Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities —
all things were created through him and for him.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,that in everything he might be preeminent.
— based on Colossians 1:15-18
Our Sung Call to Worship
Fairest Lord Jesus
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
O God, you have called us abide in your Son, Jesus Christ,
to be rooted and built up in Him.
Father we confess with shame our slowness to learn of him,
our failure to be built up and established in our faith in Jesus.
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.
Father we confess the poverty of our worship,
our failure to abide in Christ,
our refusal to abound in thanksgiving,
for the many ways we fall short of your glory,
have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.
Help us to learn to walk in all your ways
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
— confession based on Colossians 2:6-8
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
He Is Risen
Worship and Thanksgiving
We Give Thanks in Prayer and Offer Petitions to God
We express our gratitude to God our Father for Christ’s work on the cross for us and bring our requests before him. In bringing our requests, we confess that we believe God truly is a good father, who cares about our needs and gives us what he knows is best.
We Give Thanks by Giving
We give financial offerings to support the work of the church because of our gratitude to God. By giving we confess we are trusting in God’s provision for us as well.
We Worship and Give Thanks in Song
Faith’s Review and Expectation
Scripture Reading
We hear the scripture text of the sermon read.
Colossians 2:1-8
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Sermon
Colossians 2:6-8 — Spiritual Maturity: A Heart Captivated with Christ
Sending
Having heard and confessed the Gospel, we are sent into the world on mission in Christ.
Benediction
“May the LORD keep His everlasting covenant with you,
May He never stop doing good to you,
May He inspire you to fear Him,
May you never turn away from the LORD.
Amen.
Adapted from Jeremiah 32:40.