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2021 Sermons

THE STONE CHURCH 
      WITH A WARM HEART 
             RECIEVING CHRIST 
                   REACHING OUT
                           SHARING LOVE

September 26 2021 Worship Services "Now Here’s the Law"  by  Dr. Dyke

9/26/2021

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​SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
September 26 2021
Gathering
MUSICAL OFFERING
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Let me remind you quickly of our protocols for everyone’s safety.                   
·  Attendance was taken by Ushers as you entered.
·   masks are required by Session, as well as social distancing
   bulletins are placed in the pews to help with social distancing
· Offerings may be placed in the plate by the doors.
· Please write your prayer request on the Yellow cards.  An usher will pick them up during the 1st hymn.
· Please join us after service for fellowship will be continuing with beverages only, in Calvin Hall
· Dr Dyke has a Bible study on Wednesdays  at 3pm sign-up  sheet outside Pastor Study 
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, all who are seeking Jesus, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Jack Braden, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Valerie Jerez,  Annette Conzett,  Jo Lefleur,  Dr Dyke, Jane , Deb Weller death of father in-law and upcoming surgery, people of India, Amy Jacobs, Bonnie Pillers, Pawlik Family in the loss of an infant,  Mike Niles, Harlan Marx had a knee replacement and Tom Kelly who is recovering from surgery. Lois Seger is moving to Council Bluffs, IA to be near her daughter and will be living  in an assisted living -we send her with love, and, all those lost in 9/11
 
PRELUDE
 
WORDS OF WORSHIP (from Psalm 95)
      Leader: O come, let us sing to the Lord!
      Response:  Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
      L: Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving!
      R: Let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise.
      L: For the Lord is a great God
      R: and a great King above all gods
 
GATHERING PRAYER (Unison)
Almighty God, as we pray for the Church Universal, we pray for God’s blessing on this place. Here may the faithful find salvation, and the careless be awakened; may the doubting find faith and the anxious be encouraged. May the tempted find help and the sorrowful comfort, may the weary find rest and the strong be renewed. May the aged find consolation and the young be inspired through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
 
*HYMN              Guide Me, O Thu Great Jehovah                                              No. 281
                       
 CONFESSION AND PARDON   (Unison)   
      O Thou whose chosen dwelling is the heart that longs for Your presence and humbly seeks Your face; we come to You this morning asking that You deepen the shame and sorrow we feel for the wrongs we have done and the good that we have left undone. Strengthen every desire to amend our lives according to Your holy will. Restore to us the joy of our salvation and bind up that which is broken within us. According to Your loving-kindness in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
 
Assurance of Pardon
       Almighty God, who freely pardons all who repent and turn to Him, now fulfill in every contrite heart the promise of redeeming grace. Remit all of our sins and cleanse us from an evil conscience through the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
 
*ANTHEM:                      One Step Closer Home
                              By the Crown Quartet, who will be in our
                                   Sanctuary next Sunday at 4 PM.
         
*THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
 
THE OFFERING AND OFFERTORY
    
OFFERTORY PRAYER
O God, the fountain of all good, we bring to You our gifts, accordingly  as You have prospered us. Enable us, with our earthly things to give You the love of our hearts and the service of our lives. Let Your favor, which is life, and Your loving-kindness, which is better than life, be upon us now and always; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
 
 
INTERLUDE
Word
 
 
 
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
      We approach portions of Your timeless Word which supplies the nourishment for our lives and souls. Guide our attention and minimize any distractions which Your enemy may cast in our way of receiving all that You have for us. We praise You for guiding our lives by Your Holy Bible. Amen.
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
 
Psalms 19:7-14
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
 
 
Exodus20:1-17
20 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[ me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
 
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
 
Mark 12:28-34
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”  29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”  32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”  34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
 
SERMON                         “Now Here’s the Law ”
 
  It’s hard to believe that we have entered the season of autumn already, yet the day requires coats and sweaters, and flowers need to be brought inside.  This is the September 26th morning worship, Facebook broadcast of the First Presbyterian Church of Clinton Iowa.
 
I am Rev, Dr, Dale Dykstra interim pastor here for the past half year and have pastored church for the Presbyterian (USA) for the past 49 years.  I have served 10 congregations in Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Iowa
 
By now you well kno0w that Dr Dyke has a strong affection for the Psalms of king David.  They are so revealing as his personal struggles and victories in the service of God that I relate closely with his heart of all the many wonderful teachings of the Psalms, Number 19 has the central core of his faith.
 
