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*Call to Worship | Romans 1:16 | Blake Arnoult
God invites and calls us into his presence to worship him.
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
*Song of Adoration | In Christ Alone
We begin by responding with praise to God for who he is and for what he does.
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light my strength my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled when strivings cease!
My Comforter my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
In Christ alone! - who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This Gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid:
Here in the death of Christ I live
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand
Music and Lyrics: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend
*Confession of Faith | based on Ephesians 1:3-18
With the church in history we confess a basic statement of what Christians believe.
All glorious God, we give you praise:
In your Son, Jesus Christ,
You have given us every spiritual blessing
In the heavenly realms.
You chose us, before the world was made,
To be your holy people, without fault in your sight.
You adopted us as your children in Christ.
You have set us free by his blood;
You have forgiven our sins.
You have made known to us your secret purpose,
To bring heaven and earth into unity in Christ.
You have given us your Holy Spirit,
The seal and pledge of our inheritance.
All praise and glory be yours, O God,
For the richness of your grace,
For the splendor of your gifts,
For the wonder of your love.
*Song of Confession | Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs are simply prayers that are sung. We respond in repentance and praise for God’s redemptive work in Christ.
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty; hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore;
Bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore.
Open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing waters flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, be Thou still my Strength and Shield.
Strong Deliverer, be Thou still my Strength and Shield.
When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell's destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan's side.
Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee;
Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee.
Land me safe on Canaan's side; bid my anxious fears,
Bid my anxious fears;
Land me safe on Canaan's side; bid my anxious fears,
Bid my anxious fears, goodbye.
Music and Lyrics: William Williams, Jeremy Casella
Confession of Sin | based on Deuteronomy 6, Hebrews 7 | Blake Arnoult
We fight the temptation to hide our sin and instead acknowledge it openly to God, but we do so in light of the grace offered in Jesus.
O great and everlasting God, who dwells in unapproachable light, who searches and knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart; we confess that we have not loved you with all our heart, nor with all our soul, nor with all our mind, nor with all our strength; nor our neighbors as ourselves. We have loved what we ought not to have loved; we have coveted what is not ours; we have not been content with your provisions for us. We have complained in our hearts about our family, about our friends, about our health, about our occupations, about your church, and about our trials. We have sought our security in those things which perish, rather than in you, God. Chasten, cleanse, and forgive us, through Jesus Christ, who is able for all time to save us who approach you through him, since he always lives to make intercession for us. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon | John 3:16 | Blake Arnoult
The good news of the gospel is that we are forgiven in Jesus Christ. This assurance is based on God’s words of promise and it is therefore certain.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
*Song of Response | Crown Him With Many Crowns
We respond in repentance and praise for God’s redemptive work in Christ.
Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own
Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee
And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity
Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all does reign
Who once on earth, the incarnate Word, for ransomed sinners slain
Now lives in realms of light, where saints with angels sing
Their songs before Him day and night, their God, Redeemer, King
Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side
Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight
But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright
Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave
And rose victorious in the strife for those He came to save
His glories now we sing, who died, and rose on high
Who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die
Music and Lyrics: George Job Elvey, Godfrey Thring, Matthew Bridges
Prayer of Thanksgiving
We offer our gratitude to God in prayer in response to his gifts and blessings to his people and ask that he make us faithful managers of these gifts.
Song of Thanks | The Old Rugged Cross
As we offer our prayers so we also offer up our thanks in song.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff'ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross.
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
Oh that old rugged cross, so despised by the world.
Has a wondrous attraction for me,
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above,
To bear it to dark Calvary.
Chorus
In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see.
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me.
Chorus
To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true,
Its shame and reproach gladly bear,
Then He'll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I'll share.
Chorus
Music and Lyrics: George Bennard
Prayer for Christ’s Church
We lift up our requests to God knowing that he hears us when we pray.
*Reading of Scripture | Romans 6:14; 7:1-13 | Rev. Blake Arnoult
God reveals himself and his work and speaks to us his people through his Word.
