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
Liturgy
24 July: Liturgy + Set List
HOW GREAT THOU ART
Call to Worship: Psalm 96:1-6
African Church Father, Augustine said, ‘He who sings, prays twice.’ Our songs are more than words and music put together. Our songs are prayers. We pray the things we believe, we pray the things we need to believe, and we pray the things we desire to believe. And when we gather in this room we sing to God, but we sing to one another. We pray to God and we pray with and for one another. Even if you are not a singer, even if these songs are not familiar to you, don’t withhold your songs and prayers from your brothers and sisters in this room. We need to hear one another confess and profess these truths about who God is, what He has done, and who He has called us to be. Let’s pray and sing together:
CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED
SON OF SUFFERING
Sermon: James 5:13-18
The arms of Christ extended upon the cross are the same arms that invite you and me to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy and help in time of need. So let’s draw near with confidence together and confess our sin to God and to one another:
Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done, and what we have left undone.
We have nto loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength.
We have not loved our neightbors as ourselves.
In Your mercy, forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your holy name.
Through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters, hear the good news: for those who are in Christ, there is a never-ending stream of mercy towards us in and through Christ. Let’s sing together:
COME THOU FOUNT
Benediction
17 July: Liturgy + Set List
HOLY HOLY HOLY
Call to Worship: Psalm 121
YES AND AMEN
Scripture tells us that God is faithful, even when we are faithless. Almost every other world religion is about earning, striving, making an ascent to God. But as followers of Jesus, we celebrate the fact that we could never earn, or ascend to God, but God in Christ moved toward us. He took on our flesh and bone, lived a perfect life, died the death we deserved for the punishment of our sin, rose again, and is seated in victory at the right hand of the Father. But Jesus life on this earth was not easy, or pretty - Scripture describes Jesus as the Suffering Servant, the One who is a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And this morning we are going to learn a new song that helps us remember who Jesus is, what He has done, and what His life has accomplished for us. Let’s sing…
SON OF SUFFERING
Sermon: James 5:7-12
Communion
IN CHRIST ALONE
Benediction
10 July: Liturgy + Set List
GRACE ALONE
Call to Worship: Psalm 50:1-6, 10-12
We serve a God who has no need. Before He created everything and everyone, He was full, content, and complete in and of Himself. We gather together to sing the praises of God not to fill some kind of cosmic void in God’s ego. We gather together to sing the praise of God because He commands it, because He is worthy, and because God delights to share in His life, fullness, and joy with His people. You and I come as people with great need, to a God who has no need, so that we can be reminded of the way that God has met our need in and through Christ. Let’s sing together…
BUILD MY LIFE
HYMN OF HEAVEN
Sermon: James 5:1-6
There is a difference between condemnation and conviction. Condemnation leaves me without hope. And if you are here this morning as a follower of Jesus, Scripture tells us there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Conviction on the other hand is a gift of grace, it is an invitation of the Holy Spirit to return to Christ, to treasure Christ above all things. Let’s let that conviction invite us to confess our sins to God and one another:
Corporate Confession [From the Worship Sourcebook]:
LEADER:
God of grace,
we confess that we have elevated
the things of this world above you.
We have made idols of possessions and people
and used your name for causes
that are not consistent with you and your purposes.
We have permitted our schedules to come first
and have not taken the time to worship you.
We have not always honored those who guided us in life.
We have participated in systems
that take life instead of give it.
We have been unfaithful in our covenant relationships.
We have yearned for, and sometimes taken, that which is not ours, and we have misrepresented others’ intentions.
ALL:
Forgive us, O God,
for the many ways we fall short of your glory.
Help us to learn to live together according to your ways
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
COME BEHOLD THE WONDROUS MYSTERY
WHO YOU SAY I AM
Benediction: Matthew 6:19-21
3 July: Liturgy + Set List
HOUSE OF THE LORD
Call to Worship: We’re glad that you’re here worshiping with us on this family worship weekend. Boys and girls, you’ll see that what we do in this room is similar to what you do in the Clubhouse each week: we read from God’s Word, the Bible, we sing truths together from the Bible, we are taught from God’s Word, and we pray God’s Word together. So I am going to read from the Bible now, and see how God invites us to worship Him:
Psalm 103:13-19
Let’s sing to our King, and our faithful God together…
PROMISES
I LOVE YOU LORD
Sermon: James 4:13-17
Our lives are a mist, our world is passing away, but the steadfast love of God never ends. If we could grasp the deep love of God towards us in and through Christ, how joyfully we would submit everything we have and all that we are to the will of God. Let’s sing about God’s love toward us:
HOW HE LOVES
GOD SO LOVED
26 June: Liturgy + Set List
BEFORE THE THRONE
Call to Worship: Psalm 73:25-26, 28
Every one of us moves through our lives seeking strength, security, and refuge. Whether that is in ourselves, or in something or someone outside of ourselves. Part of what we do when we gather with the people of God is to confess and profess that everything and everyone - including us - will fail. But God will never, can never, and has never failed. So we can join our hearts with the Psalmist saying, who do we have in heaven beside you? God, we desire to desire you more than all things. Let’s let these songs not just shape our time together this morning, but our lives lived in response to our God who cannot fail.
GRAVES INTO GARDENS
HIS MERCY IS MORE
Sermon: James 4:1-12
It is the kindness of God that He reveals our sins to us. When we cover our sin, God exposes our sin. When we uncover our sin, God covers us in Christ’s completed work on our behalf. And it is God’s kindness that He reveals Himself to us as the One who satisfies the desire of every longing heart. Maybe you need to use this time to sit and continue to reflect, remember, and repent. Maybe you need to sit quietly and allow these words to wash over you. Maybe you need to stand and celebrate the One who satisfies your soul. But let’s continue to respond together.