I read you his basis coming from “the Law of the Lord.”  He says it is perfect.  This is NOT the law of the New Testament and Jesus- this is the Old Testament law.  It consists of the Ten Commandments and many others to be pleasing to God.
 
He Doesn’t have to Follow God’s Law. Most kings of his day-and many in out own time see themselves as being Above the laws, -. They Can do whatever they want because they set the rules.    I am sure that David was considered strange by the neighboring kings- “why limit yourself so severely? Have fun, gain wealth at others expense!”  It is said in scripture that David had a heart of God!” Listen to what he says about God’s code of conduct.
 
God’s Law is perfect, and it revives the soul.  These are times of great trail in David’s life.  Remember his sins with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah?  Most Kings wouldn’t have thought a second thought about these” perks” of kingship but “the law” brought Daniel to great sorrow and repentance to God.
 
           There were painful days when his #1 son Abraham rebelled against him and broke his heart.    There were the days he has King Saul sought to kill him.  Hear what Daniel’s Song -It is the pure Law of God that revives one in troubled times! What a Faith!  He goes on to say that it makes simple people wise because they don’t rely on the Wisdom of God’s Law.  It will not lead them a stray.
 
He says- interesting to me that the law of God is Clean- what an interesting choice of words!  Nothing dirty or impure or sinful, can survive in the presence of God’s Law.  You know how people covet Gold?  Kings Particularly sought to acquire as much as they could.   But hear this – David said that God’s law brings a warning there are punishments due for breaking God’s Law.
 
  Well- what is the central law?   Now here’s the Law Exodus 20 quotes Almighty God  himself directly what is called the ten commandments but Hebrews simply called “The Law”  The first four are things that we need to obey as we relate to God.
1. He says not to have Any other God’s before Him- Silly right we wont pray to a little statute!!!  But many worship the God of power, fame, wealthy, health and more today- watch out for false Gods!
2. No idols- yet we have teen idols, Sports ideals, rock ideals-see?  There are kinds of Idols today trying to take Gods Central place in our lives.
3. Not to take’s God’s name in vain Cursing is only one way we still do this- we also swear by God when we don’t mean it!
4.Look around you- are the people of Clinton remembering the Sabbath Day? Very few
 
Now for the six laws about how we related to other people
 
5.  Are you kidding? Honor Parents today???  Look at the insolence of our youth and their lack of discipline
6. Ok you probably haven’t slain anyone but character assassination is still Killing- So is gossip in passing on the news!
7. Sexual transgressions may diminish with a years but look at our sex soaked culture!
 8. No Stealing?  Many of us have done so at one time or another greed is still a root of evil
 9. Don’t lie? How much trouble could be avoided if we all just told the Truth!
10. Coveting? Jealousy  springs from this,  Also focusing on the things of others makes us unthankful for blessing God already has given us!
Whew now we see how much its and trouble we could avoid if you just follow God law. But that was all before Jesus he asked about the Law’s placed on our lives by a scholar if the laws talked about is terminating.
           Jesus laid out two Commands from the Old Testament Law as encores all ten of the commandments.
He said the law is to love as God has loved us.
1.  We are to love God as the very creator of over lives, thoughts and lives.  All our heart, Soul minds and strength- With everything we are.  We are to love God above or anything else.
 
2. We are to love ourselves!  Most of us miss this part of Commandant 2  Many people do not love themselves, but they are a question of God!  That we are a creation of God!  That we are to love our neighbors as ourselves- taking care of them= heeling them, teaching them, the thing of God
                  Truly- is Jesus- the law has it’s the expression-love now That’s the Law  Amen
 
*Hymn                          O Jesus, I Have Promised                                                   388
                          
*AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical Version
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,
He is seated on the right hand of the Father,
And he will come again 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.
 
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
 
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
​For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen.
Sending
 
*HYMN                               God Be With You                                                       466
                                   
  CHARGE & BLESSING
And now, may the grace, mercy, and peace which proceeds from God the Father, through  Jesus Christ, the Son, and into the Holy Spirit within us,  may it rest and abide within us, now and forever more. Amen
 
POSTLUDE
*Stand as you are able.
 
