Dear Church,
Welcome to the fourth Sunday in Lent. Thank you for joining together in worship–whether you are gathering as an individual at home, as a family, as a home group virtually, or as a virtual house church.
Children’s materials for this service are available here. We’d also encourage everyone to learn from the Children’s sermon, available by video here in this liturgy.
For those who appreciate singing with musical notation, a link is provided with each song. If you’re worshiping with others, consider assigning people to lead and read in the different parts of the service.
May the Lord be with you as you worship!
Pastor Sam and Pastor Andy
_______________________
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord (2 Peter 1:1-2).
From Psalm 3
Praise the One who is a shield around you!
Praise the One who is your glory, who lifts your head high!
Praise the One who hears your cries!
Praise the One who answers from his holy mountain!
Praise the One who sustains you while you lie down and sleep, and when you wake up again!
Praise the One who delivers and blesses you!
Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun
1. Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Does its successive journeys run;
His kingdom spread from shore to shore,
Til moons shall wax and wane no more.
2. To Him shall endless prayer be made,
And praises throng to crown His head;
His name like sweet perfume shall rise
With every morning sacrifice.
3. People and realms of ev’ry tongue
Dwell on His love with sweetest song;
And infant voices shall proclaim
Their early blessings on His name.
4. Blessings abound where’er He reigns;
The prisoner leaps to lose his chains;
The weary find eternal rest,
And all the sons of want are blessed.
5. Where He displays His healing power,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Adam boast
More blessings than their father lost.
6. Let ev’ry creature rise and bring
His grateful honors to our King;
Angels descend with songs again,
And earth repeat the loud amen!
Psalm 3
A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
1 Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
In Psalm 3, the psalmist says two things. Both of them are vitally important, if we are going to be spiritual honest and faithful.
First, the Psalmist acknowledges that there’s trouble. “Many are my foes! Many rise up against me! Many are mocking me! I have enemies. Things are not OK!”
There’s nothing spiritually mature about pretending that there’s nothing wrong when something is wrong. There are people who intimidate you. There is a deadly virus spreading. There is economic uncertainty. Why pretend otherwise?
Second, the Psalmist expresses confidence in the Lord. “But you, Lord, are my shield. You sustain me, waking or sleeping. You can deliver me from whatever threatens me.”
There’s nothing spiritually mature about pretending that we can handle whatever troubles we face on our own. We are weak. We are vulnerable. We are fragile, frail, fallible, finite, fallen. We are in need of saving. Why pretend otherwise.
We need to confess that we are often too proud to acknowledge the anxieties we feel, and too proud to call on the name of the Lord to protect us, deliver us, and stay close beside us. Without voicing our fears and calling on the Lord, we are in no position to love and serve our neighbor, because we’re not ready to hear their fears and point them to the mercy and presence of the Lord.
Let us confess our sins together in our Song of Confession.
Most Merciful God
Music: Greg LaFollette.
(Musical Notation [PDF])
Most merciful God, we confess
that we have sinned against you
By what we have done;
by what we have left undone
We have not loved you
with our whole heart;
our whole heart
We have not loved our neighbors
as we’ve loved ourselves
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ
have mercy and forgive us
That we may delight
in your will; your will
And walk in your ways;
in your ways; in your ways
To the glory of your name;
of your name; of your name
Most merciful God, we humbly repent;
help us to walk in your ways
Most merciful God, most merciful God
Amen
The Psalmist calls on the Lord to rise up, to deliver him, and to defeat all his enemies. Then he ends by saying that the Lord does, absolutely, deliver his people. The Lord loves to bless his own beloved children. Dear friends in Christ, our God has defeated our great enemies: sin, death, and the devil. Our sin, our own deaths, and the devil have no claim on us, because we are the dearly loved possession of our Lord. Jesus has won us a great victory on the cross. No matter what else might happen to us, and no matter what sins we have committed, if our trust is in Jesus Christ, we are not only forgiven, but our ultimate victory in Jesus is absolutely guaranteed. Take heart: your Savior has overcome your enemies, your sin, and everything else that might oppose you. Go in his peace! Amen!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise him, all creatures here below
Praise him above, ye heav’nly host:
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secret is hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord, Amen.
