The Lord’s Day
August 3, 2008
The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.
(Psalm 126:3)
Prelude
Apostolic Greeting
*Call to Worship Psalm 100
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.
*Gloria Patri No. 734
*Prayer of Invocation
*Hymn Psalm 100B (page 5)
Public Confession
We thank You, Father in heaven, for saving our souls and for putting us on the pathway of truth and righteousness. Forgive us, therefore, when we speak or act as if we did not love Your Word or desire to live by it. Forgive us for thinking wrongly of ourselves and others. Forgive us for misjudging Your works and the ministry of the Spirit who dwells in all of us. Cause our selfishness to be overcome by charity. Cause our love for truth to grow day by day and our attraction to sin to be put to death in our Savior.
Words of Assurance Colossians 3:1-3
If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Response O for a Closer Walk with God (facing page)
Prayer for the Tithe and Offerings
Collection of the Tithe and Offerings
*Doxology No. 731
*Declaring Our Faith The Larger Catechism (193)
What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
In the fourth petition (which is: Give us this day our daily bread), we acknowledge that in Adam and by our own sin, we have forfeited our right to all the outward blessings of this life. We acknowledge that we deserve to be wholly deprived of them by God, and to have them cursed to us in the use of them. We acknowledge that they of themselves are not able to sustain us. We acknowledge further that by our own industry, we are unable to procure God’s blessings. And because we are prone to desire, get, and use them unlawfully, we pray for ourselves and others that both they and we, waiting upon the providence of God from day to day in the use of lawful means, may, of His free gift, and as to His fatherly wisdom shall seem best, enjoy a competent portion of His blessings, and have the same continued and blessed unto us in our holy and comfortable use of them, and contentment in them. We pray that we will be kept from all things that are contrary to our temporal support and comfort.
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 The Heavens Declare Your Glory, Lord No. 138
*Public Reading of the Word 1 Timothy 3
*Prayer for the Ministry of the Word
Sermon Matthew 21:33-41
Hymn Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted No. 257
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper+
*Hymn All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name! No. 297
*Benediction
*Threefold Amen No. 740
* Congregation will please stand
+ Visitors: Please see the note on the back of this bulletin