August 9, 2026

Service Leader

Call to Worship

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.”

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:1–2, 5–6)

This call to worship God comes from Psalm 62. In it, the Psalmist instructs his soul to wait in silence for God. Let’s take a moment to do this, quite literally. Let’s stand in silence before God and physically express our desire to wait on the Eternal God to come and attend to our worship today.

Service Leader

Silence & Meditation

Service Leader

Prayer

Service Leader

Corporate Reading

Please read out loud with me these words first spoken by King David when he considered all the ways the Lord had blessed him and shown him grace. Let's read out loud together.

“‘Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name. Amen.” (1 Chronicles 29:10–13)

Service Leader

Confession of Sin

Many years after King David died, his son, Solomon, built a Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple became the meeting place between God and His people. On the day Solomon dedicated that temple, he asked God to always pay attention to the prayers offered there. This physical temple always pointed forward to the day, Immanuel, (God with us, Jesus Christ), would tabernacle with mankind. Jesus came and made Solomon’s temple obsolete. In this way, Jesus is the better Temple. As such, we offer our prayers to Him, to Christ. And so we take the words spoken at Solomon’s dedication of the Jerusalem temple, and point them toward our Better Temple, the true meeting place between God and man — Jesus Christ.

Please join me in spirit as I pray on our behalf.

Prayer Based on 2 Chronicles 6:36–39
If we sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with us… and discipline us… remember us, O Lord, when we come to our senses.
If we turn our hearts back to you and repent and plead with you in the land of our folly, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ and if we repent with all our heart and with all our soul and pray to Jesus asking Him to forgive us, then hear from heaven your dwelling place our prayer and our pleas, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
Our sins are many, but your mercy is more.
So please do forgive us and restore us to Yourself.
This we ask with great confidence in the Name of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Service Leader

Assurance of Pardon

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, If you are repenting of your sins and appealing to Jesus to forgive you and cleanse you from them, then be assured that He has heard your prayer and done as you asked. Through His prophet, the Lord says of you, believer…

“‘Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.’” (Psalm 91:14–16)

Amen.

Lead Elder

Catechism & Confession of Faith

We have been learning a great deal about what it means to be justified by God from the book of Romans. Hopefully this has helped you to see the difference between justification and sanctification. Our catechism question lays out this distinction quite clearly. [Read Q and A, then read Q and ask congregation to read A.]

Question 32
Q: What do justification and sanctification mean?

A: Justification means our declared righteousness before God. Sanctification means our gradual, growing righteousness.

Lead Elder

Pastoral Prayer

Lead Elder

Scripture Reading

Romans 9:30–10:13

Preacher

Sermon

Romans 9:30–10:13

Complementary Scripture Reader

Complementary Reading

Listen to the Word of God Please listen as I read about three men being put to death by means of crucifixion…

“Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with [Jesus]. And when they came to the place that is called 'The Skull,' there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And [Jesus] said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” (Luke 23:32–33, 39–43)

[pause]

Commenting on this reading from Luke 23, JC Ryle wrote:
“One thief was saved that no sinner might despair,
but only one, that no sinner might presume.”
May we all take that warning to heart.

Service Leader

Benediction

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24–26)