Introduction
This Lord’s Day the worship service sermon text weaves together a series of brief parables that call the followers of Jesus to eagerly anticipate his return. This expectation serves as the motivation for faithful service. The passage climaxes with a clear declaration: the greater the privilege, the greater the responsibility.
The hymns selected for the worship service express our anticipation of Christ’s glorious return and our resolve to serve him faithfully while wait for him.
PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP
Welcome
Prelude
Call to Worship: 2 Peter 3:10-13
Invocation
Hymn HBC (1-3): A Lord’s Day Anthem
Notes: This hymn expresses our desire to hear the Word of God and our longing for its transforming work within us. These desires rest upon our faith in the risen Christ, remembered each Lord’s Day.
PROCLAMATION
Hymn HBC 1: Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim
Charles Wesley’s stately anthem speaks of our common responsibility to “publish abroad” the “wonderful name” of our Master. This is the responsibility we have as “servants of God.” (Tune: LYONS)
Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12
Note: Jesus taught his followers to faithfully serve him in anticipation of His return. This passage anticipates that glorious day, a time of joy and reward for faithful followers and a day of dread and doom for those who reject him.
Pastoral Prayer
Hymn HBC 20 : A Charge I Have to Keep
Notes: Our calling is to “serve the present age” and so we resolve to invest all our powers “to do the Master’s will.” We pray in song, asking him to help us to live in his sight and, thus, “prepare a strict account to give.”
Message: The Greater the Privilege, the Greater the Responsibility
Text: Luke 12:35-48
Steven Thomas
RESPONSE
Hymn HBC 16: Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending
Note: The sermon text moves us to anticipate the day Jesus. This majestic hymn taps our imagination to “see” Christ, who was “once for favored sinners slain,” now coming to reign and to judge. This focus motivates and shapes our service for Christ. And so we sing, “O come quickly; alleluia! Come, Lord, come.”
Hymn HBC: (4-6) A Lord’s Day Anthem
Notes: Having heard the Word of God “in sermon, song, and prayer,” our hearts “swell with sober joy.” The end result of our time of corporate worship is that we “rise resolved to live as worthy children of our God.”
Prayer Response: Eric Hicks
Benediction: John Miles