Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
Questions? Send us an email at teaching@midtowncolumbia.com
Resources mentioned
Greetings From 2020 | Following Jesus in a Cancel Culture | August 2
Sermon by Adam Gibson for August 2, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
August 2nd, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
Pray
Have someone pray for your time together, or read this prayer aloud:
Dear Lord, focus our attention and our hearts. Let our time be a blessing to You and to us. Help us grow in unity and understanding together.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud:
The call to worship for today is from Psalm 103
Psalm 103:8, 13-14, 17-18
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.
Song
Song
Pray
Read this aloud:
Philippians 4:6 says do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Lord, thank you that we can bring all our anxiety and frustrations to you. Remind us that we are made family and friends with you. Open our ears and our hearts today as we hear your word. Calm our restless hearts with your Spirit. Help us focus and rest in these next moments, amen.
Sermon
Song
Benediction
Everyone read this prayer aloud:
Father God,
Be with us this week,
As we seek Your kingdom here in Columbia
Jesus Christ,
Be glorified in our lives,
As we remember, we are secure in You
Let your Holy Spirit,
Remind us of Your truth often,
and move us to love our neighbors, as Christ has loved us
Amen.
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Following Jesus in the Midst of Injustice
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources
"When Racial Justice Meets Spiritual Practices" from Following Jesus Together (Spotify | iTunes | Google Play)
Generous Justice by Tim Keller
Social Justice, Critical Theory, and Christianity by Neil Shenvi
Greetings From 2020 | Following Jesus in the Midst of Injustice | July 26
Sermon by Michael Bailey for July 26, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
July 26, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 9:1-2
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
Let’s sing of the greatness of our God with thankfulness in our hearts for what He’s done.
Song
Practice: REFLECT AND REJOICE
Take a minute to sit in silence and reflect on the past week. What can you praise God for in the midst of this season?
After a few moments, if you are participating with others, ask specific people to share what came to mind.
After sharing, have someone pray, or read this aloud:
Father, thank you for how you continue to provide and show up in the mess of this life. Help us always remember your provision and the depth of your love for us. Father you are all we need, you are everything.
Song
Pray: Have someone pray this aloud
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may hear your Word with joy. Amen.
Sermon
Song
Benediction
Have someone pray this aloud to close:
Help us, Lord, that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts, and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Following Jesus in a Polarizing Political Climate
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources
Following Jesus Together the Podcast (iTunes | Spotify | Google Play)
Christ and Culture by Richard Niebuhr
Christ and Culture Revisited by D.A. Carson
Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel by Russell Moore
Greetings From 2020 | Following Jesus in a Polarizing Political Climate | July 19
Sermon by Jake Blair for July 19, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
July 19, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 103:1-5
Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Let us sing this morning remembering God’s grace and goodness.
Song
Practice: ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER
Read this aloud:
Hebrews 3 says: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
After this next song we’re going to take a couple of minutes to encourage those with you. How have you seen Jesus working in someone’s life recently? During this next song think of at least one way you can encourage someone in your life.
Song
Now, take some time to text them, and tell them why you’re thankful for them. If you have others in the room with you (physically or virtually), pray for specific ways you can encourage them.
Pray: Father God, you have spoken to us through your Son. Let your written Word now be spoken and heard by each of us. Give us ears to hear and hearts to understand. Amen.
Sermon
Song
Benediction
Father God, help us to remember that You are alive today and active wherever we find ourselves. Remind us of the good news and reality of the Gospel. Amen.
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Hardship & Glory
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined by Midtown Lexington pastor Brandon Clements as we start our new teaching series.
Questions? Send us an email.
Greetings From 2020 | Hardship & Glory | July 12
Sermon by Brandon Clements for July 12, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
July 12th, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Song
Practice: Lament
Have someone read this aloud:
Psalm 13:1-4
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?
Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
The world is broken. Things are not the way they should be, and we can talk to God about that. In Psalm 13, David is reckoning with how things are broken in his life, and he brings those things honestly to God. Following in David’s form, let’s take a couple minutes to lament in prayer to God the things that we’re sad, angry, or confused about.
(Take 2 minutes to pray silently)
Have someone pray this to close: Lord, have mercy on us. Lead us through Your word and Spirit to trust you.
Amen
Read Scripture and Pray for the Sermon:
Have someone read this scripture aloud and pray
1 Peter 2:9-12
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may hear your Word with joy. Amen.
Sermon
Reflection: Trust & Follow
Psalm 13:5-6
But I have trusted in your faithful love;
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.
Just as David recognized the brokenness in his life and the world around him, he turned in the Psalm to trust God and sing. As we reflect on God’s word and sing, let’s remember that in the midst of all the brokenness, we can trust in God’s faithful love and believe that He will one day make everything right.
Song
Benediction
Help us, Lord, that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts, and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Fight the Good Fight
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we say a fond farewell to our church planting candidate, Tim Olson, as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 6.
Questions? Send us an email.
To stay up-to-date with Citizens Church go to their website to subscribe to their newsletter and their social media platforms.
1 Timothy | Fight the Good Fight | July 5
Sermon by Tim Olson for July 5, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
July 5th, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 98: 1 - 4
Oh sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made known his salvation;
He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Songs
Practice: Thankfulness
Have someone pray aloud, asking for focus, and wisdom as we hear the Word being taught.
