INCARNATION CHRIST CHURCH · PDF fileExalting Christ through Worship, Learning, ... this church offers a genuine welcome in the name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. ... holy affection,

The Celtic Cross is an ancient Christian symbol. The cross proper recalls the death of Christ for the sins of his people, while the circle is a historic symbol of God’s eternal nature. Jesus’ name is at the center, depicted by the Greek letters “Ιης” and is surrounded by the vine and branches, representing our relationship to Him. At the bottom, CHRISTUS VICTOR, “Christ is Victorious,” testifies to his triumph over sin and death on the cross. This Celtic cross is used by permission of Saint Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida. Each of the five panels represents a significant event in Christ’s life.

Exalting Christ through Worship, Learning, Community, and Outreach

CHRIST CHURCH VENTURA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

To all who are spiritually weary and seek rest; to all who mourn and long for comfort; to all who struggle and desire hope; to all who sin and need a Savior; to all who are strangers and yearn for home; to all who hunger and thirst after righteousness; and to whoever will come; this church offers a genuine welcome in the name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

HIS REIGN The wounded lamb as Christ reclining on the book of seven seals is a historic symbol of the reigning Christ. The three-rayed nimbus is an ancient symbol of deity. (Revelation 5:9-12)

HIS RESURRECTION Lilies traditionally represent the resurrection; the trumpet heralds Christ’s certain and triumphal return. (1 Corinthians 15:54; Matthew 24:31; Luke 12:27)

HIS ATONEMENT The crown of thorns and nails testify to Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. (Hebrews 2:17: John 19:2; 20:27) HIS BAPTISM

The dove and tongues of fire symbolically portray the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 3:10; Acts 2:3)

HIS INCARNATION The open Bible is the Word of God. The double lighted candlesticks represent the dual nature of Christ—his deity and his humanity. (John 1:1-14)

WHAT IS OUR MESSAGE? The great good news is that God has taken it upon Himself to do something for us that we are powerless to do for ourselves. The Gospel is simply this: sinners are forgiven and accepted by God because of the work of Jesus Christ. Trust in Christ’s finished work is not just the beginning of the Christian life, but the means and end as well. The Gospel is what must be applied more and more deeply in order to live as a Christian. The power of the Gospel is not merely about forgiveness and improvement, but renewal and wholeness.

A GOSPEL-SHAPED MINISTRY

WHAT DO WE BELIEVE?

WHAT DO WE BELIEVE? We embrace the historic Christian faith — believing the timeless truths held in common by the church in all ages and places. We wholeheartedly affirm the classic doctrines defined by the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds.

We also embrace the Reformed Christian faith — believing the biblical teachings that were restated during the Protestant Reformation. This great renewal of the church in the 16th century has given us a common heritage in the classic “solas”.

• The Gospel changes people — Through the continual application of the Gospel we become more like Christ.

• The Gospel produces joy — Grace frees us from both condemnation

and self-righteousness to enjoy God fully.

• The Gospel defines community — In union with Christ, we become God’s sons and daughters—His new people.

• The Gospel points outward — Grace disengages approval seeking,

engenders authenticity, and curbs pride.

• The Gospel informs attitudes — As Christians, we desire the peace and well-being of our communities and cities.

• The Gospel removes barriers — Reconciliation humbles us so that we

may become agents to reconcile others.

• The Gospel renews culture — All of life matters to God and we are to pursue all vocations with excellence.

• The Gospel builds momentum — Church planting is both the result of and

means to fulfilling the great commission.

• The Trinity — There is only one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• The Incarnation — The person Jesus Christ is the only Son of

God who is both fully God and fully human. • The Atonement — Jesus died on a cross and was raised from

the dead in order to redeem us from our sins.

• Scripture Alone — The Bible is the one source of divine revelation and the only completely reliable guide for faith and life.

• Christ Alone — Salvation is accomplished by the substitutionary

atonement of the historical and sinless Christ alone. • Grace Alone — We are rescued from God’s anger, freed from sin’s

bondage and lifted to new life by His grace alone. • Faith Alone — Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only

possible satisfaction of God’s justice by faith alone. • God Alone — The sole purpose of our creation and redemption

is to enjoy God’s presence and live for His glory.

CHRIST CHURCH VENTURA IS A CONGREGATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

Empowered by the Gospel, we aim to experience God’s pleasure in fostering true knowledge, holy affection, and faithful obedience through historic worship, biblical learning, genuine community, and cultural outreach to the end that God’s people are gathered and Christ’s Kingdom is extended throughout Ventura County and beyond.