(The Collect for Purity, Thomas Cranmer)
Exodus 13:17-22
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” 20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
For Andy’s Sermon: John 15:18-27
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
For Sam’s Sermon: John 15:26-16:15
15:26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
16:1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”
Gracious God, our current global situation reminds us how utterly dependent we are on you for everything. All we have comes from you, and our very lives are in your hands. We want to return to you a portion of what you have given to us. Accept our gifts in order that our dear church might continue to flourish under your blessing in these strange days. For you are worthy, and your church is dear to you, and to us. Receive our praise through these gifts in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Please consider taking this time to make a contribution to the ministry of our church through an online bank transfer, PayPal, or Twint. For more, click here.
Nothing to Fear
Written by Paul Zach, Audrey Assad, Isaac Wardell
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you
And the depths of the river shall not overwhelm
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned
I am the Lord, I am the Lord
And there is nothing to fear, nothing to fear
There is nothing to fear, nothing to fear
For I am with you always
In the depths of your sorrow, I wept beside you
When you walked through the shadow, I drew you near
And yesterday, today, tomorrow, always the same
I am the Lord, I am the Lord
What can separate you from My perfect love?
Do not fear, do not fear
Do not fear
Gracious God, we begin by praising and exalting you. You are great and glorious, and completely worthy of praise. You are a shield of protection for your people. Not a hair on our heads can fall away without your will. Indeed, you turn every experience in our lives into your own good means for saving and sanctifying us–bringing us to yourself and making us more like your Son in the power of your Spirit. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Almighty Father, we pray for our world. We live in a wealthy society, we are technologically advanced, and we are medically sophisticated. Often this leads us to forget how vulnerable we are, how broken our world is, and how desperately dependent we are on you for our every breath. If you took your hands off of our world for a single second, we would be lost. Keep your hands on our world in this difficult time. Work your purposes out, even in the midst of a global pandemic. Cause the nations to turn to you for help and security. Have mercy on the sick, the poor, the orphan, and the oppressed. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Gracious Lord Jesus, we ask you to be gracious to your beloved church. Around the world, your one church is seeking to be faithful in uncertain times. Strengthen churches that are serving their neighbors with boldness. Make those who share your truth and grace bold. Help pastors and elders around the world to be faithful to their spouses and families, or to be generous and hospitable friends and neighbors in their singleness. Draw new people into your churches in order to discover your grace at work among your people. Make your church stronger and more unified despite the challenges that face her. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Holy Spirit of God, bind our beloved church members together despite our social distance in this time. Give us opportunities to serve one another in various ways, and give us the humility to express our needs to others and receive their service as though Christ were serving us. Strengthen our pastors Andy and Sam as they learn how to do their ministry in new contexts and through new avenues. Watch over our Council and give them your guidance as they make prudent decisions. Empower our deacons to offer practical service to those who have practical needs. In all of these things, bring us through this viral outbreak with a fresh love for one another and a fresh resolve to reach out to our neighbors in Christ’s name. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Father, Son, and Spirit, take us each into your hands individually. Shape our hearts through the present challenges in such a way that they beat for Jesus and his kingdom alone. Give us an opportunity in this season to learn the practices of sabbath, solitude, and silence, all so that our hearts grown more attached to Jesus and less attached to the passing pleasures of this world. Make us more like your Son, full of the joy of life and full of the joy of his salvation. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Now we pray together the prayer our Lord taught us, saying:
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. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Be Thou My Vision
1. Be Thou my vision,
O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me,
save that Thou art
Thou my best thought,
by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping,
Thy presence my light.
2. Be Thou my wisdom,
and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee
and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father,
and I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling,
and I with Thee one.
3. Riches I heed not,
nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance,
now and always:
Thou and Thou only,
first in my heart,
High king of heaven,
my treasure Thou art.
4. High king of heaven,
my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys,
O bright heaven’s sun!
Heart of my own heart,
whatever befall,
Still be my vision,
O ruler of all.
Dear friends in Christ, your Savior has called you to himself, and that means that we share our joys with him, as well as our sorrows; an abundant life, and yet a life that for now has troubles; a light burden and an easy yoke, and yet a great commission that we must continue to fulfill no matter what.
As you follow Jesus this week, go with his blessing upon you:
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. And may the blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit rest upon you and abide with you, both now and forever. Amen!
Don’t forget that your pastors are available to speak with you. See Andy or Sam’s calendars to make an appointment.