6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
7:1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
Pastor: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God
The Preaching of the Word | Rev. Blake Arnoult
“Gospel Freedom From the Bondage of the Law Pt.1: The Covenant Community and the Law”
Romans: The Power of God for Salvation
Pastoral Prayer
Sacrament of Communion
Sacraments are visible signs of the invisible grace of God - what Christ does by his Holy Spirit within us. Communion (also called the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist), as the distribution of the elements of bread and wine, symbolizes a meal. Communion is a sign of fellowship. That sign signifies more than just the future heavenly fellowship that is to come. The outward sign signifies the inner reality that sinners already experience fellowship with God in the Spirit because of Jesus. Communion is not a meal for good people. It functions as a renewing seal to desperate sinners of that fellowship we have with our holy and gracious God.
You will be invited to come forward. If you are not a Christian we encourage you to spend this time in reflection on what you’ve seen and heard in the worship. Children who have not received their first communion are welcome and encouraged to come forward with their families to witness their partaking. We invite children who are ready to make a public profession of faith in Christ to arrange a meeting with the elders, and thus become “communicants” at the Lord’s Table.
Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Lift up your hearts!
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Pastor: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.
Prayer of Thanksgiving and Words of Institution
Pastor: Let us proclaim the mystery of the faith:
People: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Hallelujah!
Pastor: Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. Hallelujah!
People: Therefore, let us keep the feast.
Pastor: The gifts of God for the people of God.
Please let an usher know if it is difficult for you to come forward. We would be happy to serve you at your seat. All communion bread is gluten-free. All communion wine is made from grape juice.
A communion prayer for those searching for the truth:
Lord Jesus, you claim to be the way, the truth and the life. If what you claim is true, please guide me, teach me, and open to me the reality of who you are. Give me the ability to follow you no matter what it might cost me. Give me an understanding for you that is coherent, convincing, and leads to the life that you promise. Amen.
Communion Song | There Is A Fountain
We celebrate our communion in faith and song.
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
Music and Lyrics: William Cowper, Lowell Mason, Mark Willard
Departing Song | Holy Spirit
We begin to end in faith and song.
/ There's nothing worth more, that will ever come close
No thing can compare, You're our living hope
Your Presence Lord
I've tasted and seen, of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free,
And my shame is undone
In Your Presence Lord
Holy Spirit You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your Glory God is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your Presence Lord
Your Presence Lord /
/// Let us become more aware of Your Presence
Let us experience the Glory of Your Goodness ///
Chorus
Music and Lyrics: Katie Torwalt, Bryan Torwalt
*Benediction | Psalm 3:8 | Blake Arnoult
God sends us out with his blessing. A benediction is not a prayer. We don’t bow our heads. We lift them up and even lift up our hands to receive his blessing as we are sent out as participants in his mission to the city of man.
8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Nursery Unavailable
April 2 and 9
Cornerstone’s nursery will be unavailable on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday
Info Session with Allison Burns and Interserve
March 25, 3-6pm
Join us on March 25 at the home of Jeff and Susan Arnoult as we learn about Allison Burns’ mission to Central Asia and Interserve, her sending organization!
Sunday School
Sunday school will resume on April 16!
We are taking a brief break from Sunday school though Easter. Join us again in April every Sunday morning at 9:15am!
Supper Clubs Underway!
February and March 2023
Spring supper clubs are underway! If you need assistance connecting to your supper club, contact Emily McEwin.
Bible Studies
Women’s Morning Bible Study:
Wednesday mornings, 9:30am at the Wade home
Women’s Evening Bible Study:
Thursday evenings at 7pm at the McEwin home
Men’s Bible Study:
Friday mornings, 7am at Buffalo Grille on Voss and Woodway
Adult Teaching Series
Thursday, March 30, 7pm
This spring, adults will be meeting on Thursday evenings at the Wade home! Join us for our final teaching session on March 30 to hear about The Faith We Believe, Share, and Defend!
Youth Teaching Series
Sunday, March 26, 11:30am
All 5th-12th graders are invited to join us at the Willson home on
March 26 for our third session in our youth teaching series!
Palm Sunday Gathering
Sunday, April 2, 4-6pm
Join us at the Erwin home on Palm Sunday for our annual gathering!