In this week’s installment of How to Lead Worship, we take a listen to the Confession of Sin and the Assurance of Pardon.
Scriptural Call to Confession
I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Corporate Confession of Sin
Gracious Father,
Your mercy and grace abound to us, calling us to confess our sins. Father we confess that …
God’s Immutability & Infinity________________________
Letter from the Pastor March 3, 2026
SECOND LONDON CONFESSION, 2:1b
The Confession says in chapter 2:1b
The Lord our God… is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, …
Introduction
What constitutes Holy Scripture? Which books belong in the Bible, and which do not? These questions are answered in paragraphs two & three of chapter one of the confession. Today we’ll consider paragraph two and the sixty-six books of the Holy Scriptures.
The 1689 Second London Confession of Faith (1.2)
Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, …
Introduction
In the last 5 years you’ve likely noticed that we talk more and more about Christian creeds and confessions in our congregation. We have been reciting the Apostle’s Creed weekly for five years in our gathered worship. We also alternate in reciting the Nicene Creed. We’ve taken an entire year to recite an edited version of the Heidelberg Catechism, and more recently, we taught through the seven ecumenical councils and their associated creeds and …
Almighty God,
You are the fount from which every blessing pours forth. Every good thing we have comes from your gracious hand. You are the King of Heaven; and as you are our Lord and Maker, we owe you perfect obedience.
And yet none of us have obeyed you in all things. If we claimed to be in the right, our own mouths would condemn us. (Job 9:20) Father we agree with your Word that …
Letter from the Pastor 1/8/2025; Part 3 of 7
INTRODUCTION
Are Christians obligated to keep all of the Old Testament laws? What about the dietary or cleanness laws? If we are not obligated, how do we know which of God’s laws we can set aside? Christians have been asking these questions since the days immediately following Christ’s resurrection, and we’ll do our best to answer them in this week’s letter. Today, we discuss what has …
EXHORTATION
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. 12:8)
We are called to give God worship that is both acceptable and reverential.
Acceptable worship addresses the external, visible form the worship is taking. To offer acceptable worship means that we are to worship God in the …
The second of the 10 Commandments declares:
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the …
The first of the 10 Commandments declares:
You shall have no other gods before me.
This commandment is the foundation for every other law God gives because this command declares God to be the ultimate foundation for everything else. There are no other gods, therefore we ought not to treat any other person or thing with the same adoration, trust, or respect that we give to God.
It’s good to compliment your spouse or children, …
The Lord gave his law, the 10 Commandments, to Moses on Mount Sinai. Listen to how he introduces himself as he delivered these binding commands:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, (Ex. 34:6)
Even as he delivers iron-clad laws, he says, “I am the God of mercy.”
This is the moment in our service in …