Opening
Song #18 – Shout to the Lord
Call
to Worship
This
weekend we are celebrating the blessings and the freedoms that are ours by the
simple virtue of living in this country. God has so greatly blessed us that our
nation is the envy of the world. It is true that our generations of the past
and present have fought to gain and retain these freedoms, but it is even more
true that we have been the undeserving recipients of the blessings of God.
We are grateful for the blessings and the freedoms that we have in
living in this nation, but we give praise to God for the blessings that we have
in Jesus Christ. It is those blessings that motivate us to come to worship this
morning.
Instead of fireworks, we have the fire of the Holy Spirit. Instead
of burgers and brats frying on the grill, we have the manna from heaven.
Invocation
Prayer
Our
Father in heaven, we honor your name. We give this hour to you. Enable us to
put aside the events of our lives long enough to concentrate on what you have
to say to us. We are a needy people, but not in the ways that we necessarily
first think. We need your life within us to replace our own feelings of
self-importance. Our only importance come from you—what you have done in our
lives. For this we worship you today.
Selected
Reading – 1 Peter 2:9-10
You
are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own
possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of
God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved,
I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh,
which war against your soul. Conduct yourselves with such honor among the
Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good
deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
Prayer
of Confession
Dear Father, our trust is in you. We are thankful for the privilege
that we have had as people to be born and raised in this land where we have
been able to live with many individual freedoms. But despite this, you tell us
that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. We realize that true freedom is more
than being free politically, but it must be freedom of the soul. Help each of
us to keep seeking those things from above. Help each of us to keep seeking
your freedom. Amen
Words
of Assurance
People
have lose their sense of meaning and of freedom because they have lost their
way in their relationship with God. By your presence here this morning, you
demonstrate that you are serious about re-establishing and growing in that
relationship. Be assured this morning that if you persist in the pursuit of
God’s presence in your life, your life will also grow in meaning and in freedom.
The
Lord’s Prayer
Song
of Faith – #64 (LBG) – Song Of The
Redeemed
Scripture
Reading
OT –
Proverbs 3:5-6; Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths
straight. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
NT –
John 15:4-5; Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear
fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit
unless you remain in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who
remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do
nothing
Responsorial
Reading : From Psalm 91
He
who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the
Almighty.
I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress, my God,
in whom I trust.”
Surely
He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague.
He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find
refuge;
His
faithfulness is a shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of the
night,
Nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in
the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon…
For
He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone…
“Because
he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.
When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in
trouble.
I
will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him
My salvation.”
Message Celebrating
our Day of Dependence
Communion
Song
of Unity #19 – Some Trust in Chariots
Offering Please
place your offering in the basket at the entrance of the church as you leave.
Thanks and be blessed!
Prayer
of Intercession
Our
Lord, first of all we want to praise you for your desire to hear our prayers.
We come to seek an audience before the Great King of kings and the Sovereign
Lord of lords, and yet we need not tremble before such power, because we come
to you based not upon our own goodness, but upon your grace.
We come to you in the name of Jesus. Thank you Lord for the grace
that you give to hear our prayers.
We
pray for those among us who are presently living with troubles and concerns
that have come to them. These may be health concerns, they may be family
concerns, financial, or any number of other troubles that we encounter in this
world. Please help each one in these situations, and assure them of your
presence with them.
We bring the prayer requests of our fellow Christians who in some
places of the world are in deep need. We continue to pray for the orphans and
all people of the Log Churches of Kenya. As before, we ask that you provide for
them food during these times of extreme shortages caused first by the locust
plague, and then by the Covid-19 restrictions.
We
pray for also for our own country. We are also in deep need, but perhaps not in
the same ways. Ours is a crisis of morality more than it is of material goods.
Cause us to find our way back to your paths.
Thank you for your gracious answer to all of our prayers.
Thank
you Father, for listening to the voices of all of your servants. Amen
Closing
Song America
the Beautiful
Benediction
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