Idols and the Living God

Speaker: Rev. Ron Gonzales
Scripture: Psalm 115
Liturgy for Home Worship: Online (below) | Printable PDF

Liturgy for Home Worship
Palm Sunday – April 5, 2020

This liturgy is intended as a help to guide you through Sunday worship at home. You may wish to read it silently or out loud. Heads of households are encouraged to lead their families through the liturgy, but they need not do so rigidly. Some readings may be done in unison, or it may work better for your family to have one person read while others listen. We have suggested hymns and provided links to lyrics and audio, and hymnals are available upon request. But feel free to substitute other songs to suit the abilities of participants. Hymns may be sung, or simply reflected on. Our aim is to worship the Lord and have our souls fed by him. Use this liturgy so far as it helps you and your family to do so.

Call to Worship
      Lift up your heads, O gates!
            And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
            that the King of glory may come in.

      Who is this King of glory?
            The LORD, strong and mighty,
            the LORD, mighty in battle!

      Lift up your heads, O gates!
            And lift them up, O ancient doors,
            that the king of glory may come in.

      Who is this King of glory?
            The LORD of hosts,
            he is the King of glory!
                        —Psalm 24.7-10

Prayer of Adoration

Hymn of Praise to God
LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, YE MIGHTY GATES
Hymn No. 198 | Audio | Music

Scripture Reading
     And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ’The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, then spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
      And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within your. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
     —Luke 19.28-44

Confession of Sin
O Lord, who on this day entered the rebellious city that later rejected you, we confess that our wills are as rebellious as Jerusalem’s, that our faith is often more show than substance, and that our hearts are in need of cleansing. Have mercy on us, Son of David, Savior of our lives. Help us to lay at your feet all that we have and all that we are, trusting you to forgive what is sinful, to heal what is broken, to welcome our praises, and to receive us as your own. Amen.

Silently Add Your Own Confession of Sin

Assurance of God’s Pardon
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

      “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
            a cornerstone chosen and precious,
      and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
                      —1 Peter 2.4-6

Hymn of Praise to Christ
ALL GLORY, LAUD, AND HONOR
Hymn No. 235 | Audio | Music

Confession of Faith
Did God create us unable to keep his law?

No, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of creation is fallen; we are all born in sin and guilt, corrupt in our nature and unable to keep God’s law.

—The New City Catechism, No. 14

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”
Romans 5.12

Prayer for the Church and the World

Pray for the healing of Tom Manning, Vickie Myers, and others fighting illness.
Pray for protection from the coronavirus, and for the success of those working to find effective treatments against it.
Pray that God would use the present crisis to turn many to repentance and make them receptive to the gospel, as he has many times before. And pray that the church’s witness will be bold and clear, in our community and around the world.
Pray for wisdom for our local, state, and national leaders, and that their offices would be established in righteousness.

Sermon
“Idols and the Living God”

Speaker: Rev. Ron Gonzales
Scripture: Psalm 115.1-18

The Doxology
Audio

Praise God from whom all blessing flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Benediction
The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
—Numbers 6.24-26