Preparing for Worship | Sunday, September 15
READING THE TEXT
"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you." — James 5.1–6 (ESV)
PREPARING OUR HEARTS
As a family there are several ways you can prepare yourself for corporate worship. Here are a few:
Pray for the pastor and those leading worship. One of the benefits of praying for worship leaders is that you get to know them.
Give your children a tour of the sanctuary (if you want, have a pastor give you a tour) pointing out all the elements used for worship).
Teach your children to use a hymnbook, including how to find hymns, read stanzas from hymnbooks, read responsive readings, etc.
Learn popular hymns used in corporate worship.
Learn songs and responses regularly used in corporate worship (Doxology, Lord’s Prayer, Ten Commandments, Apostles Creed, Gloria Patri, etc)
PRAYING FOR THE SERVICE
Thank God for the gift of a local church family that we can gather with to worship Him as one body. Pray that Pastor Brian would be prepared, healthy, and focused as he preaches this Sunday.
Pray that God would bring people into our worship service who need to hear the message from this passage.
Pray that the Holy Spirit would convict and regenerate those who have not yet trusted in Jesus for new life.
Pray the Holy Spirit would open the hearts of those who hear the message and that He would comfort, strengthen, and teach His people.
Pray that God would guide us as we seek to live out the truth of His word the following week.
Order of Worship
GOD CALLS US TO WORSHIP HIM
Call to Worship
Worship Leader: Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Come, let us praise the Lord! [Psalm 117]
Hymn of Assurance | “All Praise to Him”
Verse 1:
All praise to Him the God of light
Who formed the mountains by His might
All praise to Him Who names the stars
That sing His fame in skies afar
All praise to Him Who reigns in love
Who guides the galaxies above
Yet bends to hear our every prayer
With sovereign pow'r and tender care
Verse 2:
All praise to Him Whose love is seen
In Christ the Son the servant King
Who left behind His glorious throne
To pay the ransom for His own
All praise to Him Who humbly came
To bear our sorrow sin and shame
Who lived to die Who died to rise
The all-sufficient sacrifice
Verse 3:
All praise to Him Whose pow'r imparts
The love of God within our hearts
The Spirit of all truth and peace
The fount of joy and holiness
To Father Son and Spirit now
Our souls we lift our wills we bow
To You the Triune God we raise
With loving hearts our song of praise
GOD GRACIOUSLY RENEWS US IN CHRIST
Confession of Sin
Worship Leader: The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. [Psalm 14.2–3]
Forgiveness of Sin
Worship Leader: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
All: We have sinned and perverted what was right; yet we did not get what we deserved. He redeemed our soul from going down to the pit, and we will continue to see the light.
Worship Leader: You, Lord, rescued us from death, our eyes from tears, our feed from stumbling. [Ephesians 2.8–9; Job 33.27–28; Psalm 116.8]
Hymn of Assurance | “Christ Is Mine Forevermore”
Verse 1:
Mine are days that God has numbered
I was made to walk with Him
Yet I look for worldly treasure
And forsake the King of kings
But mine is hope in my Redeemer
Though I fall His love is sure
For Christ has paid for every failing
I am His forevermore
Verse 2:
Mine are tears in times of sorrow
Darkness not yet understood
Through the valley I must travel
Where I see no earthly good
But mine is peace
That flows from heaven
And the strength in times of need
I know my pain will not be wasted
Christ completes His work in me
Verse 3:
Mine are days here as a stranger
Pilgrim on a narrow way
One with Christ I will encounter
Harm and hatred for His name
But mine is armour for this battle
Strong enough to last the war
And He has said He will deliver
Safely to the golden shore
And mine are keys to Zion city
Where beside the King I walk
For there my heart has found its treasure
Christ is mine forevermore
Thanking God for What He Has Done
Worship Leader: We give thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. [Colossians 1.12]
Giving Our Tithes and Offerings
Hymn of Thanksgiving | “Hallelujah, What a Savior!”
Verse 1:
Man of sorrows what a name
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim
Hallelujah what a Savior
Verse 2:
Stand unclean no one else could
In my place condemned He stood
Now His nearness is my good
Hallelujah what a Savior
Chorus:
Hallelujah praise to the One
Whose blood has pardoned me
Oh what a Savior
Redeemer and King
Your love has rescued me
Verse 3:
Lifted up was He to die
It is finished! Was His cry
Now in heaven exalted high
Hallelujah what a Savior
Verse 4:
When He comes our glorious King
All His ransomed home to bring
Then anew this song we’ll sing
Hallelujah what a Savior
GOD INSTRUCTS US THROUGH HIS WORD
Sermon: “The Rich, the Righteous, and the Judgement” | Pastor Brian Albert
GOD FEEDS US THROUGH HIS SUPPER
Breaking the Bread
Worship Leader: Come, everyone who thirsts, come without money and without price. Incline your ear; and come to Me, hear that your soul may live.
All: For His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink. For on the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” [Isaiah 55.1; John 6.55; 7.37]
Taking the Cup
Worship Leader: As he took the cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My Blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
All: But I tell you, from this moment I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it in a new way in My Father’s kingdom with you. [Matthew 26.26–30]
GOD BLESSES US AND SENDS US OUT
Worship Leader: Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead out Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom the glory forever and ever. Amen. [Hebrews 13.20–21]
