Morning Worship

        March 5, 2006

 Reflection

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

                                                                                 —Psalm 139:23-24

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."  But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."

                                                                                                                  —Luke 10:38-42

Welcome

 Preparation— Glenn Edwards

 Prelude

Praise

Call to Worship— Isaiah 6:1-3

Hymn of Praise— All Creatures of Our God and King

Prayer of Adoration

 Confession of Faith— The Shorter Catechism, Q&A, 89, 90

Q. 89. How is the word made effectual to salvation?

A. The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation.

 Q. 90. How is the word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?
A. That the word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence, preparation and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.

 Renewal

Scripture Reading— Isaiah 6:4-5

⁴And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

 Prayer of Confession

Sovereign Lord, we humbly confess that we are unfamiliar with your majestic holiness which fills the temple and your glory which fills the earth.  We acknowledge that you alone are exalted over all creation and that you alone are to be worshiped by all creation.  We bow before you in reverence and awe confessing with Isaiah that we are lost. 

 We have neglected the discipline of studying your Word and applying it to our lives.  We have resisted being searched by your Spirit and being convicted of our sin.  We are prone to wander and deception and we need to be found.

 We are a people of unclean lips.  We praise you with our mouths but our hearts are far from you.  One moment we are blessing you and the next we are cursing those you’ve created and  complaining about your providence.

 O Lord, have mercy on us, according  to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out our transgressions by the  blood of Jesus: the perfect and spotless Lamb of God.

 Private Confession

Words of Encouragement— Isaiah 6:6-7

⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.

 Songs of Thanksgiving

 Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder

Let us love and sing and wonder,

Let us praise the Savior’s name.

He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,

He has quenched Mount Sinai’s flame:

He has washed us with his blood,

He has brought us nigh to God.

 Let us love the Lord who bought us,

Pitied us when enemies,

Called us by his grace, and taught us,

Gave us ears and gave us eyes:

He has washed us with his blood,

He presents our souls to God.

 Let us sing, though fierce temptation

Threaten hard to bear us down!

For the Lord, our strong salvation

Holds in view the conqu’ror’s crown:

He who washed us with his blood,

Soon will bring us home to God.

 Let us wonder, grace and justice

Join and point to mercy’s store;

When through grace in Christ our trust is,

Justice smiles and asks no more:

He who washed us with his blood,

Has secured our way to God.

 Let us praise, and join the chorus

Of the saints enthroned on high;

Here they trusted him before us,

Now their praises fill the sky:

“You have washed us with your blood;

You are worthy, Lamb of God.”

 Jesus, I am Resting, Resting

Jesus I am resting, resting, in the joy of what thou art;

I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart.

Thou hast bid me gaze upon thee,

and thy beauty fills my soul,

For by thy transforming power, thou hast made me whole.

  Jesus, I am resting, resting,

In the joy of what thou art;

I am finding out the greatness

Of thy loving heart.

 O, how great thy loving kindness, vaster,

broader than the sea!

O, how marvelous thy goodness, lavished all on me!

Yes, I rest in thee, Beloved,

know what wealth of grace is thine,

Know thy certainty of promise, and have made it mine.

 Simply trusting thee, Lord Jesus, I behold thee as thou art,

And thy love, so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart;

Satisfies its deepest longings,

meets, supplies its every need,

Compasseth me round with blessings:  thine is love indeed!

 Ever lift thy face upon me, as I work and wait for thee;

Resting ‘neath thy smile, Lord Jesus,

Earth’s dark shadows flee.

Brightness of my Father’s glory,

sunshine of my Father’s face,

Keep me ever trusting, resting, fill me with thy grace.

 Only  in God

Only in God is my soul at rest

In Him comes my salvation

He only is my Rock, my strength and my salvation

  My stronghold my Savior, I shall not be afraid at all

My stronghold my Savior, I shall not be moved.

Only in God, is my soul at rest.

