Labels: Orders of Worship, Worship Services
¶ 4:47 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
The long Prayer
Labels: Orders of Worship, Worship Services
¶ 5:44 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Orders of Worship, Worship Services
¶ 5:57 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Orders of Worship, Worship Services
¶ 7:55 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Orders of Worship, Worship Services
¶ 5:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Orders of Worship, Worship Services
¶ 7:40 PM 0 Comments Links to this postThe Scriptures present us in the morning with the themes of our entering the true tabernacle in heaven through Jesus, Spirit-given humility and joy, and how true grace and blessing are given by God alone so that all human imitation falls short.
The Scriptures present us in the evening with the themes of how God saves us that we might praise Him, how God saves sinners because of His everlasting love, and how worship is the goal of all thinking about God.
Of course, we will also sing and pray the thoughts of God after Him.
Labels: Orders of Worship, Worship Guides, Worship Services
¶ 7:32 PM 0 Comments Links to this postThe Scriptures present us in the morning with the themes of Jesus as God's mercy seat for us, how Jesus' kingdom is alive and almighty even when it seems hidden, and how God's grace to us in Jesus is so complete that nothing can be added to it and so real that it cannot be faked by man.
The Scriptures present us in the evening with the themes of Jesus' owning all of our thoughts, words, and actions; God's great blessing to us in Jesus and for Jesus' sake; and, how God's unstoppable love for sinners should soften our hearts toward all sinners.
Of course, we will also sing and pray the thoughts of God after Him
Labels: Orders of Worship, Worship Guides, Worship Services
¶ 6:15 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Orders of Worship, Worship Guides, Worship Services
¶ 1:25 AM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Booklet, Worship Guides, Worship Services
¶ 5:36 PM 0 Comments Links to this post(Note: Heather continues to be kept at the hospital because of high blood pressure and limited bowel function; if Heather and the twins aren't released from the hospital by tomorrow morning, there will be no baptism in morning worship)
Labels: Prayer Requests, Worship Guides, Worship Services
¶ 7:08 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Booklet, Worship Services
¶ 9:18 AM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Announcements, Worship Services
¶ 4:06 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Booklet, Worship Services
¶ 9:15 AM 0 Comments Links to this postThe worship booklet for the day after tomorrow [is online].
Labels: Worship Booklet, Worship Services
¶ 3:08 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Booklet, Worship Services
¶ 7:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Booklet, Worship Services
¶ 3:08 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 8:11 AM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 4:09 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 7:44 AM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 12:11 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 6:22 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 12:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Announcements, Worship Services
¶ 7:24 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 5:14 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 5:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 3:47 PM 0 Comments Links to this postThe Lord’s Day, December 7, 2008
Morning Worship, 10a.m.
Call to Worship and Prayer – Psalm 100
Confession of Faith – Westminster Shorter Catechism 1-4, p869
*Song – #265, Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain · #296, All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name!
Serial Reading – Isaiah 46
*Songs – #647, How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds · #648, My Jesus, I Love Thee
Prayer
Sermon – Text, Romans 6:19-23 · Message, Fruitful Freedom
*Prayer and Benediction
*Song – #648, My Jesus, I Love Thee, v4
Evening Worship, 6p.m.
Call to Worship and Prayer – Heb 1:10-12
*Song – Handout #186, I Will Exalt My God, My King
Serial Reading – Matthew 23
*Songs – handout #272, You Are Our God; We Are Your People
Prayer
Sermon – Text, Genesis 16 · Message, False Start, pt2
*Song – #719, A Christian Home · #246, Man of Sorrows! What a Name
The Lord’s Supper
*Benediction
*Song – Handout #214, Glory to God
*Congregation standing as they are able
You are invited to fellowship with us downstairs after each worship service!
Labels: Worship Services
¶ 1:41 PM 0 Comments Links to this postThe Lord’s Day, November 30, 2008
Morning Worship, 10a.m.
