Please use this link for the
Zoom Service March 23, 2025 at 8:30 AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81188368778?p30wd=QzZNMlFNNWVRVFIyUXZieWtNWkV0UT09
March 23, 2025
Acton Community Presbyterian Church
P.O. Box 177, 32142 Crown Valley Road, Acton, CA 93510
Message: 661-208-8032 w www.actonpc.org
1888 – 2024 Celebrating Heritage and Sharing Hope
“God takes more care of us than we take of ourselves.”
WELCOME, ANNOUNCMENTS, GUESTS AND SPECIAL DAYS
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
People: Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Leader: Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
People: People: The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. Come, let us adore him!
OPENING HYMN – #383 - My Faith Looks Up to Thee (Blue Hymnal)
1 My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine:
Now hear me while I pray, Take all my guilt away,
O let me from this day Be wholly Thine!
2 May Thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart,
My zeal inspire; As Thou hast died for me,
O may my love to Thee Pure warm, and changeless be, A living fire!
3 While life’s dark maze I tread, And griefs around me spread,
Be Thou my guide; Bid darkness turn to day,
Wipe sorrow’s tears away, Nor let me ever stray From Thee aside.
4 When ends life’s transient dream, When death’s cold sullen stream
Shall o'er me roll. Blest Savior, then, in love,
Fear and distrust remove; O bear me safe above, A ransomed soul!
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 10
Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. The almighty and ever-present power of God by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance4 but by his fatherly hand.
Q. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?
A. We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love. For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Heavenly Father, you call us when angry not to sin; when wronged not to retaliate in kind; and when confronted by enemies not to hate, but instead to love. Lord, this way of mercy often seems too high a reach for us, a hill too steep for us to climb. Forgive us for all our failures to love. Let us consider the extent of Jesus’ love for us, dying for us when we were yet your enemies, to make us your friends instead. And teach us to follow in his way. We pray these things in his name. Amen.
SILENT CONFESSION PRAYERS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
Old Testament Reading – Proverbs 3:5-6, 11-12 Page 586
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. The Word of the Lord
New Testament Reading – Hebrews 10:5-16 Page 219
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God” (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).’ When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’, and since then has been waiting ‘until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.’ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds’ The Word of the Lord
SERMON : “God’s Guiding Hand”
CALL FOR OFFERING–Congregation sings Doxology - Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
HYMN #370 - Just As I Am (Blue Hymnal)
1 Just as I am, without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
2 Just as I am, though tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
3 Just as I am, Thou wilt receive, Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
4 Just as I am, Thy love unknown Has broken every barrier down;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
HOLY COMMUNION
CLOSING HYMN #379 - My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less (Blue Hymnal)
1 My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Refrain: On Christ, the solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
2 When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil. (Refrain)
3 His oath, His covenant, His blood Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. (Refrain)
4 When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. (Refrain)
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
Bible Study
"What was Jesus Doing in His Last Week" led by Pastor Randy March 24 from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. in Hedgecock Hall
FOOD PANTRY
Don’t forget the Food Pantry - donations may be left in the basket located in the Church Narthex or in the Hall. Below is an example of items needed.
Canned tomatoes, Peanut Butter, Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Canned meat or beans
Canned soup, Canned fruit or vegetables, Cereal, Dried beans or rice, Pasta
Diapers, Deodorant, Shampoo and Bar Soap, Toothbrush and toothpaste