I SHALL NOT WANT
I STAND AMAZED (HOW MARVELOUS)
Benediction
June 19: Liturgy + Set List
CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED
Call To Worship: Psalm 8:1,3-4,9
We are here this morning to remember and acknowledge that God is God, and we are not. That He is faithful even when we are faithless - let’s sing together:
PROMISES
JESUS PAID IT ALL
Sermon: James 3:13-18
Wisdom must move from our heads to our hearts, and transform our lives. Wisdom that lives in our heads is merely knowledge. But in our own strength, you and I only produce worldly wisdom, we need the Holy Spirit to do the hard work of breaking up our hard hearts, sanding off the rough edges, and giving us Godly wisdom. Let’s pray as we sing that the Holy Spirit would transform our knowledge into Godly wisdom, let’s stand and sing:
BE THOU MY VISION
GOODNESS OF GOD
Benediction: Colossians 3:12,15
June 12: Liturgy + Set List
HOW GREAT THOU ART
Call to Worship: Psalm 29:1-4
The voice of God cuts through all of the noise and chaos of the world and our lives. So let’s pray that as we sing, and as we sit under God’s Word, and as we come to the communion table we would hear the generative, generous, kind, voice of God, drawing us unto Himself and sending us out on mission.
GRAVES INTO GARDENS
GREAT ARE YOU LORD
Sermon: James 3:1-12
Communion
Let’s use our words to declare what is true of who God is and what He has done, would you stand and sing:
RAISE A HALLELUJAH
Benediction:
June 5: Liturgy + Set List
ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING
Call to Worship: Psalm 99:1-5
This morning marks 40 days since Easter Sunday, which means today is Pentecost Sunday in the Global Church Calendar - a day where we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit. And if you are here this morning as someone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and King with more than your mouth and your songs, but with your life, that is not something that you have done on your own, it is the Holy Spirit who has opened your eyes to behold the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done. So let’s pray as we worship and sing this morning that the Holy Spirit will continue to open our eyes to behold Jesus as Lord of lords, and King of kings…
KING OF KINGS
IS HE WORTHY
Sermon: James 2:14-26
Works are a natural result of real, saving faith. In the same way, a tree does not have to labor over producing fruit, so a believer - empowered by the Holy Spirit - will naturally become people who love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, producing works that glorify God and bless the world. Let’s sing:
10,000 REASONS (BLESS THE LORD)
BUILD MY LIFE
Benediction
May 29: Liturgy + Set List
GOD SO LOVED
Call to Worship: Psalm 24:1-6
We gather to be reminded that God is the creator and sustainer of all things. We gather to be reminded weekly, because we forget daily, to seek the face of God. The One who has revealed Himself in many ways - most clearly in and through Jesus, and through God’s Word. So let’s seek God together this morning, let’s sing…
CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL NAME
Sermon: James 1:26-2:13
The truth is every one of us is more comfortable with people that look, think, believe, vote, live like us. But as followers of Jesus we know that the distance between one sinner and another sinner is nowhere as wide as the distance a holy God crossed toward sinful people. Let’s be reminded of what Jesus has done:
Philippians 2:5-12
LIVING HOPE
Baptism
Benediction
May 22: Liturgy + Set List
HOUSE OF THE LORD
Call to Worship: Psalm 86:1-7
It is a gift of Grace to the people of God that God has spoken to us through His Word. And not just that but that He desires to speak to us through His Spirit as we gather around His Word. He has spoken, He is speaking, but He is also the God who listens and hears. He invites us to pour out our hearts as we seek to respond to His Word preached. Let’s stand and sing in response to God’s Word:
GRACE ALONE
CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED
Sermon: Ezekiel 37:1-14
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. The heavens will pass away, and the earth will pass away but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Why would we seek to anchor our lives to anything other than the immovable, enduring, eternal Word of God? Let’s stand and respond together:
ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK
HIS MERCY IS MORE
May 15: Liturgy + Set List
DOXOLOGY|AMEN
Call to Worship: Psalm 150
One of the things I say often is that when we gather, we join worship that is already in progress. Scripture tells us that day and night around the throne of God, the saints and the angels, the living creatures and the elders are declaring God’s holiness and worth. Creation itself is responding in worship to its Creator. And when we gather we join the universal, global Church made up of people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language - all those who have gone before us, and those who will come after us in responding to God. This morning we are going to learn a new song that is a reminder that we join worship already in progress, but also that as followers of Jesus we are called to live lives of daily worship.
CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED
EVER BE
Sermon: James 1:19-25
Communion Reflection Questions:
“...let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…”
Jesus has spoken to us through His Word.
Take a moment to quiet your heart and mind.
Being quick to listen, invite His Holy Spirit to speak to you now.“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
How might the Holy Spirit be leading you to respond at this moment?
Repent of sin? Experience His comfort? Confess Jesus as Lord?
How might the Holy Spirit be leading you to live differently as you leave?
Communion
Last night in Buffalo, NY, a gunman opened fire in a grocery store intentionally trying to kill people who bear God's image in their black bodies. Jesus said that hating someone in your heart is as good as murdering them. You and I can be hearers of God’s Word and mourn and grieve the sin out there that causes people to pick up a gun and destroy the life of another. But to be hearers and doers of God’s Word is to mourn and grieve and uproot the sin in us - the sin that causes us to hate - which is as good as murder. We need the Holy Spirit, and the people of God deeply and desperately to be hearers as well as doers of God’s Word. Would you stand, let’s sing…
HOW CAN IT BE
Benediction