Call to Worship and Prayer – Psalm 99:1-5
Confession of Faith – Westminster Shorter Catechism 8-10, p870
*Song – #122, God, All Nature Sings Thy Glory
Serial Reading – Isaiah 45
*Songs – #700, Come, We That Love the Lord · #478, I Love to Tell the Story · #460, Amazing Grace
Prayer
Sermon – Text, Romans 6:15-18 · Message, Emancipation Proclamation
*Prayer and Benediction
*Song – #478, I Love to Tell the Story, v4
Evening Worship, 6p.m.
Call to Worship and Prayer – Heb 1:1-4
*Song – #274, Thine Be the Glory
Serial Reading – Matthew 22
*Songs – handout #272, You Are Our God; We Are Your People · handout #214, Glory to God · handout #186, I Will Exalt My God, My King
Prayer
Sermon – Text, Genesis 16 · Message, False Start
*Prayer and Benediction
*Song – #274, Thine Be the Glory, v3
You are invited to fellowship with us downstairs after each worship service!
*Congregation standing as they are able
Labels: Worship Services
¶ 4:58 PM 0 Comments Links to this postDeclaration of Intent and Prayer for Help
We used Psalm 111 here, noting its ordering of thanksgiving around creation, providence, and redemption.Devotional on Creation—Revelation 4
Creation is an expression of God's glory that calls us to worship and obey HimSong of Praise for Creation—#110, Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah
Creation is an expression of God's glory that gives us confidence in His power to save
Creation is an expression of God's glory that will continue to call forth praise to His worthiness not just for the rest of this life, but forever and ever
Prayer of Thanksgiving for Creation
Devotional on Providence—Jonah 4
God's providence is excellent (plant better than booth)Song of Praise for Providence—#131, Children of the Heavenly Father
God's providence is intentional (appointed x3)
God's providence is tender (His care for all His creatures, even unbelievers, even cattle)
Prayer of Thanksgiving for Providence
Devotional on Redemption—Titus 3:1-8
Salvation of great sinners by great grace alone ought to move us to continual gratitudeSongs of Praise for Redemption—#80, Lord, with Glowing Heart I’d Praise Thee
Salvation of great sinners by great grace alone ought to result in our being the best citizens there are
Prayer of Thanksgiving for Redemption
Benevolence Offering (see envelope and descriptions inside)
Devotional on Intercession for Our Nation—Jeremiah 29:4-7
As aliens exiled in the foreign land of the USA we should seek the welfare of our nation by participating in its economic lifeSong of Intercession for Our Nation—From Ocean unto Ocean (folded insert)
As aliens exiled in the foreign land of the USA we should seek the welfare of our nation by participating in its social life, especially multiplying image-bearers through godly marriages and godly children
As aliens exiled in the foreign land of the USA we should seek the welfare of our nation by praying for it, and especially for its spiritual good
Prayer for God’s Mercy on Our Nation
Song of Response—#731, Doxology
Labels: Prayer Meetings, Worship Services
¶ 3:03 PM 0 Comments Links to this postThe Lord’s Day, November 23, 2008
Morning Worship, 10a.m.
Call to Worship and Prayer – Psalm 96:1-9
*Song – #119, I Sing the Mighty Power of God
Confession of Faith – Westminster Shorter Catechism 8-10, p870
Serial Reading – Isaiah 44
*Songs – #252, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross · #253, There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood · #254, Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed
Prayer
Sermon – Text, Romans 6:12-14 · Message, Under Grace
*Prayer and Benediction
*Song – #253, There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood, vv3,5
Evening Worship, 6p.m.
Prayer and Call to Worship – Titus 3:4-7
*Song – #172, Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder
Serial Reading – Matthew 21
*Songs – handout #272, You Are Our God; We Are Your People · handout #214, Glory to God · handout #186, I Will Exalt My God, My King
Prayer
Sermon – Text, Genesis 15:7-20 · Message, How Can We Know?
