Sunday, 16 August 2020 NLPC Bulletin
Date: Sun., 16 August 2020 Season: 11th Sunday after Pentecost
✠ ✠ ✠ Preparing to Hear the Word of God ✠ ✠ ✠
Prelude:
Joys, Concerns & Announcements:
Time of Meditation:
Call to Worship:
Pastor: Glory to the Father in Whom all things began!
People: Glory to the Son Who became the Son of Man!
Pastor: Glory to the Spirit Who inspires and renews, the Lord our God forever! Let us worship the Lord our God with heart and mind.
Unison: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake the evil way; Call the unrighteous to forsake evil thoughts; and let that one return to the Lord Who will have mercy upon the repentant and abundantly pardon them. Let us worship the Triune Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Adapt from the 1946 Book of Common Worship; Pg 32]
Prayer of Invocation:
Hymn: “Amazing Grace” # 343
Call to Confession:
Prayer of Confession:
Unison: Righteous, just and holy Lord, You give us the gifts of existence and life. You call clearly to us in the clamor of distracting voices with light that dispels our darkness. You bestow grace upon grace, fulfilling it by the miracle of tangible forgiveness made real by the sacrifice of Your Only-begotten Son.
All You require of us is our faithful surrender and repentance of sin. Yet, we often refuse Your gift and presence, like spoiled children unhappy with Gift and Giver. We refuse to hear Your voice, and we close our eyes, rejecting Your Light. Worst of all, we harden our hearts to Your grace and refuse to extend it to others in need.
Confessing our sinful nature, faults and ingratitude, we approach Your throne with renewed humility and broken hearts. Renew our faith and grant us the fruits of repentance and faithfulness. Of Your great mercy, and by Your Son’s sacrifice, we ask all this that we might live Your Gospel. Amen
Declaration of Pardon:
* Gloria Patri:
✠ ✠ ✠ Hearing the Word of God ✠ ✠ ✠
Childrens’ Message:
Prayer for Illumination:
Scripture Lessons: Genesis 1:1 – 31
1 Lord In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights — the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds — livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 3:1 – 24
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman He said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam He said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever —” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
Prayers of the People & The Lord’s Prayer:
Sermon: “Were People Always This Messed Up ”
The Rev. Albert Rhodes Stuart
✠ ✠ ✠ Responding to the Word of God ✠ ✠ ✠
Prayer of Response:
The Affirmation of Faith: The Apostles’ Creed
*Hymn: “Revive Us, O Lord” w/ bridge to “Rise Up, O Church of God” # 433/4
The Offering:
* Prayer of Dedication:
* The Doxology:
Hymn: “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” # 320
* Ascription of Praise:
Charge & Benediction:
Postlude:
✠ ✠ ✠ Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 6 – 8: ✠ ✠ ✠
Q6] Did God create people so wicked and perverse?
A6] No.
God created them good and in His own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love Him with all their heart, and live with Him in eternal happiness for His praise and glory.
Q7] Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?
A7] From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise.
This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners corrupt from conception on.
Q8] But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good & inclined toward all evil?
A8] Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God.