OFFICERS

Teaching Elder Roy R. Bennett ([email protected]) Ruling Elder Robert Glass ([email protected])

Ruling Elder Eric Halvorson ([email protected])

STAFF Chief Musician — Tilford Jackson Office Manager — Debbie Glass

CONTACT INFORMATION

PO Box 25 Ojai, CA 93024 (805) 646-5101 / 452-3354 www.christchurchventura.org

WORSHIP LOCATION Trinity Lutheran Church 196 N. Ashwood Avenue in Ventura at 4:00 PM

ANNOUNCEMENTS EARLYBIRD BIBLE READING — Wed. at 6:30 AM “Revelation” Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf @ 4360 Main St. in Ventura — 644-6000

MISSION SPOTLIGHT — January 10th Dr. Samuel Ling “China” — February 7th Rev. Seima Aoyagi “Japan” — March 14th Rev. Joel Pelsue “Hollywood”

— April 24-25th Rev. Mike Malone “Africa” — May 30th Rev. Jim Bailey “Cloudhaven” — July 30th Cindy Hood “PCA in Chile”

— August 14-15th Rev. Tom Patton “World Missions” — August 22nd Michael Blank “PCA in Peru”

VOLUNTEERS WANTED — Worship greeters (contact Eric Halvorson) Training available Supper concierges (contact Robert Glass)

All music reproduction is by permission CCLI# 2200400

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Order for the Celebration and Worship of God

Second Sunday after Pentecost: June 6, 2010 4:00 P.M. PRELUDE Pianist Tilford Jackson WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS SILENT PREPARATION CHORAL INTROIT “Great Is the Power We Proclaim”

Christopher Walker Refrain: Great is the power we proclaim, now as we worship and praise God’s name. For the glory of God is revealed when we pray: Come Lord! Come Lord and live in us today. Verse 1. God’s people, called to serve as disciples of the Lord. Gifts of the Spirit are gifts we inherit to build up the body of Christ. Verse 2. God’s people, called to bring to the world the peace of Christ. Love for our neighbor, and justice in our labor, compelled by the love of Christ. Verse 3. God’s people, called to pray for the church to be made one: One holy nation in hope of salvation, brothers and sisters in Christ. Verse 4. God’s people, called today to make known the love of God. Seeds we are sowing with faith that is growing strong in the power of Christ. Verse 5 God’s people, called to share in the blessing cup of Christ: Bread that is broken, and word that is spoken, one in the body of Christ.

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CALL TO WORSHIP Zechariah 9:9-11 INVITIATORY Minister: Open our hearts, O Lord that we glory in your presence! People: For the Lord is our strength and salvation. Though we

were scattered, he has redeemed and gathered us close. Minister: Our children shall see this great deliverance and be glad! People: Come let us adore Him! * HYMN OF PRAISE (Music on page 3) “O for A Thousand Tongues to Sing” * PRAYER OF ADORATION Unison: O God, from whom all good proceeds, grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right and by your merciful guiding may do them through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. * AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Westminster Confession of Faith II.1-2 Unison: There is only one living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a completely pure spirit, invisible, without body parts, or passions, unchangeable, immensely vast, eternal, limitless, almighty, completely wise, completely holy, completely free, and completely absolute. He works everything according to the purpose of His own unchangeable and righteous will for His own glory. He is completely loving, gracious, merciful and long-suffering. He overflows with goodness and truth. He forgives wickedness, transgression, and sin, and rewards those who diligently seek Him. His judgments are completely just and awesome; He hates all sin and will not acquit the guilty. God has all life, glory, goodness, and blessedness in and of Himself. He alone is all sufficient in and unto himself, nor does he need any of his creations or derive any glory from them. Rather, he manifests his own glory in, by, unto, and on them. He is the only source of all being, by whom, through whom, and to whom everything exists. He has complete sovereign dominion over all things and does with, to, or for them whatever he pleases.

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* BENEDICTION Corinthians 13:14 Minister: “Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” * DISMISSAL HYMN “How Can I Keep From Singing”

Minister: Go in peace to love and serve the risen Lord Jesus. People: Thanks be to God! POSTLUDE Pianist Tilford Jackson * Congregation standing

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ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA, GIVE THANKS — continued —

PRAYER OF COMMITMENT Unison: Almighty God, you have redeemed us with the precious blood of your Son Jesus Christ. Grant that his love may constrain us to live no longer for ourselves but for him who died for us and rose again. Teach us to live for your glory and rest in your grace. Amen.

