The Lord’s Day
May 4, 2008
I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You.
So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
(Psalm 63:2-4)
Prelude
Apostolic Greeting
*Call to Worship Psalm 37:7-9
Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath;
Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off,
But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
*Gloria Patri No. 734
*Prayer of Invocation
*Hymn God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength No. 40
Public Confession
We confess that You alone are God Most High. We also know that You are a God of abundant compassion. We thank You for calling us as Your people in Christ. We thank You for the complete and abiding character of our salvation.
We know that nothing is hidden from You—not our thoughts, not our words, not our steps. We know also that we have sinned against You this past week. We have sinned on purpose and we have sinned through ignorance. Forgive our many transgressions, O Lord. Remember the One who gave Himself for us. Enable us to live for His glory.
Words of Assurance John 3:14-16
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Response Praise Jehovah, All Ye Nations (inside front)
Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings
Collection of the Tithe and Offerings
*Doxology No. 731
*Declaring Our Faith The Larger Catechism (170, 171)
How do they that worthily communicate in the Lord’s Supper feed upon the body and blood of Christ therein?
As the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper and yet are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses; so they that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper do therein feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal and carnal, but in a spiritual manner; yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of His death.
How are they that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to prepare themselves before they come unto it?
They that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper are, before they come, to prepare themselves thereunto, by examining themselves of their being in Christ, of their sins and wants; of the truth and measure of their knowledge, faith, repentance; love to God and the brethren, charity to all men, forgiving those that have done them wrong; of their desires after Christ, and of their new obedience; and by renewing the exercise of these graces, by serious meditation and fervent prayer.
Pastoral Prayer
*Responsive Reading The Law of God
Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.”
For us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. (1 Corinthians 8:6)
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
Little children, guard yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.’” (Matthew 6:9)
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. (Hebrews 4:9, 10)
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”
Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)
“You shall not murder.”
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Romans 13:8, 9)
“You shall not commit adultery.”
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Hebrews 13:4)
“You shall not steal.”
Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. (Ephesians 4:25)
“You shall not covet.”
Do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints. (Ephesians 5:3)
*Hymn Forever Settled in the Heavens No. 59
*Public Reading of the Word Colossians 2
*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word
Sermon
Hymn Jesus, My Great High Priest No. 306
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper+
*Hymn What Shall I Render to My God No. 637
*Benediction
*Threefold Amen No. 740
* Congregation will please stand
+ Visitors: please see the note on the back of this bulletin