Service Preview for May 9

Service Preview for May 9

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Download: Readings and Song Lyrics for May 9

Reflection
The greatest danger in your life is not that you will lose your job or your health,
or even your friends and family, but that you might lose your faith.

Dr. Kenneth Gangle
(1935-2009)

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

Our Spoken Call to Worship
Responsive reading from Psalm 94:16–19; 95:1-2 (CSB)

Who stands up for me against the wicked?
Who takes a stand for me against evildoers?

If the Lord had not been my helper,
I would soon rest in the silence of death.

If I say, “My foot is slipping,”
your faithful love will support me, Lord.

When I am filled with cares,
your comfort brings me joy.

Come, let’s shout joyfully to the Lord,
shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation!

Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving;
let’s shout triumphantly to him in song.

Our Sung Call to Worship
Come Thou Fount

Verse 1
Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise:
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Verse 2
Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home:
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

Verse 3
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Ending
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Words by Robert Robinson
Music: Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music
Public Domain

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

Our Spoken Confession

Gracious God,

Our sins are too heavy to carry,
too real to hide,
and too deep to undo.

Forgive what our lips tremble to name,
what our hearts can no longer bear,
and the sins that so easily entangle us.

Set us free from a past that we cannot change;
grant us grace to be like Jesus today;
assure us that, when Jesus appears,
we will stop sinning forever.

Amen.

Time of silent confession.

Our Sung Confession
He Will Hold Me Fast

Verse 1
When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail,
He will hold me fast.
I could never keep my hold
Through life’s fearful path;
For my love is often cold;
He must hold me fast. (Chorus)

Chorus
He will hold me fast,
He will hold me fast;
For my Savior loves me so,
He will hold me fast.

Verse 2
Those He saves are His delight,
Christ will hold me fast;
Precious in His holy sight,
He will hold me fast.
He’ll not let my soul be lost;
His promises shall last;
Bought by Him at such a cost,
He will hold me fast. (Chorus)

Verse 3
For my life He bled and died,
Christ will hold me fast;
Justice has been satisfied;
He will hold me fast.
Raised with Him to endless life,
He will hold me fast
‘Till our faith is turned to sight,
When He comes at last! (Chorus)

Words and Music by Ada Ruth Habeshon and Matthew Merker
©2013 Getty Music Publishing, Matthew Merker Music

Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song

Remember the Gospel
From John 3:16 (CSB)

How has God loved us?

God loved the world in this way:
He gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life.

Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor

Verse 1
Christ, the sure and steady anchor
In the fury of the storm;
When the winds of doubt blow through me
And my sails have all been torn.
In the suffering, in the sorrow,
When my sinking hopes are few,
I will hold fast to the anchor;
It shall never be removed.

Verse 2
Christ, the sure and steady anchor
While the tempest rages on;
When temptation claims the battle
And it seems the night has won.
Deeper still then goes the anchor,
Though I justly stand accused;
I will hold fast to the anchor;
It shall never be removed.

Verse 3
Christ, the sure and steady anchor
Through the floods of unbelief;
Hopeless, somehow, O my soul now
Lift your eyes to Cavalry.
This my ballast of assurance,
See His love forever proved;
I will hold fast to the anchor;
It shall never be removed.

Verse 4
Christ the sure and steady anchor,
As we face the wave of death;
When those trials give way to glory
And we draw our final breath.
We will cross that great horizon,
Clouds behind and life secured;
And the calm will be the better
For the storms that we endured.

Ending
Christ, the shore of our salvation,
Ever faithful, every true;
We will hold fast to the anchor,
It shall never be removed.

Words and music by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa
©2015 Getty Music Hymns and Songs, Getty Music Publishing, Love Your Enemies Publishing, Messenger Hymns

Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me

Verse 1
What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer
There is no more for heaven now to give
He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom
My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.

To this I hold: my hope is only Jesus
For my life is wholly bound to his.
Oh, how strange and divine, I can sing: all is mine!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

Verse 2
The night is dark but I am not forsaken
For by my side, the Savior he will stay.
I labour on in weakness and rejoicing
For in my need, his power is displayed.

To this I hold: my Shepherd will defend me;
Through the deepest valley he will lead.
Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

Verse 3
No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven;
The future sure, the price it has been paid
For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon
And he was raised to overthrow the grave.

To this I hold: my sin has been defeated
Jesus now and ever is my plea
Oh the chains are released, I can sing I am free!
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

Verse 4
With every breath I long to follow Jesus
For he has said that he will bring me home.
And day by day I know he will renew me
Until I stand with joy before the throne.

To this I hold: my hope is only Jesus!
All the glory evermore to him!
When the race is complete,
still my lips shall repeat:
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

Song ending
When the race is complete,
still my lips shall repeat:
Yet not I, but through Christ in me
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

Words and Music by Jenny Robinson, Rich Thompson and Michael Farren
©2018 CityAlight Music, Farren Love And War Publishing, Integrity’s Alleluia! Music

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/ or place your offering in the boxes at the back of the sanctuary or send a check in the mail.

Scripture Reading
Joshua 23:1-16 (ESV)
1A long time afterward, when the LORD had given
rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you. 4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west.
5 The LORD your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the LORD your God promised you. 6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day. 9 For the LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. 11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you.
14 “And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

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

Sermon
Joshua 23:1-16 – Famous Last Words – Pastor Michael Felkins

Sermon Discipleship Questions
1. What encouraged you?
2. What convicted you?
3. Is there anything in your life that needs to change?

Sending
Having heard and confessed the Gospel, we are sent into the world on mission in Christ, which we express in spoken word.

Blessing
From Psalm 134:3 (ESV)

May the LORD bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!

Next week’s scripture passage: Joshua 24:1-13

Recognition and prayer for Paul & Lighton Otyama.