March 22nd, 2026

ORDER OF WORSHIP 

March 22, 2026 

*Indicates those able may stand 

When the prelude begins, please quiet your hearts in  preparation for worship 

Prelude 

“In dir ist Freude” (BWV 615) J.S. Bach (In Thee is Gladness) 

“There is a Balm” C. Callahan

Welcome and Announcements Rev. Nathan Titus

Preparation for Worship Dr. Stuart Sacks 

*Call to Worship (Adapted from 1 Chronicles 16) 

Pastor: Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation  day after day. 

Congregation: Declare his glory among the nations, his  marvelous deeds among all peoples 

Pastor: For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he  is to be feared above all gods 

*Invocation 

 

*Hymn 324 “Christ Is Coming!” 

1 Christ is coming! Let creation 

from her groans and travail cease; 

let the glorious proclamation 

hope restore and faith increase; 

Christ is coming! Christ is coming! 

Come, Thou blessed Prince of Peace.

2 Earth can now but tell the story 

of thy bitter cross and pain; 

she shall yet behold thy glory, 

when thou comest back to reign: 

Christ is coming! Christ is coming! 

Let each heart repeat the strain. 

3 Long thine exiles have been pining, 

far from rest, and home, and thee; 

but, in heav'nly vestures shining, 

they their loving Lord shall see: 

Christ is coming! Christ is coming! 

Haste the joyous jubilee. 

4 With that blessed hope before us, 

let no harp remain unstrung; 

let the mighty advent chorus 

onward roll from tongue to tongue: 

Christ is coming! Christ is coming! 

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come! 

 

Call to Confession  and Time of Silent Confession Randy Eldridge, Elder

Words of Assurance 

*The Gloria Patri 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, 

and to the Holy Ghost;  

as it was in the beginning,  

is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

*4th Sunday Confession of Faith 

(taken from Westminster Confession of Faith) 

We believe God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ and  repentance unto life to escape the wrath and curse of God  due to us for sin;  

We believe by His free grace we are effectually called,  justified, and sanctified, and gathered into the visible  church out of which there is no ordinary possibility of  salvation;  

We believe that we also are given in this life such  accompanying benefits as assurance of God’s love, peace  of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and  perseverance therein to the end.  

We believe that at death, we are made perfect in holiness  and immediately pass into glory; we shall openly be  acknowledged and acquitted in the Day of Judgment, and  We believe we are made perfectly blessed in the fully  enjoying of God for all eternity. Amen. 

Psalter Reading (Psalm 42) Page 800 

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for  you, O God.  

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When  can I go and meet with God?  

My tears have been my food day and night,  

while men say to me all day long, “Where is your  God?”  

These things I remember as I pour out my soul:  

how I used to go with the multitude, leading the  procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and  thanksgiving among the festive throng. 

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within  me?  

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my  Savior and my God.  

My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you  from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from  Mount Mizar.  

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all  your waves and breakers have swept over me.  By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with  me—a prayer to the God of my life.  

I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten  me?  

Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”  My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me,  saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”  Why, are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within  me?  

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my  Savior and my God. 

 

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy  kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in  heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us  our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into  temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the  kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. 

Offertory "Thy Perfect Love" K. Lee Scott (St. Stephen Choir) 

*Doxology

Sermon Text Hebrews 9:22-28 

Sermon “Why the Cross and Blood?” Rev. Nathan Titus

*Closing Hymn 246 “Man of Sorrows! What a Name”

1 Man of Sorrows! what a name 

for the Son of God, who came 

ruined sinners to reclaim: 

Hallelujah! what a Savior! 

2 Bearing shame and scoffing rude, 

in my place condemned he stood, 

sealed my pardon with his blood: 

Hallelujah! what a Savior! 

3 Guilty, vile, and helpless, we; 

spotless Lamb of God was he; 

full atonement! can it be? 

Hallelujah! what a Savior! 

4 Lifted up was he to die, 

"It is finished!" was his cry: 

now in heav'n exalted high: 

Hallelujah! what a Savior! 

5 When he comes, our glorious King, 

all his ransomed home to bring, 

then anew this song we'll sing: 

Hallelujah! what a Savior! 

*Benediction 

*Congregation Three-fold Amen 

*Postlude Fugue in g minor (BWV 542b) J.S. Bach