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

May 3, 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: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name #97 Red

1 All hail the power of Jesus' name!

Let angels prostrate fall.

Bring forth the royal diadem,

and crown Him Lord of all.

Bring forth the royal diadem,

and crown Him Lord of all!

 

2 Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,

Ye ransomed from the fall,

Hail Him who saves you by His grace,

and crown Him Lord of all.

Hail Him who saves you by His grace,

and crown Him Lord of all!

 

3 Let every kindred, every tribe

On this terrestrial ball,

To Him all majesty ascribe,

and crown Him Lord of all.

To Him all majesty ascribe,

and crown Him Lord of all!

 

4 O that with yonder sacred throng

We at His feet may fall!

We'll join the everlasting song

and crown Him Lord of all.

We'll join the everlasting song

and crown Him Lord of all.

 

** 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 Isaiah 26:1-12

M: In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. 

C: Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. 

M: You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. 

C: Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.

M: For He brings down those who dwell on high, the lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust. 

C: The foot shall tread it down—The feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.” 

M: The way of the just is uprightness; O Most Upright, You weigh the path of the just. 

C: Yes, in the way of Your judgments, O Lord, we have waited for You; the desire of our soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You. 

M: With my soul I have desired You in the night, yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. 

C: Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. 

M: Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed for their envy of people; yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them. 

C: Lord, You will establish peace for us, For You have also done all our works in us.

 

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; 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: O God, Our Help in Ages Past #52 Red

1 O God, our help in ages past, 

our hope for years to come, 

our shelter from the stormy blast, 

and our eternal home!
 

2 Under the shadow of Thy throne 

Thy saints have dwelt secure; 

sufficient is Thine arm alone, 

and our defense is sure. 

 

3 Before the hills in order stood, 

or earth received her frame, 

from everlasting Thou art God, 

to endless years the same. 

 

4 A thousand ages in Thy sight 

are like an evening gone; 

short as the watch that ends the night 

before the rising sun. 

 

5 Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 

bears all its sons away; 

they fly, forgotten, as a dream 

dies at the op'ning day. 

 

6 O God, our help in ages past, 

our hope for years to come:

Be Thou our guard while life shall last, 

and our eternal home.

 

**New Testament Reading: Romans 9:6-24

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

 

**The Apostles’ Creed

**The Gloria Patri 

 

Reading of Sermon Text: Lamentations 3:37-38

Children’s Sermon

Sermon: Sovereign Over Good

 

Pastoral Prayer

Lord’s Prayer

The Offertory Hymn: Be Thou My Vision #382 Red

1 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;

naught be all else to me, save that Thou art--

Thou my best thought, by day or by night,

waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

 

2 Be thou my wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

 

3 Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

Thou mine inheritance, now and always:

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

 

4 High King of heaven, my victory won,

may I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'n's Sun!

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

 

**Doxology

**Prayer of Dedication

**Closing Hymn: Eternal Father, Strong to Save (1&4) #575 Red  

1 Eternal Father, strong to save,

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bids the mighty ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep;

O hear us when we cry to Thee 

For those in peril on the sea.

4 O Trinity of love and power,

Our brethren shield in danger's hour;

From rock and tempest, fire, and foe,

Protect them where-so-e'er they go;

Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee

Glad hymns of praise from air and land and sea.

 

**Benediction

Postlude