Grace

16 June: Liturgy + Set List

  • FOREVER NOW A CROWN

    Call to Worship

  • CREATOR

  • ALL HAIL KING JESUS/I LOVE YOU LORD

There are three persons in one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And of all of those titles, perhaps the one that can feel most complicated to us is Father. Because part of living in a fallen and broken world is that even the things intended for our good and flourishing - like fathers - have been distorted, warped, and broken by sin. But if you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you have a Heavenly Father who has never been distorted, warped, or broken by sin. And so as we continue in worship, I am going to read a prayer that shows some of the heart and character of our Father that we see in Scripture:

God, You are our Father

We are the sheep of Your pasture

The work of Your hand

You have loved us with an everlasting love

You have welcomed us into Your family

We are Your dearly loved children

Nothing can separate us from Your love

You discipline those You love

Your anger is for a moment,

But Your favor lasts a lifetime

You have called us by name, we are Yours

You know us for You have made us

You have shown us Your love in sending Your Son

Nothing is hidden from You

You quiet us with Your love

And You delight over us with singing

You comfort us in our distress

You are the giver of every good and perfect gift

No good thing do you withhold

See what kind of love the Father has given

That we should be called children of God,

And so we are

From Is 64:8, Ps 100:3, Ephesians 5:1, Heb 31:3, Eph 1:5, Rom 8:38-39, Pr 3:12, Ps 30:5, Is 43:1, Rom 4:8, Heb 4:13, Zeph 3:17, Ps 86:7, Jam 1:17, Ps 84:11, 1 Jn 3:1

Sermon: 1 Peter 1:10-12

If you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you will never move on or past the cross. We only ever move deeper into our understanding of what God has accomplished through Christ. We only ever grow in our awareness of our need for a Savior, and deeper in our affection for Christ. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to lift our eyes to behold the our suffering servant Savior, would you stand if you’re able…

  • SON OF SUFFERING

  • GOD, YOU’RE SO GOOD

    Benediction

4 June: Tuesday Refocus

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“Prayer is the act by which we divest ourselves of all false belongings and become free to belong to God and God alone.” - Henri Nouwen

In arguably the most famous prayer in Scripture, Jesus pleads with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane to ‘…let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26:39).’ Jesus knew that all of his longings could be place before the Father because He also trusted the Father (Psalm 38:9, John 8:28-29).

Perhaps this is why prayer - for many of us - can seem weak, boring, or unnecessary - we sense that there are places in our own hearts, minds, and lives that have not fully been given over (divested) from our own desires. We fear that God will ask of us something that we are unwilling to give. But God always meets us with Himself. God always gives more grace (James 4:6). Hallelujah.

Father, give us more grace to increasingly divest ourselves of all false belongings and to become free to belong to You and You alone, in Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

17 September: Liturgy + Set List

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  • GRAVES INTO GARDENS

    Call to Worship: Romans 11:33-12:2

    All we do is give back to God what always has been His. We live in response to the mercy and grace of God by offering our lives as an act of worship. Part of what we do as we gather is reorient our lives around responding to the mercy and grace of God. Let’s do that together as we sing:

  • ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

  • HOLY IS OUR GOD

    Sermon: Mark 10:1-12

    Scripture says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Some of us have sin that is loud and obvious, all of us have sin that is subtle and subversive and deep in our hearts. As we continue in worship, we’re going to confess our sins to God and one another:

    Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

    Now that we have confessed our sins to God and one another, I want to give you a few moments of silence to consider and confess your own sins.

Brothers and sisters hear the good news: The Lord who loves you says in His word: Go and sin no more.

  • HOLY FOREVER

  • LAMB OF GOD

    Benediction

Tuesday Refocus: July 11

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“The grace of God means something like: ‘Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are, because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you.’” - Frederick Buechner

I heard a pastor once articulate grace as undeserved favor, in the face of deserved wrath. Every person on the planet is a recipient of God’s common grace - breath, relationships, beauty, all of these speak to God’s common grace. Those who have a relationship with God through Jesus are recipients of God’s saving grace - because grace is not just a thing, but a person. Christ embodies undeserved favor toward humanity, the face of the wrath our sins deserved (Romans 6:23). And every follower of Jesus is sustained, and perseveres not in our own effort - but through the sustaining grace of God.

In this world, beautiful and terrible things can, will, and do happen. But for followers of Jesus, we never need to be afraid because Christ became forsaken on the cross so that we might never be left or forsaken by Him (Isaiah 53, Hebrews 13:5).

