Download: Readings and Song Lyrics for September 20, 2026
Pre-service Song
Have Mercy (Psalm 51)
Have mercy on me, O God.
Have mercy on me, O God.
I am calling on Your kindness
In accordance with Your love.
Have mercy on me, O God.
I know, God, that I have sinned.
It’s You I have sinned against.
Would You blot out my transgressions?
Would You come now and forgive?
I know, God, that I have sinned.
Oh, a broken, contrite heart You will not turn away.
Oh, Lord, open up my lips that I might sing Your praise.
God wash me as white as snow,
And carry Your lost child home.
Come create in me a clean heart,
Come and break this heart of stone.
God, wash me as white as snow.
Oh, a broken, contrite heart You will not turn away.
Oh, Lord, open up my lips that I might sing Your praise.
Restore to me the joy of my salvation,
Renew in me a willing heart,
And I will sing in praise of Your redemption,
and I will sing of Your mercy God. (Repeat)
Have mercy on me, O God.
Have mercy on me, O God.
I am calling on Your kindness
In accordance with Your love.
Have mercy on me, O God.
By Caroline Cobb Smith
© 2023 Sing the Story Music
Baptisms
Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
1 Peter 1:3-4, 6-7 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
According to his great mercy,
he has caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while,
if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
so that the tested genuineness of your faith—
more precious than gold that perishes
though it is tested by fire—
may be found to result in praise and glory
and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Our Sung Call to Worship
There is One Gospel
There is one Gospel on which I stand for all eternity.
It is my story, my Father’s plan, the Son has rescued me.
Oh, what a Gospel, oh what a peace.
My highest joy and my deepest need.
Now and forever, He is my light.
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is one Gospel to which I cling, all else I count as loss.
For there, where justice and mercy meet, He saved me on the cross.
No more I boast in what I can bring,
No more I carry the weight of sin.
For He has brought me from death to life.
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is one Gospel where hope is found, the empty tomb still speaks.
For death could not keep my Saviour down, He lives and I am free.
Now on my Saviour I fix my eyes,
My life is His and His hope is mine.
For He has promised I too, will rise.
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And in this Gospel, the church is one, we do not walk alone.
We have His Spirit as we press on to lead us safely home.
And when in glory still I will sing
Of this old story that rescued me.
Praise to my Saviour, the King of life.
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And when in glory still I will sing
Of this old story that rescued me.
Praise to my Saviour, the King of life.
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Praise to my Saviour, the King of life.
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
By Jonny Robinson and Rich Thompson
© 2022 CityAlight Music
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
Daniel 9:4-5, 9-10, 18-19a (ESV)
I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession,
saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God,
who keeps covenant and steadfast love
with those who love him and keep his commandments,
we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness,
for we have rebelled against him
and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God
by walking in his laws, which he set before us
by his servants the prophets.
O my God, incline your ear and hear.
Open your eyes and see our desolations,
and the city that is called by your name.
For we do not present our pleas before you
because of our righteousness,
but because of your mercy.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive.
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
Romans 5:1, 8-11 (ESV)
Remember the Gospel!
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God shows his love for us
in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood,
much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies
we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more, now that we are reconciled,
shall we be saved by his life.
More than that, we also rejoice in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Nothing But the Blood
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Chorus
Oh! Precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my pardon, this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing, this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus)
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus)
This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus)
By Robert Lowry
©Public Domain
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
Psalm 51 (ESV)
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him,
after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of
your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice,
or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God,
you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
This is the word of the Lord.
The grass withers and the flower falls
but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Sermon
Psalm 51 – Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God – 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?
Have Mercy (Psalm 51) (Distribution Song)
Have mercy on me, O God.
Have mercy on me, O God.
I am calling on Your kindness
In accordance with Your love.
Have mercy on me, O God.
I know, God, that I have sinned.
It’s You I have sinned against.
Would You blot out my transgressions?
Would You come now and forgive?
I know, God, that I have sinned.
Oh, a broken, contrite heart You will not turn away.
Oh, Lord, open up my lips that I might sing Your praise.
God wash me as white as snow,
And carry Your lost child home.
Come create in me a clean heart,
Come and break this heart of stone.
God, wash me as white as snow.
Oh, a broken, contrite heart You will not turn away.
Oh, Lord, open up my lips that I might sing Your praise.
Restore to me the joy of my salvation,
Renew in me a willing heart,
And I will sing in praise of Your redemption,
and I will sing of Your mercy God. (Repeat)
Have mercy on me, O God.
Have mercy on me, O God.
I am calling on Your kindness
In accordance with Your love.
Have mercy on me, O God.
By Caroline Cobb Smith
© 2023 Sing the Story Music
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper
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
There is a Fountain
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away:
Wash all my sins away,
Wash all my sins away;
And there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved, to sin no more:
Be saved, to sin no more,
Be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved, to sin no more.
E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die:
And shall be till I die,
And shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.
Words by William Cowper, Music Early American Melody
©Public Domain
Blessing
2 Thessalonians 3:16 (ESV)
Now may the Lord of peace himself
give you peace at all times in every way.
The Lord be with you all.
Amen.
Scripture text for next Sunday: Psalm 52 & 53