Approaching God
Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
Gathering Song
Call to Worship
Pastor: Shout for joy to the LORD, all you His people and worship Him with gladness.
People: We will come before Him with joyful songs, for we know that the LORD is God.
Leader: Let us glorify the One who made us, for we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Amen.
First Hymn:
Prayers of Adoration and Confession
Guide: Lord of Time and God of Ages, throughout the centuries Your Name has been praised and Your works glorified. Today, we come before You, worshipping Your ways and revering Your Word. Our lives are sustained by Your goodness and our times are in Your hands. We seek to serve and love You; to please and delight You.
People: Gracious Lord, we confess to being sinful and wasteful, inconsiderate and unfaithful, selfish and vain. We fulfill our own desires, instead of doing what You want of us. We follow our own paths, instead of being guided by Your Spirit. We are wayward and self-centered. We are rebellious and inconsistent with our faith. Forgive us for being hostile to Your holiness and disrespectful of Your truth. Hear us now as we confess our sins to You alone.
- Silent Confessions -
Guide: Loving Father, we pledge our lives to Your Son Jesus Christ, for He alone grants us forgiveness and restores us to Your favor. His death at Calvary has redeemed our sinful souls and returned us to Your everlasting grace. In His Precious Name, we make our confessions and continue to pray in His holy words, saying, Our Father, Who art in heaven...THE LORD’S PRAYER (debts/debtors)
Promise of the Gospel:
Guide: Jesus frees us from our sins and enables us to avoid the traps of temptation. He no longer accuses us; instead He assures us of the forgiveness of all our sins when we sincerely confess our mistakes to Him. So let us rejoice and be glad, for Christ our Savior reconciles us to our Creator, both now and forever. Amen.
Gloria Patri (sung unison): 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
Offering & Offertory
Dedication (unison): Lord Jesus, You seek to strengthen our church through the gifts and blessings which You grant to all of us. We have combined our tithes and offerings and gathered them before You. Bless them for the life, work, and ministry of Your church in this community and throughout the Earth. In Your Holy name, we give and pray. Amen.
Children leave for Enrichment programs
Prayers for Health and Healing
Pastor: Rescue us, O Lord, and deliver us from fear; protect us from sickness and suffering. Free us from anxiety and strengthen our hearts; in the midst of our troubles, grant us peace.
People: When we have doubts, O Lord, carry and support us. When despair or depression hounds us, be our protector and shield. Keep us safe in Your hands and guard us from all that harms us in body, mind, heart, and soul.
Pastor: When we feel isolated or vulnerable, when we experience pressure or suffer stress, let Your Holy presence encourage and embrace us. O Lord, You are our God, and we cry to You for mercy and grace, for healing and wholeness. Hear us now as we silently pray.
Silent Prayers for others and ourselves. A candle is lit.
Pastor: Sovereign Lord, You are our strong deliverer and greatest hope. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.
(Healing prayer based on words & phrases from Psalm 140)
Singing of ‘Jesus, Draw Me Close.’
Prayer of Illumination:
Reader: Holy Spirit, fill us with God's grace and power through the reading and receiving of these sacred words. Reveal to us Christ's wonders and show to us His will for all our people. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.
Scripture Readings
Sermon & The Apostles' Creed
Serving God
Closing Hymn:
Benediction (unison): May Christ keep us free from conflict and division by granting us peace and unity in our lives; may the Father free us from the obstacles and barriers that hinder our faith; and may the Holy Spirit keep our hearts and minds full of the teachings and truths of the One, Triune and Living God, both now and always. Amen.
Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; etc & Postlude
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