SERVICE FOR
THE LORD’S DAY

March 30, 2025

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRELUDE

Liturgist, Debbie Irvine

CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: The trumpet of the Lord sounds,
calling us to examine our souls,

People: for we have not only met temptation,
we have felt its grip.

Leader: The trumpet of the Lord sounds,
calling us to mend our ways,

People: for we have not only committed sin,
we have felt its sting.

Leader: The trumpet of the Lord sounds,
calling us to rend our hearts,

People: for we have not only witnessed forgiveness,
we have felt its power.
O come, let us worship the Lord!

*OPENING HYMN #60 Great Is Thy Faithfulness

*OPENING PRAYER

*PRAISE SONG Forever

GUIDED PRAYER

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH — Westminster Confession of Faith 24.4

We believe marriage for the Christian has religious as well as civil significance. The distinctive contribution of the church in performing the marriage ceremony is to affirm the divine institution of marriage; to invoke God’s blessing upon those who enter into the marital relationship in accordance with his word; to hear the vows of those who desire to be married; and to assure the married partners of God’s grace within their new relationship.  Amen.



ANTHEM Glorify Thy Name

Arr. Fred Bock

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE 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.

WORSHIPING GOD WITH OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGS

       Offertory 

       *Offertory Response — Hymn #46

To God be the glory

To God be the glory

To God be the glory

For the things He has done

With His blood He has saved me

With His pow’r He has raised me

To God be the glory

For the things He has done.

       *Prayer of Dedication

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Malachi 2:10-16

Pastor:  The Word of the Lord

People:  Thanks be to God

SERMON: Rev. David Garrison

BREAKING FAITH

Series: Malachi – No Greater Love

So guard yourself in your spirit,
and do not break faith. – Malachi 2:16

*CLOSING HYMN #579 I Surrender All

*BENEDICTION  

*POSTLUDE

WELCOME TO NORTHMINSTER EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

¹⁰   Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?

¹¹   Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. ¹² As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.

¹³   Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’S altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. ¹⁴ You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

¹⁵   Has not [the LORD] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

¹⁶   “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty.

      So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

— Malachi 2:10-16 (NIV)