Approaching God
Welcome and Announcements
Gathering Song & Prelude
Hymn:
Confessional Prayer
Guide: Lord of all the Earth and King of every nation, we applaud Your glorious deeds and exalt Your Name above all others. Your power has been praised by every generation. You have enhanced our lives with hope and faith.
People: Glorious God of the Universe, we seek to serve You in this sacred sanctuary; we look to laud and honor You with our hearts and lives. Merciful Father, You know everything about us. You have seen us sin and have watched us yield to temptation. We crave Your forgiveness of all our faults and we plead for pardon of our past mistakes. Hear us now as we silently confess to You alone.
- SILENCE -
Guide: Gracious Lord, Your sovereignty extends over all our lives. You are above and beyond all that we can ever experience or know. Without Your mercy, our lives are meaningless. Without Your Son, we have no salvation. We make these petitions in the Name of Jesus, the Holy One whose sacrifice cleanses our sins. In His own words, we now pray, saying, “Our Father…THE LORD’S PRAYER (debts/debtors)
Promise of the Gospel
Guide: We can only go to Jesus for forgiveness, for He alone has the authority to restore us to God; He alone has the words of eternal life. So let us rejoice and be glad, for Jesus is our Savior and Lord forever. Amen.
Gloria Patri (sung): Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
Family Sermon (parents and all children, including Elementary school students come forward)
Encountering God
Minute for Mission – Nominations
Prayers for Health and Healing
Pastor: O LORD, You teach us lessons of faith in times of trouble. Hear us now as we pray. O God, grant us relief from sickness and suffering; help us to hold on to hope and courage.
People: In the face of fear, never forsake us. In times of isolation, be our Comforter. Help us and heal us, O Lord. Strengthen and support us, console our spirits and lighten our burdens.
Pastor: Loving Lord, when we are overcome with worry or weariness, grant us peace of mind and rest for our souls. Gracious God, when we are anxious about our families and friends, bring them wholeness and healing to generate joy in their lives. Hear us now as we pray.
Silent Prayers for others and ourselves. A candle is lit
Pastor: The LORD is our fortress of faith and the rock, in whom we take refuge. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
(Healing Prayer based on words & phrases from Psalm 94)
Choir Anthem
The Message: Part #1
Singing of ‘Sanctuary’
Prayer for Illumination:
Reader: Holy Spirit, may we continue to praise God for all that happens in these scriptures. May these stories and events draw us closer to His ways and enable us to share our faith with other people. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Scripture Readings
The Message: Part #2 & The Apostles’ Creed
Serving God
Offering & Offertory:
Dedication (unison): Lord Jesus, You have clearly called us to be here today. We have learned of Your ways and studied God's Word. Bless these offerings and tithes to Your continuing work in this world. May our gifts enhance Your mission to spread the Gospel throughout our community and all over the earth. In Your Holy Name, we give and pray. Amen.
Hymn:
Benediction (unison): May Christ enable us to live each day for Him alone; may the Father free us from fear and keep us in His constant care; and may the Holy Spirit bolster our faith, so that we may belong to the One, Triune and Living God, both now and always. Amen.
Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; etc & Postlude
1 comment:
THE DEATH OF GOD
"Then the Jews, as was the preparation of the Passover, so that the bodies were not on the cross on the sabbath (for that Sabbath day was very solemn) asked Pilate to break them legs, and were removed from there.
They came as soldiers, and broke the legs of the first, and also the other who was crucified with him.
But when they came to Jesus, as he was already dead, did not break his legs "(John 19,31-33)
As Albert Einstein once said: "The only true problem of all time is in the heart and the thoughts of men. This is not a physical problem but a moral issue. It is easier to change the plutonium compocision that the evil spirit of an individual. It is not the explosive power of an atomic bomb, but what frightens us the power of evil in the human heart, its explosive power for evil. "
No doubt that what the scientist says is one of the harsh realities that describe the human being, that there is an evil inclination in man.
Many of the unhealthy actions of man originated in the laboratory of the evil mind of man, a mind that each day feeds on a terrifying idea, the darkest, most hideous that the man was able to conceive this idea is the desire to "kill God."
Every human being has an area which makes it responsive to think of God, and this sensitive area is in Consciousness. But when the human heart is inclined to build their own roads, to set their own standards, creating an ethical and moral own or her own lifestyle, not subject to anything but the ego itself, the man faces an obstacle: the idea of God in his conscience.
So the man decided that this idea should be removed from his mind.
The apostle John writes about this desire of man, when focusing on the murder and martyrdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, this being done the most despicable act committed to the human race.
In reading John 19,31-34 are 2 groups conspired together and with the intent to remove and eliminate the idea of God reflected in the person of Jesus. These groups are the Jews and Romans.
But here also notice two things:
1. Religiosity, as represented by the Jews, and that today may well be exemplified by all the religious leaders of all denominations living under Christian rites and ceremonies, traditions or under human schemes, under systems that are not biblical, without guide the Spirit of God. This kills the religious idea of God in man.
2. Spiritual insensitivity, as represented by the Roman soldiers, and exemplified by all those who are disrespectful or irreverent to the sacred, the profane to the church of Christ without fear of seeing God in their hearts, breaking the rules of God, as if break the legs of Christ.
These two things darkened conscience of man.
However, as the apostle John writes the death of Jesus, also writes gloriously the event of his Resurrection.
"Ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" (John 20.17),
with these words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ after his resurrection, he left it that the idea of God is so great and sublime that can never disappear from the consciousness of man. So for those of evil heart this idea remains a torment to their lives, but for people whose hearts repented the idea of God is an idea of hope, joy, strength, which encourages them to await the Second Coming of Christ .
Note: Take it as a blessing rather than invasion to your blog.
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