10-3-21 Worship Folder

ORDER OF WORSHIP

10-3-21

Greeting 

Call to Worship                                                                Psalm 135:1-2

Praise the LORD!  Praise the name of the LORD, give praise, O servants of the LORD, who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God!

Invocation 

* Hymn # 12                               “Exalt the Lord, His Praise Proclaim” 

Call to Confession                                                            Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…

Prayer of Confession 

Assurance of Pardon                                                       Hebrews 12:2

…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

* Hymn # 164                             “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” 

* Old and New Testament Scripture Reading:

Old Testament

Law: Exodus 12:33-42 (Spoiling the Egyptians’ Goods)

The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste.  For they said, “We shall all be dead.”  So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.  The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.  And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked.  Thus they plundered the Egyptians.  And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.  A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.  And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.  The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.  At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.  It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Prophets: Amos 8:11-14 (Famine of the Word)

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.  “In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.  Those who swear by the Guilt of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.”

Writings: Psalm 119:9-16 (Fixated on God’s Word)

How can a young man keep his way pure?  By guarding it according to your word.  With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!  I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.  Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!  With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.  In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.  I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.  I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

* Pastor: This is the Word of our God.

* Congregation: The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. 

Affirmation of Faith      Westminster Confession of Faith 1.VII, Word Necessary for Salvation

All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.

Pastoral Prayer 

* Hymn # 679                                   “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus” 

Tithes and Offerings

* Hymn # 585                                           “Take My Life, and Let It Be”

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.

* Prayer of Thanksgiving 

* Prayer for Illumination 

Sermon Series: Solas of the Reformation 

* Sermon Text                                                                      Hebrews 11

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For by it the people of old received their commendation.  By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.  And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.  By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.  Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.  By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.  By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.  And he went out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.  By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.  Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.  For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”  He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.  By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.  By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.  By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.  By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.  By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.  By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.  By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

And what more shall I say?  For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  Women received back their dead by resurrection.  Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.  Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.  They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

* Pastor: Thus far the reading of God’s holy Word.  And may God add His blessing to the reading of His Word.

* Congregation: Thanks be to God!

Sermon Title: “Clinging to God’s Word”             Pastor Michael Mock 

Sermon Outline: Following

Prayer for Transformation 

Lord’s Supper: “Fed by the Word”

* Eucharistic Hymn # 92                    “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” 

* Benediction 

* Departing Hymn # 735                                                   “Gloria Patri”

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.

Sermon Outline:

Sermon Text: Hebrews 11    “Clinging to God’s Word”

God’s saints cling to the Word of God for life and godliness.

Worship God (vv. 4-6)

Abel

Enoch

Will Well of Others (vv. 20-21)

Isaac

Jacob

Parents

Children

Work Heartily unto the Lord (vv. 7, 11-12)

Noah

Men

Sarah

Women

Wend through Trials (vv. 17-19, 24-26)

Abraham

Moses

Wage War against Worldliness (vv. 23, 29-31)

Israelites

Jericho

Rahab

Wait for Fulfillment (vv. 8-10, 22, 27-28, 32-40)

Abraham

Joseph

Moses

Others

What of You?