The Lord’s Day

December 31, 2006

  Prelude

  Apostolic Greeting

*Call to Worship                                                       Psalm 95:1-6

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

*Gloria Patri                                                                        No. 734

Glory be to the Father,

And to the Son,

And to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning,

Is now, and ever shall be,

World without end. Amen, Amen.

*Prayer of Invocation

*Hymn           O Come, My Soul, Bless Thou the Lord        No. 6

  Public Confession

We rejoice in the truth of the Triune God!

You have accomplished our redemption, and You have secured us forever.

Hear now this confession of sin.

Forgive us as those whose debt has been paid.

Forgive our words that wounded and did not build up.

Forgive the thoughts that were without charity.

Forgive us for withholding mercy when a need was revealed.

Forgive us for selfishly holding to what was freely given to us.

Let us be glad in our salvation,

And let our lives be the means of Your glory in this world.

  Words of Assurance                                            1 Peter 1:14-19

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

  Response                             Psalm 136B                  (inside front)

  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              Westminster Confession (Christian Liberty)

What liberty is ours in Christ?

The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin and condemning wrath of God, the curse of the moral law, and in their being delivered from this present evil world, bondage to Satan, and dominion of sin; from the evil of afflictions, the sting of death, the victory of the grave, and everlasting damnation.

How does this differ from what the saints of the Old Testament enjoyed?

Under the New Testament, the liberty of Christians is further enlarged in their freedom from the yoke of the ceremonial law, to which the Jewish Church was subjected; and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God.

What caution must always accompany this doctrine of liberty in Christ?

They who, upon pretense of Christian liberty, do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty, which is that, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.

  Pastoral Prayer

*Responsive Reading                                                       Psalm 15

O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?

Who may dwell on Your holy hill?

He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart.

He does not slander with his tongue,

Nor does evil to his neighbor,

Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;

In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord;

He swears to his own hurt and does not change; 

He does not put out his money at interest,

Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken. 

*Hymn                  The Law of the Lord Is Perfect           No. 152

*Public Reading of the Word                                               2 John

*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word

  Sermon

  Hymn                    Break Thou the Bread of Life             No. 146

  Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper⁺

*Hymn                Stand Up, O God, Be Present Now           No. 71

*Benediction

*Threefold Amen                                                                 No. 740

* Congregation will please stand

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