Westminster Presbyterian Church

THE MORNING SERVICE

eleven o'clock

Lord's Day, February 21, 2010

Visitors will note that the Westminster morning service proceeds without announcement. Written direction is found in the bulletin for each component of the corporate expression of worship of the Almighty and Majestic Triune God. The service is planned in this manner so as to eliminate as much as possible interruptions of the flow of thought and expressions of reverent worship that is commensurate with the majesty of Almighty God. This worship begins with the prelude.

*Indicates congregation standing.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes . . . and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10

The Piano Prelude – Mimi Noda

*The Epistle – Hebrews 12:22-24

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,

And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word . . . (ESV)

*The Hymn No. 101 – “Come, thou Almighty King”............................ Trinity

*The Invocation and the 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. 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. (St. Matthew 6:9-13)

*The Ascription of Praise (Sung by all)..................................... Mendon

The Father's sole-begotten Son was born, the Virgin's child, on earth; his cross for us adoption won, the life and grace of second birth. Forth from the height of heav'n he came, in form of man with man abode; redeem'd his world from death and shame, the joys of endless life bestow'd. Eternal glory, Lord, to thee, whom, now reveal'd, our hearts adore; to God the Father glory be, and Holy Spirit evermore. (anonymous, 13th century or earlier)

*The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost; Born of the Virgin Mary; Suffered under Pontius Pilate; Was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell;* The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven; And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body; And the Life everlasting. Amen.

*i. e. His body continued in the state of the dead until the third day.

(from the 2nd century; the term “Catholic” is the Anglicization of the Latin for universal)

*The Gloria Patri (Sung by all).......................................... Greatorex

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, Amen. (from the 2nd century)

*The Westminster Larger Catechism

Pastor: Q. 178. What is prayer?

Congregation: A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit; with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies. (Ps. 32:5-6a; Ps. 62:8; Dan. 9:4-6; Jn. 16:23b; Rom. 8:26; Phil. 4:6)

Pastor: Q. 182. How doth the Spirit help us to pray?

Congregation: A. We not knowing what to pray for as we ought, the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, by enabling us to understand both for whom, and what, and how prayer is to be made; and by working and quickening in our hearts—although not in all persons, nor at all times, in the same measure—those apprehensions, affections, and graces which are requisite for the right performance of that duty. (Rom. 8:26-27)

Pastor: Q. 185. How are we to pray?

Congregation: A. We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God, and deep sense of our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins; with penitent, thankful, and enlarged hearts; with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance, waiting upon him, with humble submission to his will. (Gen. 18:27; I Sam. 2:1; Ps. 51:17; 145:18; Eccl. 5:1-2; Isa. 6:1-5; Mi. 7:7; Matt. 26:39; Mk. 11:24; Lk. 15:17-19; 18:13-14; I Cor. 14:15; Eph. 6:18; Phil. 4:6; I Tim 2:8; Jam. 5:16b)

*The Hymn – “O Lord, make haste to hear my cry”............................. Mendon

O Lord, make haste to hear my cry, to you I call, on you rely. Incline to me a gracious ear, and, when I call, in mercy hear.

When in the morning unto you I lift my voice and bring my plea, then let my prayer as incense rise to God enthroned above the skies.

When unto you I look and pray with lifted heart at close of day, then as an evening sacrifice let my request accepted rise.

Praise to the Father, Christ, his Word, and to the Spirit: God the Lord, to whom all honor, glory be both now and for eternity. (vv. 1-3 from Ps. 141, The Psalter, 1912, mod., v. 4 att. Rhabanus Maurus, 9th century, tr. John W. Grant, 1971)

*The Pastoral Prayer

The Epistle – Romans 8:18-27 (Pew Bible, p. 944)

The Sermon – THE BEST OF THE GROANS................................ Mr. Craft

V. No Condemnation: Expositions on Romans 8

The Morning Prayer

The Offering

The Solo ............................................................ Tallis

Come, dearest Lord, descend and dwell by faith and love in ev'ry breast; then shall we know and taste and feel the joys that cannot be expressed. Come, fill our hearts with inward strength; make our enlarged souls possess and learn the height, and breadth, and length of your unmeasurable grace. Now to the God whose pow'r can do more than our thoughts or wishes know, be everlasting honors done by all the church, through Christ his Son. (by Isaac Watts, 1709, mod.)

Christian M. Liljestrand, baritone

*The Hymn – “For your gift of God the Spirit”........................... Austrian Hymn

For your gift of God the Spirit, pow'er to make our lives anew, pledge of life and hope of glory, Savior, we would worship you. Crowning gift of resurrection sent from your ascended throne, fullness of the very Godhead, come to make your life our own.

He who in creation's dawning brooded on the lifeless deep, still across our nature's darkness moves to wake our souls from sleep, moves to stir, to draw, to quicken, thrusts us through with sense of sin; brings to birth and seals and fills us—saving Advocate within.

He, himself the living Author, wakes to life the sacred Word, reads with us its holy pages and reveals our risen Lord. He it is who works within us, teaching rebel hearts to pray, he whose holy intercessions rise for us both night and day.

He, the mighty God, indwells us; his to strengthen, help, empow'r; his to overcome the tempter, ours to call in danger's hour. In his strength we dare to battle all the raging hosts of sin, and by him alone we conquer foes without and foes within.

Father, grant your Holy Spirit in our hearts may rule today, grieved not, quenched not, but unhindered, work in us his sovereign way. Fill us with your holy fullness, God the Father, Spirit, Son; in us, through us, then, forever, shall your perfect will be done. (from Eph. 1:13-14; 2:1-5; 5:18, by Margaret Clarkson, 1984)

*The Benediction

*The Response (Sung by all) ........................................ Cwm Rhondda

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy pow'rful hand; strong Deliv'rer, strong Deliv'rer, be thou still my strength and shield, be thou still my strength and shield. (by William Williams, 1745)

The Violin and Piano Postlude