251005: Worship Bulletin

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.” -Deuteronomy 6:4-6

Prelude

Welcome and Announcements

The Voluntary for Silent Prayer

*Call to Worship: Psalm 18:1-2, 49

Minister: I love you, O Lord, my strength.

People: The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Unison: For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name.

*Hymn of Adoration: “O God beyond All Praising” (No. 660)

1 O God beyond all praising, we worship you today
and sing the love amazing that songs cannot repay;
for we can only wonder at every gift you send,
at blessings without number and mercies without end:
we lift our hearts before you and wait upon your word,
we honor and adore you, our great and mighty Lord.

2 Then hear, O gracious Savior, accept the love we bring,
that we who know your favor may serve you as our King;
and whether our tomorrows be filled with good or ill,
we'll triumph through our sorrows and rise to bless you still:
to marvel at your beauty and glory in your ways,
and make a joyful duty our sacrifice of praise.

*Prayer of Adoration and Congregational Invocation

Unison: Most High God, the universe with all its myriad creatures is yours—made by your word, upheld by your power, governed by your will. But you are also the Father of mercies, the God of all grace, the bestower of comfort, the protector of the saved. You have given us your Son, our savior, Jesus Christ. We come to you in his name, pleading his perfect righteousness, his complete obedience, his suffering, his shed blood, his death, and his resurrection. We thank you that in him, we no longer dread condemnation; in him we are delivered from the power of sin; in him we live in the hope of heaven. Amen.

*Affirmation of Faith (Westminster Shorter Catechism 1, 4)

Minister: What is the chief end of man?

People: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Minister: What is God?

People: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Unison: To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

*Gloria (Tune: “Gloria Patri, Greatorex”)

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.

The Revelation of God’s Will: Ex. 20:1-17; Mt. 22:37-40

Unison: And 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.'

Minister: You shall have no other gods before me.

People: You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Minister: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

People: 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 to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

Minister: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

People: Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Minister: You shall not murder.

People: You shall not commit adultery.

Minister: You shall not steal.

People: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Minister: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’”

Unison: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength…and your neighbor as yourself.”

Minister: Have you fully obeyed the Lord in all that he has commanded?

People: No, but we have sinned against him in thought, word, and deed.

Minister: Then confess your sins. For with the Lord there is forgiveness and abundant pardon.

Hymn of Confession: “Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed” (No. 254)

1 Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die!
Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I!

2 Was it for crimes that I had done
he groaned upon the tree!
Amazing pity! Grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

3 Well might the sun in darkness hide,
and shut his glories in,
when Christ, the mighty Maker, died
for man the creature's sin.

4 Thus might I hide my blushing face
while his dear cross appears;
dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
and melt mine eyes in tears.

5 But drops of grief can ne'er repay
the debt of love I owe;
here, Lord, I give myself away,
'tis all that I can do.

Confession

Unison: Most holy and merciful Father, we acknowledge and confess before you our sinful nature, prone to evil and slothful in good, and all our shortcomings and offenses. You alone know how often we have sinned in wandering from your ways, in wasting your gifts, in forgetting your love. But, O Lord, have mercy upon us, who are ashamed and sorry for all that has displeased you. Teach us to hate our errors; cleanse us from our secret faults; and forgive our sins—for the sake of your dear Son. And O most holy and loving Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit, enable us to live in your light and walk in your ways, according to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.

Silent Meditation and Confession

Pastoral Prayer

Assurance of Pardon

Minister: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. I John 1:9-2:2

*Hymn of Thanksgiving: “Before the Throne of God Above” (SH 6)

1. Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea:
A great High Priest whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart.
I know that while in Heav'n he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart,
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

2. When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see him there,
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free,
For God the just is satisfied
To look on him and pardon me,
To look on him and pardon me.

3. Behold him there, the risen Lamb,
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace.
One with himself I cannot die;
My soul is purchased by his blood.
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God,
With Christ, my Savior and my God.

Worship of God through Tithes and Offerings

*Doxology (Tune: “Old Hundredth”)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Amen

*Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication

Reading of The Holy Scriptures: Matthew 22:34-40

Minister: This is the Word of God.

Unison: Thanks be to God for his Word!

The Prayer for Illumination

Sermon: “The Great Commandment” (Rev. Seth Wallace)

*Hymn of Response: “Take My Life, and Let It Be” (No. 585)

1 Take my life, and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise,
let them flow in ceaseless praise.

2 Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee,
swift and beautiful for thee.

3 Take my voice, and let me sing,
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from thee,
filled with messages from thee.

4 Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
ev'ry pow'r as thou shalt choose,
ev'ry pow'r as thou shalt choose.

5 Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne,
it shall be thy royal throne.

6 Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store.
Take my self, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee.

*The Benediction

Postlude

*Denotes congregation standing if able