Welcome
Please use this link for the
Zoom Service November 10, 2024 at 8:30 AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81188368778?p30wd=QzZNMlFNNWVRVFIyUXZieWtNWkV0UT09
November 10, 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 – 2024 Celebrating Heritage and Sharing Hope
“Faithful Christian ministry is not very glamorous. It consists of baptizing, preaching, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper. It is about pointing people to a God on a cross whose strength, like that of his followers, is made perfect in weakness. Of course, none of this quite compares to engaging in an apocalyptic culture war or crushing one’s opponents or seizing worldly power by worldly means....But that’s the problem with Christianity. It is routine. It is by turns foolish and offensive to those who look on from outside. Its weapons look ridiculously weak to the watching world. To repeat: The sun also rises and life continues for ordinary people at the local level, with all of its joys and its sorrows. People are born, marry, grow old, and die. And the gospel remains the answer.” —Carl Trueman
WELCOME, ANNOUNCMENTS, GUESTS AND SPECIAL DAYS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Come and worship Christ,
People: The visible image of the invisible God;
Leader: Preeminent over all creation;
People: Who created all things in heaven and on earth; whether thrones or dominions, or rulers, or authorities;
Leader: All things were created through Him and for Him.
People: He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together;
Leader: He is the firstborn from the dead, who reconciles everything to Himself, making peace by the blood of His cross.
People: Come, let us worship Christ, the eternal King!
OPENING HYMN – #559 - We Gather Together
1 We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to His name; He forgets not His own.
2 Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side; all glory be Thine!
3 We all do extol Thee, Thou leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Father in heaven, we have lost our zeal in doing good. Afraid of the suffering that comes with the pursuit of righteousness, we often fear those who can kill the body, and not You, Father, who watches over our souls. We use our lips to revile, and not love. Our hearts are drawn to power, safety, and self. Forgive us for the dishonor done to Christ when we neglect to share the hope that is in us. Renew us in the hope that we have in Jesus. We ask for unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly affection, tender hearts, and humble minds, all for the glory due you name, Amen.
SILENT CONFESSION PRAYERS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
OLD TESTAMENT READING 2 Samuel 7:1-17
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.’ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the
earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever. In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God
NEW TESTAMENT READING Romans 16:1-27
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon[a] of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well. Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert[b] in Asia for Christ. Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you. Greet Andronicus and Junia,[c] my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. Greet my relative Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; and greet his mother—a mother to me also. Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them. Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you. I urge you, brothers and sisters,[g] to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offences, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned; avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites,[h] and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good, and guileless in what is evil. The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Timothy, my co-worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives. I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord. Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you. Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom[n] be the glory for ever! Amen. The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God
SERMON : “The Command of God”
CALL FOR OFFERING–Congregation sings - 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.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made: Who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, was and incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man: and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered, and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and is sitteth on the right hand of the Father: And He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeddeth from the Father and the Son: Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified: Who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
HYMN #466 - O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
1 O for a thousand tongues to sing My dear Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of God's grace!
2 Jesus, the name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease;
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears, ’Tis life, and health, and peace.
3 Christ breaks the power of reigning sin, And sets the prisoner free;
Christ's blood can make the sinful clean, Christ's blood availed for me.
4 My gracious Master and my God, Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad The honors of Thy name.
HOLY COMMUNION
CLOSING HYMN #40 - Joy to the World
1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come: Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing, And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
2 Joy to the world, the Savior reigns: Let us our songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
3 No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found.
4 He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love.
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
FOOD PANTRY
Buy what you need and a little more, To help the needy and the poor.
Leave non-perishables in the barrel at the new Acton Market or the basket in the Narthex
Save the Date November 10th at 7PM for SCV Concert Band
Canyon Theatre Guild, Newhall