Sunday's Program

Welcome

“Mary Did You Know?”

Handbells

Call to Worship John 6:35, 37, & 39

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

“Forever Reign”

Prayer of Invocation and Confession of Sin

Scripture Reading Romans 8:31-39

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“O Come O Come Emmanuel” (#245)

“O Little Town of Bethlehem” (#250) 

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hades. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

“Star of Wonder”

Sermon: Matthew 7:21-29

“Built on the Rock”, Dr. Mike Campbell

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Communion

“Light of the World”

Benediction

Gloria Patri

Sermon Introduction:

James 1:22-25: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Verse 21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’… but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

1. Because it Shows the Genuineness of Our Faith

Verses 21-22: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’

James 2:17: Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Verses 21b: the one who does the will of my Father

Verse 23: And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

2. Because it Shows Our Commitment to a Life of Wisdom

Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

Verses 24-27: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Sinclair Ferguson: “Look at this man building his house. He digs down and down until he finds rock. He lays solid foundations, and then he begins to assemble the superstructure. But his neighbor seems altogether more enterprising. ‘Who needs foundations?’ he asks, and while the first man is still digging, he has completed his entire house. He has made his neighbor look foolish! ‘But look again,’ says Jesus. ‘Both houses are now finished. They seem similar enough, and stable enough too. But watch!”

William Butler Yeats – “The Second Coming”: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”

Verse 25b: because it had been founded on the rock.

3. Because it Shows Our Submission to Jesus’ Authority

Verses 28-29: And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.