260118: Worship Guide

Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. James 1:22

Prelude

Welcome and Announcements

The Voluntary for Silent Prayer

*Call to Worship: Psalm 119:12-16

Minister: Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!

People: With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.

Minister: In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

People: I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

Unison: I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

*Hymn of Adoration: “How Firm a Foundation” (No. 94)

1 How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!
What more can he say than to you he has said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

2 "Fear not, I am with you, O be not dismayed;
for I am your God, and will still give you aid;
I'll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

3 "When through the deep waters I call you to go,
the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
for I will be with you, your troubles to bless,
and sanctify to you your deepest distress.

4 "When through fiery trials your pathway shall lie,
my grace, all-sufficient, shall be your supply;
the flame shall not hurt you; I only design
your dross to consume and your gold to refine.

5 "E'en down to old age all my people shall prove
my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
and when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne.

6 "The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
that soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake.

*Prayer of Adoration and Congregational Invocation

Unison: We bless you, our Creator, Sustainer, Teacher, for opening to us the volume of nature where we may read and consider your works. But you have also spread before us the fuller pages of revelation, and in them we see what you would have us do, what you have done for us, what you have promised to us, and what you have given us in Jesus. May we enter him as our refuge, build on him as our foundation, walk in him as our way, follow him as our guide, conform to him as our example, receive his instructions as our prophet, rely on his intercession as our high priest, and obey him as our king. We come to you in his name. Amen.

Adapted from The Valley of Vision

*Affirmation of Faith: Westminster Larger Catechism 157

Minister: How is the Word of God to be read?

People: The Holy Scriptures are to be read with a high and reverent esteem of them; with a firm persuasion that they are the very Word of God, and that he alone can enable us to understand them; with desire to know, believe, and obey the will of God revealed in them; with diligence, and attention to the matter and scope of them; with meditation, application, self-denial, and prayer.

Unison: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!

*Gloria (Tune: “Lancashire”)

O Word of God Incarnate, O Wisdom from on high,
O Truth unchanged, unchanging, we praise and magnify.
We glorify you, Savior. With joy, your words we sing,
And honor you forever, our Prophet, Priest, and King.

The Psalter Reading: Psalm 139

Minister: O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.

People: You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Minister: You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

People: Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

Minister: You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.

People: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Minister: Where can I go from your Spirit?

People: Where can I flee from your presence?

Minister: If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

People: if I make my bed in the depths , you are there.

Minister: If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

People: even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Minister: If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”

People: even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Minister: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

People: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Minister: your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

People: My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

Minister: When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

People: All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Minister: How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

People: How vast is the sum of them!

Minister: Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.

People: When I awake, I am still with you.

Minister: If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

People: They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.

Minister: Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?

People: I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

Minister: Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

People: See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

*Hymn of Response: “All That I Am Owe to Thee” (No. 37, Tune: “Old Hundredth”)

1 All that I am I owe to thee;
thy wisdom, Lord, has fashioned me.
I give my Maker thankful praise,
whose wondrous works my soul amaze.

2 Ere into being I was brought,
thine eye did see, and in thy thought
my life in all its perfect plan
was ordered ere my days began.

3 Thy thoughts, O God, how manifold,
more precious unto me than gold!
I muse on their infinity,
awaking I am still with thee.

4 The wicked thou wilt surely slay;
from me let sinners turn away.
They speak against the name divine;
I count God's enemies as mine.

5 Search me, O God, my heart discern;
try me, my inmost thought to learn;
and lead me, if in sin I stray,
to choose the everlasting way.

Congregational Prayers

Unison: Our Father, we thank you for the Gospel! You have led us to embrace it, and you have given us a partnership in it. Thank you that you, who have begun this good work in us, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And so we pray that our love may abound yet more and more in all knowledge and discernment, so that we may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. from Philippians 1:3-11

A Season of Prayer for the President, Congress and Supreme Court and all elected officials

A Season of Prayer for the Sanctity of Life

For the Unborn
For the Aged
For the Infirm
For the Victims of War, Disaster, and Injustice

A Season of Prayer for Care Net

Pastoral Prayer

Words of Encouragement

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

(Ephesians 6:10-18)

*Hymn of Adoration: “O Church, Arise” (SH No. 2)

1 O Church, arise, and put your armor on;
Hear the call of Christ our captain.
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth,
We’ll stand against the devil’s lies.
An army bold, whose battle cry is Love,
Reaching out to those in darkness.

2 Our call to war, to love the captive soul,
But to rage against the captor;
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole,
We will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on every side,
We know the outcome is secure.
And Christ will have the prize for which He died:
An inheritance of nations.

3 Come, see the cross, where love and mercy meet,
As the Son of God is stricken;
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet,
For the Conqueror has risen!
And as the stone is rolled away,
And Christ emerges from the grave,
This victory march continues till the day
Ev’ry eye and heart shall see Him.

4 So Spirit, come, put strength in every stride;
Give grace for every hurdle,
That we may run with faith to win the prize
Of a servant good and faithful.
As saints of old, still line the way,
Retelling triumphs of His grace,
We hear their calls, and hunger for the day
When with Christ we stand in Glory.

Worship of God through Tithes and Offerings

*Doxology (Tune: “Lasst Uns Erfreuen”)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
alleluia, alleluia!
Praise him above, ye heav'nly host,
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;
O praise him; O praise him; alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

*Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication

*Reading of The Holy Scriptures: Matthew 23:1-12

Minister: This is the Word of God.

Unison: Thanks be to God for his Word!

*The Prayer for Illumination

Sermon: “They Preach, But Do Not Practice” (Rev. Seth Wallace)

*Hymn of Response: “May the Mind of Christ My Savior” (No. 644)

1 May the mind of Christ my Savior
live in me from day to day,
by his love and pow'r controlling
all I do and say.

2 May the Word of God dwell richly
in my heart from hour to hour,
so that all may see I triumph
only through his pow'r.

3 May the peace of God my Father
rule my life in everything,
that I may be calm to comfort
sick and sorrowing.

4 May the love of Jesus fill me
as the waters fill the sea;
him exalting, self abasing,
this is victory.

5 May his beauty rest upon me
as I seek the lost to win,
and may they forget the channel,
seeing only him.

*Benediction

Postlude

*Denotes congregation standing, if able.