September 21, 2025

Here is the worship guide for Sunday, September 21, 2025.

PDF version of the worship guide to download or print.

The livestream will begin at 10:30 a.m. on our Facebook page or YouTube page.

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Prayer

Call to Worship
Psalm 136:1–3 (ESV)
¹  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
²  Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
³  Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

Song: “The Goodness of God”
By Ben Fielding, Brian Johnson, Ed Cash, Jason Ingram, Jenn Johnson.

I love You, Lord; Oh, Your mercy never fails me.
All my days, I’ve been held in Your hands.
From the moment that I wake up until I lay my head,
I will sing of the goodness of God.

All my life You have been faithful.
All my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able,
I will sing of the goodness of God.

I love Your voice; You have led me through the fire
In darkest night, You are close like no other.
I’ve known You as a father, I’ve known You as a friend.
I have lived in the goodness of God.

All my life You have been faithful.
All my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able,
I will sing of the goodness of God.

Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.
Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me.
With my life laid down I’m surrendered now.
I give You everything ’cause Your goodness is running after,
it’s running after me.

All my life You have been faithful.
All my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able,
I will sing of the goodness of God.

Song: “Lead On Good Shepherd”
Words and music by Frankie Orella, Patrick Mayberry, Paul Duncan.

Verse 1
Well, I’ve been turned ’round but I’ve never been lost,
seen the water get troubled but we walked across.
When my knees were shaking, You held my hand,
turning my problems to a promised land.

Chorus
Lead on, Good Shepherd, I’ll follow all my days
There ain’t nothing sweeter than to watch You make a way.
You’ve walked me through the valley but You never steered me wrong.
So, lead on, Good Shepherd, lead on.

Verse 2
Seen some mighty deep canyons that You brought me through,
seen some mighty big mountains that just up and moved.
“Glory, glory, hallelujah!”—Yeah, that’s my song.
Walking with my Father into the great unknown.

Chorus
Lead on, Good Shepherd, I’ll follow all my days
There ain’t nothing sweeter than to watch You make a way.
You’ve walked me through the valley but You never steered me wrong.
So, lead on, Good Shepherd, lead on.

Bridge
Step by step, day by day, lead me on, Lord, I pray.
Road gets dark, walk by faith. Lead on, Good Shepherd.
Step by step, day by day, lead me on, Lord, I pray.
Road gets dark, walk by faith. Lead on, Good Shepherd.

Chorus
Lead on, Good Shepherd, I’ll follow all my days …

Bridge
Step by step, day by day, lead me on, Lord, I pray.
Road gets dark, walk by faith. Lead on, Good Shepherd …

Lead on, Good Shepherd. Lead on, Good Shepherd …

Hymn: “Speak, O Lord”
Words and music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
to receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
that the light of Christ might be seen today
in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
all Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
in the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow’r that can never fail,
let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
that will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises,
and by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
and the earth is filled with Your glory.

Time of Prayer

Sermon: “The Parable of the Sower”
Mark 4:1–20 (ESV)
¹ Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹² so that

“ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”

¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷ And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Hymn: “Take My Life and Let It Be”
Words by Frances R. Havergal, music by Henri A. C. Malan

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.

Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee,
swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee,
filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use every power as Thou shalt choose,
every power as Thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne,
it shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee,
ever, only, all for Thee.

Benediction
Revelation 22:21 (ESV)
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.