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September 19 , 2021   Worship Services "Deep Roots ”  by  Dr. Dyke

9/19/2021

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September 5, 2021   Worship Services "Not Enough Faith ??"  by  Dr. Dyke

9/5/2021

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​SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
September 5 2021
Gathering
MUSICAL OFFERING
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Let me remind you quickly of our protocols for everyone’s safety.                  
·  Attendance was taken by Ushers as you entered.
·   The  ushers will return to passing the bulletins out as you enter and social distancing is still is required in sanctuary
· Offerings may be placed in the plate by the doors.
· Please write your prayer request on the Yellow cards.  An usher will pick them up during the 1st hymn.
· Please join us after service for fellowship in Calvin Hall
· Dr Dyke has started a Bible study on Wednesdays  at 3pm sign-up  sheet outside Pastor Study
Schedule reminders:
         Session has voted to open the church during the week once again from
Monday- Thursday; 9:30-1:30 PM.
Sept 8th Bible study
Sept 12  Session
Sept 15th Articles for Pulse Due
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, all who are seeking Jesus, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Jack Braden, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Valerie Jerez,  Annette Conzett,  Jackie with difficult pregnancy, Jo Lefleur,  Dr Dyke, Jane with upcoming knee surgery, Deb Weller death of father in-law and upcoming surgery, people of India, Amy Jacobs, Bonnie Pillers, Pawlik Family in the loss of an infant, Mike Niles, Harlen Marx had a knee replacement Tom Kelly who is recovering from surgery, may we be sincere in taking the time to ask the Lord for His Blessings and thanking Him for everything, and Lois Seger
 
PRELUDE
 
WORDS OF WORSHIP 
      Leader: Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer.
      Response: From the end of the earth I cry to You
      L: Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I,
       R: For You are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
      L: And let me abide in Your tent forever,
       R: and find refuge under the shelter of Your wings.
 
 GATHERING PRAYER (Unison)
      O Thou, who are more ready to hear than we are to pray, and who knows our necessities before we ask, hear our prayer. Give us that peace that the world cannot give, nor take away. You have promised that where two or three are gathered in Your name, You will be there in the midst of them. Grant your rest to the weary, Your comfort to the injured and ill, and to all restore Your peace. Amen.
 
*HYMN                                    Breathe on Me                                                     No. 316
                       
 CONFESSION AND PARDON   (Unison) 
      We confess to You, O God, that we have sinned against heaven and in
Your sight. We are not worthy to be called Your children and have too often forgotten Your care. We have broken Your holy laws, we have been wayward and disobedient, selfish, and unkind. For the sake of Your dear Son, and our Savior, we ask You to pardon our sins, to clean our hearts within us, and to grant us Your peace. Amen.  
 
Assurance of Pardon
       The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He Has not dealt with us according to our iniquities. As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As Far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Amen.
 
ANTHEM:    
       
THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
 
THE OFFERING AND OFFERTORY
    
OFFERTORY PRAYER
      O giver of every good and perfect gift, we acknowledge Your bounty in these    gifts which we now offer and dedicate unto You. We pray that You would accept them and multiply them for the work of Your church and the spread of Your kingdom. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
 
INTERLUDE
Word
 
 
 
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
      May the Lord bless to us the reading of His holy Word. To His name be all glory and praise! Let us quiet the care and concerns of the outside world as we are in God’s sanctuary in such a way as to receive the most from the holy writ. Amen.
 
 
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Habakkuk 2:1-9
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
 The Lord’s Answer
2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets  so that a herald[b] may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; will certainly come and will not delay.  4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness[d]— 5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. 6 “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’7 Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 9 “Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin!
 
Mark 7: 24- 37
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre.[a] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. 31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”).
 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. 36 Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
 
Matthew 13:24-33
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 7 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” 31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” 33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
 
SERMON                         Not Enough Faith ??
 
Good morning! This is the Facebook broadcast of the morning worship service of the First Presbyterian Church of Clinton, Iowa, It is the 5th of September on a Labor Day weekend. I am the Rev. Dr. Dale A. Dykstra, and I am the interim minister here for the past half-year. It is good to return to the pulpit after needing to take the past two weeks off to have my teeth removed and new ones put in. I thank you all for your prayers for my healing.
 
     We are recording this service once again after not being able to for the past month. My Facebook account was hacked and needed to be cancelled to prevent the thief from trying to extort money from my contacts. I have an entirely new account now, and we should be in business to send this to you all.
 
     Before my break, I had been preaching to you about our deep need to retain and grow our faith in God through the salvation of our Lord, Jesus Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit within us. I also emphasized that we need to TAKE ACTION on our faith to put it into practice.
 
     But I am sure that these encouragements also lead to difficulty on your part. I fear that many of you may think that this kind of faith and action is ok for preachers and Elders, but perhaps not so much for you! Do you ever WORRY that you may not have enough faith? HOW MUCH FAITH IS ENOUGH? And how do we find it? And how do we dare to act out publicly in defense of our Lord and Savior? How do we become one who can inspire faith in others?
 
