Order of Worship for Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020

 

First Presbyterian Church

October 25, 2020

10:00 AM

Worship Service Unified Order of Worship

  

CALL TO WORSHIP

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.

  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Let us worship the Living God.

 

Hymn Today: “Lead On, O King Eternal”

1. Lead on, O King eternal, the day of march has come; henceforth in fields of conquest thy tents shall be our home. Through days of preparation thy grace has made us strong; and now, O King eternal, we lift our battle song.

 2. Lead on, O King eternal, we follow, not with fears, for gladness breaks like morning where'er thy face appears. Thy cross is lifted o'er us, we journey in its light; the crown awaits the conquest; lead on, O God of might.

     PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)

 Lord, we come to you with questions that are not genuine, seeking only your affirmation of our behavior and opinions. We assume our own righteousness and quickly condemn others in your name, forgetting that our ways are not your ways, our judgment not your judgment. We do not take time to examine our hearts and seek your will. We jump to conclusions and neglect a life of prayerful discernment. Help us, gracious God, to humble ourselves before you and listen. Give us the courage to hear your corrective word and act upon it in ways that reveal our love for our Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

 *SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

 

 

*THE GLORIA PATRI 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, in joy we proclaim that through Jesus Christ we are forgiven. The old life is gone, a new life has begun. Thanks be to God! Amen.

INVITATION

LESSONS

Psalm 110  Of David. A Psalm.
The Lord says to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’

The Lord sends out from Zion your mighty sceptre. Rule in the midst of your foes. Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day you lead your forces on the holy mountains.
From the womb of the morning, like dew, your youth will come to you.  The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek.’

The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.  He will execute judgement among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter heads over the wide earth.
He will drink from the stream by the path; therefore he will lift up his head.

Matthew 22:34-46

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ⁴²“What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” ⁴³He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, ⁴⁴‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? ⁴⁵If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. 

SERMON:                      “When We Mismanage God’s Expectations                   Rev. Peter Hofstra

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (from The Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Q. What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?

A. The sum of the Ten Commandments is: to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.

PASSING OF THE PEACE

THE OFFERING OF OUR TITHES & GIFTS

If unable to drop the tithe and offering at church for Sunday morning worship, it can be mailed to First Presbyterian Church, 45 Market St., Perth Amboy, NJ  08861 or sent via Venmo, search email address office@fpcperthamboy.org 

*DOXOLOGY  

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Amen.

*OFFERTORY PRAYER

JOYS AND CONCERNS

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

It is in the sanctuary that we share and lift requests to the Lord as a community.  Online, we are deliberately more general, as a community, in the joys and concerns we lift, knowing that, almost like the Kingdom of Heaven, things remain on the Internet forever and we are very aware of people’s privacy.  However, people are encouraged to lift their requests to the Lord in the privacy of where they are viewing the service.  In either case, the appropriate response to these requests is “Lord, Hear Our Prayer”.

*LORD’S PRAYER

 Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever.  Amen.

SONG OF RESPONSE: “Love Divine, All Love Excelling”

1. Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down; fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown! Jesus thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

2. Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast! Let us all in thee inherit; let us find that second rest. Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be; end of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

3. Come, Almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive; suddenly return and never, nevermore thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above, pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

4. Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be. Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee; changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

*BENEDICTION

*THREE FOLD AMEN

POSTLUDE    

 

 

Elements of Order of Worship drawn from The Presbyterian Outlook, written by Jill Duffield.