I Need You To Survive

Let Justice Roll

Service of the Lord’s Day

Freedom Rising Sunday

01/19/2020

Gathering

Welcome, Announcements, Joys, and Concerns

Monday, 2pm: Good Neighbor Ministry leadership team meeting: St. Andrew’s

Tuesday, 9:30 am: St. Andrew’s Session Meeting

Tuesday, noon: Lunch with the Pastor, Sunny Jim’s

Sunday, 1/26 CONGREGATIONAL MEETING immediately following worship

Great is Thy faithfulness O God my Father There is no shadow of turning with Thee Thou changest not Thy compassions they fail not As Thou hast been Thou forever will be

Preparing our Hearts

Call to Worship

Great is Thy faithfulness Great is Thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see And all I have needed Thy hand hath provided Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me

Leader: We are the Body of Christ All: Let us gather to worship the Living God! Leader: We are the Body of Christ All: Let us see the world and one another through the loving eyes of Christ! Leader: We are the Body of Christ All: Let the Holy Spirit use our gifts in service of justice for all of God's people! Leader: We are the Body of Christ All: Made in God's image, united across difference, uniquely gifted, collectively called. May we praise our God in Spirit and Truth, bearing witness to God's gracious love poured out for us in Christ Jesus, who makes us one.

Called as partners in Christ service, called to ministries of grace, we respond with deep commitment fresh new lines of faith to trace. May we learn the art of sharing, side by side and friend with friend, equal partners in our caring to fulfill God’s chosen end.

Christ’s example, Christ’s inspiring, Christ’s clear call to work and worth, let us follow, never faltering, reconciling folk on earth. Men and women, richer, poorer, all God’s people, young and old, blending human skills together gracious gifts from God unfold.

Thus new patterns for Christ’s mission, in a small or global sense, help us bear each other’s burdens, breaking down each wall or fence. Words of comfort, words of vision, worods of challenge, said with care, bring new power and strength for action, make us colleagues, free and fair.

*Hymn #gtg761 ph343 Called as Partners in Christ's Service

So God grant us for tomorrow ways to order human life that surround each person’s sorrow with a calm that conquers strife. Make us partners in our living, our compassion to increase, messengers of faith, thus giving hope and confidence and peace.

*Call to Confession

God of justice and love, you made all of humanity in your image and claimed us as your own, yet we have failed to acknowledge our oneness in you. We are your Body, united in Christ, yet we build walls between ourselves and those who are different from us. We cling to your love for us, but then we turn and embrace systems that foster inequality. Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that the barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease, and that, with our divisions healed, we might live in justice and peace; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

*Corporate Prayer of Confession (Followed by silent prayers of confession)

God of justice and love, you made all of humanity in your image and claimed us as your own, yet we have failed to acknowledge our oneness in you. We are your Body, united in Christ, yet we build walls between ourselves and those who are different from us. We cling to your love for us, but then we turn and embrace systems that foster inequality. Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that the barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease, and that, with our divisions healed, we might live in justice and peace; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

*Gloria Patri #581

What is Justice?

Proclamation

1 Corinthians 1:1–9 ESV

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Witnessing God's Work What is Justice?

Epistle Reading Psalm Reading

Psalm 40:1–11 ESV

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

Prayer for Illumination

1

I just survived the first two week intensive stretch of classes for my doctoral program. I don’t say that to toot my own horn, but rather because I’m still a little shell-shocked and surprised that this is where God has set me down for now. Every time a pastor takes a new call or starts a new level of the educational process, everyone seems to want to hear about their “sense of call”. What got you where you are? What do you see yourself doing after your DMin? How did God call you into the Missional Leadership program?

When I was in the last few months of seminary, it was completely terrifying. How could I of all people be called to anything even remotely important? WHAT WAS GOD THINKING?!! Now I tell the story without even thinking about it much and only sometimes do I have a moment of, “God must have been aiming at someone else and hit me by accident.” I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I am just making things up as I go up here. I don’t actually have a laid out plan and that makes me a bit nervous to not have the itinerary for what’s next.

But in a small voice, and in the lectionary texts that come around this week every third year, I am reminded that call is not about the agenda or the itinerary or what comes next. And a call isn’t some special magical thing that only certain people get. We’re all called to something. There are individual calls, like Paul’s call to be an Apostle. But there is also a corporate call that is issued to the Church as a whole.