*Song – #128, God Moves in a Mysterious Way
*Prayer and Benediction
*Song – (same tune as #128) Psalm 121:7-8
7The Lord shall keep thee from all ill; He shall preserve thy soul.
8The Lord as thou shalt go and come forever keeps thee whole.
Labels: Worship Services
¶ 2:08 PM 0 Comments Links to this postThe Lord’s Day, November 16, 2008
Morning Worship, 10a.m.
*Prayer and Call to Worship – Psalm 95
*Confession of Faith – Westminster Shorter Catechism 7-8, p869-870
*Songs – #119, I Sing the Mighty Power of God · #110, Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah · #42, El-Shaddai
Serial Reading – Isaiah 43
*Prayer
Sermon – Text, Romans 6:8-11 · Message, Be What You Are
*Song – #528, My Faith Looks Up to Thee, v1-3
*Prayer and Benediction
*Song – #528, My Faith Looks Up to Thee, v4
Evening Worship, 6p.m.
*Prayer and Call to Worship – Titus 2:11-14
*Songs – handout #272, You Are Our God; We Are Your People · handout #186, I Will Exalt My God, My King · handout #214, Glory to God
Serial Reading – Matthew 20
*Prayer
Sermon – Text, Genesis 15:1-6 · Message, Killing Fear
*Song – #128, God Moves in a Mysterious Way
*Prayer and Benediction
*Song – (same tune as #128) Psalm 121:7-8
7The Lord shall keep thee from all ill; He shall preserve thy soul.
8The Lord as thou shalt go and come forever keeps thee whole.
You are invited to fellowship with us downstairs after each worship service!
*Congregation standing as they are able
Labels: Worship Services
¶ 3:39 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 5:30 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 1:59 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 11:58 AM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 5:42 AM 0 Comments Links to this postWhatever it is, a pdf of it is available [here].
Labels: Worship Services
¶ 3:35 PM 0 Comments Links to this postLabels: Worship Services
¶ 3:40 PM 0 Comments Links to this postI know you cannot tell from this week, but I am endeavoring to get this published earlier in the week, so we can prepare better for the Lord's Day. Parents with children in 3rd-9th grades should note that if in family worship you sing the suggested psalms and hymns from the catechism class handout each week, you will be preparing and practicing for the singing in the coming week's Lord's Day assemblies.
On to the worship guides...
Guide to the Morning Service
Like last week, our call to worship this morning is Is 58:13-14. One thing that bothers many of us is how little we seem to be able to delight in God Himself both apart from and central to our delight in His gifts. Indeed, though everything in the garden was delightful, God set apart the Sabbath to Himself as a day to rest from delighting Him in other ways and instead focus on delighting directly in Him Himself. If we would be sure that our delight in all other things is part of our delighting in God, then let us call His Sabbath a delight, and so delight in Him! Just as Jesus is the center of all delighting in God, we see Him asserting Himself as Lord of the Sabbath, then after His resurrection intentionally setting the first day of the week aside as a day when He gathers to Himself His own that they may delight in Him, so that by Revelation, John can assume that all Christians know what he means by “the Lord’s day.”
Our first song, O Day of Rest and Gladness, sings our delight in this day, because on it supremely we exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 5:11). Because it is new to most of us and useful to our souls in an area where few songs are, we’ll be singing it together for a while until we know it.
Our serial reading, Isaiah 36, begins an historical interlude that shows that those who trust in Yahweh shall indeed renew their strength, but leaves us hungering for One greater than Hezekiah. Ch 36, specifically, shows us the arrogance and attraction of unbelief.
In response to God’s “helping us to sing” by the reading of His Word, and in anticipation of our confessing answers two and three about His Word from the Shorter Catechism, we will sing just the first verse of How Firm a Foundation. This was one of the songs suggested for family worship on the take-home sheets in the 3rd-9th grade catechism class. Families who sing these songs throughout the week will also be preparing and practicing for corporate worship on the next Lord’s Day.
