Guide for Home Worship

July 19, 2020

Welcome

Thank you so much for joining us! The following page will take you through the order of worship for this Sunday.

If you are new, welcome! We also want to invite you to learn more about us. You can do so by selecting the button below.
A few tips for parents:
  • Plan for your time – read through the guide and prepare the room where you are gathering
  • Make your time joyful – have fun!!!
  • Remember, it’s primarily about a relationship, not a task to scratch off
  • Have your kids participate in age and maturity appropriate ways – reading, singing, etc.
  • We also have a special Children’s Lesson for this week. You can watch the video here.

Time of Reflection

“I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”
~Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), lawyer and 16th President of the United States

“The first link between my soul and Christ is not my goodness but my badness; not my merit but my misery; not my riches but my need.”
“If you are to go to Christ, do not put on your good doings and feelings, or you will get nothing; go in your sins, they are your [proper attire]. Your ruin is your argument for mercy; your poverty is your plea for heavenly alms; and your need is the motive for heavenly goodness. Go as you are, and let your miseries plead for you.”
~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), British preacher

“Whenever the Psalter is abandoned, an incomparable treasure vanishes from the Christian church. With its recovery will come unsuspected power.”
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1909-1945), pastor and theologian, martyred by the Nazis

“These are noble, passionate, and very profound words of a truly penitent heart that is most deeply moved in its distress. In fact, this cannot be understood except by those who have felt and experienced it. We are all in deep and great misery, but we do not all feel our condition. ‘I cry to you.’ Crying is nothing but a strong and earnest longing for God’s grace, which does not arise in a person unless they see in what depth he is lying.”
~Martin Luther (1483-1546), German pastor and reformer on Psalm 130

“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination…”
~ Maya Angelou (1928-2014), poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist

Opening Prayer

(select someone from your group to open your service in prayer)

Call to Worship

Psalm 32:1-8 (NIV)

LEADER: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

CONGREGATION: Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.

LEADER: When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

CONGREGATION: Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

LEADER: Therefore, let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.

CONGREGATION: You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Songs & Liturgy

(sing as a group and/or sing along to recorded versions)
HIS MERCY IS MORE
(Matt Papa, Matt Boswell)
What love could remember no wrongs we have done?
Omniscient, all knowing, he counts not their sum.
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore.
Our sins, they are many, his mercy is more.

What patience would wait as we constantly roam?
What father, so tender, is calling us home?
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor.
Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.

CHORUS:
Praise the Lord,
His mercy is more.
Stronger than darkness, new every morn.
Our sins they are many, his mercy is more.

What riches of kindness he lavished on us.
His blood was the payment, his life was the cost.
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford.
Our sins, they are many, his mercy is more.
(CHORUS)
©2016 Messenger Hymns (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.) CCLI #1791178
RESPONSIVE READING
Psalm 27 (ESV)

LEADER: The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

CONGREGATION: When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

LEADER: Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

CONGREGATION: One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.


LEADER: For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.

ALL: And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
I LIFT MY EYES UP
(Brian Doerksen)
I lift my eyes up, up to the mountains.
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from You
Maker of heaven, creator of the earth.

CHORUS:
Oh how I need You, Lord
You are my only hope,
You are my only prayer
So I will wait for You to come and rescue me
To come and give me life.

I lift my eyes up, up to my keeper
For you watch over me.
My help comes from You,
For you are faithful, and you will keep my life.
(CHORUS)
©1990 Vineyard Songs Canada (Admin. by Music Services) CCLI#1791178

Prayer Time

(You may have an open time of prayer or select someone to pray)

  • Pray for our nation – that the good news of Jesus Christ would draw people to know God genuinely and personally.
  • Pray for those suffering from the ongoing spread of the coronavirus.
  • Pray for those experiencing racial injustices; specifically, that God would bring hope, reconciliation, and restoration through the good news of His Son.
  • Pray for those in authority at every level in our country, that they would govern wisely and justly.

Listen to Sermon

“What Really Changes Us: The Rationale and Reward of Repentance”
Psalm 130 (ESV)
preached by Pastor Don Willeman

Confession of Faith

adapted from the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) Question 60

LEADER: How are you righteous before God?

CONGREGATION: Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ;

So that, though my conscience accuse me,
that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God,
and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all kinds of evil;

Notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace,
grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness
and holiness of Christ;

Even so, God views me as if I never had committed any sin:
indeed, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience
which Christ has accomplished for me;
Inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a trusting heart.


LEADER: Indeed! This is the good news that frees you to truly love God and serve others.

Sharing Time

(have everyone share one thing that struck them from the sermon)

Song

(sing as a group and/or sing along to recorded versions)
IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
(Horatio G. Spafford & Philip P. Bliss, 1873)
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
It is well (It is well) with my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Tho’ Satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well (It is well) with my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul.

My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well (It is well) with my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul.

And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll:
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
It is well (It is well) with my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul.
PUBLIC DOMAIN

Closing Prayer

(select someone to close your time in prayer)

Benediction

(The leader or individual should read this aloud relishing in the confident assertion that Christ has conquered.)

Luke 12:29-32

LEADER: Do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

PEOPLE: Amen!