Please use this link for the
Zoom Service May 5, 2024 at 8:30 AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81188368778?p30wd=QzZNMlFNNWVRVFIyUXZieWtNWkV0UT09
May 5, 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
“Hope is the thing with feathers, That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all.” —Emily Dickenson “The essence of what Christians are consists in this – that they have a hope.” —Geerhardus Vos “Friends, may the hope of our perfect forever invade our messy now!” —Scotty Smith If we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. —Romans 8:25
WELCOME, ANNOUNCMENTS, GUESTS AND SPECIAL DAYS
"Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore" The Singers
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand;
People: And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Leader: And hope does not put us to shame,
People: Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Leader: Let us put our hope in the Lord!
People: Our Savior and our God!
OPENING HYMN – #138 Blue Hymnal
1 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!
2 Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
3 Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinfulness Thy glory may not see,
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee
Perfect in power, in love, and purity.
4 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Heavenly Father, by your great mercy, you have given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Yet, so often, we live as though Chris’s tomb were not empty. We live functionally as though we were without hope in the world. Forgive us, dear Father, for our sins of hopelessness and all the rest. Renew our faith, hope, and love in Jesus, who has died and risen again, to give life and hope to the world. In his name do we pray. Amen.
SILENT CONFESSION PRAYERS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE
OLD TESTAMENT READING: Ezekiel 36:22-32
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your dealings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominable deeds. It is not for your sake that I will act, says the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and dismayed for your ways, O house of Israel. The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God
NEW TESTAMENT READING Romans 8:1-11
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you[b] free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit[e] set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit[g] is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit[i] is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through[k] his Spirit that dwells in you.
The Word of the Lord, Thanks be to God
SERMON : Dr. Randy Working “The Spirit 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 Heidelberg Catechism, questions #57 and 58
Leader: What comfort does the “resurrection of the body” give you?
All: That not only my soul, after this life, shall be immediately taken up to Christ my head; but also that this my body, raised by the power of Christ, shall again be united with my soul, and made like Christ’s glorious body.
Leader: What comfort do you receive from the article about the “life everlasting?”
All: That, as I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, I shall after this life possess complete blessedness, such as eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man; in which to praise God forever
HYMN – #316 Blue Hymnal
1 Breathe on me, Breath of God, Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love, And do what Thou wouldst do.
2 Breathe on me, Breath of God, Until my heart is pure,
Until with Thee I will one will, To do and to endure.
3 Breathe on me, Breath of God, Till I am wholly Thine,
Until this earthly part of me Glows with Thy fire divine.
4 Breathe on me, Breath of God, So shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life Of Thine eternity.
HOLY COMMUNION
CLOSING HYMN #322 Blue Hymnal
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.
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