As our children learn the Shorter Catechism, we are using it to confess the truths of the Bible with them in worship. Today, we confess WSC answers 2 and 3. Students studied 2 at home last week and discussed it in class today, and will study 3 with their families this week. Please encourage your student to learn the catechism’s truths from the Bible and to apply them in their lives!
Just as we are learning a hymn about delighting in God by delighting in His day, so as we learn Psalm 16 together, we learn a Psalm about considering God first in all things and counting Him and His presence the fullness of all our joy.
In this week’s Pastoral Prayer, the supplication will focus especially upon God’s sending the Gospel of His Son throughout the world and strengthening His church.
As the pastoral prayer generally concludes with a request for Christ to be our preacher and feed us from His Word, we will immediately join our voices and hearts to that particular request in song, singing Break Thou the Bread of Life.
In the sermon, we will hear Salvation Now and Then preached from Romans 5:9-11. We have justification and reconciliation already, which means that the day of wrath has become for us eternal life in final fullness. Therefore, we exult not in lesser blessings but in God Himself, with whom we already have restored relationship. To contraphrase Osteen: your best life later.
After praying for application, we will sing and appropriate response and the OCCS hymn of the month that several of our children are learning, Amazing Grace.
Finally, we will hear the pronouncement of God’s blessing in the benediction from Num 6:24-26 to dismiss us.
********************
Guide to the Evening Service
The evening service call to worship is Psalm 134, which is a Biblical call to worship, specifically for the evening service. We will then pray that God would grant what He has commanded.
After praying for God’s help, we will sing that prayer in the first verse of Come, Thou Almighty King. We depend upon the help of God in all things—how much more when we sing His Name and praise Him! But He is up to the request. He is the Almighty.
In the reading from Matthew 13, we read how it is possible that even where the best seed of the gospel is sown, weeds may come up due to hardness, fickleness, or worldliness of heart, and to the work of the devil. It is no safety merely to have the means of grace and be counted in the church; on the other hand, those who treasure Christ above all else can expect to learn more and more of Him, and grow in ways that are seen and unseen.
As we come again to confessing Bible truth from today’s catechism questions, again we sing those truths in Psalm 119:129-136, using music to express that this is not just the expression of our minds but the cry of our hearts. We will then confess together Shorter Catechism 2-3.
Again, we will sing Psalm 16, which we are learning together as a congregation, concluding with the thought that in God’s presence are fullness of joy and pleasures forever. By this time on the Lord’s day, having dwelt upon Him and drawn near to Him all day long, we come to the Evening Prayer, asking God to grant that we would live out the week in the strength of the joy of belonging to Him and being with Him.
The prayer having concluded with petitions for Christ’s voice and the Spirit’s help in the preaching, we will sing our dependence on Them in vv2-3 of our opening hymn, beginning with the verse, Come, Thou Incarnate Word.
Tonight’s sermon, Our Rotten Roots from Genesis 9:18-29, proclaims the imprisonment of people to their sin, the danger of having such a nature, and the crucial importance that God would send One greater than Noah to redeem such wretches as we all are.
After praying for God to apply His Word to our hearts, we will respond, not just to the joy of having had God feed us manna from heaven in His word, but indeed to the joy of His having taken us away to spend a day with Him in undivided attention with the hymn with which we began that day, O Day of Rest and Gladness.
Labels: Worship Services
¶ 4:27 PM 0 Comments Links to this postBy the way, there are helpful articles about this catechism in particular [here] and [here]. If you read them you will understand why I say that I look forward to sitting with our perts and poets as pastor Fedders teaches us tomorrow.
You may also note that according to this theory, by 3rd grade six years of the best memorization power in a child's life are behind them. If you have a 4-9 yr old at home, don't expect them to be a pert or a poet, but do teach them the catechism!
Labels: Catechism, Worship Services
¶ 4:30 PM 0 Comments Links to this postThe Morning Service, 10:00a.m.
