Tag Archives: Apostles’ Creed

I Believe in the Life Everlasting

:::  Worship Study Guide

:::  Order of Worship

Image : Li Gang, 00002 (2012)

Preparation for Worship and Communion

“We wake, if ever we wake, to the silence of God. And then, when we wake to the deep shores of time uncreated, then when the dazzling dark breaks over the far slopes of time…then it’s time to break our necks for home.”

 Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm

Call to Worship   Psalm 90:1-2

Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

Declaration of Faith  The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.  I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.  He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into hell.  The third day He rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  From there He will come to judge the living and the dead.   I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

Song of Adoration  

:::   Holy Holy Holy (Heber)

Offering  

:::   O God Our Help In Ages Past (Watts)

Old Testament Reading  Isaiah 64:4

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

Song of Praise  

:::   Crown Him With Many Crowns (Bridges)

Sermon  I Corinthians 2:9

But, as it is written,“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him.”

:::   Sermon Audio

Preparation for the Lord’s Supper  I Corinthians 11:23-26

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’  In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

Confession of Sin  based on Heidelberg Catechism Q & 58-61 (1563)

Everlasting God, may I now experience in my heart the beginnings of eternal joy in Christ.  He alone secures my perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise You forever.  Forgive me for believing I secure my own blessedness. You alone have authority to declare that I am right with God and heir to everlasting life.  I confess that I have grievously sinned against You and all Your commandments.  I have never kept any of them.  I am inexcusably still inclined toward all evil.  Nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, You grant and credit to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me.  Heavenly Father, grant me the gift of a believing heart, resting in the eternal peace Jesus secured for me by His Cross.  Amen.

Words of Encouragement  Romans 8:31-32

If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

Songs of Response to God’s Grace

:::   My Jesus I Love Thee (Featherstone)

:::   Amazing Grace (Newton)

:::   All I Owe (M’Cheyne/Smith)

:::   When the Stars Burn Down (Lee/Riddle)

Benediction

 

I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body

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Image:  Theodoros Stamos, Infinity Field (1980-81)
The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Ordinary Time

The Christian year is anchored in the main events of the New Testament, and it provides a pattern for understanding the Christian life. We are now in the season after Pentecost, known as “Ordinary Time.” Having celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church at Pentecost, Ordinary Time signals the interim of the Church until Christ comes again in glory. Jesus is faithfully advancing His Kingdom in the power of His Spirit in this season. We anticipate the consummation of all things when Christ comes in glory as King of all.

Preparation for Worship

“A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.” 

Andrew Murray

Call to Worship   I Peter 1:3-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

Declaration of Faith   The Heidelberg Catechism, Q & A 57 (1563)

How does “the resurrection of the body” comfort you?

Not only my soul will be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head,1 but even my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like Christ’s glorious body. 2

 1 Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:21-23; 2 I Corinthians 15:20, 42-46, 54; Philippians 3:21; I John 3:2
Song of Adoration: King of Saints  (Hart/Wells)
Mission Update   WEPC Missional Community Group Network
Song of Praise:  You Will Find Me (Ripp)
Old Testament Reading   Job 19:25-27

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes —I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!

Confession of Sin

Our gracious Father, You sent Your Son to die and rise to new life in order that death might be brought to an end and that we too might live a new life. Yet foolishly, we have chosen death over life.  In our thoughts, words and deeds we have rebelled against You and Your intentions for us.  In so doing, we have broken our fellowship with You. Whose love is better than life and Whom to know is life itself.  In so doing, we have hurt others,  Sometimes unintentionally and sometimes deliberately, and have diminished their lives.  In so doing, we have damaged ourselves who have been created to reflect Your beauty.  Father, forgive us our sin for Jesus’ sake.  And grant that The Spirit that brought our crucified Lord from death to resurrection might renew us after the image of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Silent Confession 

Words of Encouragement   Ephesians 2:4-7

Because of His great love for us, God, Who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Song of Praise:  God Who Saves (Senseman)
Children’s Sermon
Sermon — Philippians 3:17-4:1

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 1Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Songs of Praise

Love Immeasurable (Long)

Psalm 130 (Luther / Miner)

Before the Throne of God Above (Smith / Cook)

Benediction

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