Bulletin & Hymns

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 19, 2020

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: Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above #6 Red

“Sing praise to God who reigns above, the God of all creation,

the God of pow’r the God of love, the God of our salvation.

with healing balm my soul He fills, and every faithless

murmur stills; to God all praise and glory!

What God’s almighty pow’r hath made His gracious mercy keepeth,

by morning glow or evening shade His watchful eye ne’er

sleepeth. Within the kingdom of His might, Lo! All is just and 

all is right; to God all praise and glory!

The Lord is never far away, but, thru all grief distressing,

an ever present help and stay, our peace and joy and 

blessing. As with a mother’s tender hand He leads His own, His

chosen band; to God all praise and glory!

Thus all my toilsome way along I sing aloud His praises,

that men may hear the grateful song my voice unwearied

raises. Be joyful in the Lord, my heart! Both soul and body

bear your part; to God all praise and glory!

** 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: 

Responsive reading of Proverbs 30:3-6; Psalm 12:6-7

M: I neither learned wisdom nor have knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? 

C: Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment?

M: Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know? 

C: Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. 

M: Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.

C:  The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.

M: You shall keep them, O Lord,

C: You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

Reading of the Law: And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

**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; An d 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: God the Omnipotent #33 Red

“God the Omnipotent! King, who ordainest 

thunder Thy clarion, the lightning Thy sword;

show forth Thy pity on high where Thou reignest;

give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

God the All merciful! Earth hath forsaken

meekness and mercy, and slighted Thy Word;

Let not thy wrath in its terrors awaken;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

God the All righteous One! Man hath defiled Thee;

Yet to eternity standeth Thy Word;

Falsehood and wrong shall not tarry beside Thee;

Give to us peace in our time, O Lord.

So shall Thy people, with thankful devotion,

Praise Him who saved them from peril and sword,

Singing in chorus from ocean to ocean,

Peace to the nations, and praise to the Lord.”

**New Testament Reading: 

Ephesians 4:17-24 

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

**The Apostles’ Creed

**The Gloria Patri 

Reading of Sermon Text: Lamentations 3:37-38

Children’s Sermon

Sermon: The Word of His Power

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

The Offertory Hymn: Praise to the Lord the Almighty #8 Red

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise Him, for He is my health and salvation!

All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near; 

Join me in glad adoration!

Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,

Shelters thee under His wings, yes, so gently sustaineth!

Hast thou not seen how all thy longings have been

granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;

Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, 

If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him!

All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.

Let the Amen sound from His people again;

Gladly for aye we adore Him.”

**Doxology

**Prayer of Dedication

**Closing Hymn: How Great Thou Art #4 Red

“O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy pow’r thro’out the universe displayed.

Refrain

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When thru the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

Refrain

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.

Refrain

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art.

Refrain

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!”

**Benediction

Postlude