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September 19

CCLI license #1913561

Lakeview Presbyterian Church
Service of the Word for September 19, 2021
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Prelude:  "Hallelujah" sung by Keisha Prime

Hallelujah x7
Praise the Lord!

Thank you Jesus x7
Praise the Lord!

Lord You Saved Me and You raised me x3
Lord you Saved me
Praise the Lord!

He is coming x7
Praise the Lord

Hallelujah x7
Praise the Lord!

Call to Worship

(leader/people)
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous is the God of our salvation.
Our God is full of compassion and ever ready to welcome us.
Let us walk in the presence of the Lord.
Let us live lives worthy of our calling in the land of the living.
Let us worship the Lord our God.

Opening Prayer  

God of love, you show us a way of life that calls us to deny what is unhealthy and unloving.
Lead us in that pathway.  Awaken us to the ever-new abundance that is ours through your Word, in the name of the one who died and rose, Christ Jesus, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

Opening Hymn  “Just a Closer Walk With Thee”              AAHH # 455

Call to Confession

The Lord, full of compassion, listens to the cries of God's people.  Let our tongues confess in the presence of God and before one another.

Prayer of Confession

God, our hope and our comfort, you know our faults before we speak.
Forgive us for what we have done in opposition to your will.  Forgive us for those things we have not done and for which we know our wrong.
We have not loved you and our neighbors as we ought.
We have denied our dependence on you.
Lead us away from this grief and sorrow.
Save us so that we may fulfill our vows to you and do your will in the world.  Amen.

Assurance of Pardon

The Lord God is a very present help to those who seek to follow in the way.  Go with God in peace as you seek the way of faithfulness, in Jesus’ name, you are forgiven.  Amen.

Prayer for Illumination

Speak to us, Lord. Let your Holy Spirit now open us to hear with fresh ears and open hearts the teachings of today, that we may hold dear in yet new ways what it is your will for us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures: Genesis 12: 1—5

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.  Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.  Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan.

Reading from the Epistle to the Romans 4: 1—13

What then are we to say was gained byAbraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."

Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.  But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. 

 So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:  "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin."  Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the  uncircumcised? We say, "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness."  How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.  He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.  For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

Hymn  (please remain seated)    “Amazing Grace”              TPH # 280

Sermon          “Justified By Faith”        The Rev. Russell Lehman

Sermon by The Rev. Russell Lehman

Affirmation of Faith     (from “A Brief Statement of Faith” pcusa)

In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community.
    But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator.   Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death     to the planet entrusted to our care.

God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.

Sharing of Joys and Concerns

Pastoral Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer (Ecumenical)

  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
  your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
  Give us today our daily bread.
  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
  Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
  For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.  Amen.

Minute for Mission:            CROP Hunger Walk

Statement about Offering our Gifts 
We have been made capable of being good stewards of what God has given us. Let us, with gratitude in our hearts, give from what has been given to us, by grace.

      Donations can be mailed to Lakeview Presbyterian Church at 1310 22 nd Av S,  St Petersburg, FL, 33705 or given online through our website  lakeviewpresbyterianchurch.org

Special Music      Be Unto Your Name-Shazo sung by Keisha Prime

We are a moment, You are forever
Lord of the Ages, God before time
We are a vapor, You are eternal
Love everlasting, reigning on highHoly, holy, Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Highest praises, honor and glory
Be unto Your name, be unto Your name
We are the broken, You are the healer
Jesus, Redeemer, Mighty to save
You are the love song we'll sing forever
Bowing before You, blessing Your name
Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Highest praises, honor and glory
Be unto Your name, be unto Your name
Be unto Your name
Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Highest praises, honor and glory
Be unto Your name, be unto Your name

Prayer of Dedication

We are grateful for all that you have provided, and we dedicate our offering to you and to the work of your church.  Amen.

*Hymn   “Lord, I Want to Be A Christian”                        TPH # 372

Announcements

Charge /Benediction
Go out into the world endeavoring to be the servant of all.
Submit yourselves to God and resist all evil; draw near to God and God will draw near to you.  Amen.

Postlude "Blessed Be Your Name" sung by Keisha Prime

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

And blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name