Forth Midweek Lent Worship: March 13
Opening Hymn “Christ Be My Leader”
1 Christ be my leader by night as by day;
Safe through the darkness, for He is the way.
Gladly I follow, my future His care,
Darkness is daylight when Jesus is there.
2 Christ be my teacher in age as in youth,
Drifting or doubting, for He is the truth.
Grant me to trust Him; though shifting as sand,
Doubt cannot daunt me; in Jesus I stand.
3 Christ be my Saviour in calm as in strife;
Death cannot hold me, for He is the Life.
Nor darkness nor doubting nor sin and its stain
Can touch my salvation: with Jesus I reign.
Pastor: O Lord, open my lips,
People: and my mouth will declare Your praise.
Pastor: Make haste, O God, to deliver me;
People: make haste to help me, O Lord.
Psalmody: Psalm 141 sung by Pastor page 245
Scripture Lesson: Revelation 3:1-6
To the Church in Sardis
1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.
3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.
6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
1 Come, thou Fount of every blessing;
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above;
praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of God’s unchanging love!
2 Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
3 O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.
Message “Sardis and Us”
Pastor: In peace let us pray to the Lord:
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For the gift of divine peace and of pardon, with all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord:
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For the holy Christian Church, here and scattered throughout the world, and for the proclamation of the Gospel and the calling of all to faith, let us pray to the Lord:
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For this nation, for our cities and communities, and for the common welfare of us all, let us pray to the Lord:
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For seasonable weather and for the fruitfulness of the earth, let us pray to the Lord: People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For those who labor, for those whose work is difficult or dangerous, and for all who travel, let us pray to the Lord:
People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For all those in need, for the hungry and homeless, for the widowed and orphaned, and for all those in prison, let us pray to the Lord: People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For the sick and dying and for all those who care for them, let us pray to the Lord: People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: For . . . [additional bids for prayer may be inserted here] . . . let us pray to the Lord: People: Lord, have mercy.
Pastor: Finally, for these and for all our needs of body and soul, let us pray to the Lord:
People: Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Pastor: Lord Jesus, coming Judge, keep us ever watchful that we might not stain our garments with sin. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, strengthen our lives so that on the Last Day we are found to be prepared for Your coming. In Your name we pray.
People: Amen.
People: I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN “All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night”
1 All praise to Thee, my God, this night
For all the blessings of the light.
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath Thine own almighty wings.
2 Forgive me, Lord, for Thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done,
That with the world, myself, and Thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.
3 Teach me to live that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
Teach me to die that so I may
Rise glorious at the awe-full Day.
4 Oh, may my soul in Thee repose,
And may sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that shall me more vig’rous make
To serve my God when I awake!
5 When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heav’nly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No pow’rs of darkness me molest.
6 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.