Download: Readings and Song Lyrics for January 12, 2025
Pre-service Song
House of God Forever
God is my shepherd, I won’t be wanting, I won’t be wanting.
He makes me rest in fields of green, with quiet streams.
Even though I walk through the valley of death and dying,
I will not fear ‘cause You are with me, You are with me.
Chorus
Your shepherd’s staff comforts me.
You are my feast in the presence of enemies.
Surely goodness will follow me,
Follow me in the house of God, forever.
God is my shepherd. I won’t be wanting, I won’t be wanting.
He makes me rest in fields of green, by quiet streams.
Even while I’m walking through the valley of death and dying,
I will not fear ‘cause You are with me.
I will not fear ‘cause You are with me, You’re always with me. (Chorus)
In the house of God forever, in the house of God forever.
By Jon Foreman
© 2008 Rubadub Rublishing Publishing
Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
Psalm 95:1-7 (CSB)
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.
For the Lord is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
The depths of the earth are in his hand,
and the mountain peaks are his.
The sea is his; he made it.
His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let’s worship and bow down;
let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
the sheep under his care.
Our Sung Call to Worship
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
Come behold the wondrous mystery,
In the dawning of the King.
He, the theme of heaven’s praises,
Robed in frail humanity.
In our longing, in our darkness,
Now the light of life has come;
Look to Christ, who condescended,
Took on flesh to ransom us.
Come behold the wondrous mystery:
He the perfect Son of Man,
In His living, in His suffering,
Never trace nor stain of sin.
See the true and better Adam,
Come to save the hell-bound man;
Christ the great and sure fulfillment
Of the law; in Him we stand.
Come behold the wondrous mystery:
Christ the Lord upon the tree;
In the stead of ruined sinners
Hangs the Lamb in victory.
See the price of our redemption,
See the Father’s plan unfold;
Bringing many sons to glory
Grace unmeasured, love untold!
Come behold the wondrous mystery:
Slain by death the God of life.
But no grave could e’er restrain Him
Praise the Lord, He is alive!
What a foretaste of deliv’rance
How unwavering our hope;
Christ in power resurrected,
As we will be when He comes.
What a foretaste of deliv’rance,
How unwavering our hope;
Christ in power resurrected,
As we will be when He comes.
By Matt Papa, Matt Boswell, and Michael Bleecker
© 2012 Getty Music Hymns and Songs; Getty Music Publishing; Love Your Enemies Publishing; Bleecker Publishing; McKinney Music, Inc.
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
Psalm 51:1-4, 7-9 (CSB)
Be gracious to me, God,
according to your faithful love;
according to your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion.
Completely wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you—you alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in your sight.
So you are right when you pass sentence;
you are blameless when you judge.
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Turn your face away from my sins
and blot out all my guilt.
This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ,
our crucified and risen Lord. Amen.
Time of silent confession.
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
Philippians 2:6-11 (ESV)
Remember the Gospel!
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
O Praise the Name (Anastasis) (Distribution Song)
I cast my mind to Calvary,
Where Jesus bled and died for me.
I see His wounds, His hands, His feet.
My Saviour on that cursed tree.
His body bound and drenched in tears.
They laid Him down in Joseph’s tomb.
The entrance sealed by heavy stone.
Messiah still and all alone.
Chorus
O praise the name of the Lord our God.
O praise His name forevermore.
For endless days we will sing Your praise.
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, our God.
Then on the third at break of dawn,
The Son of heaven rose again.
O trampled death where is your sting?
The angels roar for Christ the King. (Chorus)
He shall return in robes of white.
The blazing sun shall pierce the night.
And I will rise among the saints,
My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ face. (Chorus)
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, our God.
Oh Lord, Oh Lord, our God
By Benjamin Hastings, Dean Ussher, and Marty Sampson
© 2015 Hillsong Music Publishing Australia; Small City Music
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper
Living Hope
How great the chasm that lay between us.
How high the mountain I could not climb.
In desperation I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night.
Then through the darkness Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul.
The work is finished, the end is written.
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Who could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame.
The cross has spoken; I am forgiven.
The King of kings calls me His own.
Beautiful Savior, I’m Yours forever.
Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free!
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me!
You have broken every chain.
There’s salvation in Your name.
Jesus Christ, my living hope. (Repeat)
Then came the morning that sealed the promise,
Your buried body began to breathe.
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me. (Repeat)
Jesus, Yours is the victory!
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free!
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me!
You have broken every chain.
There’s salvation in Your name.
Jesus Christ, my living hope. (Repeat)
Jesus Christ, my living hope.
Oh God, You are my living hope
By Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson
© 2017 Phil Wickham Music; Simply Global Songs; Sing My Songs; Bethel Music Publishing
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.
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
Matthew 25:31-46 (ESV)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This is the word of the Lord.
The grass withers and the flower falls
but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Sermon
Matthew 25:31-46 – The Final Judgment – 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 both song and spoken word.
Sending Song
Come Thou Fount
Come, Thou Fount of every 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.
Here I raise my 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,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering 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.
Words by Robert Robinson Music: Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music
©Public Domain
Blessing
Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you,
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you,
and give you peace.
Amen.
Scripture text for next Sunday: Matthew 26:1-16