We’re in week two of three for this year’s “Mission” series, Following Jesus in the Wilderness. Every Fall we take time to revisit and recenter around the mission of our church: we exist to make disciples of Jesus for the glory of God and the joy of all people. In step with our ongoing Matthew series, this mini-series addresses the tension and “waiting” of the wilderness.
Here’s how you can prepare for this Sunday:
Read, pray, and sing through the service:
Don’t use Spotify? Click the song title below to see song on YouTube.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 63:1–4:
See passage
O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift up my hands.
Doxology (Louis Bourgeois, Thomas Ken) / Better (Joseph Pat Barrett, Ed Cash, Chris Tomlin)
Lord I Need You (Carson, Maher, Nockels, Reeves, Stanfill) / The Medicine (Dee Wilson)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:
Lord, we are like sheep, and we get lost.
We forget the needs of our neighbors and do not love You above all else.
We need a Savior, so we long for Jesus.
Come, fill our lives, Jesus. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 1 John 4:14–16
See passage
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
PASSING THE PEACE
What is Passing the Peace?
(Click to Read)
(Click to Read)
When we’ve met as a large group on Sundays, we’ve always had a time of greeting one another after singing. Many churches call this time “passing the peace.” In some church traditions, one person will say to another, “The peace of Christ be with you” to which the other person responds, “And also with you.”
While potentially unfamiliar for some, we felt that “passing the peace” during greeting times at home could be a powerful act in this age marked by very little external peace. In Isaiah 9, Jesus is described as the Prince of Peace. He wants His kingdom to be marked by this very peace! We want to “pass” to one another this peace that only Jesus can give, especially at a time like this.
It might feel a bit cheesy, but we encourage you to actually pray the peace of God over each other during our times. We encourage you to look into each other’s eyes as you say, “The peace of Christ be with you!” and have others respond with, “And also with you.” Be open-hearted to Jesus, asking Him to fill you with His peace.
SERMON & COMMUNION
New Wine (Brooke Ligertwood) / Sometimes By Step (Step by Step) (David (Beaker) Strasser, Rich Mullins)
BENEDICTION
Every Fall we take time to revisit and recenter around the mission of our church: we exist to make disciples of Jesus for the glory of God and the joy of all people. In step with our ongoing Matthew series, these next three weeks will address the tension and “waiting” of the wilderness.
Here’s how you can prepare for this Sunday and week one of Following Jesus in the Wilderness:
1. Read through our text for the week:
This week, it’s more like “texts”—this particular message doesn’t have a singular, key passage. Instead, we’ll draw on 1 Corinthians 10:1–13 and Matthew 4:18–22.
We find ourselves in a unique cultural moment that has shaken the fabric of our society. What does it look like to follow Jesus—to be a disciple—in this particular season? Throughout history, the people of God have used the metaphor of the “Wilderness” to describe the journey through the challenges and trials of life. The wilderness is a hard place to be. It is confusing. It is disorienting. It is exhausting. It is dangerous. And it is a place where God does deep, necessary, and transformative work in the lives of His people. This week we will look at this theme in Matthew and Exodus as we consider what it means to follow Jesus through the wilderness.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
Don’t use Spotify? Click the song title below to see song on YouTube.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 63:1–4:
See passage
O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your name I will lift up my hands.
You Keep On Getting Better (Dante Bowe, Jonathan Jay, Majesty Rose)
Build My Life (Barrett, Kable, Martin, Redman, Younker)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:
Almighty God, we confess how hard it is to be Your people.
You have called us to be the church,
to continue the mission of Jesus Christ to our lonely and confused world.
Yet we acknowledge we are more apathetic than active,
isolated than involved, callous than compassionate,
obstinate than obedient, legalistic than loving.
Gracious Lord, have mercy upon us and forgive our sins.
Remove the obstacles preventing us
from being Your representatives to a broken world.
Awaken our hearts to the promised gift of Your indwelling Spirit.
This we pray in Jesus’ powerful name. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Romans 5:1
See passage
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
PASSING THE PEACE
What is Passing the Peace?
(Click to Read)
(Click to Read)
When we’ve met as a large group on Sundays, we’ve always had a time of greeting one another after singing. Many churches call this time “passing the peace.” In some church traditions, one person will say to another, “The peace of Christ be with you” to which the other person responds, “And also with you.”
