Service for May 18, 2025

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Welcome

Call to Worship

Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

Praise Him in the heights!

2 Praise Him, all His angels;

Praise Him, all His hosts!

Psalm 148:1-2

Hymn # 110 Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah

1 Hallelujah, praise Jehovah,

from the heavens praise his name;

praise Jehovah in the highest,

all his angels, praise proclaim.

All his hosts, together praise him,

sun and moon and stars on high;

praise him, O you heavens of heav’ns,

and you floods above the sky.

Refrain:

Let them praises give Jehovah,

for his name alone is high,

and his glory is exalted,

and his glory is exalted,

and his glory is exalted,

far above the earth and sky.

2 Let them praises give Jehovah,

they were made at his command;

them forever he established,

his decree shall ever stand.

From the earth, O praise Jehovah,

all you seas, you monsters all,

fire and hail and snow and vapors,

stormy winds that hear his call. [Refrain]

3 All you fruitful trees and cedars,

all you hills and mountains high;

creeping things and beasts and cattle,

birds that in the heavens fly,

kings of earth, and all you people,

princes great, earth's judges all;

praise his name, young men and maidens,

aged men, and children small. [Refrain]

Call To Confession

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

Romans 12:9–14 (NKJV):

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;

Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with You that You may be feared.

Psalm 130:1–4 (NKJV)

Confession of Sins

Let us, therefore, confess our sin, saying together:

Merciful Heavenly Father, pardon us our many sins; the sins we know and the sins hidden from our conscience. Cleanse us from wrong motives and forgive us for feeble obedience. By your Spirit renew our hearts to love you, our minds to know you, and our wills to obey you. For we ask this mercy in the name of your Son who shed his blood for us. Amen.

Word of Assurance

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Romans 5:8–9 (NKJV)

Song of Renewal

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.

Trinity Hymnal # 521, stanza 1

Scripture Lesson: Exodus 3:1-15

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

Exodus 34:1-8

And the LORD said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. 2 So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. 3 And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”

4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

Sermon – I Am Who I Am

Hymn – Our God Will Go Before Us

Our God will go before us

And guide us by His presence

What confidence this promise is

We will never walk alone

Through unknown paths, through shadows

Our hearts fear not tomorrow

For every step, His faithfulness

Is the truth that lights our way

Our God will go before us

The Lord of hosts is with us

Oh, praise the One who leads us on

For His grace will bring us home

Though evil forms against us

All heaven will defend us

The gates of hell shall not prevail

For the battle is the Lord's

Our God will go before us

The Lord of hosts is with us

Oh, praise the One who leads us on

For His grace will bring us home

Now send us with Your presence

And lead us on to heaven

Where songs of sorrow strain no more

And our every breath is praise

Oh, let our every breath be praise

And our God will go before us

The Lord of hosts is with us

Oh, praise the One who leads us on

For His grace will bring us home

And our God will go before us

The Lord of hosts is with us

Oh, praise the One who leads us on

For His grace will bring us home

For His grace will bring us home

Prayer of the Church and the 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.”

Hymn # 500 Rock of Ages

1 Rock of Ages, cleft for me

let me hide myself in thee;

let the water and the blood,

from thy riven side which flowed,

be of sin the double cure,

cleanse me from its guilt and pow'r.

2 Not the labors of my hands

can fulfil thy law's demands;

could my zeal no respite know,

could my tears for ever flow,

all for sin could not atone;

thou must save, and thou alone.

3 Nothing in my hand I bring,

simply to thy cross I cling;

naked, come to thee for dress;

helpless, look to thee for grace;

foul, I to the Fountain fly;

wash me, Savior, or I die.

4 While I draw this fleeting breath,

when mine eyelids close in death,

when I soar to worlds unknown,

see thee on thy judgment throne,

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

let me hide myself in thee.

Benediction