Scripture Reading of Praise Psalm 92
Pastor: Lift up your hearts!
Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord!
Prayer of Invocation
Hymn (stand) “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” Cantus 313
Passage of Confession 2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Personal Silent Prayer of Confession (kneel)
Corporate Prayer of Confession (All Together):
God of everlasting love, we confess that we have been unfaithful to our covenant with You and with one another. We have worshiped other gods: money, power, greed, and convenience. We have served our own self-interest instead of serving only you and your people. We have not loved You wholeheartedly, nor have we loved our neighbor as ourselves. Forgive us, gracious God, and bring us back into the fullness of our covenant with you and one another. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Assurance of Pardon (stand) Micah 7:18-19
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Pastor: Our sins are forgiven through Christ.
Congregation: Thanks be to God!
Hymn (stand) “Holy, Holy, Holy” Cantus 305
The Apostles’ Creed AD Second Century
Pastor: Christian, what do you believe?
I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin, Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into Hades;
The third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Heidelberg Catechism ad 1563
Question 83: What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
Answer: The preaching of the holy gospel, and Christian discipline, or excommunication out of the Christian church; by these two, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers.
q 84: How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel?
a: Thus: when according to the command of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that, whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God, for the sake of Christ’s merits; and on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to the wrath of God, and eternal condemnation, so long as they are unconverted: according to which testimony of the gospel, God will judge them, both in this, and in the life to come.
Psalm (stand) “Chide Me, O Lord, No Longer” Ps. 6 Cantus 8
The Reading of the Universal Word (stand)
Old Testament Deuteronomy 7:1-4
Congregation: Thanks be to God!
New Testament 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 Congregation: Thanks be to God!
Pastoral Prayer (sit)
Concluding with The Lord’s Prayer (all together)
Preaching of the Word
“Navigating Marriage Part two” 1 Corinthians 7:12-16
Hymn (stand) “Before the Throne of God” Back of cantus
Typically, heads of household serve their own families, but this is not mandatory. See our note about Communion on the cover of this bulletin.
Gloria Patri (stand) Cantus 436
Benediction (stand)