The Lord’s Day
March 30, 2008
You have delivered my soul from death, indeed my feet from stumbling,
so that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
(Psalm 56:13)
Prelude
Apostolic Greeting
*Call to Worship Psalm 31:1–3
In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be ashamed;
In Your righteousness deliver me.
Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me.
For You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
*Gloria Patri No. 734
*Prayer of Invocation
*Hymn God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength No. 40
Public Confession
We ask for forgiveness for the hasty words we have spoken. We pray that You would cause our speech to heal, rather than harm. We ask for forgiveness as we remember the lack of compassion in our lives. We pray that You would fill us with mercy, as we have been shown mercy.
We ask for forgiveness as we remember those wicked thoughts we conceived. We pray that You would purify our minds and fill us with devotion to all that is good. We ask for forgiveness for our ill treatment of others. Please make us people eager to serve one another.
Words of Assurance Romans 8:9, 10
You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Response My Faith Looks Up to Thee (facing page)
Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings
Collection of the Tithe and Offerings
*Doxology No. 731
*Declaring Our Faith The Larger Catechism (51, 52)
What was the estate of Christ’s exaltation?
The estate of Christ’s exaltation comprehends His resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and His coming again to judge the world.
How was Christ exalted in His resurrection?
Christ was exalted in His resurrection in that, not having seen corruption in death, and having the very same body in which He suffered, with the essential properties thereof, really united to His soul, He rose again from the dead the third day by His own power; whereby He declared Himself to be the Son of God, to have satisfied divine justice, to have vanquished death, and him that had the power of it, and to be Lord of quick and dead.
Pastoral Prayer
*Responsive Reading Proverbs 22:16–29
He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge;
For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,
That they may be ready on your lips.
So that your trust may be in the Lord, I have taught you today, even you.
Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge, to make you know the certainty of the words of truth that you may correctly answer him who sent you?
Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
Or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the Lord will plead their case and take the life of those who rob them.
Do not associate with a man given to anger;
Or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself.
Do not be among those who give pledges, among those who become guarantors for debts.
If you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take your bed from under you?
Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set.
Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
Hymn Christ, of All My Hopes the Ground No. 518
*Public Reading of the Word Philippians 1
*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word
Sermon Matthew 16:13–20
*Hymn O Christ, Our Hope, Our Heart’s Desire No. 161
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper+
*Hymn O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing No. 164
*Benediction
*Threefold Amen No. 740
* Congregation will please stand
+ Visitors: please see the note on the back of this bulletin