Friedens Reformed Church 

P.O. Box J, Tripp, South Dakota 57376

Church: 605-935-6758

Affiliated with: The Evangelical Association of Reformed & Congregational Christian Churches

April 12, 2020         Easter Sunday

 

Opening Prayer: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; cleanse the thoughts of our minds, we beseech Thee, by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that, being delivered from every unholy motion of the flesh and spirit, we may perfectly love Thee, with a pure heart and sanctified lips worship Thee, and worthily magnify Thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

**Opening Hymn: Christ the Lord is Risen Today #217 R

“Christ the Lord is ris’n today, Al-le-lu-ia!

Sons of men and angels say: Al-le-lu-ia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Al-le-lu-ia!

Sing, ye heav’ns, and earth reply: Al-le-lu-ia!

 

Lives again our glorious King, Al-le-lu-ia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting? Al-le-lu-ia!

Dying once He all doth save, Al-le-lu-ia!

Where thy victory, O grave? Al-le-lu-ia!

 

Love’s redeeming work is done, Al-le-lu-ia!

Fought the fight, the battle won, Al-le-lu-ia!

Death in vain forbids Him rise, Al-le-lu-ia!

Christ has opened Paradise, Al-le-lu-ia!

 

Soar we now where Christ has led, Al-le-lu-ia!

Foll’wing our exalted Head, Al-le-lu-ia!

Made like Him, like Him we rise, Al-le-lu-ia!

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Al-le-lu-ia!”

 

** Invocation: I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens; your faithfulness extends to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.

 

**Call to Worship: Isaiah 53:8-11 (Read Responsively)

M: By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people. 

C: He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. 

M: Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, 

C: He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. 

M: After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. 

C: By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities.

 

Reading of the Law: Exodus 20:1-17

 

**Prayer of Confession: Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous and sober life. To the Glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

 

Assurance of Absolution: Hearken now unto the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the Gospel to all that repent and believe: As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Unto as many of you, therefore, beloved brethren, as truly repent of your sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, with full purpose of new obedience, I announce and declare, by the authority and in the name of Christ, that your sins are forgiven in heaven, according to His promise in the Gospel, through the perfect merit of Jesus Christ our Lord

 

Hymn: The Day of Resurrection #226 R

“The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad;

The Passover of gladness, The Passover of God.

From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky,

Our Christ hath brought us over with hymns of victory.

 

Our hearts be pure from evil, that we may see aright

The Lord in rays eternal of resurrection light;

And, list’ning to His accents, may hear, so calm and plain,

His own “All hail!” and, hearing, may raise the victor strain.

 

Now let the heav’ns be joyful! Let earth her song begin!

The world resound in triumph, and all that is therein;

Let all things seen and unseen their notes of gladness blend;

For Christ the Lord hath risen, our Joy that hath no end.”

 

**New Testament Reading: Luke 24:1-12

**The Apostles’ Creed

**The Gloria Patri 

 

Reading of Sermon Text: Psalm 16:8-11

Children’s Sermon

Sermon: Partakers in His Resurrection

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

 

The Offertory Hymn: Jesus Shall Reign #231 R

“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun does His successive journeys run;

His kingdom spread from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.

 

To Him shall endless prayer be made, and endless praises crown His head;

His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice.

 

People and realms of every tongue dwell on His love with sweetest song;

And infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on His name.

 

Let every creature rise and bring His grateful honors to our King;

Angels descend with songs again, and earth repeat the loud “Amen!”

 

**Doxology

**Prayer of Dedication

 

**Closing Hymn: Crown Him with Many Crowns #234 R

“Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne;

Hark! How the heav’nly anthem drowns all music but its own!

Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, and 

Hail Him as thy matchless King thru all eternity.

 

Crown Him the Lord of love; Behold His hands and side

Rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.

No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight, but

downward bends his wond’ring eye at mysteries so bright.

 

Crown Him the Lord of life; who triumphed o’er the grave,

Who rose victorious to the strife for those He came to save.

His glories now we sing, who died and rose on high, who

died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die.

 

Crown Him the Lord of heav’n; one with the Father known,

One with the Spirit thru Him giv’n from yonder glorious throne.

To Thee be endless praise, for Thou for us hast died;

Be Thou, O Lord, thru endless days adored and magnified.”

​

**Benediction

Postlude

 

Heidelberg Catechism

 

Lord's Day 17

 

Q. 45.  What doth the resurrection of Christ profit us?

A.  First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers of that righteousness which He had purchased for us by His death; 1 secondly, we are also by His power raised up to a new life;2 and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.3

 

1. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

 

2. Romans 14:7-9 – 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

 

3. 1 Corinthians 3:23 - And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.