While potentially unfamiliar for some, we felt that “passing the peace” during greeting times at home could be a powerful act in this age marked by very little external peace. In Isaiah 9, Jesus is described as the Prince of Peace. He wants His kingdom to be marked by this very peace! We want to “pass” to one another this peace that only Jesus can give, especially at a time like this.
It might feel a bit cheesy, but we encourage you to actually pray the peace of God over each other during our times. We encourage you to look into each other’s eyes as you say, “The peace of Christ be with you!” and have others respond with, “And also with you.” Be open-hearted to Jesus, asking Him to fill you with His peace.
SERMON & COMMUNION
The Lord Is My Banner (Joel Limpic) / Surrounded (Fight My Battles) (Elyssa Smith)
Blessed Be Your Name (Beth Redman, Matt Redman)
BENEDICTION
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This is the last week of 2020’s Christ in the Psalms series. We’re in Psalm 109. You can find all the other Christ in the Psalms messages from this year and previous years right here.
Our artwork for Psalm 109 is an acrylic painting by Benjamin Rogers. See the piece and read about the art and artist here. To learn more about this weekly art series for Christ in the Psalms, click here.
What will we do next week? At the end of each summer, we take about three weeks to revisit our mission as a church (you can listen to Mission series messages from 2017–2019 here—they’re rad). For our mission weeks this year, we’re focusing in on Following Jesus in this Cultural Moment, and we’re using the book of Matthew (which we’re really in the zone on from this year’s ongoing Matthew series).
But back to Psalm 109—here’s how you can prepare for this Sunday!
1. Read our text, Psalm 109.
See Passage
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin! May his days be few; may another take his office! May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow! May his children wander about and beg, seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit! May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil! Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children! May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation! May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out! Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to put them to death. He loved to curse; let curses come upon him! He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him! He clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones! May it be like a garment that he wraps around him, like a belt that he puts on every day! May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord, of those who speak evil against my life!
But You, O God my Lord, deal on my behalf for Your name’s sake; because Your steadfast love is good, deliver me! For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me. I am gone like a shadow at evening; I am shaken off like a locust. My knees are weak through fasting; my body has become gaunt, with no fat. I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads.
Help me, O Lord my God! Save me according to Your steadfast love! Let them know that this is Your hand; You, O Lord, have done it! Let them curse, but You will bless! They arise and are put to shame, but Your servant will be glad! May my accusers be clothed with dishonor; may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord; I will praise Him in the midst of the throng. For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
Don’t use Spotify? Click the song title below to see song on YouTube.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 109:1–2, 26:
See passage
Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to Your steadfast love!
Your Name Is Good (Psalm 54) (Joel Limpic, Scott Mills)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:
Lord, You are a God who keeps promises.
In our prayers and songs
we say that we want to be Christians,
but then we forget our promises.
Our actions do not match up with our words.
We say mean things to other people,
we hurt their feelings,
we think of ourselves first,
and, worst of all, we ignore You.
Lord, forgive us and hear our prayer for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Ephesians 2:8–10
See passage
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
The Gift Of God (Ephesians 2:8) (John Petterson)
PASSING THE PEACE
What is Passing the Peace?
(Click to Read)
(Click to Read)
When we’ve met as a large group on Sundays, we’ve always had a time of greeting one another after singing. Many churches call this time “passing the peace.” In some church traditions, one person will say to another, “The peace of Christ be with you” to which the other person responds, “And also with you.”
While potentially unfamiliar for some, we felt that “passing the peace” during greeting times at home could be a powerful act in this age marked by very little external peace. In Isaiah 9, Jesus is described as the Prince of Peace. He wants His kingdom to be marked by this very peace! We want to “pass” to one another this peace that only Jesus can give, especially at a time like this.
It might feel a bit cheesy, but we encourage you to actually pray the peace of God over each other during our times. We encourage you to look into each other’s eyes as you say, “The peace of Christ be with you!” and have others respond with, “And also with you.” Be open-hearted to Jesus, asking Him to fill you with His peace.
SERMON & COMMUNION
Way Maker (Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu)
BENEDICTION
Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.