JUNE 25, 2023

Hymn Sing     Gray Psalter Hymnal

     # 473     To God Be the Glory

     # 534     Come, You Sinners, Poor and Needy, verses 1, 2, 4

     # 169     I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord

Call to Worship

Hymn     # 21     Love Divine, All Loves Excelling          (Supplemental Hymnal)

Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon     

Confession of Faith     Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 1                   

Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Prayer for Illumination          Darrell Clase                                            

Old Testament Reading     I Kings 17:8-24     (NRSVUE)

       8Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9“Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there, for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.” 15She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

       17After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” 19But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20He cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” 21Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” 22The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” 24So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.”

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God for His Word.

Special Music     Grace Greater than Our Sin          Faith Handbell Choir

Children’s Sermon

Hymn     # 58     Before the Throne of God Above          (Supplemental Hymnal)

New Testament Reading     John 2:1-11     (NKJV)

       2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

       4Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

       5His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

       6Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. 9When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

       11This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

Sermon          Steve Varys