Service Preview for March 8

Service Preview for March 8

Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.

Our Spoken Call to Worship
From Psalm 18:1-3, 46 (CSB17)

I love you, LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock,
my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock where I seek refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold.

I called to the LORD,
who is worthy of praise,
and I was saved from my enemies.

The LORD lives—blessed be my rock!
The God of my salvation is exalted.

Our Sung Call to Worship
How Great is Our God (with How Great Thou Art)

Lament
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.

Our Spoken Lament
Lord, you are righteous and you can do all things.

So we wonder why you allow such brokenness in our world…

…where war divides families, maims children, and kills innocents.

How long, O Lord?

…where justice is denied both to victims and to the guilty.

How long, O Lord?

…where human beings are bought and sold as property.

How long, O Lord?

…where poverty leaves multitudes hungry, sick, and homeless.

How long, O Lord?

…where sufferers are denied refuge, assistance, and safety.

How long, O Lord?

…where bodies decay and succumb to disease.

How long, O Lord?

…where mental illness robs people of freedom and joy.

How long, O Lord?

…where divorce leaves households divided and children to suffer.

How long, O Lord?

…where your church is persecuted and your people killed.

How long, O Lord?

…where we sin and suffer and die.

How long, O Lord?

How long, O Lord? Will you forget us forever?

How long will you hide your face from us?

Time of silent confession.

Our Sung Confession
When Sorrow Comes

Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
Based on Colossians 1:13-20

The Father has rescued us from the domain of darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things
and by him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
and through him to reconcile everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Our Sung Profession of Assurance
The Gospel Song

O Praise the Names (Anastasis)

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.

You may give electronically at gabcames.org/giving/.

We Give Thanks in Song
Show Us Christ

Scripture Reading
Hosea 9:1-17
1Rejoice not, O Israel!
Exult not like the peoples;
for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s wages
on all threshing floors.
2 Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
and the new wine shall fail them.
3 They shall not remain in the land of the LORD,
but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD,
and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like mourners’ bread to them;
all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
it shall not come to the house of the LORD.
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
and on the day of the feast of the LORD?
6 For behold, they are going away from destruction;
but Egypt shall gather them;
Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
thorns shall be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come;
Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
and great hatred.
8 The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
and hatred in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
he will punish their sins.
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
in its first season,
I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Even if they bring up children,
I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
when I depart from them!
13 Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow;
but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.
14 Give them, O LORD—
what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken;
their root is dried up;
they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will put their beloved children to death.
17 My God will reject them
because they have not listened to him;
they shall be wanderers among the nations.

This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!

Sermon
Hosea 9:1-17 – “Yahweh Rejects His Unrepentant Bride” – Pastor Michael Felkins

The Lord’s Supper
This morning we will be observing the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a covenant meal for the people of God whereby we remember the person and work of Christ on the cross to redeem us from our sin. It is a time to reflect, remember and repent. It is also the application of the sermon whereby we confess our sin and continually turn to Jesus for grace.

If you have trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, have been baptized by immersion and are a member in good standing of a local church we invite you to share in this covenant meal with us.

We also ask that everyone who takes this covenant meal with us remember the warning given by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” So we ask that you examine your heart and your relationship with God through the person and work of Christ.

If you are not able to receive the Lord’s Supper with us, please use this time to meditate on one of the following prayers.

A PRAYER FOR THOSE SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH
Lord Jesus, You claim to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. If what You claim is true, please guide me, teach me and open me to the reality of who You are. Grant that I might be undaunted in my pursuit of knowing You. Give me an understanding of You that is coherent and convincing, and that leads me to the life in You. Amen.

A PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO CONFESS FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST
Lord Jesus I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever dared admit, but through You I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank You for paying my debt on the cross, taking what I deserve in order to purchase my complete forgiveness. Knowing that You have been raised from the dead, I turn from my sins and receive You as My Savior and Lord. Amen.

A PRAYER OF COMMITMENT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE CONFESSED FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST
Lord Jesus, You have called us to follow You in baptism and in a life of committed discipleship in Your church. Grant that I may take the necessary steps to be one with Your people, and live in the fullness of Your Spirit in a local community of Christ followers. Amen.

adapted from D. A. Carson, ed., Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002)

Gluten Free Lord’s Supper: The elements of our Lord’s Supper are gluten free.
Please dispose of your Lord’s Supper cup in the waste receptacles near the doors or put them in the cup holders of the chairs with book racks under them.

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
We Will Feast In the House of Zion