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June 8, 2025
Resources and content for this Sunday.
*Call to Worship | Psalm 23:5-6 | Rev. Blake Arnoult
God invites and calls us into his presence to worship him.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
*Song of Adoration | The King of Love My Shepherd Is
We begin by responding with praise to God for who he is and for what he does.
The King of Love my Shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His and He is mine forever.
Where streams of living water flow my ransomed soul He leadeth,
And, where the verdant pastures grow, with food celestial feedeth.
In death’s dark vale, I fear no ill with Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still, Thy cross before to guide me.
And so through all the length of days, Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise within Thy house forever.
Music and Lyrics: Henry Baker
*Confession of Faith | Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch.33 Of the Last Judgment
With the church in history we confess a basic statement of what Christians believe.
3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin; and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity: so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen.
*Song of Confession | Thy Mercy My God
Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are simply prayers that are sung. We respond in repentance and praise for God’s redemptive work in Christ.
Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.
Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.
Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.
Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
Music and Lyrics: John Stocker
Confession of Sin
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.
Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon | Micah 7:19 | Rev. 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.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our[a] sins
into the depths of the sea.
*Song of Response | Be Thou My Vision
We respond in repentance and praise for God’s redemptive work in Christ.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true word;
I ever with Thee, and Thou with me, Lord.
Thou my great Father and I, Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my breast plate, my sword for the fight.
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight,
Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
True Light of heaven, when victory is won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Music and Lyrics: Mary Elizabeth Byrne
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 | Grace And Peace
As we offer our prayers so we also offer up our thanks in song.
Grace and peace, oh how can this be
For lawbreakers and thieves, for the worthless, the least
You have said that our judgment is death
For all eternity without hope, without rest
Oh, what an amazing mystery, what an amazing mystery
That Your grace has come to me
Grace and peace, oh how can this be?
The matchless King of all paid the blood price for me
Slaughtered lamb, what atonement You bring!
The vilest sinner's heart can be cleansed, can be free
Chorus
Grace and peace, oh how can this be?
Let songs of gratefulness ever rise, never cease
Loved by God and called as a saint
My heart is satisfied in the riches of Christ
Chorus
Oh, what an amazing love I see, what an amazing love I see
That Your grace has come to me
Music and Lyrics: Joel Sczebel
Prayer for Christ’s Church
We lift up our requests to God knowing that he hears us when we pray.
*Reading of Scripture | Micah, selections | Rev. Blake Arnoult
God reveals himself and his work and speaks to us his people through his Word.
1:1-5 The Covenant Lawsuit
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you; pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
2:1-3 Indictment & Judgment
2 Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against this family I am devising disaster,[a]
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk haughtily,
for it will be a time of disaster.
2:12 Proclamation of New Covenant
12 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.
3:9-12 Indictment & Judgment
9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
who detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
10 who build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
its priests teach for a price;
its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the Lord and say,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
No disaster shall come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
5:2-4 Proclamation of New Covenant
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
6:13-16 Indictment & Judgment
13 Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
making you desolate because of your sins.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
15 You shall sow, but not reap;
you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri,
and all the works of the house of Ahab;
and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing;
so you shall bear the scorn of my people.”
7:18-20 Proclamation of New Covenant
18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.
Pastor: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God
The Preaching of the Word | Rev. Blake Arnoult
“Micah, Warning of Exile”
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 | Come Boldly To The Throne Of Grace
We celebrate our communion in faith and song.
Come boldly to the throne of grace
Ye wretched sinners come
And lay your load at Jesus' feet
And plead what He has done
"How can I come?" some soul may say
"I'm lame and cannot walk
My guilt and sin have stopped my mouth
I sign but dare not talk"
He makes the dead to hear His voice
He makes the blind to see
The sinner lost He came to save
And set the prisoner free
Come boldly to the throne of grace
Though lost and blind and lame
Jehovah is the sinner's Friend
And ever was the same
Chorus
Poor bankrupt souls who feel and know
The hell of sin within
Come boldly to the throne of grace
The Lord will take you in
Chorus
Music and Lyrics: D. Herbert, Brian T. Murphy, Clint Wells
Departing Song | Abide With Me
We begin to end in faith and song.
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, abide with me.
Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, though I oft left Thee,
On to the close, Lord, abide with me.
I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, tears lose their bitterness.
Where is thy sting death? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, Lord, abide with me.
Lyrics & Music: Henry Francis Lyte, William Henry Monk
*Benediction | Micah 7:20 | Rev. 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.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.