Father, we thank you for the common, saving, and sustaining grace you give in the face of deserved wrath. May we be aware of this beauty in a new fresh way today, in the name of Jesus, amen.

Grace,

AB

30 April: Liturgy + Set List [Life Church]

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  • HOW GREAT THOU ART

    Call to Worship: Ephesians 2:1-10

    If you are here this morning as a follower of Christ, you can rest and rejoice in the saving and sustaining grace of God toward you. We are going about and from those truths this morning. This is a song that we have not sung together before, but may be familiar to you already…

  • ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

  • YET NOT I, BUT THROUGH CHRIST IN ME

    Sermon: Mark 7:1-23

    Communion

    The Apostles’ Creed

  • FORGIVEN FOREVER

    Benediction

November 22: Tuesday Refocus

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“Jesus transforms our hearts by service, not by power.” - Tim Keller

The weeks of Thanksgiving into the season of Advent are an opportunity for followers of Jesus to remember once more, “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). All is gift. All is grace.

The arrival of Christ into our world was not marked by power.

It was marked by service. Because, “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).” 

Christ transforms our hearts because He has first served us by emptying himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, humbling himself, and becoming obedient to the point of death (Philippians 2:7-8). Christ transforms our hearts once more when we seek to serve others as Christ has first served us.

Lord, may this upcoming Advent season be a time of heart transformation as we see how You have first loved and served us. Amen.

In service,

AB

31 July: Liturgy + Set List

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  • ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK

    Call to Worship: Psalm 121

    If you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, you need to know that the One who upholds the universe by the word of His power, is the same One who holds you and keeps your life. Whether your life has been or will be marked by sorrow and suffering, joy and celebration, there never has and will never be a moment where you have not been pursued by the steadfast love, grace, and mercy of God. Let’s sing those truths together:

  • GOODNESS OF GOD

  • HYMN OF HEAVEN

    Sermon: James 5:19-20

    One of our core values here at Life Church is ‘We belong together.’ And we belong together not because we meet in this room once a week, or because we share preferences or interests in common. Not because of our background or education, our family of origin, or our education, not because of our ethnicity or political affiliation. If you are here this morning as a follower of Christ, we belong together because we share the same Father. We have been adopted into the family of God through the blood of Christ. Let’s stand and celebrate our adoption through Christ’s completed work:

  • SON OF SUFFERING

    Benediction: Jude 1:24-25

Connecting Songs and Sermons

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There is a critical 90 seconds every Sunday morning. That sliver of time between the end of the sermon, and the song. Part of our role as worship leaders is to connect what happens on a Sunday morning with all of life. To make sense of what we have heard in the Word preached, to fuel our worship in song and response. But many worship leaders struggle to feel competent and capable when it comes to speaking and communicating verbally to the congregation. If you struggle with knowing how to take advantage of those moments to hit home with the pieces of the sermon, and connect them to the songs of response, here are some suggestions:

Listen to the sermon. Be present and engaged, even taking notes of things you want to remember personally, and want to communicate to the congregation following the sermon. Don’t use the sermon as a time to check out mentally, or physically.

Read the text beforehand. Spend time in the particular Scripture passage being taught in your own time of preparation for Sunday morning. What do you see? What do you notice about who God is, what He has done, and how He has called us to live?

Speak with the preacher. Find out where the preacher is headed for the weekend. What are some of the main points? Any additional passages they will be using? How are they wanting to land the sermon? What is the one thing they hope people remember and take away from the weekend?

Connect everything to Jesus. Read the Jesus Storybook Bible. Sally Lloyd Jones does an amazing job of connecting every story to Jesus. How does the sermon/text and the morning point our lives, and lift our eyes to Christ?

Plan beforehand. After speaking with the preacher, and spending time in the text, and considering your final song(s), write down some thoughts about how you could connect the songs and sermon verbally. Practice speaking out loud to get used to hearing yourself connect and communicate in that way.

Write it down. As you continue to grow as a verbal communicator, write everything down. You can manuscript what you want to communicate so that you don’t miss any part of what you intended to say. Reading something that is written, will help to build confidence and familiarity, rather than trying to hold everything in your mind, and stumbling over your words.

Remember there is grace as we grow. Let’s not miss the opportunity to take those critical 90 seconds and point people to Jesus.