In Him comes my salvation

 Only in God is found safety, when my enemy pursues me

Only in God is found glory

When I am found meek and found lowly

 Congregational Prayer

 Commitment

Sermon Text— John 8:2-11

²Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. ³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" ⁶This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. ⁹But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman    standing before him. ¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" ¹¹She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

Sermon— Listening to Jesus                               ~Pastor Vinny Tauriello

Giving to God of our Wealth

Closing Song— There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood

Benediction

Postlude

Lord’s Supper Service                                                                                             Praise

 Reflection

 “One reason why the experiential reality of perceiving God is unfamiliar  country today is that the pace and preoccupations of urbanized, mechanized, collectivized, secularized modern life are such that any sort of inner life (apart from the existentialist Angst of society’s misfits and the casualties of the rat race) is very hard to maintain.  To make prayer your life priority, as countless Christians of former days did outside as well as inside the monastery, is       stupendously difficult in a world that runs you off your feet and will not let you slow down.  And if you attempt it, you will certainly seem eccentric to your peers, for nowadays involvement in a stream of programmed activities is decidedly  ‘in,’ and the older ideal of a quiet, contemplative life is just as decidedly ‘out.’  That there is widespread hunger today for more intimacy, warmth, and affection in our fellowship with God is clear...but the concept of Christian life as sanctified rush and bustle still dominates, and as a result the experiential side of Christian holiness remauns very much a closed book.”

                                                                                                                         —J.I. Packer

 Prelude

 Call to Worship— Isaiah 66:1-2

Leader:          Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my     footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD.
But this is the one to whom I will look:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

Song of Approach— Take Me In

Take me past the outer courts and through the holy place,

Past the brazen altar; Lord, I want to see your face.

 Pass me by the crowds of people,

The priests who sing their praise;

I hunger and thirst for your righteousness

And it’s only found in one place.

  So take me in to the Holy of Holies

Take me in by the blood of the Lamb;

So take me in to the Holy of Holies

Take the coal, cleanse my lips, here I am.

 Cast out of paradise, corrupted by the Fall,

Forever doomed to sacrifice, but condemned under the law.

 From your loving mercy came the final sacrifice.

O Lamb of God, you took away my sin,

You are the living Christ.

 Renewal

 Scripture Reading— Mark 6:30-32

³⁰The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. ³¹And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. ³²And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

 Meditation— Coming Away with Jesus

Prayers of Confession and Supplication

Song of Rejoicing— Thy Mercy and Thy Truth

 Thy mercy and Thy truth, O Lord,
Transcend the lofty sky;
Thy judgments are a mighty deep,
And as the mountains high.

  (Refrain)

Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
  Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
  Your faithfulness to the skies.

 Lord, Thou preservest man and beast;
Since Thou art ever kind;
Beneath the shadow of Thy wings
We may a refuge find.

 With the abundance of Thy house
We shall be satisfied,
From rivers of unfailing joy
Our thirst shall be supplied.

 Refrain

 The fountain of eternal life
Is found alone with Thee,
And in the brightness of Thy light
We clearly light shall see.

 From those that know Thee may Thy love
And mercy ne’er depart,
And may Thy justice still protect
And bless the upright heart.

 Refrain

 Commitment

Celebration of the Lord’s Supper

 Testimonies and Prayers of Thanksgiving

 Closing Hymn— What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Benediction

 Prayer and Praise Update

 Missions

 Rev. Ross W. Graham, General Secretary, Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension

 Mike and Lili McCabe, China

Lili is in the process of getting a U.S. passport and a Chinese visa.  Please pray that this goes smoothly so that she can travel back to China very soon.  Mike has already returned to China.

Lili has also recently suffered a miscarriage.  Please keep them in prayer at this difficult time.  They are confident that the Lord is in control of all things.

 Becca Myers, Quebec

Pray for St-Marc Church, for it’s ministry to the community, and for the spiritual health of it’s members.

Praise the Lord for all of the work He has already done and the plans that He has in mind for the future.

 At New Hope  

        Pray that God will provide a hedge of protection around the Burge family as Evie and Jerry are expecting their 4^th child.

 Pray for safe travel and protection from evil for Janette Deschamps as she flies to London and then on to Cape Town, South Africa to film a  commercial.  Pray also that she would meet up with her Florida church (Northland CC) worship leader and senior Pastor and their wives, who are in Cape Town at the same time.