Guide for Home Worship

October 11, 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.

Time of Reflection

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got  some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.’s final words in the speech he gave before he was assassinated

“It is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ… We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.”
~ C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), famed London preacher

“Nations pass away, thrones crumble, but the church remains. What is then the power which has protected this church, thus assailed by the furious billows of rage and the hostility of ages? Whose is the arm which, for eighteen hundred years, has protected the church from so many storms which have threatened to engulf it?… I marvel that whereas the ambitious dreams of myself, Caesar, and Alexander should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant—Jesus—should be able to stretch His hands across the centuries and control the destinies of men and nations.”
~ Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), infamous military leader and emperor in France, during his last years in exile on the island of St. Helena

“The Witness of the Holy Spirit: this is stronger than all proof.”
~ John Calvin (1509-1564), French-born theologian and reformer in Geneva

“Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
~ Senior demon writing to younger demon in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters

Opening Prayer

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

Call to Worship

Psalm 103:1-5 (ESV)

LEADER: Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me,
Bless his holy name!

CONGREGATION: Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
Who forgives all your iniquity,
Who heals all your diseases,

LEADER: Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

ALL: Who satisfies you with good
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Songs & Liturgy

(sing as a group and/or sing along to recorded versions)
HOUSE OF GOD FOREVER
(Jon Foreman)
God is my shepherd,
I won’t be wanting, I won’t be wanting.
He makes me rest in fields of green,
With quiet streams.
Even though I walk through the valley
Of death and dying,
I will not fear ‘cause You are with me,
You are with me.

CHORUS:
Your shepherd’s staff, comforts me,
You are my feast in the presence of enemies,
Surely goodness will follow me
Follow me
In the house of God forever.

God is my shepherd,
I won’t be wanting, I won’t be wanting.
He makes me rest in fields of green,
By quiet streams.
Even while I’m walking through the valley
Of death and dying,
I will not fear ‘cause You are with me,
You’re always with me.
(CHORUS)
©2008 Rubadub Rublishing Publishing CCLI #1791178
RESPONSIVE READING
Psalm 103:6-22 (ESV)

LEADER: The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

CONGREGATION: He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

LEADER: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

CONGREGATION: He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.

LEADER: He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

CONGREGATION: For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

LEADER: as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

CONGREGATION: As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

LEADER: For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

CONGREGATION: As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;

LEADER: For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

CONGREGATION: But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,

LEADER: To those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

CONGREGATION: The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

LEADER: Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!

CONGREGATION: Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Sharing

(as a lead into the Prayer Time, as a group share how you are feeling and what you are learning; below are suggested questions)

Prayer Time

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

  • Pray for our church’s short and long-term meeting place needs, that God would give us favor in the eyes of those in authority and that He would give us provision that would go far beyond all that we could ask or imagine.
  • Pray for our world – that the good news of Jesus Christ would flourish and that many would come to know God genuinely and personally.
  • 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

“The Faithfulness of God”
preached by Scott Sottosanti

Confession of Faith

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power,
And the glory, forever. Amen.

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)
MY HOPE IS BUILT
(Edward Mote & William B. Bradbury, 1863)
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

REFRAIN:
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil. (REFRAIN)

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay. (REFRAIN)

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne. (REFRAIN)
PUBLIC DOMAIN

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!