July 19, 2020You will need communion elements for today’s gathering.

Please join with audio to participate in greeting time.

Glory be to the FatherAnd to the Son

And to the Holy GhostAs it was in the beginning,Is now and ever shall be,

World without end! Amen, amen

Call to Worship(our ancient writings usher us into this ritual)

Why do we worship? John 4:23-24

But the hour is coming, and is now here,When the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truthFor the Father is seeking such people to worship HimGod is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

The Lord be with youAnd also with you.Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to God.

Psalm 51 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God,In line with Your lovingkindness

In line with Your abundant mercyErase my rebellionWash me completely from my twistednessCleanse me from my failures

I know my rebellions andMy failure is right in my faceAgainst You, only You, I have sinned andIn Your eyes done evil

So You may be justified in Your wordsAnd in Your judgment be blameless

Take a look, I was born twistedMy mother conceived me in sin

See! You delight in truth in the inward personYou teach me wisdom in the secret heart

Purge me with hyssop and I will be cleanWash me and I will be purer than snow

Let me hear joy and gladnessLet the bones You broke rejoiceHide Your face from my failuresErase all my twistednessCreate a clean heart in me, O GodRenew a right spirit inside me Don’t throw me away from Your face Don’t take Your Holy Spirit from meTurn me to the joy of Your salvationHold me up with a willing spirit

Then I will teach rebels Your ways,People who are failures will return to You

Deliver me from being guilty of blood, O God, O God of my salvation,

And my tongue will sing loudly of Your righteousness.Open my lips, O Lord

And my mouth will shout Your praiseFor You will not delight in sacrifice,

Or I would give itYou will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spiritA broken and

Contrite heart, O God,You will not

DespiseDo good to Zion in Your good pleasure!!Build up the walls of Jerusalem

Then You will delight in right sacrifices,In burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings

Then bulls will be offered on Your altar

Invocation(we call on God to create this time of worship by the Holy Spirit)

10,000 Reasons

Bless the Lord O my soul, O my soulWorship His Holy nameSing like never before, O my soulI'll worship Your Holy name

The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawningIt’s time to sing Your song againWhatever may pass and whatever lies before meLet me be singing when the evening comes

You’re rich in love and You’re slow to angerYour name is great and Your heart is kindFor all Your goodness I will keep on singingTen thousand reasons for my heart to find

And on that day when my strength is failingThe end draws near and my time has comeStill my soul will sing Your praise unendingTen thousand years and then forevermore

New Creation

Weighed down with sin my heart was deadAnd without hope, I lived in dreadBut when Christ died and rose againThen my new life in Him began

I am a new creation,My old has gone, new life is hereI am a new creationAnd now my soul belongs to Him

Joined to His life, now I am freePrecious child of grace and peaceAwake my soul arise and singGlory be to Christ the King!

New desires, A living hopeStrength to stand amidst my tearsNew heart, new joy, a life of loveWhat then shall I fear?

New desires, A living hopeStrength to stand amidst my tearsNew heart, new joy, a life of loveWhat then shall I fear?

I am a new creation,My old has gone, new life is hereI am a new creationAnd now my soul belongs to Him

We are His new creation,Our old has gone, new life is hereWe are His new creationAnd now our souls belong to Him

Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!Early in the morning our song shall rise to TheeHoly, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,Who wert and art and ever more shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,Though the eye of sinful flesh Thy glory may not see,Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,Perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth, and sky, and sea;Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty!God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Confession (we approach God, repenting from sin)

Heidelberg Catechism, Questions 51 and 52

51. Q. How does the glory of Christ, our Head, benefit us?A. First, by His Holy Spirit He pours out heavenly gifts on us, the parts of His body.Second, by His power He defends and preserves us against all His and our enemies. 52. Q. What comfort is it to you that Christ will come to judge the living and the dead?A. In all my sorrow and persecution I lift up my head and heart in eager expectation, for the judge from heaven is the very same person who submitted Himself to the judgment of God for me, removing from me the power of the curse. He will also cast all His and my enemies into an everlasting judgment, but He will take me and all His chosen ones to Himself into heavenly joy and glory.

James 3:13-18 Who is wise and understanding among you?Let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom by good actionsBut if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heartsDo not boast and be false to the truth.This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonicFor where jealousy and selfish ambition existThere will be disorder and every vile practiceBut the wisdom from above is first pureThen peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincereAnd a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Dear Father, We do not boast in front of You and we do not want to be false to the truth. You know the selfishness inside us, the ambitions we sacrifice others for, the worldly evil wisdom we’ve believed, and the jealousies we excuse. We confess our twistedness and rebellion, and our failures in Your face. Look on us with Your mercy and do not count our crimes against us! Holy Spirit give us Your pure wisdom, Your sweet peace, Your harvest of goodness! Show Your power in us and make us a people of good actions from new hearts! For the glory of Jesus we pray, amen.

