfect works be pleasing to God?

God wills to cover their defects and impurities as buried in the purity of Christ. He regards them in the same light as if they were absolutely perfect.

 

Pastoral Prayer

 

*Responsive Reading      Psalm 42

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.

For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you in despair, O my soul? and why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.

O my God, my soul is in despair within me; therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; and His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life.

 

 

 

 

I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.

 

*Hymn       I Know That My Redeemer Lives    No. 690

 

*Public Reading of the Word     The Gospel of John 16:1–15

 

*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word

 

Sermon Covenant Theology:

    The Covenant of Grace (part 3): The Outcome

  Phil. 2:5–8; Gal. 3:8–14; Eph. 2:8–10

 

Hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross    No. 252

 

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper+

 

*Hymn And Can It Be That I Should Gain    No. 455

 

*Benediction

 

*Threefold Amen     No. 740

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Congregation will please stand

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



[†] Some minor modifications have been made for use in this bulletin.