What a joy it was last year to travel in Rwanda with Martha and Tom. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year already since we went on that life-changing trip. It was a joy and delight to travel with them and to meet sisters and brothers who come from a very different place and to hear their stories first hand. makes me think of Rwanda and the ache they’ve been through and the redemption and reconciliation that has happened there. Their stories are a joy because their stories are stories fo crying out to God in the worst of circumstances when all seemed too be lost, and being heard.

doesn’t exactly start off cheerful. In fact, while the most common translations in English say “I waited patiently for the Lord”, a translation that gets more to the heart of the Hebrew would probably be, “While I was waiting, I kept waiting.” Or, to use a more common English phrase, “I waited and waited for God.”

is not exactly a cheerful Psalm, on the surface. In fact, while the most common translations in English say “I waited patiently for the Lord”, a translation that gets more to the heart of the Hebrew would probably be, “While I was waiting, I kept waiting.” Or, to use a more common English phrase, “I waited and waited for God.”

doesn’t exactly start off cheerful. In fact, while the most common translations in English say “I waited patiently for the Lord”, a translation that gets more to the heart of the Hebrew would probably be, “While I was waiting, I kept waiting.” Or, to use a more common English phrase, “I waited and waited for God.”

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 1 Theological Perspective

The psalm begins on a contested note with respect to matters of translation. Most English translations begin, “I waited patiently for the LORD” (v. 1). A closer reading of the text might make a reader wonder whether the tribulations of a person mired in a desolate pit really elicit a patient waiting for rescue. The Hebrew, more literally translated as “waited, I waited,” or “waiting, I waited,” seems to lack any indication of patience, especially in terms of “quiet resignation.”1

There are people around the world still stuck in that feeling of waiting for God to hear their cries. There are people suffering massive injustices worldwide - including people here in the US as well. And their are also many people suffering loneliness and disconnection right here in our own neighborhoods.

When I was in the last few months of seminary, it was completely terrifying. How could I of all people be called to anything even remotely important? WHAT WAS GOD THINKING?!! Now I tell the story without even thinking about it much and only sometimes do I have a moment of, “God must have been aiming at someone else and hit me by accident.” I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I am just making things up as I go up here. I don’t actually have a laid out plan and that makes me a bit nervous to not have the itinerary for what’s next.

But in a small voice, and in the lectionary texts that come around this week every third year, I am reminded that call is not about the agenda or the itinerary or what comes next. And a call isn’t some special magical thing that only certain people get. We’re all called to something. There are individual calls, like Paul’s call to be an Apostle. But there is also a corporate call that is issued to the Church as a whole.

It used to be that the way missions went was that the fancy rich people in the west - us - sent people to spread the good news of the gospel to people in places that were (to the western eye, at least) far less fancy and rich - places like Africa, central and South America, Asia. And the good news is that it worked! The church is thriving in places like Korea, Rwanda, American Samoa, and Argentina.

The problem is that now that we’ve run out of new places to go and evangelize, the church has forgotten how to be church to the people right around it. Only about 37% of Americans attend religious services regularly. That includes Muslims, Jews, all faiths. We live in the mission field, friends.

We’ve narrowed our definition of “mission” to only mean making converts in the deepest jungles or the poorest slums and we’ve forgotten the power of the story. We’ve forgotten how multi-faceted it really is. We’ve forgotten the part of the story that says in Christ we are one and should care for all the needs of our neighbors both far and near.

What Tom and Martha and I saw in Rwanda was not poor Africans who needed help from rich westerners. We saw a vibrant church telling the powerful stories of God’s love and forgiveness. We saw people living in community with one another after great heartbreak and struggle. We heard from people who could have read as if they themselves had written it. They offered to pray for us because they knew that the church in the US is struggling.

Here’s what they got that I think many of us miss: we all share a calling to unity.

In a sermon entitled, “I See the Promised Land,” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Church – especially the black church, but all branches of the Church for certain - to remain united and at the core, that is the strength of his teaching and it is the reason his words are so timeless. He spoke words that reach across generations and cultures and grab ahold of us. To this day, his powerful words shake us up because unity is something we all long for, but it can be so elusive at the same time.

