Download: Readings and Song Lyrics for August 4, 2024
Pre-service Song
Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor
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.
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.
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.
Christ the sure and steady anchor,
As we face the wave of death;
When these trials give way to glory
As 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.
Christ, the shore of our salvation,
Ever faithful, ever true;
We will hold fast to the anchor,
It shall never be removed.
By Matt Boswell and Matt Papa
© 2015 Getty Music Hymns and Songs; Getty Music Publishing; Love Your Enemies Publishing; Messenger Hymns
Call To Worship
We confess the supremacy of God in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Call to Worship
Psalm 121 (ESV)
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Our Sung Call to Worship
God is For Us
We won’t fear the battle, we won’t fear the night.
We will walk the valley with You by our side.
You will go before us, You will lead the way.
We have found a refuge, only You can save.
Chorus
Sing with joy now, “Our God is for us.”
The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress.
Raise your voice now, no love is greater.
Who can stand against us if our God is for us.
Even when I stumble, even when I fall.
Even when I turn back, still Your love is sure.
You will not abandon, You will not forsake.
You will cheer me onward with never-ending grace. (Chorus)
Neither height nor depth can separate us,
Hell and death will not defeat us.
He who gave His Son to free us
Holds me in His love. (Repeat)
Sing with joy now, “Our God is for us.”
The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress.
Raise your voice now, no love is greater.
Who can stand against us if our God is for us. (Repeat)
By James Ferguson, James Tealy, Jesse Reeves, Jonny Robinson, Michael Farren, Rich Thompson, and Tiarne Tranter
© 2018 BEC Worship; WriterWrong Music; CityAlight Music; Farren Love And War Publishing; Integrity’s Alleluia! Music; My Eleiht Songs
Confession
We confess our need for mercy through both responsive reading and song.
Our Spoken Confession
Psalm 130 (CSB)
Out of the depths I call to you, Lord!
Lord, listen to my voice;
let your ears be attentive
to my cry for help.
Lord, if you kept an account of iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you may be revered.
I wait for the Lord; I wait
and put my hope in his word.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning—
more than watchmen for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord.
For there is faithful love with the Lord,
and with him is redemption in abundance.
And he will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
Thank you, Father, for forgiving our sins
through your Son, Jesus our Lord.
Time of silent confession.
Our Sung Confession
All I Have is Christ
I once was lost in darkest night,
Yet thought I knew the way;
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave.
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still.
But as I ran my hell-bound race,
Indifferent to the cost.
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross;
And I beheld God’s love displayed,
You suffered in my place.
You bore the wrath reserved for me,
Now all I know is grace.
Chorus
Hallelujah! All I have is Christ.
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life.
Now Lord I would be Yours alone,
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me.
O Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose,
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You. (Chorus)
By Jordan Kauflin
© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise
Assurance and Peace
We profess our assurance of salvation and peace in Christ through both responsive reading and song.
Remember the Gospel
Romans 8:31-35, 37-39 (CSB)
Remember the Gospel!
If God is for us, who is against us?
He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all.
How will he not also with him grant us everything?
Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?
God is the one who justifies.
Who is the one who condemns?
Christ Jesus is the one who died,
but even more, has been raised;
he also is at the right hand of God
and intercedes for us.
Who can separate us from the love of Christ?
Can affliction or distress or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our Sung Profession of Assurance
Christ the Sure and Steady Anchor
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.
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.
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.
Christ the sure and steady anchor,
As we face the wave of death;
When these trials give way to glory
As 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.
Christ, the shore of our salvation,
Ever faithful, ever true;
We will hold fast to the anchor,
It shall never be removed.
By Matt Boswell and Matt Papa
© 2015 Getty Music Hymns and Songs; Getty Music Publishing; Love Your Enemies Publishing; Messenger Hymns
The Power of the Cross
Oh to see the dawn of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.
Chorus:
This the pow’r of the cross;
Christ became sin for us.
Took the blame, bore the wrath
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Oh to see the pain written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought, ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow. (Chorus}
Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life
‘Finished!’ the vict’ry cry. (Chorus)
Oh to see my name written in the wounds,
For through Your suff’ring I am free.
Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live
Won through Your selfless love!
This the pow’r of the cross
Son of God slain for us.
What a love, what a cost
We stand forgiven at the cross.
By Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
© 2005 Thankyou 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.
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
1 Corinthians 1:18-2:2 (ESV)
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the
discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
This is the word of the Lord.
The grass withers and the flower falls
but the word of the Lord endures forever.
Sermon
1 Corinthians 12:18-2:2 – “Christ and Him Crucified” – Dean VanEvery
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
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ, my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Words by Isaac Watts. Music by Lowell Mason
©Public Domain
Blessing
Ephesians 3:20-21 (ESV)
Now to him who is able to do far more
abundantly than all that we ask or think,
according to the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
Scripture text for next Sunday: Matthew 20:17-28