John 3:22-36

Links to the scriptures and hymns used during this service are provided below.  Click on the hymn title to be taken to a page with sheet music.

Order of Service

Call to Worship: Psalm 145:1-21

Hymn: God, My King, Thy Might Confessing

Prayer of Confession and Assurance of Forgiveness:

Gracious God, we approach you mindful that we are mere creatures. Our thoughts are not hidden from your gaze. Our secret sins blaze in the light of your countenance. Enable us to remember that blood which cleanses all sin, to believe in that grace which subdues all iniquities, to resign ourselves to that power which can deliver us from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. You have begun a good work in us, and you alone can continue and complete it. Give us an increasing conviction of our tendency to stray and expose ourselves to sin. If we are not right, set us right, keep us right; and may we at last come to your house in peace.

Adapted from The Valley of Vision, 174-175

Scripture Readings:

Isaiah 11:1-5

Philippians 1:12-21

Affirmation of Faith: from the Heidelberg Catechism

Question 1:  What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven, not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Question 2:  How many things must you know that you may live and die in the blessedness of this comfort?

Three. First, the greatness of my sin and wretchedness. Second, how I am freed from all my sins and their wretched consequence. Third what gratitude I owe to God for such redemption.

Hymn: Fairest Lord Jesus

Sermon: John 3:22-36

Closing Hymn: Doxology