Home Worship Guide

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.
• You are welcome to print out this week's Children's Bulletin here.

“Love is divine only and difficult always. If you think it is easy you are a fool. If you think it is natural you are blind. It is…without reason or motive except that it is God.”
~Toni Morrison (1931-2019) in her book Paradise

“The truth doesn’t change. It was the same when Moses got the Ten Commandments as it is today. That’s the thing about the truth. That’s the thing about real. It doesn’t change and it doesn’t have to change. Now you can put it in a different book, but it’s still real. It’s still the truth.”
~DMX, aka Earl Simmons (1970-2021), rapper and songwriter

“Immediately upon the Fall [into sin] the mind of man shrunk from its primitive greatness and extensiveness into an exceeding dimunition and confinedness… whereas before his soul was under the government of that noble principle of divine love…, enlarged to a kind of comprehension to all his fellow creatures; and … extended to the Creator, and dispersed itself abroad in that infinite ocean….  But as soon as he had transgressed… he thenceforward shrunk into a little point, circumscribed and closely shut up within itself to the exclusion of others. God was forsaken and fellow creatures forsaken, and man retired within himself and became wholly governed by narrow, selfish principles. Self-love became an absolute master of his soul.....”
~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), pastor, theologian and philosopher

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
~God through the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

“The great military leaders of the past have gone, their empires have crumbled and burned to ashes. But the empire of Jesus, built solidly and majestically on the foundation of love, is still growing.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), minister and civil rights leader

Psalm 65:1-4 (ESV)

LEADER: Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed.

PEOPLE: O you who hear prayer,
to you shall all flesh come.

LEADER: When iniquities prevail against me,
you atone for our transgressions.

PEOPLE: Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
to dwell in your courts!
 
ALL: We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!

HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION
(John Rippon, Joseph Funk, 1787)

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame will not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose.
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!
^{PUBLIC DOMAIN}

PSALM MEDITATION – Psalm 65:5-13 (ESV)

LEADER: By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
O God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas;

PEOPLE: The one who by his strength established the mountains,
being girded with might;

LEADER: Who stills the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of their waves,
the tumult of the peoples,

PEOPLE: So that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

LEADER: You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;

PEOPLE: The river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain,
for so you have prepared it.

LEADER: You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.

PEOPLE: You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

LEADER: The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,

PEOPLE: The meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
 
ALL: They shout and sing together for joy.

LET US LOVE AND SING AND WONDER
(John Newton 1774, Laura Taylor)

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior’s name!
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder,
He has quenched Mt. Sinai’s flame.

Let us love the Lord who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies,
Called us by His grace and taught us,
Gave us ears and gave us eyes.

He has washed us with His blood,
He has washed us with His blood,
He has washed us with His blood,
He presents our souls to God.

Let us wonder grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is,
Justice smiles and asks no more.

He who washed us with His blood,
He who washed us with His blood,
He who washed us with His blood,
Has secured our way to God.

Let us praise and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted him before us,
Now their praises fill the sky.

He has washed us with His blood,
He has washed us with His blood,
He has washed us with His blood,
He presents us whole to God.
^{©2001 Laura Taylor Music CCLI License #1791178}

“Lifted Up in Love”
John 3:1-21
preached by Pastor Don Willeman
Please note: Unfortunately, the audio quality from the 8:30 service is poor this week. We hope to upload a better version on Monday. For this week, the video posted below may be a better way to listen to the sermon. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you!

Scripture Passage

John 3:1-21 (ESV)

John 3

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Numbers 21

⁴ From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” ⁶ Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ⁷ And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

1 John 4:9-11

LEADER: By this the love of God was manifested among us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

CONGREGATION: In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

LEADER: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

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}

(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!