     Remember little Habakkuk? I told you about him as a prophet a few weeks ago. He was given the heavy task by God of having to tell the King and all of Israel that God
was fed up with their worship of idols, and would allow Babylon to destroy their nation and city and take them all captive. The prophet declared that he was in a watchtower—with a view that was above the current trouble to a day of renewal ---seen by faith.
 
     I gave that sermon about God’s providence – His protection in times that seem hopeless. Jerusalem was to be surrounded by an overpowering enemy –yet he could speak of faith in the future. By hindsight, we know that Habakkuk was absolutely RIGHT as he declared the judgement of God, BUT ALSO absolutely right that they would be restored as a nation again!
 
     How much faith he had! Certainly, we don’t feel that much faith is possible for us. HOW DO we find enough faith to carry us through our own hardest times? His guidance came from the promises of God to Habakkuk in the midst of such grim news. God has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. That promise is just as inspirational for us as it was for Habakkuk. He may need to punish us to get us to turn away from sin –but He is still our Father.
 
     I took you to Mark – the smallest and earliest of the Gospels – to his account of the Syrophoenician woman and her daughter. Jesus had left Israel and gone into Syria
(now Lebannon) at Tyre and Sidon. These were port cities on the Mediterranean
Sea (or the Great Sea as they called it) He went there for safety and for rest. He didn’t want any of these Gentiles to know He was there. I am sure that He was seeking quiet personal time and communion with His Father.
 
     The Bible says “His presence could not be hidden.” – this is not hard to imagine. Sure enough, soon after he got there came a Gentile woman and her daughter asking for a healing. At first Jesus tried to put them off- saying that His ministry was to heal the Jews first. The woman, however, inspired by the very presence of Jesus, the Son of God, had faith enough to answer Him back “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” She had enough faith that He could AND WOULD heal the girl.
 
     She was in the presence of the Son of God and found the faith that led to her daughter’s healing. What a clue for us!In the presence of Jesus  --as we read about Him in the Holy Bible is where we find the faith to overcome troubles.
 
     Mark goes to another story of hopelessness in the deaf man who stuttered. As he returned to Israel,“they” –probably his family or friends – brought him to the “healer”. Jesus didn’t make a public spectacle of his healing work -no, he took him “aside”. Jesus’ power can come to an individual—even to you or me!
 
    Please note that this man could not speak, yet he “zealously proclaimed” what Jesus had done for him. We are to share with others to good news of what God has done for us and those we love or are concerned about—to inspire THEIR faith!
 
     Matthew addresses our concern about having enough faith. He tells three stories of Jesus to answer the question. First, he tells of the landowner who has an enemy who sowed weeds among the good grain. His response when his servants wanted to cut them down was “No, let them all grow –I can tell the difference between true faith and unbelief.” And He can!!
 
      Don’t worry about maintaining your faith in this increasingly secular and heathen society –GOD CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EVEN A LITTLE FAITH AND UNBELIEF!
 
     He added the mustard seed parable and the yeast parable to encourage us! The mustard seed is like the believer who is faithful but weak. God will bolster that weak faith if we just start to express it. Both examples don’t just grow a little – but faith in God becomes powerful in the face of unbelief. Is there anything as powerful in a court of law as eyewitness testimony?
 
   Who can oppose someone who says, “This I know.  I was weak, or sick, or worried, or afraid or grieving and my faith in God pulled me through.” That is what you really know and it is a powerful testimony of what faith in God can do. Amen.
 
 
*Hymn                My Faith Looks Up to Thee                                                      No. 383                                                                 
                          
*AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical Version
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,
He is seated on the right hand of the Father,
And he will come again 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.
 
 
INVITATION TO THE LORD’S SUPPER
 
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
 
      It is right to give our thanks and praise.
      O Holy God…we lift our hearts in joyful praise.
 
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might.                                          Hymnal #581
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.
 
We praise you…together, we proclaim the mystery of our faith.
 
Dying, you destroyed our death; rising, you restored our life.                    Hymnal #582
 
Gracious God… all glory and honor are yours,
Almighty God, now and forever.  Amen.
 
​MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
 
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen.
 
Sending
 
*HYMN                               “More Love to Thee      No. 359                                         
                                   
  CHARGE & BLESSING
And now, may the grace, mercy, and peace which proceeds from God the Father, through  Jesus Christ, the Son, and into the Holy Spirit within us,  may it rest and abide within us, now and forever more. Amen
 
POSTLUDE
*Stand as you are able.
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