Bulletin 06.28.26
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
Reflection Before The Service
Reflection Before The Service
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something.
― Dmitri Shostakovich; Testimony (p.175; 1979)
Redemption was accomplished, according to the New Testament, by an event in the external world, at a definite time in the world's history, when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross and rose again. It is Christ, therefore, very naturally, who is ordinarily represented as the object of faith. In the case of our relation to Jesus, we are committing to Him the most precious thing that we possess — our own immortal souls. It is a stupendous act of trust. And it can be justified only by an appeal to facts...
The Lord Jesus, then, came into this world not primarily to say something, not even to be something, but to do something; He came not merely to lead men through His example out into a "larger life," but to give life, through His death and resurrection, to those who were dead in trespasses and sins; we are Christians not because we have faith in God like the faith in God which Jesus Himself had, but because we have faith in Him.
J. Gresham Machen, What Is Faith? (1925)
Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the First Cause, all things come to pass unchangeably, and unfailingly; yet, by the same providence, He orders them to play out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.
– The Westminster Confession of Faith (5.2; 1647, modernized)
The Call To Worship
The Call To Worship
The Forty-Sixth Psalm (NIV)
Reader: God is our refuge and strength, an ever -present help in trouble.
People: Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Reader: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts.
People: The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Reader: Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields with fire. He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
All: The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
(Prayer)
Reflection Before The Service
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
When a man is in despair, it means that he still believes in something.
― Dmitri Shostakovich; Testimony (p.175; 1979)
Redemption was accomplished, according to the New Testament, by an event in the external world, at a definite time in the world's history, when the Lord Jesus died upon the cross and rose again. It is Christ, therefore, very naturally, who is ordinarily represented as the object of faith. In the case of our relation to Jesus, we are committing to Him the most precious thing that we possess — our own immortal souls. It is a stupendous act of trust. And it can be justified only by an appeal to facts...
The Lord Jesus, then, came into this world not primarily to say something, not even to be something, but to do something; He came not merely to lead men through His example out into a "larger life," but to give life, through His death and resurrection, to those who were dead in trespasses and sins; we are Christians not because we have faith in God like the faith in God which Jesus Himself had, but because we have faith in Him.
J. Gresham Machen, What Is Faith? (1925)
Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the First Cause, all things come to pass unchangeably, and unfailingly; yet, by the same providence, He orders them to play out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.
– The Westminster Confession of Faith (5.2; 1647, modernized)
The Call To Worship
The Forty-Sixth Psalm (NIV)
Reader: God is our refuge and strength, an ever -present help in trouble.
People: Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Reader: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts His voice, the earth melts.
People: The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Reader: Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields with fire. He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
All: The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
(Prayer)
28/06/26