May the Lord use this brief outline of our upcoming service for Sunday to prepare your heart for worship. It is my prayer that these songs, Scriptures and the prayer to point you to our glorious Savior.
Please pray for those leading our service. Steve Vardeman will bring the message, Jenna Petersen will lead the music in the main section of the service and Andrea Trabue will lead our song for Sending.
Finally pray that the Lord will provide everyone of us an opportunity to invite a friend to church or perhaps grant us the boldness to share the gospel with someone this week. As the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 4:2-6, may we, “[2] Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. [3] At the same time, pray . . . that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ . . . that I [we] may make it clear, which is how I [we] ought to speak. [5] [May we] Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. [6] Let your [our] speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you [we] may know how you [we] ought to answer each person.” (ESV)
May the Lord make us to Gather, Grow and Go in the gospel this week,
Pastor Michael
Call to Worship
Confession:
Leader: Reads 1 John 1:5-10
Leader: Confession and repentance are part of the normal Christian life. It is something we do over and over and followers of Jesus. It is with this in mind and the assurance that if we confess our sins that our Father in Heaven if faithful and just and will forgive our sins because of the work of Christ on our behalf. So as we gather this morning, lets us prepare our hearts for worship of our Holy, Righteous and Just God. If you are with us this morning and still learning how to confess your sins to God and practice a lifestyle of repentance, I pray this short prayer will form in you a pattern of how to confess your sins to God.
Leader: O Lord forgive us for:
Congregation: Our failure to be true to even our own standards
Our excuses in the face of temptation
Our choosing of the worse when we know better
Leader: O Lord forgive us for:
Congregation: Our failure to apply ourselves to the standards we demand of others
Our blindness to the suffering of others
Our hardness of heart from not learning from our own suffering
Our apathy toward wrongs that do not impact us
Leader: O Lord forgive us for:
Congregation: Our slowness to see the good in others and instead only see the flaws
Our hard-heartedness toward the faults of others
Our readiness to make allowances for our own faults
Leader: Father as we begin our time of worship this morning please create in us clean hearts and clean hands. Restore to us the joy of your salvation as we worship you this morning and sustain in us a willing spirit.
Sermon: Steve Vardeman will be preaching this coming Sunday out of Psalm 46. Take time to read and perhaps meditate on this very rich Psalm. Pray for Steve as he prepares the message.
Psalm 46
God Is Our Fortress
To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.
[1] God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
[2] Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
[3] though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
[4] There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
[5] God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
[6] The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
[7] The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
[8] Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
[9] He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
[10] “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
[11] The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah (ESV)
Sending
Blessing: “Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit abide with you now and forevermore.”