Evening Worship Service

Prelude: O God Our Help in Ages Past Mark Hayes Sharon Neff, soprano

Call to Worship

Invocation

Hymn 48: O Lord Most High, with All My Heart Rockingham Old

O Lord Most High, with all my heart your wondrous works I will proclaim;
I will be glad and give you thanks and sing the praises of your name.

The Lord, the everlasting King, is seated on his judgment throne;
the righteous Judge of all the world will make His perfect justice known.

Jehovah will a refuge prove, a refuge strong for all oppressed,
a safe retreat, where weary souls in troubled times may surely rest.

All they, O Lord, that know your name their confidence in you will place,
for you have ne’er forsaken them who earnestly have sought your face.

Sing praises to the Lord Most High, to him who does in Zion dwell;
declare his mighty deeds abroad, his deeds among the nations tell.

Prayer of Confession

Righteous God, if your mercy had bounds, who could stand before you? We come before you with sins unnumbered, in our thoughts and actions, in our words and attitudes. We have not loved you with our whole heart, and we have not loved our neighbor as we ought. Merciful Father, we have no merit of our own, no works which will commend us to you. We praise you that where our sin abounded, your grace much more abounds. Our only hope is in the cross of Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection. By your Holy Spirit grant us grace to trust him more. Amen.

The Gospel’s Assurance of Pardon: Colossians 2:13–14

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Doxology Tallis’ Canon

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Prayer of Illumination

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. 13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. 19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Hymn 599: Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us Shepherd

Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care;
in thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use thy folds prepare:
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us, thine we are;
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast bought us, thine we are.

We are thine; do thou befriend us, be the guardian of our way;
keep thy flock, from sin defend us, seek us when we go astray:
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear, O hear us when we pray;
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear, O hear us when we pray.

Thou hast promised to receive us, poor and sinful though we be;
thou hast mercy to relieve us, grace to cleanse, and pow’r to free:
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, let us early turn to thee;
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, let us early turn to thee.

Early let us seek thy favor; early let us do thy will;
blessed Lord and only Savior, with thy love our bosoms fill:
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast loved us, love us still,
blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, thou hast loved us, love us still.

Confession of Faith: Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 38

Question: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
Answer: At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.

Offering Prayer

(In person offerings may be made via the oak boxes. Give online at tenth.org/give or mail checks to: 1701 Delancey Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103)

Offertory: O Love that Wilt Not Let Me Go Louis Shenk Sharon Neff, soprano

O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be. O Joy that seekest me through pain I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain that morn shall tearless be. O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee; I lay in dust life’s glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red life that shall endless be.

Sermon: A Healthy New Year Rev. Carroll Wynne

Hymn 338: Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart Morecambe

Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
wean it from earth, through all its pulses move;
stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art,
and make me love thee as I ought to love.

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
no sudden rending of the veil of clay,
no angel visitant, no op’ning skies;
but take the dimness of my soul away.

Hast thou not bid us love thee, God and King?
All, all thine own, soul, heart, and strength and mind.
I see the cross– there teach my heart to cling:
O let me seek thee, and O let me find.

Teach me to feel that thou art always nigh;
teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
to check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Teach me to love thee as thine angels love,
one holy passion filling all my frame:
the baptism of the heav’n-descended Dove,
my heart an altar, and thy love the flame.

Benediction

Postlude

Serving this evening:
Rev. Greg Hobaugh, platform
Aaron Patterson, organist

Sermon Notes