Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
From Psalm 145:1-7 ESV
I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.
They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Our Sung Call to Worship – GABC Children will sing this song.
For the Cause
Lament
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Lament
“For the cause of Christ the King
We give our lives, an offering…
Let it be our life’s refrain:
To live is Christ, to die is gain.”
Lord, these are hard words to speak
As we are afflicted by Satan, sin, and death in a world filled with violence, darkness, and fear.
Hear our prayer, O LORD;
Give ear to our pleas for mercy!
For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.
Lord, we mourn with our family at First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, overcome by terror and death, even as they worshiped you.
Comfort, strengthen, and heal them , O Lord.
Lord, our hearts ache for the millions of believers worldwide who routinely face harassment, persecution, and death for following you.
Grant them justice, faith and rest, O Lord.
We groan, longing for Jesus to come make all things new.
Maranatha! Our Lord, return!
Silence for expressions of personal lament and prayer for the Sutherland Springs community and the persecuted church.
Our Sung Lament
Give Me Jesus
Abide With Me
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Profession of Assurance
Remember the Gospel
From Romans 8:31-39 ESV
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Be Still My Soul
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
His Mercy is More
Scripture Reading
We hear the scripture text of the sermon read.
Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:6:11 ESV
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Sermon
Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:6-11 – Here We Stand: Misseo Dei (The Mission of God) – 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
Let the Nations Be Glad (no lyrics on the screen)
Blessing
Blessing from 2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.