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image : John, Richard & Laurence, Fairfield Porter (c.1950)
Preparation for Worship
“Christianity entered history as a new world order, a new social dimension. From the very beginning Christianity was not primarily a doctrine, but a community. There was not only a Message to be proclaimed, there was a New Community, distinct and peculiar, in the process of growth and formation, to which members were called. Indeed, ‘fellowship’ (koinonia) was the basic category of Christian existence.”
Georges Florovsky
Call to Worship Psalm 65:1-4
Praise awaits You, our God, in Zion;
to You our vows will be fulfilled.
You who answer prayer,
to You all people will come.
When we were overwhelmed by sins,
You forgave our transgressions.
Blessed are those You choose
and bring near to live in Your courts!
We are filled with the good things of Your house,
of Your holy temple.
Come & Welcome (Thomas Haweis, 1792)
Covenant Baptism
Mission UpdateReformed University Fellowship at Virginia Tech
The Ministry of Prayer
By Thy Mercy (James John Cummins, 1839)
audio / score / history
Old Testament Reading — Isaiah 49:8-9,25
This is what the Lord says: “In the time of My favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’…” This is what the Lord says: “Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save.”
For All the Saints (William Walsham How, 1864)
We Confess Our Sin Together
Almighty and merciful Father, You have called us to be Your desired followers and have made us one family. Yet we have not lived as one. We have not loved You and one another as You command. Selfish ambition has gripped us, and we have failed to look out for others’ interests above our own. We have not treated one another as those in whom Christ dwells. Conceit has gripped us, and we have failed to associate with and care for those who are different from ourselves. Pride has gripped us, and we sought to control You, the Lord. Forgive us for our sins against You. Go on to subdue everything in us that is contrary to Your purposes. By the power of your Spirit make us a community that is eager to do Your will and walk in Your ways. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God Declares Our ForgivenessEphesians 2:12-13
Remember that you were once separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Sermon — Mark 3:13-35
13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot,19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
The Church’s One Foundation (Samuel Stone, 1866)
In Christ Alone (Getty & Townend, 1997)
We Exalt Thee (Psalm 97:6)
Benediction
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Sermon Audio
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