March 19, 2023

*Call to Worship | Romans 1:16 | Blake Arnoult

God invites and calls us into his presence to worship him.

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16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

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*Song of Adoration | In Christ Alone

We begin by responding with praise to God for who he is and for what he does. 

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In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light my strength my song

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled when strivings cease!

My Comforter my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

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In Christ alone! - who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This Gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

Till on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied –

For every sin on Him was laid:

Here in the death of Christ I live

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There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine –

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

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No guilt in life no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

Till He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand 

Music and Lyrics: Keith Getty, Stuart Townend

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*Confession of Faith | based on Ephesians 1:3-18

With the church in history we confess a basic statement of what Christians believe.

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All glorious God, we give you praise:

In your Son, Jesus Christ,

You have given us every spiritual blessing

In the heavenly realms.

You chose us, before the world was made,

To be your holy people, without fault in your sight.

You adopted us as your children in Christ.

You have set us free by his blood;

You have forgiven our sins.

You have made known to us your secret purpose,

To bring heaven and earth into unity in Christ.

You have given us your Holy Spirit,

The seal and pledge of our inheritance.

All praise and glory be yours, O God,

For the richness of your grace,

For the splendor of your gifts,

For the wonder of your love.

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*Song of Confession | Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah

Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs are simply prayers that are sung. We respond in repentance and praise for God’s redemptive work in Christ.

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Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land. 

I am weak, but Thou art mighty; hold me with Thy powerful hand. 

Bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore; 

Bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore.

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Open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing waters flow; 

Let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through. 

Strong Deliverer, be Thou still my Strength and Shield. 

Strong Deliverer, be Thou still my Strength and Shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside; 

Death of death, and hell's destruction,

Land me safe on Canaan's side. 

Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee; 

Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee.

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Land me safe on Canaan's side; bid my anxious fears, 

Bid my anxious fears;

Land me safe on Canaan's side; bid my anxious fears,

Bid my anxious fears, goodbye.

Music and Lyrics: William Williams, Jeremy Casella

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Confession of Sin | based on Deuteronomy 6, Hebrews 7 | Blake Arnoult

We fight the temptation to hide our sin and instead acknowledge it openly to God, but we do so in light of the grace offered in Jesus.

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O great and everlasting God, who dwells in unapproachable light, who searches and knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart; we confess that we have not loved you with all our heart, nor with all our soul, nor with all our mind, nor with all our strength; nor our neighbors as ourselves. We have loved what we ought not to have loved; we have coveted what is not ours; we have not been content with your provisions for us. We have complained in our hearts about our family, about our friends, about our health, about our occupations, about your church, and about our trials. We have sought our security in those things which perish, rather than in you, God. Chasten, cleanse, and forgive us, through Jesus Christ, who is able for all time to save us who approach you through him, since he always lives to make intercession for us. Amen.

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Assurance of Pardon | John 3:16 | Blake Arnoult

The good news of the gospel is that we are forgiven in Jesus Christ. This assurance is based on God’s words of promise and it is therefore certain.

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16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

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*Song of Response | Crown Him With Many Crowns

We respond in repentance and praise for God’s redemptive work in Christ.

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Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne

Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own

Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee

And hail Him as thy matchless King through all eternity

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Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all does reign

Who once on earth, the incarnate Word, for ransomed sinners slain

Now lives in realms of light, where saints with angels sing

Their songs before Him day and night, their God, Redeemer, King

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Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side

Those wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified

No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight

But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright

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Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave

And rose victorious in the strife for those He came to save

His glories now we sing, who died, and rose on high

Who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die

Music and Lyrics: George Job Elvey, Godfrey Thring, Matthew Bridges

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Prayer of Thanksgiving

We offer our gratitude to God in prayer in response to his gifts and blessings to his people and ask that he make us faithful managers of these gifts.

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Song of Thanks | The Old Rugged Cross

As we offer our prayers so we also offer up our thanks in song.

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On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

The emblem of suff'ring and shame;

And I love that old cross where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain.

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So I'll cherish the old rugged cross.

Till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

And exchange it some day for a crown.

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Oh that old rugged cross, so despised by the world.

Has a wondrous attraction for me,

For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above,

To bear it to dark Calvary.

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Chorus

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In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,

A wondrous beauty I see.

For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died

To pardon and sanctify me.

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Chorus

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To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true,

Its shame and reproach gladly bear,

Then He'll call me some day to my home far away,

Where His glory forever I'll share.

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Chorus

Music and Lyrics: George Bennard

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Prayer for Christ’s Church

We lift up our requests to God knowing that he hears us when we pray.

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*Reading of Scripture | Romans 6:14; 7:1-13 | Rev. Blake Arnoult

God reveals himself and his work and speaks to us his people through his Word.