“. . . We’ve got to stay together.” Dr. King said, “We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves.” Division in the church can cripple the Christian life.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 1 Pastoral Perspective

Authentic Evangelism. Like many psalms proclaiming God’s deliverance, this text exemplifies and calls forth a spirit of authentic and heartfelt evangelism. The psalmist simply cannot help sharing what God has done; the good news bubbles forth in an exuberant combination of testimony about God and praise to God.

Not that the modern American church knows anything about division, right? Today more than ever, we are in a world that is polarized. Both outside and inside the Church (“big C Church” – meaning all churches), people divide into camps based on denomination, political views, economic status, theology, parenting style, food choices, worship styles, sports teams, and just about anything else we can think of to sort ourselves out into neat little categories. And of course. . . the best category is always the one you find yourself in, right?

Have you ever read the comments that are posted after online news articles? If you haven’t, I don’t recommend it. Trust me. You’re not missing anything edifying. There are few things that will cause division more than a hot news topic and the comments on those news items are generally appalling. Not because of their agreement or disagreement with the article, but rather the dehumanization of other people in the article and comments. People who disagree are seen as the evil “them” and are treated as less than human in many cases. Name-calling and mud slinging are completely normal modes of responding to articles online.

That’s an extreme case, but that happens in other situations too – this division and separation and dehumanizing of people in categories other than our own. Like MLK, Paul was writing to people who were divided. The church was not operating in unity. The church in Corinth was divided. They were arguing and forming cliques over every old thing: leadership, morality, worship, and beliefs about resurrection of the dead – just to name a few. The argued over how you had to look, think, act, and speak in order to be a “real” Christian.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 1 Theological Perspective

Christian faith is a matter of calling, to be called by God, to be followers of Jesus Christ. While we are individually called, as God addresses each of us, we are not called individually into faith. To enter into faith, to be in union with Christ—in other words, to be sanctified, to be saints—is to be set aside together as a new people or new society made up of those in every place who call Jesus Lord. What is striking rhetorically and theologically is that the church as God’s chosen people, God’s new covenant, is defined not by Jewish ancestry but by discipleship.

The church in Corinth was so worried about getting every step of their walk just right – and about making sure everyone else was convinced that theirs was the “right” way that they lost sight of the most important thing: Jesus.

They had been called to be the Body of Christ and they were so busy trying to make every body part look like a specific body part that they just wound up spinning their tires and not getting much of anywhere.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 1 Theological Perspective

Christian faith is a matter of calling, to be called by God, to be followers of Jesus Christ. While we are individually called, as God addresses each of us, we are not called individually into faith. To enter into faith, to be in union with Christ—in other words, to be sanctified, to be saints—is to be set aside together as a new people or new society made up of those in every place who call Jesus Lord. What is striking rhetorically and theologically is that the church as God’s chosen people, God’s new covenant, is defined not by Jewish ancestry but by discipleship. The peace of God, wholeness and reconciliation, is given, a gift that is a matter of grace, not of birth or status.

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 1 Theological Perspective

The psalm begins on a contested note with respect to matters of translation. Most English translations begin, “I waited patiently for the LORD” (v. 1). A closer reading of the text might make a reader wonder whether the tribulations of a person mired in a desolate pit really elicit a patient waiting for rescue. The Hebrew, more literally translated as “waited, I waited,” or “waiting, I waited,” seems to lack any indication of patience, especially in terms of “quiet resignation.”1

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Year A, Volume 1 Pastoral Perspective

Authentic Evangelism. Like many psalms proclaiming God’s deliverance, this text exemplifies and calls forth a spirit of authentic and heartfelt evangelism. The psalmist simply cannot help sharing what God has done; the good news bubbles forth in an exuberant combination of testimony about God and praise to God.

