The Lord’s Day
November 4, 2007
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
(Psalm 32:11)
Prelude
Apostolic Greeting
*Call to Worship Psalm 108:1-4
Minister: My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.
Congregation: Awake, harp and lyre; I will awaken the dawn!
Minister: I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples,
Congregation: And I will sing praises to You among the nations.
Minister: For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens,
Congregation: And Your truth reaches to the skies.
*Gloria Patri No. 734
*Prayer of Invocation
*Hymn Give to Our God Immortal Praise No. 3
Public Confession
All: Our sin prevents the rendering of unblemished lives; and our sin causes us to stray from the path of righteousness. We ask forgiveness, therefore, for wrongful thoughts and words. We ask forgiveness for the ways in which we acted out our sinful aspirations.
We ask forgiveness for choosing self over others. We ask forgiveness for counting our comfort as our chief concern. We ask forgiveness for not being ready to overlook the missteps of others and, instead, harboring ill will toward them.
Children: Dear Lord, we want to learn the way of truth and we want to live for Your glory. Forgive all our sins, we ask. Help us to be obedient children and help us to love You with our whole heart.
Words of Assurance Ephesians 4:29-32
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Response In Thee, O Lord, I Put My Trust (inside front)
Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings
Collection of the Tithe and Offerings
*Doxology No. 731
*Declaring Our Faith The Larger Catechism (69-71)
What is the communion in grace which the members of the invisible church have with Christ?
The communion in grace which the members of the invisible church have with Christ is their partaking of the virtue of His mediation in their justification, adoption, sanctification, and whatever else in this life manifests their union with Him.
What is justification?
Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners, in which He pardons all their sins, accepts and accounts their persons righteous in His sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.
How is justification an act of God’s free grace?
Although Christ, by His obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepts the satisfaction from a surety, which He might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, His own only Son, imputing His righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is His gift, their justification is to them of free grace.
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 The Heavens Declare Your Glory, Lord No. 138
*Public Reading of the Word 2 Corinthians 8
*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word
Sermon Matthew 12:22-32
Hymn Fairest Lord Jesus No. 170
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper+
*Hymn Join All the Glorious Names No. 301
*Benediction
*Threefold Amen No. 740
* Congregation will please stand
+ Visitors: please see the note on the back of this bulletin