Guide for Home Worship
March 21, 2021
The following page will take you through the order of worship for this Sunday. To access the recorded songs and sermon, use the embedded audio players in each section.
Please note: the song and sermon audio may not be available until Saturday evening.
Printable Worship Guide
Printable Children’s Bulletin
Time of Reflection
“Human beings are hope-shaped creatures. The way you live now is completely controlled by what you believe about the future.”
~ Tim Keller, NYC-based pastor and author
“Christians are no different from the rest in their nationality, language or customs… They live in their own countries, but as sojourners. They fulfill all their duties as citizens, but they suffer as foreigners. They find their homeland wherever they are, but their homeland is not in any one place… They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth, but are citizens of heaven.”
~ excerpt from To Diognetus (c. A.D. 130 to 180)
“Anthropologists have observed that immigrants and refugees sometimes have a greater love for their national identity and a greater commitment to cultural preservation than those who remain in the homeland. That’s because when you have everything stripped away, you cling to what makes you who you are. We too, as we experience increased isolation and shame in our country of origin, have an opportunity to embrace the foreignness that comes with being like God and a citizen of his kingdom.”
~ Elliot Clark, Missionary and author
“What would it mean for Christians to give up that little piece of the American Dream that says, ‘You are limitless’? Everything is not possible. The mighty kingdom of God is not yet here. What if ‘rich’ did not have to mean ‘wealthy’, and ‘whole’ did not have to mean ‘healed’? What if being the people of ‘the gospel’ meant that we are simply people with good news? God is here. We are loved. It is enough.”
~ Kate Bowler, Canadian historian and writer
“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
~ Hebrews 12:26-29
Opening Prayer
(select someone from your group to open your service in prayer)
Call to Worship
Revelation 15:3-4 (NIV)
LEADER: And they sang the song of Moses the bond-servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying,
CONGREGATION: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of ages.
LEADER: Who will not fear you and bring glory to your name?
CONGREGATION: For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.
Song
(sing as a group and/or sing along to recorded versions)
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
Sharing
- As we finish up our time in the book of Haggai, what’s one thing that you’ve learned and that might help you as we return to The Gospel of John?
- When you think of “Hope,” what comes to mind, and how does it tend to function in your life?
- What sorts of things or people do you tend to look to for approval?
Prayer Time
(You may have an open time of prayer or select someone to pray)
- Pray for our shared churches, that we might be deeply encouraged and instructed by the Hope of the Gospel, and led to prioritize it more and more as a result.
- Pray for our world – that the good news of Jesus Christ would flourish and that many would come to know God genuinely and personally.
- Pray for those in authority at every level in our country, that they would govern wisely and justly.
Listen to Sermon
“A Hope Appraisal“
preached by Pastor Doug Cooper
Haggai 2:4-9, 20-23; John 6:25-29 (ESV)
Haggai 2
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’”
20 The word of the LORD came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts.”
John 6
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Confession of Faith
adapted from Romans 1:1-4
LEADER: What do you confess regarding the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah?
CONGREGATION: The Gospel is what God promised beforehand, through His holy prophets
in the Hebrew Scriptures, concerning His Son, He was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness: Jesus, the Anointed King, our Lord.
Sharing Time
(have everyone share one thing that struck them from the sermon)
Song
(sing as a group and/or sing along to recorded versions)
HOW DEEP THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR US
(Stuart Townend)
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss.
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.
Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished.
I will not boast in anything:
No gifts, no power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ:
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom.
©1995 Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) CCLI#1791178
Benediction
(The leader or individual should read this aloud relishing in the confident assertion that Christ has conquered.)
Revelation 22:20-21
LEADER: He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.
PEOPLE: Amen!