Sermon
Benediction
Have someone read this aloud:
Psalm 98: 6 - 9
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
before the Lord, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
Amen
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Warnings to the Rich
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by Pastor Michael Bailey as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 6.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources:
The Century of Self (documentary)
1 Timothy | Warnings to the Rich | June 28
Sermon by Michael Bailey for June 28, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
June 28th, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
1 Peter 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Let us sing together, remembering and believing the good news of what God has done for us.
Songs
Practice: Thankfulness
Have someone read this aloud:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
As the family of God, we have so many things to thank God for, even in the midst of the hardest and darkest times in life. Let’s take 30 seconds to pause, then share aloud the things we’re thankful for with each other.
Sermon
Benediction
Have someone pray this to close:
God, You are faithful to provide us with everything that we need, and in Your presence is the fullness of joy and life. Teach us to trust you with all that we have. Spirit be near to us as we seek to follow you. Amen
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Godly Elders and Spiritual Authority
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by Pastor Jon Ludovina as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 5.
Questions? Send us an email.
1 Timothy | Godly Elders and Spiritual Authority | June 21
Sermon by Jon Ludovina for June 21, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
June 21st, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 96:1-6
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Songs
Practice: Confess Together
Corporate confession is a way for us to lay down our individualism and join with other believers confessing the same thing, as one body in Christ.
Read this confession, from John 1, aloud with everyone present:
If we walk in the light, as he is in the light
We have fellowship with one another
And the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
To forgive us our sins
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Amen
Sermon
Benediction
Have someone read this to close:
Acts 2:24–28 God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:
“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
Amen
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Care for the Widows
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined by Pastor Jon Ludovina as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 5.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources:
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
“We’re Not Wired to Be This Alone” by Frank Brunhi, The New York Times
1 Timothy | Care for the Widows | June 14
Sermon by Jon Ludovina for June 14, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
June 14th, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Call to Worship
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 9:1-2
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Practice: Encourage one another
Read this aloud:
Hebrews 3:12-13
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Take 30 seconds to pray for a way you can encourage someone. How have you seen Jesus working in someone’s life recently? Now, take some time to text them, and tell them why you’re thankful for them. If you have others in the room with you (physically or virtually), pray for specific ways you can encourage them.
Song
Have someone pray this aloud:
Pray: Father God, you have spoken to us through your Son. Let your written Word now be spoken and heard by each of us. Give us ears to hear and hearts to understand. Amen.
Sermon
BENEDICTION
Have someone read this to close:
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Guard Your Life and Doctrine
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by church planter Tim Olson as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 4.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources/Quotes mentioned in this episode:
Check out FollowingJesusTogether.com for resources on how to walk with Jesus.
Also, check out Donald Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.
1 Timothy | Guard Your Life and Doctrine | June 7
Sermon by Tim Olson for June 7, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
june 7th, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 139 1-6
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
SONGS
Practice: lament and hope
Take a moment to lament the brokenness of the world. Think on the injustices you’ve seen this past week. Acknowledge to God that this world is broken and in need of redemption.
Read aloud this lamentation, inspired out of Psalm 13:
How long, O Lord, will you forget your people who are oppressed?
How long will you allow these injustices to happen?
How long will we have this sorrow in our hearts and city?
Our hearts are shaken over the brokenness of this world.
Consider and answer us Lord, and light up our eyes.
We trust you and your steadfast love.
But we need your help to trust
We choose to rejoice in your salvation and hope in your promise of deliverance.
But we need your help to believe.
We sing to you Lord, because we know you deal with us in love and mercy.
But we need your help to sing.
Amen.
Have someone read this scripture aloud:
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:9-10
Sermon
BENEDICTION
Have someone read this to close:
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Psalm 33:18-22
Amen.
Kidtown and Students Guides
Midweek Podcast | Some Will Fall Away
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by Midtown Lexington Pastor Michael Bailey as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 4.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources/Quotes mentioned in this episode:
Go-to Verses for Gospel Fluency
Confession and Repentance from FollowingJesusTogether.com
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
-The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
-The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
“Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for.”
-John Piper
“Whoever tells the best story wins.”
-Anette Simmons
Lastly, for a primer on “Elohim” check out the Bible Project’s video on the topic. The book we referenced in the podcast on this topic is The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser.
1 Timothy | Some Will Fall Away | May 31
Sermon by Michael Bailey for May 31, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Worship Guide
MAY 31st, 2020
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
God is faithful through every season and every circumstance. Let us sing and remember His steadfast love and faithfulness to us.
SONGS
Practice: reflect and rejoice
Take a minute to sit in silence and reflect on the past week. What can you praise God for in the midst of this season?
After a few moments, if you are participating with others, ask specific people to share what came to mind.
After sharing, have someone pray, or read this aloud:
Father, thank you for how you continue to provide and show up in the mess of this life. Help us always remember your provision and the depth of your love for us. Father you are all we need, you are everything.
Pray:
Have someone pray this aloud before the sermon video:
Let’s pray. Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may hear your Word with joy. Amen.
Sermon
BENEDICTION
Have someone read this to close:
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, remain with us always. Amen.