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 111 (ESV)
Praise the LORD!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who delight in them.
Full of splendor and majesty is His work,
and His righteousness endures forever.
He has caused His wondrous works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and merciful.
He has shown His people the power of His works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of His hands are faithful and just;
all His precepts are trustworthy.
He sent redemption to His people;
He has commanded His covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is His name!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!
Our Sung Call to Worship
Holy, Holy, Holy
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
Based on Matthew 11:25-30 (ESV)
Lord, You tell us to come to You like little children,
Humble, eager to learn, and hungry.
We confess that we have failed to come.
We have failed to look to You for our bread.
We know that You are completely trustworthy,
And yet we fail to trust You.
Father, please forgive us!
Jesus calls, “Come to me, all who labor
And are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
We confess that we have turned to others:
To our co-laborers, our friends and our family members.
We have not come to You, our ultimate Provider.
We ask for Your healing and Your power to rest.
We ask for Your peace.
Help us to understand the depth of Your provision.
Help us, Lord, to take up Your yoke.
We want to learn from Jesus.
We want to find rest for our souls.
We acknowledge that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Our Sung Confession
Poor Sinner Dejected With Fear
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
Based on Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)
You were dead in the trespasses
And sins in which you once walked,
Following the prince of the power
Of the air, the spirit that is now at work
In the sons of disobedience—
Among whom we all once lived
In the passions of our flesh,
Carrying out the desires of the body,
And were by nature children of wrath,
Like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy,
Because of the great love with which He loved us,
Even when we were dead in our trespasses,
Made us alive together with Christ—
By grace you have been saved—
And raised us up with Him
And seated us with Him in the heavenly places
In Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages
He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace
In kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing;
It is the gift of God, not a result of works,
So that no one may boast.
For we are as his workmanship,
Created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
Which God prepared beforehand,
That we should walk in them.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
His Mercy Is More
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
Amazing Grace – Instrumental Special
Scripture Reading
Ecclesiastes 8:1-17(ESV)
1Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. 3 Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. 4 For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” 5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. 6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him. 7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? 8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. 9 All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.
10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. 11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according
to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15 And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.
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 7:13-8:17 “Doctor My Eyes” 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
Good To Me
College Graduates Recognition
Blessing
Based on Psalm 23 (ESV)
May the Lord, your Shepherd, bless you;
make you lie down in green pastures;
lead you beside still waters;
restore your soul;
and lead you in paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake.
MEN:
May you fear no evil,
when you walk through the valley of the
shadow of death,
for the Lord is with you.
May His rod and His staff comfort you.
WOMEN:
May the Lord prepare a table before you
in the presence of your enemies;
anoint your head with oil;
May your cup overflow.
May goodness and mercy pursue you
all the days of your life.
May you dwell in the house of the Lord forever.