Back when I worked in youth ministry, there were a great number of terrible ideas that came to fruition during youth group. There was one in particular that I strongly advised my colleagues against. It was actually just one leg of an obstacle course. The course was meant to encourage the kids to find ways to work together. One of the obstacles was that something like 8 or 10 of them had to get into a bicycle inner tube together and navigate a flight of stairs. It was not my idea and I actually thought it was a pretty ill thought out and potentially dangerous activity, but when I think about what the Corinthian church was going through, it reminds me of that obstacle course. There are few things less united than 10 teenagers crammed into an inner tube together trying to do an obstacle course. . . until about halfway through the course when suddenly they realize that they’d get a lot further a lot faster if they’d just give in to the fact that they were tied together with a giant piece of rubber and work together. Much to my shock - they all managed to rise to the challenge and nobody got hurt.

But in a small voice, and in the lectionary texts that God cleverly laid out for me this week, I am reminded that call is not about the agenda or the itinerary or what comes next. And a call isn’t some special magical thing that only certain people get. We’re all called to something. There are individual calls, like Paul’s call to be an Apostle. But there is also a corporate call that is issued to the Church as a whole.

In a sermon entitled, “I See the Promised Land,” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Church – especially the black church, but all branches of the Church for certain - to remain united and at the core, that is the strength of his teaching and it is the reason his words are so timeless. He spoke words that reach across generations and cultures and grab ahold of us. To this day, his powerful words shake us up because unity is something we all long for, but it can be so elusive at the same time.

“. . . We’ve got to stay together.” Dr. King said, “We’ve got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves.” Division in the church can cripple the Christian life.

I have to admit that I had a bit of inspiration from a previous job for that children’s sermon today. That wasn’t entirely my idea. I’ve done something similar before as part of an obstacle course at a youth event. That game involved a flight of stairs in the back of the church and a bicycle inner tube. It was not my idea and I actually thought it was a pretty ill thought out and potentially dangerous activity, but when I thought about what the Corinthian church was going through, it reminded me of that obstacle course. There are few things less united than 10 teenagers crammed into an inner tube together trying to do an obstacle course. . . until about halfway through the course when suddenly they realize that they’d get a lot further a lot faster if they’d just give in to the fact that they were tied together with a giant piece of rubber and work together.

That’s an extreme case, but that happens in other situations too – this division and separation and dehumanizing of people in categories other than our own. Like MLK, Paul was writing to people who were divided. The church was not operating in unity. The church in Corinth was divided. They were arguing and forming cliques over every old thing: leadership, morality, worship, and beliefs about resurrection of the dead – just to name a few. The argued over how you had to look, think, act, and speak in order to be a “real” Christian.

Epistle Reading Psalm Reading

The church in Corinth was so worried about getting every step of their walk just right – and about making sure everyone else was convinced that theirs was the “right” way that they lost sight of the most important thing: Jesus.

They had been called to be the Body of Christ and they were so busy trying to make every body part look like a specific body part that they just wound up spinning their tires and not getting much of anywhere.

I have to admit that I had a bit of inspiration from a previous job for that children’s sermon today. That wasn’t entirely my idea. I’ve done something similar before as part of an obstacle course at a youth event. That game involved a flight of stairs in the back of the church and a bicycle inner tube. It was not my idea and I actually thought it was a pretty ill thought out and potentially dangerous activity, but when I thought about what the Corinthian church was going through, it reminded me of that obstacle course. There are few things less united than 10 teenagers crammed into an inner tube together trying to do an obstacle course. . . until about halfway through the course when suddenly they realize that they’d get a lot further a lot faster if they’d just give in to the fact that they were tied together with a giant piece of rubber and work together.

The apostle Paul can get wound up in his letters. There are some places in them that he’s not so delicate in what he has to say, but this introduction to his letter to a beloved congregation really shows his gentleness and his love for the congregation. He’s very parental when he says to them. . . “Oh, isn’t it great that we are all called to sainthood together to serve God?! You make my life better and more exciting!”

Unity isn’t just an abstract concept. It’s not just something that would look pretty if we managed it. It’s a calling! The church is called to be a united front! Last week, for The Baptism of our Lord, we reflected on the meaning of baptism. One big piece oof that is that we are all baptized in Christ and this baptism joins us to Christ in his mission as well.

Paul needed the Corinthians to understand that he didn’t just want to scold them about going through the wrong motions. That would just be falling into the trap of moralistic finger pointing that they already had enough of. That’s why he’s so careful in this introduction to the letter about unity to establish that unity is at the very core of Christian calling and identity. Not just unity with those who think or look or act or sound like us. . . unity with “All those everywhere who call on Jesus.”

