From time to time I like to share one of our worship services from Grace Fellowship Church. In that vein, here is how we worshiped on one August Sunday morning. This week’s cast of characters included Paul as service leader and preacher, Josh as lead worshiper, Gideon as our Scripture reader, and Steve as the elder who prayed and read the sermon text.
Welcome and Call to Worship (Paul)
“I invite you to disconnect from your phone or other device and join me for the next hour as we focus on God. Listen to this call to come to him, and especially listen to how he corrects our view of him.”
Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
“Let’s do this! Let’s call on him, thank him, and fulfill all our promises to love him.”
Prayer
“Oh God, help us to do this very thing today, in all honesty and integrity. Remind us now of what you are really like. Draw us near to you in both love and a healthy fear. We ask you for glory. Amen.”
Singing (Josh)
- “Praise to the Lord the Almighty”
Confession (Paul)
“When Solomon dedicated the temple for the worship of God, he said this in his prayer:”
If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them (for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace).”
“There is no one who does not sin. That is still true today. But instead of pointing our face toward Jerusalem, we look up to the One who is greater than the Temple—the true meeting place between God and man—our Lord, Jesus Christ. Because of His death and resurrection in our place, we can be forgiven of all of our sins. He will have compassion on you! Take a moment to silently confess your sins to God in private prayer.”
Singing (Josh)
- “Ah Holy Jesus How Hast Thou Offended”
Word of Pardon (Paul)
“Christian brother, sister… because you are one with Christ and have asked in faith, you are forgiven all your sins. God says to you, ‘I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins’. Praise the Lord!”
Opposite Testament Reading (Gideon)
Gideon read Revelation 5:11-14.
Singing (Josh)
- “Jesus Paid It All”
- “Jerusalem”
Pastoral Prayer (Steve)
Steve prayed for a number of matters related to the church.
Scripture Reading (Steve)
Steve read the text for the sermon—James 5:1-6. He prefaced it by saying, “This is what holy Scripture says” and ended it by saying, “This is the word of the Lord” to which the church responded with “Amen.”
Singing (Josh)
- “Prayer for the Preacher” (accapella)
Sermon (Paul)
Paul preached a sermon titled “Walk Your Talk With Your Money.”
Singing (Josh)
- “All I Have Is Yours”
Commission and Benediction (Steve)
Steve called the church to live out the truths we had encountered in the service, then said, “Receive this blessing of the Lord from His Word: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’ Amen.”
