Order of Worship
Welcome and Announcements
Meditation Passage
Nehemiah 1:5-6
O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you.
* Apostolic Greeting
[Reserved for Ministers]
* God Calls His People to Worship
Psalm 46:4-7
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
* Invocation
God Commands His People:
Exodus 20:8-11
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 to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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.
We Confess Our Faith
The Nicene Creed
Confession of Sin
(Silent confession followed by corporate confession)
Almighty God, you rested on the seventh day of creation - the day of your royal enthronement. You sanctified that day, placing it before your people as a sign of perfect rest and communion to enter into with you. We thank you that the servant and Lord of the covenant, Jesus Christ, has entered that rest, being enthroned as Lord on the day of his resurrection. We rejoice that now, in Christ, the Lord's day is our special day of rest and communion with you. We confess that we have not sanctified this day properly. We have failed to give ourselves to worship, communion, and service on this day as we ought. We have failed to plan our week so that the Lord’s Day is our central priority and joy. Forgive us. Grant us hearts which burn to commune with you, and enable us to make great use of the Lord's Day unto your glory. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Psalm 103:10-12
[The Lord] does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
* We Praise God in Song
Doxology (#567)
God Speaks Through His Word - Acts 4:13-31
Sermon: Lord, Grant Your Servants To Speak With All Boldness
Speaker: Elder James Schwacofer
Congregational Prayer (Followed by the Lord's Prayer)
Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
Closing Doxology
Revelation 5:11-13
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”