Call to Worship, Prayer for Help*
Song: ‘O Day of Rest and Gladness’ (392)*
Serial Reading: Isaiah 35
Song: Psalm 104:1-4,31-35 (insert)
Confessing Our Faith: Shorter Catechism 1-2 (869)
Song: Psalm 16 (insert)
Prayer*
Preaching: Romans 5:5-8
‘Assuring Love’
Prayer for Application*
Song: ‘And Can It Be That I Should Gain’ (455)*
Benediction*
Guide to the Morning Service
Our call to worship this morning is Is 58:13-14. One thing that bothers many of us is how little we seem to be able to delight in God Himself both apart from and central to our delight in His gifts. Indeed, though everything in the garden was delightful, God set apart the Sabbath to Himself as a day to rest from delighting Him in other ways and instead focus on delighting directly in Him Himself. If we would be sure that our delight in all other things is part of our delighting in God, then let us call His Sabbath a delight, and so delight in Him! Just as Jesus is the center of all delighting in God, we see Him asserting Himself as Lord of the Sabbath, then after His resurrection intentionally setting the first day of the week aside as a day when He gathers to Himself His own that they may delight in Him, so that by Revelation, John can assume that all Christians know what he means by “the Lord’s day.”
Our first song, O Day of Rest and Gladness, sings our delight in this day, because on it supremely we exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 5:8). Because it is new to most of us and useful to our souls in an area where few songs are, we’ll be singing it together for a while until we know it.
Our serial reading, Isaiah 35, is a song about how the ultimate joy of God’s people is as sure as His strength (v1-4), as glad as His goodness (v5-7), and as pure and unmingled as His holiness!
From Psalm 104:1-4,31-35, we will then sing this joy that finds its object and depth in the glory of our God.
Last week, we began confessing the Westminster Standards as a summary of what the Bible teaches, using the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Today, we will confess WSC questions and answers 1-2, which our young people have been working on last week and this one.
Having confessed that our purpose and aim are to glorify God and to enjoy Him, and that the Bible is the only authority and guide for how to do so, we will sing these truths from the Bible itself in Psalm 16. Because it expresses from our hearts these foundational truths, this is another that we will be singing often in coming weeks to learn as a congregation.
As elder Hilbelink leads us in this week’s Pastoral Prayer, the supplication will focus especially upon God’s help and blessing in the various ministries of Harvest and the PCA.
In the sermon, we will hear Assuring Love preached from Romans 5:5-8. God gives us hope—sure confidence of future blessing. But what if we get there and find out it wasn’t true? That won’t happen, and God has given us His love to prove it!
After praying for application, we will sing what we have heard preached from the Bible in And Can It Be That I Should Gain.
The Evening Service, 6:00p.m.
Call to Worship, Prayer for Help*
Song: ‘O Worship the King’ (2)*
Serial Reading: Matthew 12
Song: ‘Psalm 16’ (insert)
Confessing Our Faith: Shorter Catechism 1-2 (869)
Song: ‘I Belong to Jesus’ (129)
Prayer*
Song: ‘Doxology’ (733)*
Preaching: Genesis 9:8-17
‘An Established Covenant’
Prayer for Application*
Song: ‘O Day of Rest and Gladness’ (392)*
Benediction*
*Congregation Standing
Guide to the Evening Service
The evening service call to worship is Psalm 134, which is a Biblical call to worship, specifically for the evening service. We will then pray that God would grant what He has commanded.
This morning, we sang Psalm 104 to the same tune as O Worship the King. This evening we sing that hymn, which is itself a looser paraphrase of… Psalm 104! The ultimate reason for worshiping God is His extreme worthiness. It would be a great sin to fail to. Because He is so worthy, God would be unjust and dishonest and not God if He did not create all things for His glory or command us to worship Him. Even the existence of Hell is a reminder of how great God’s glory is and how infinite a wickedness it is to fail to worship Him with all that we are. What is really surprising, then, is the existence of grace. At what cost to Himself did the All-Glorious-One redeem such infinitely wicked people from peril so that they might enjoy Him forever by glorifying Him forever? The cost to Himself was quite literally… Himself. O tell of His might! O sing of His grace! Let us sing O Worship the King!