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6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

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7:1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

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4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

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7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

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13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.

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Pastor: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

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The Preaching of the Word | Rev. Blake Arnoult

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“Gospel Freedom From the Bondage of the Law Pt.1: The Covenant Community and the Law”

Romans: The Power of God for Salvation

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Pastoral Prayer

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Sacrament of Communion

Sacraments are visible signs of the invisible grace of God - what Christ does by his Holy Spirit within us. Communion (also called the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist), as the distribution of the elements of bread and wine, symbolizes a meal. Communion is a sign of fellowship. That sign signifies more than just the future heavenly fellowship that is to come. The outward sign signifies the inner reality that sinners already experience fellowship with God in the Spirit because of Jesus. Communion is not a meal for good people. It functions as a renewing seal to desperate sinners of that fellowship we have with our holy and gracious God.

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You will be invited to come forward. If you are not a Christian we encourage you to spend this time in reflection on what you’ve seen and heard in the worship. Children who have not received their first communion are welcome and encouraged to come forward with their families to witness their partaking. We invite children who are ready to make a public profession of faith in Christ to arrange a meeting with the elders, and thus become “communicants” at the Lord’s Table. 

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Pastor: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Pastor: Lift up your hearts!

People: We lift them up to the Lord.

Pastor: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

People: It is right to give him thanks and praise.

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Prayer of Thanksgiving and Words of Institution

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Pastor: Let us proclaim the mystery of the faith: 

People: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Hallelujah! 

Pastor: Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us. Hallelujah! 

People: Therefore, let us keep the feast. 

Pastor: The gifts of God for the people of God.

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Please let an usher know if it is difficult for you to come forward. We would be happy to serve you at your seat. All communion bread is gluten-free. All communion wine is made from  grape juice.

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A communion prayer for those searching for the truth:

Lord Jesus, you claim to be the way, the truth and the life. If what you claim is true, please guide me, teach me, and open to me the reality of who you are. Give me the ability to follow you no matter what it might cost me. Give me an understanding for you that is coherent, convincing, and leads to the life that you promise. Amen.

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Communion Song | There Is A Fountain

We celebrate our communion in faith and song.

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There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

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The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;

And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away;

And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

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Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power

Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;

Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

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E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;

Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Music and Lyrics: William Cowper, Lowell Mason, Mark Willard

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Departing Song | Holy Spirit

We begin to end in faith and song.

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/ There's nothing worth more, that will ever come close

No thing can compare, You're our living hope

Your Presence Lord

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I've tasted and seen, of the sweetest of loves

Where my heart becomes free,

And my shame is undone

In Your Presence Lord

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Holy Spirit You are welcome here

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere

Your Glory God is what our hearts long for

To be overcome by Your Presence Lord

Your Presence Lord /

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/// Let us become more aware of Your Presence

Let us experience the Glory of Your Goodness ///

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Chorus

Music and Lyrics: Katie Torwalt, Bryan Torwalt

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*Benediction | Psalm 3:8 | Blake Arnoult

God sends us out with his blessing. A benediction is not a prayer. We don’t bow our heads. We lift them up and even lift up our hands to receive his blessing as we are sent out as participants in his mission to the city of man.

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8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Nursery Unavailable

April 2 and 9

Cornerstone’s nursery will be unavailable on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday

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Info Session with Allison Burns and Interserve

March 25, 3-6pm

Join us on March 25 at the home of Jeff and Susan Arnoult as we learn about Allison Burns’ mission to Central Asia and Interserve, her sending organization! 

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Sunday School

Sunday school will resume on April 16!

We are taking a brief break from Sunday school though Easter. Join us again in April every Sunday morning at 9:15am!

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Supper Clubs Underway!

February and March 2023

Spring supper clubs are underway! If you need assistance connecting to your supper club, contact Emily McEwin. 

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Bible Studies

Women’s Morning Bible Study: 

Wednesday mornings, 9:30am at the Wade home

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Women’s Evening Bible Study: 

Thursday evenings at 7pm at the McEwin home

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Men’s Bible Study: 

Friday mornings, 7am at Buffalo Grille on Voss and Woodway

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Adult Teaching Series

Thursday, March 30, 7pm

This spring, adults will be meeting on Thursday evenings at the Wade home! Join us for our final teaching session on March 30 to hear about The Faith We Believe, Share, and Defend!

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Youth Teaching Series

Sunday, March 26, 11:30am

All 5th-12th graders are invited to join us at the Willson home on 

March 26 for our third session in our youth teaching series!

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Palm Sunday Gathering

Sunday, April 2, 4-6pm

Join us at the Erwin home on Palm Sunday for our annual gathering!

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