Silence

Absolution

What does Christ promise us based on Isaiah 53?

He was pierced for our rebellions We trust Your sacrifice for our crimesHe was crushed for our twistedness We praise You for suffering for usOn Him was the punishment that brings us peace We exalt Your wonderful graceBy His wounds we are healed Who could imagine such a savior?All we like sheep have gone astray We did nothing to deserve such grace!We have turned—every one—to his own way So we surrender all of our ways to YouThe I Am put on Him the twistedness of us all So we praise and trust Your saving, cleansing, unstoppable love

Offering(we give thankfully, acknowledging that everything belongs to our God)

www.firstpresbyteriansf.org/give

Song of Assurance

Faithful One

Faithful One, so unchanging;Ageless One, You’re my Rock of peace.Lord of all, I depend on You,I call out to YouAgain and againI call out to YouAgain and again.

You are my Rock in times of trouble,You lift me up when I fall down;All through the stormYour love is the anchorMy hope is in You alone.

Let us bless the Lord!Praise Him with highest praise!

What sort of church are we seeking God to make us? Acts 2:42-45

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Passing the Peace

We will continue in worship by greeting and welcoming one another in Zoom breakout rooms.

Please enable your microphone and camera if you are able!

Announcements

Sunday Worship Volunteers NeededContact admin@firstpresbyteriansf.org

Elder Session MeetingsThe 2nd Monday of each month, 7 pm

Empower Con (North Korea Missions Conference)Thursday, August 13th from 6-8 pm. See reah.org/empower for details.

Bible Studies & Prayer MeetingsThese meet throughout the week on Zoom. See the “Join Live” page or the email newsletter for details.

Prayer (because we are reconciled, we are free to call on God to act)

Please feel free to unmute your microphone and ask for prayer at this time.

Those with unspoken prayer requests should:

use the Zoom chat

or

text Frankie at (415) 271-0641

Please share all other prayer requests by unmuting.

Note: Prayer time is NOT being recorded, so you can feel safe to share.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, Who is in heaven,Holy is Your Name!May Your kingdom come and Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven,Give us today our daily breadForgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,Lead us out of temptationDeliver us from the evil one

For Yours is the kingdomThe power, and

The glory foreverIn Jesus’ Name, amen.

Sermon (we hear from God) John 18:37-19:9

37 Then Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?”“You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered, “and for this purpose I was born and for this

purpose I came into the cosmos—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”

38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in

Him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!”Now Barabbas was a robber. 1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of

thorns and put it on His head and dressed Him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and hit Him with their hands.

4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing Him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.”

5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

6 When the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”

Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”

7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law He ought to die because He has made himself the Son of God.”

8 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. 9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?”

But Jesus gave him no answer.

This is the word of the LordThanks be to God.

Communion

If you have a camera, please turn it on now.

Let’s proclaim together the mystery of our faith:

Christ has diedChrist is risenChrist will come againPraise Him!

The Apostles’ Creed (an ancient common affirmation of belief)

What do you believe?

We believe in God the Father AlmightyMaker of heaven and earth

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our LordWho was conceived by the Holy SpiritBorn of the virgin MarySuffered under Pontius PilateWas crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into hellThe third day He rose again from the deadHe ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the

Father AlmightyFrom there He shall come to judge the living and the dead

We believe in the Holy SpiritThe holy catholic church: the communion of saintsThe forgiveness of sinsThe resurrection of the bodyAnd the life everlasting. Amen.

Be to Our God

Salvation belongs to our GodWho sits upon the throneAnd unto the LambPraise and glory, wisdom and thanks,Honor and power and strength

Be to our God forever and everBe to our God forever and everBe to our God forever and ever, Amen.

Response / Sending

And we the redeemed shall be strongIn purpose and unityDeclaring aloudPraise and glory, wisdom and thanks,Honor and power and strength

Benediction (we receive a blessing)

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flowPraise Him all creatures here belowPraise Him above ye heavenly hostPraise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!Amen

Worship for the Rest of the Week

The Lord’s day is the start of the week, when we are refreshed spiritually and renewed in our faith, and ought to set the pace for the rest of the week.

These are readings that complement the teaching today:

Monday Exodus 4

Tuesday Psalm 19

Wednesday 2 Corinthians 10

Thursday Romans 3

Friday Isaiah 59

Saturday 1 John 1