O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING

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THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Ezekiel 2:8—3:11 (ESV)

2:8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” 9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

3:1 And he said to me, “Son of man, eat whatever you find here. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

4 And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— 6 not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me. Because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. 8 Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. 9 Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” 10 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. 11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.” Minister: The Word of the Lord. People: Thanks be to God!

* HYMN OF TRUST (Music on page 5) “Before the Throne of God Above”

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ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA, GIVE THANKS

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MAY WE BE ONE

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BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD ABOVE

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PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (The congregation is encouraged to participate both verbally and in silence.)

Unison: Almighty God, You have given us, in the lives of your servants a pattern of holy living and victorious dying. O Father, You who have bound us together in the company of your people in this age and the age to come, attend now to our prayers. Amen. All: O eternal Lord God, we give you grateful thanks for our

elder brothers and sisters in the household of faith. Men: For Abraham the father of the faithful; for the patriarchs who

succeeded him in faith: All: Blest are you, Lord God of Israel. Women: For Moses, who led your people to freedom and gave them

your law; for the prophets to whom your Word came: All: Blest are you, Lord God of Israel. Men: For David, the great singer of your praises; for those who gave

their lives to preserve your law: All: Blest are you, Lord God of Israel. Women: For Jesus, your Christ, your word in person, mediator of the

new covenant, savior of men, king of saints: All: Praise be to you, O God, and to your Christ. Men: For the first disciples who left all to follow him; for the apostles,

who loyally carried the Gospel to many lands: All: Praise be to you, O God, and to your Christ. Women: For your servant Paul, who so richly experienced the grace of

the Risen Lord, and interpreted him to the nations; for the evangelists who recorded the apostles’ memories of their Lord and their own faith in him:

All: Praise be to you, O God, and to your Christ. Men: For the elder John, who bore witness to the Word of God and

to the testimony of Jesus Christ and to whom was revealed instruction for the saints concerning the things to come:

All: Praise be to you, O God, and to your Christ. * HYMN OF FAITH (Music on page 7) “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood”

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AGNUS DEI John 1:29

THE LORD'S SUPPER Minister: Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us. People: Therefore, let us keep the feast! Minister: The gifts of God for the people of God. People: Thanks be to the Lord!

(People are encouraged to come forward to receive the sacrament and to repent and rejoice as the sacrament is observed. The wafer is to be dipped into the wine.)

COMMUNION HYMN (Music on page 16) “May We Be One”

Daigle and Cooney © 1993 COMMUNION SONG (Music on pages 17 & 18) “Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks”

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PRAYER OF CONSECRATION WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 MEMORIAL ACCLAMATION

PRAYER OF APPROACH Unison: We do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. But you are the same Lord, whose nature is always to have mercy; grant us therefore, gracious Lord, that we may so partake of this bread and wine that our sinful bodies may be made clean by Christ’s body, and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. AMEN

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THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD

* NEW TESTAMENT LESSON Revelation 10:1—11:18 (ESV)

10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

11 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

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THE SANCTUS Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 118:26

All music reproduction is by permission CCLI# 2200400

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CONFESSION OF SIN Unison: O God, our Master and King, we are imperfect subjects of your realm and stumble in unbelief and fear. We so easily forget the scope of your love displayed for us in Jesus Christ. Teach us to know that grace precedes, accompanies, and follows our salvation. Help us to remember the great privileges of our redemption in him. Without him we are strangers and outcasts, in him children and friends. Without him our lips are sealed in guilt and shame, in him there is confidence and praise. Without him our horizon is dark and foreboding, in him the expectation of light, knowledge, and glory.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON Psalm 40:1-3 Minister: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord. How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who have lapsed into falsehood.”

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING Minister: The Lord be with you! People: And also with you! Minister: Lift up your hearts! People: We lift them up to the Lord! Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord! People: It is good and right so to do. Minister: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, that we should always

give you thanks, O Lord; therefore, with the angels, we exalt and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and singing,

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8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. Minister: The Word of the Lord! People: Thanks be to God! * PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION AFTERNOON SERMON Reverend Roy R. Bennett

“The Witness of Saints at the Last Trumpet” 9

PASTORAL PRAYER OFFERTORY * DOXOLOGY

* PRAYER OF DEDICATION

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SERMON NOTES

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