Refection Song
Always Good
Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
Based on Psalm 24:7-10
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty
The LORD, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors
That the king of glory may come in.
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
He is the King of glory!
Our Sung Call to Worship
All Hail the Power of Jesus Name
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
In response to Ecclesiastes 6.
God, You have given us much.
From You, we have received good gifts of
Family and friends,
Skills and abilities,
Education and jobs,
Financial gain and intelligence,
Health and motivation,
Toys and free time.
We have received much,
Yet we have been irresponsible and lazy
in utilizing them for Your glory.
We have received much,
Yet we have been ungrateful and covet
the few things we have not received.
We have received much,
Yet we have not identified Your beauty,
wisdom, and love displayed in these gifts.
We have received much,
Yet we too often forget that You are the giver.
With Your gifts, we have sinned against You
In thought, word, and deed,
By what we have done,
And by what we have left undone.
With your gifts, we have not loved You with our
whole heart, soul, mind and strength
With Your gifts, we have not loved our neighbors
as ourselves.
This misuse of Your gifts is joyless and empty.
Forgive us, O God.
TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION
Our Sung Confession
Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Wretched
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
Based on Romans 5:8-9
Hear the good news!
Despite our misuse of God’s good gifts,
God shows his love for us in that
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since therefore, we have now been justified by his blood,
much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Jesus, you are our Rescuer and King,
You deserve all our thanks, praise, and honor.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Man of Sorrows
Thanksgiving and Petition
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.
On the first Sunday of each month we have two offerings—one for the general fund and a second one for the benevolence ministry of our church.
We Give Thanks in Song
I Am Set Free
Scripture Reading
Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 (ESV)
1 A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun.
12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the
life of him who has it.
13 Consider the work of God:
who can make straight what he has made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider God has made the one as well as the other,
so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
This is the Word of the Lord.
The grass withers
and the flower fades,
but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Amen!
Sermon
Ecclesiastes 6:1-7:14 – “Always Good” – Pastor Michael Felkins
Sending
Having heard and confessed the Gospel, we are sent into the world on mission in Christ, which we express in both song and spoken word.
Sending Song
How Marvelous
Blessing
Based on Romans 15:13
People of God, receive this blessing.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace in believing,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you
may abound in hope.