In the reading from Matthew 12, we read about how the merciful lordship of Jesus is the great delight of all who truly belong to God in the only way possible—through Jesus. That merciful lordship is the theme of our joyful Sabbaths (v1-14), the true focus of all the teaching in the Bible (v15-21), the cause to be credited for all His life transforming work in us (v22-37,43-50), and the single great evidence upon which true faith depends (v38-42).
As our song and reading have been reminding us that man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, like we did this morning, we will sing those truths from Psalm 16 before confessing them together from Westminster Shorter Catechism 1-2. Then, we will again sing the same truths, now bringing Jesus Himself (as we learned from Matthew 12) as the personal center of them in the hymn I Belong to Jesus.
Having lifted our minds, hearts, and wills to meditate upon God in Christ, we will then wait upon Him in the Evening Prayer, asking Him to bless this week in our lives in every way, but especially in the best way: with Himself.
Good theology can overflow from our hearts in many rich verses, and it can explode from them in one powerful, concise verse, which we will endeavor to be the case as we then sing the Doxology. NOTE THE HYMNAL NUMBER AND THE TUNE.
Tonight’s sermon, An Established Covenant from Genesis 9:8-17, shows from the text that God’s commitment to save (covenant) means that our salvation is as strong as His power and as sure as His faithfulness.
We will then respond, not just to the joy of having had God feed us manna from heaven in His word, but indeed to the joy of His having taken us away to spend a day with Him in undivided attention with the hymn with which we began that day, O Day of Rest and Gladness.
Labels: Worship Services
¶ 2:23 PM 0 Comments Links to this postGuide to the Morning Service
This morning’s call to worship is Psalm 100. This Psalm commands joyous assembling in light of the fact that while all people ought to praise God as Creator, He has been especially gracious to draw us to Himself by His steadfast love and eternal faithfulness. After reading the Psalm, we will be led in prayer for it to happen, and then sing it together in All People That on Earth Do Dwell.
As many of our children begin to memorize the Shorter Catechism, learn its truths from the Bible, and how it applies to life, we will be affirming together our “holding fast to our confession” before God in worship. We begin this morning with WSC 1, Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever! We will then do just that in song with Psalm 146, Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah…
The serial reading is Isaiah 34. Because God knows how easily we take lightly His wrath, He mercifully gives us this chapter to see its reality. With very vivid language, God emphasizes both the extreme intensity of His wrath in the first half of the chapter and the absolute certainty of His wrath in the second half. Let us appreciate the greatness of His wrath and therefore exult in the supremacy of His grace! We do the latter by singing Psalm 32, What Blessedness…
With God’s glory, wrath, and grace on our hearts and minds, we will then lift our hearts up to Him in the Pastoral Prayer, focusing especially in supplication this week on the second half of our list—those particular needs that are specific to our congregation.
We are delighted this morning to welcome back to Harvest’s pulpit GI Williamson, under whose ministry we will sit for the Reading and Preaching of the Word of God.
Finally, we will receive the blessing from Num 6:24-26, God affirming the reality of His favor upon His people. As we hear these words, we always remember that Jesus endured the opposite of this on the cross for our sin, so that we can be absolutely certain of our receipt of this blessing for His righteousness alone.
The Morning Service, 10:00a.m.
Call to Worship, Prayer*
Song: ‘All People That on Earth Do Dwell’ (1)*
Confessing Our Faith: Shorter Catechism 1 (TH-889)
Song: ‘Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul’ (57)
Serial Reading: Isaiah 34
Song: ‘What Blessedness for Him Whose Guilt’ (Ps 32, Insert)