Order of Service, November 4, 2018

Lord’s Day
November 4, 2018

Introduction
This Lord’s Day marks the conclusion of our Missions Emphasis Week. The sermon text is John 4:21-26. During a discussion with a woman beside a well in Samaria, Jesus revealed that he stood on the cusp of a new era—one in which worship would no longer be centralized and localized. He explained that God is seeking worshipers who worship “in spirit and truth.” We will discover in Jesus’ words the foundation for the church’s mission. Humanity’s problem is spiritual. Or, to be more specific, the source of the world’s problems is misplaced worship.
In the service we will rehearse the details of a salvation so wondrous that the people God cannot help but worship the God who saved us and share the message of his Son.

PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP

Prelude
Call to Worship                                Psalm 107:1-2a

Notes: Those who have experienced the deliverance of the Lord cannot keep silent; they must declare the goodness and faithfulness of God.

Invocation

PROCLAMATION

Hymn 69 (Tune: 70)   O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

Notes: As we gather to worship our God, we remember the inadequacy of our own voices to declare the praise due him. O that we each had a thousand tongues rather than one!

Worship through Giving
Congregational Response:  Hymn 462   Be Thou My Vision

Hymn 335   And Can It Be?

Notes: This hymn expresses amazement while recounting the mystery of the work of the incarnate God, “who bled for Adam’s helpless race.” He freed our “imprisoned spirit.”  Without him, we still would be “fast bound in sin and nature’s night.” “Amazing love! How can it be?” This is both the core of our message and the motivation for the mission.

Scripture Reading                            Acts 13:26-48

Notes: The passage contains (in part) the first recorded sermon of the apostle Paul. He delivered it in the city of Antioch on his first missionary journey. At the conclusion of his preaching, some rejected his message but others believed. At the climax of the passage we read: And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Pastoral Prayer
Hymn 174                                          Arise, My Soul, Arise

Notes: We have expressed our amazement at the love that moved the incarnate God to die for us. In this hymn, we revel in the security that Christ’s continuing work accomplishes for those who trust him. The goal of it all is that we can confidently enter into the presence of our God. Because of Christ, the barrier that separated the people of God from the presence of God has been removed. In the mission, our goal is to call others join us in the presence of God through the work of Jesus Christ.

Message:   Worship–The Heart of the Mission
Text:           John 4:21-26
Speaker:     Pastor Steven Thomas

RESPONSE

Hymn 643                                          For All the Saints

Notes: We respond to the message in the words of William How’s marvelous hymn. It is a prayer that longs for the eternal praise of Jesus’ name—the reward of all those who confessed His name before the world in past generations. It declares our commitment to join with them in this battle to simultaneously persevere and proclaim the faith. It climaxes with a vision of future glory:
   From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Thro’ gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Prayer Response                              John Miles
Benediction                                       John Miles