“Give to the LORD, O families of the peoples, give to the LORD glory and strength. Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously” (Psalm 96:7-10).
HOW WE WORSHIP
God is such a great and glorious God that He is worthy of praise, honor and glory all the days of our lives. God commands everyone to honor and worship Him. In obedience, we strive to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. (Psalm 116:12-17)
God’s great holiness demands that we worship Him as He has commanded in the Bible. We seek to obey God, not to earn His favor (Jesus has earned that for us already), but out of love and thankfulness for the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 9:15)
God commands that Sunday be a day of rest, set apart from other days. It is a day in which we can be particularly devoted to His service. On this day we gather in formal, corporate worship. (Exodus 20:8-11)
We sing traditional Psalms and hymns in our worship service, which express the theology we love and believe.
Our worship liturgy is simple, but significant. The elements of worship: prayer, singing, preaching, confessing, giving to support the Gospel ministry and to help those who are in need, and the sacraments are all taught in the Bible as belonging to true worship, and therefore, we use only these elements in our worship.
Our worship services are characterized by reverence and respect for God and for His Word. The focal point of our worship, which is demonstrated by the centrality of the pulpit, is the preaching of God’s Word, which He uses to instruct us in the truth of salvation and to call us to constant faith in Jesus Christ and a godly walk of repentance from our sins. In this way God strengthens, encourages, and helps us to know Him better. (Heb. 10:16-25)
Our children are present in our worship services because we believe that our children are God’s heritage and as such must be instructed in the history and doctrines of Scripture. We believe that God works faith in them at an early age and that they, too, benefit spiritually by the preaching of the gospel. (Deut. 6:6-7; Eph. 6:4)
OUR LITURGY
Prelude
*Call to Worship
*Hymn
*Salutation/Invocation/Gloria Patri
*Apostles’ Creed & Nicene Creed
Psalm Reading (Ten Commandments are read on the first Sunday of each month)
Heidelberg Catechism Reading
Scripture Reading
Text
Pastoral Prayer
*Hymn
Sermon
Prayer of Application & Lord’s Prayer (Unison)
Reception of Tithes & Offerings
*Hymn
*Benediction
*Doxology
Postlude
*Congregation Standing
LORD’S SUPPER
The members of Hope Reformed Church enjoy God’s secondary means of grace, the Lord’s Supper, on six occasions during our worship service throughout the year. Although we are satisfied with the frequency of the Lord’s Supper within our congregation, we recognize the liberty of other congregations to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on fewer or more occasions throughout the year. Let each congregation be convinced in its own mind concerning the frequency. However, the members of Hope Reformed Church recognize the primary means of grace, the preaching of the Word of God, as non-negotiable. God’s Word must be preached to the congregation every Lord’s Day. We can gather for worship on the Lord’s Day without celebrating the sacraments, but we cannot properly gather as a congregation to worship the Lord apart from the proclamation of God’s inerrant, infallible, inspired Word.