If unity is such a key component of our calling, why are we so surprised when someone like Martin Luther King Jr. or Dietrich Bonheoffer or the Apostle Paul have the guts to stand up and say so? Why have we let the messages of fear and difference and division speak louder than that of unity in Christ?

Paul, the author of Corinthians was called. The founders of the church were called. The church in Rwanda is called. As we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. this weekend, we acknowledge that he was called. But what about the rest of us? Paul is saying we ALL have a calling. We are all saints. The Greeks didn’t throw around words like “saint” or “sanctified” without meaning to add some serious OOMPH to what they were saying. Paul meant something really huge here!

We have brothers and sisters in places we may not like or understand or even know about. But there is more beauty in that diversity than can ever be found in sorting ourselves out into neat little boxes.

This week is the week of prayer for Christian unity. Tomorrow we celebrate and commemorate the life of Dr. King. These are good things. But let’s not let them stay trapped in a day or a week this year. Wherever and whenever and whomever we are, we are called to be united. Don’t forget that we are bound not only to Christ, but also because of Christ, we are bound to one another.

I need you, you need me. We're all a part of God's body. Stand with me, agree with me. We're all a part of God's body. It is his will, that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive. You are important to me, I need you to survive. I pray for you, You pray for me. I love you, I need you to survive. I won't harm you with words from my mouth. I love you, I need you to survive. It is his will, that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive.

Source: Musixmatch

Sermon “I Need You to Survive”

Songwriters: FRAZIER DAVID G I Need You To Survive lyrics © GODS MUSIC INC (LI'L DAVE'S MUSIC), EMI CHRISTIAN MUSIC PUBL O/B/O LUV KI MUSIC PUBLISHING, EMI CHRISTIAN MUSIC PUB OBO LI'L EVA MUSIC

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, and we pray that all unity may one day be restored:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand. We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand. And together we’ll spread the news that God is in the land:

*Hymn #gtg300 (insert at St. Andrew's) We Are One In the Spirit

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side; we will work with each other, we will work side by side, and we’ll guard human dignity and save human pride:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come, and all praise to Christ Jesus, God’s only Son, and all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

*Declaration of Faith Apostle's Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

*Declaration of Faith Apostle's Creed

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord. who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Prayers of the People

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by 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 sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God, all creatures here below. Praise God above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

*Hymn #gtg318 ph439 In Christ There is no East or West

In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.

Sending

In Christ shall true hearts everywhere their high communion find; his service is the golden cord close-binding humankind.

Join hands, disciples of the faith, whate’r your race may be. All children of the living God are surely kin to me.

*Hymn #gtg318 ph439 In Christ There is no East or West

In Christ, now meet both east and west; in him meet south and north. All Christly souls are one in him throughout the whole wide earth.

May the peace of our Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing, once again into our doors.

Sending Song #600 “Amen” (sing three times)

FOR EMSWORTH: As you depart, please share signs of Christ’s peace with one another.

Postlude

FOR EMSWORTH: As you depart, please share signs of Christ’s peace with one another.

*Those who are able may stand in spirit and in body

1 Corinthians 1:1–9 ESV

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 40:1–11 ESV

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

I need you, you need me. We're all a part of God's body. Stand with me, agree with me. We're all a part of God's body. It is his will, that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive. You are important to me, I need you to survive. I pray for you, You pray for me. I love you, I need you to survive. I won't harm you with words from my mouth. I love you, I need you to survive. It is his will, that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive.

As you depart, please share signs of Christ’s peace with one another.

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: FRAZIER DAVID G I Need You To Survive lyrics © GODS MUSIC INC (LI'L DAVE'S MUSIC), EMI CHRISTIAN MUSIC PUBL O/B/O LUV KI MUSIC PUBLISHING, EMI CHRISTIAN MUSIC PUB OBO LI'L EVA MUSIC

I Need You To Survive

I Need You To Survive

Welcome, Announcements, Joys, and Concerns

Passing of the Peace

What is Justice?

I Need You To Survive

Grace in the text

Grace in the text

grace in the world

I Need You to Survive

Prayers of the People

Prayers of the People

Sharing of our Tithes and Offerings

Giving back to God

Amen