Welcome
Please use this link for the
Zoom Service April 28, 2024 at 8:30 AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81188368778?p30wd=QzZNMlFNNWVRVFIyUXZieWtNWkV0UT09
April 28, 2024
Acton Community Presbyterian Church
P.O. Box 177, 32142 Crown Valley Road, Acton, CA 93510
Message: 661-208-8032 w who ww.actonpc.org
1888 – 2023 Celebrating Heritage and Sharing Hope
“Earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and Earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.” —C.S. Lewis
WELCOME, ANNOUNCMENTS, GUESTS AND SPECIAL DAYS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: But on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb, but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel, and said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
People: He is not here, but he has risen!
Leader: Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee,
People: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise!” Minister: Come, let us worship Christ, our Risen King!
OPENING HYMN – # 144 Blue Hymnal
1 Alleluia! Sing to Jesus! His the scepter, His the throne.
Alleluia! His the triumph, His the victory alone!
Hark! the songs of peaceful Zion Thunder like a mighty flood;
Jesus out of every nation Hath redeemed us by His blood.
2 Alleluia! Not as orphans Are we left in sorrow now.
Alleluia! He is near us; Faith believes, nor questions how.
Though the cloud from sight received Him, When the forty days were o’er,
Shall our hearts forget His promise, “I am with you evermore”?
3 Alleluia! Bread of angels, Thou on earth our food, our stay.
Alleluia! Here the sinful Flee to Thee from day to day.
Intercessor, Friend of sinners, Earth’s Redeemer, plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless Sweep across the crystal sea.
4 Alleluia! King eternal, Thee the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia! born of Mary, Earth Thy footstool, heaven Thy throne.
Thou within the veil hast entered, Robed in flesh our great High Priest;
Thou on earth both priest and victim In the Eucharistic feast.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave, you shattered the power of sin and death. Yet, we confess that we remain captive to doubt and fear, bound by the ways that lead to death. We confess that we have not bowed before Jesus or acknowledged His rule in our lives. We have gone along with the way of the world and failed to give Him glory. We confess that we overlook those Jesus sought—the poor, the hungry, and those who mourn. Our ears are deaf to the cries of the oppressed and indifferent to calls for peace. Forgive us, God of mercy! Lord, revive us! Bring new, resurrection life where we are worn and tired; new love where we have turned hard-hearted; forgiveness where we feel hurt and where we have wounded; and the joy and freedom that comes from the Holy Spirit.
SILENT CONFESSION PRAYERS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Isaiah 43:1-3a, 18-19, 25
1-3 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob,che who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia[a] and Seba in exchange for you.
18 -19 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 25 I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God
NEW TESTAMENT READING Romans 7:7-25
What then should 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. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
Did what is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working 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. For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
ow if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God
SERMON : Dr. Randy Working “The Law of God”
CALL FOR OFFERING–Congregation sings
- 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.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: The Second Helvetic Confession, paragraph 84
No flesh could or can satisfy the law of God and fulfill it because of the weakness in our flesh, which adheres and remains in us until our last breath. For the apostle says again: “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin” (Rom. 8:3). Therefore, Christ is the perfecting of the law and our fulfillment of it (Rom. 10:4), who, in order to take away the curse of the law, was made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). Thus he imparts to us through faith his fulfillment of the law, and his righteousness and obedience are imputed to us.
HYMN - #497 Blue Hymnal
1. With grateful hearts our faith professing. We ask you Lord, come to our aid,
That we, our common faith confessing May keep the vows that we have made.
2. We know that in Your true providing The young and old to Christ belong;
Lord, help us to be wise in guiding and make us in example strong.
3. Give to the parents love and patience, each home with Christian graces fill.
Protect our children in temptations and keep them safe childhood ill.
4. Accept, O Lord, our dedication. To fill with love the growing mind,
That in this church and congregation the young a faith for life may find.
HOLY COMMUNION
CLOSING HYMN #361 Blue Hymnal
1 How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in God's excellent Word!
What more can be said than to you God hath said, To you, who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
2 "Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
3 "When through the deep waters I call thee to go, The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be near thee, thy troubles to bless, And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
4 "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
5 "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never forsake."
BENEDICTION – The Lord Be With You
Congregation sings
God be with you till we meet again, By his counsels guide, uphold you, With his sheep securely fold you God be with you till we meet again.
**Offerings
1. May be deposited in the Offering Box by the Narthex.
2. Processed through “E-Give” online at actonpc.org
3. Send a check to Acton Presbyterian Church P.O. Box 177 Acton, Ca. 93510
