The Lord’s Day

June 7, 2009

 

Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let Your glory be above all the earth.

(Psalm 57:5)

 

Prelude

 

Musical Offering                                         Make a Joyful Noise

 

Apostolic Greeting

 

*Call to Worship                                               Psalm 118:14–16

The Lord is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.

The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous;

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

The right hand of the Lord is exalted;

The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

 

*Gloria Patri                                                                      No. 734

 

*Prayer of Invocation

 

*Hymn              This Is the Day the Lord Has Made     No. 389

 

Public Confession

We confess that You are the God of all creation and that You are the One Who heals our souls when we are in distress. O Lord, have mercy now on Your people. Forgive us for our transgressions; still our every sorrow. Let all praise and glory come from our lips to You and You alone.

 

  Words of Comfort and Assurance                        Isaiah 35:8–10

A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it; these will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

 

Response          Who Trusts in God, a Strong Abode         (facing page)

 

Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings

 

Collection of the Tithe and Offerings

 

*Doxology                                                                          No. 731

 

*Declaring Our Faith[†]                                            Sanctification

What happens when we have true faith?

We believe that this true faith, produced in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates him and makes him a “new man,” causing him to live the “new life” and freeing him from the slavery of sin.

How does our faith affect us?

Far from making people cold toward living in a pious and holy way, this justifying faith so works within them that apart from it they will never do a thing out of love for God but only out of love for themselves and fear of being condemned.

Is it possible for true faith to be unfruitful?

It is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being, seeing that we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls “faith working through love,” which leads a man to do by himself the works that God has commanded in His Word.

 

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                       Blessed Are the Undefiled                No. 557

 

*Public Reading of the Word   The Revelation of Jesus Christ 1

 

*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word

 

Sermon                  Solomon’s Ascension (part 3)          1 Kings 2

 

  Hymn            We Have not Known Thee as We Ought     No. 493

 

  Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper+

 

*Hymn                      Faithful to All Generations (following page)

 

*Benediction

 

*Threefold Amen                                                                 No. 740

 

 

* Congregation will please stand

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

 



[†] Based on The Belgic Confession (edited for use in the worship bulletin)