The Baptist Church in Warren June 24, 2007...
The Baptist Church in Warren
June 24, 2007 10:00 am
Prelude
Ushers will collect Prayer cards during the first hymn.
Welcome
Call to Worship
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth”
(Psalm 121:1–2 KJV)
*Praise # 83 Jesus the Very Thought of Thee
*Invocation (Lord’s Prayer) Kind, divine, Heavenly Father, who reigns over all things in wisdom, power, and love, we adore you for your glory and majesty. We praise you for your grace and truth, which come to us through Christ our Savior. Grant the moving of your Spirit that we may worship you in spirit and in truth.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
*Gloria Patri (Sung together) #575
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
Psalm for Today Psalm 42(NRSV)
1 As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng,and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.
Hymn insert “As the Deer”
Our Offering to God “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase” (Prov. 3:9 KJV).
*Doxology #572
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below:
Praise him above ye heavn’ ly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
*Prayer of Dedication O Lord, may we trust more and more in the provisions of your love and care. And may our devotion to you be expressed in the sincerity of our giving. Receive, magnify, and bless these tithes and offerings for your glory.
Hymn # 569 “Count Your Blessings”
Scripture Reading Luke 8:26-39
26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
(NRSV)
*Hymn of Prayer #1 “Holy, Holy, Holy”
Pastoral Prayer O Divine Love, who stands outside the closed doors of the minds and hearts of persons, grant us grace to throw open our soul’s door. Let every bolt and bar be drawn that has robbed life of air and light and love.
Give us open eyes, O God, eyes quick to discover your indwelling in the world that you have made. Forgive all our past blindness to the grandeur and glory of nature, to the charm of little children, to the sublimities of human society, and to all the intimations of your presence in and around us. Give us an open ear, O God, that we may hear your voice calling us to higher ground. Give us an open mind, O God, ready to receive and welcome such new light of knowledge as is your will to reveal. Let not the past ever be so dear to us as to set a limit to the future. Give us courage to change our minds. Give us open hands, O God, ready to share with all who are in need of the blessings with which you have enriched our life. Let us hold our monies in stewardship and all our worldly goods in trust for thee.
We pray not only for the overcoming of personal estrangements but for the healing of the nations. Grant to us the wisdom, the courage, the faith, to be bridge builders, as we share the Bread of Life, with which we have been so richly blessed.—John Thompson
*Hymn of Praise #415 “There is a Balm in Gilead”
Scripture Text Galatians 3:23-29 (NRSV)
23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Hymn # 513 “In Christ There Is No East or West”
Reading Do this and you will live - Howard
Hymn # 225 “Standing on the Promises”
Reading Love is an obligation that can never be paid off
Hymn insert “Help Us Accept Each Other”
Reading When May I stop giving? - Kevin
*Hymn of Response # 207 “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”
*Sending forth
*Postlude