Here is the worship guide for Sunday, March 5, 2023.
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
Hymn: “And Can It Be?”
Words: Charles Wesley. Music: Thomas Campbell.
And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?
Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me!
He left His Father’s throne above, so free, so infinite His grace;
emptied Himself to show His love, and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
’Tis mercy all, immense and free; for, O my God, it found out me.
Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me!
Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee.
Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me!
No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine;
bold I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me!
Hymn: “What Grace Is Mine”
Words: Kristyn Getty. Music: Traditional Irish folk tune.
What grace is mine that He who dwells in endless light
called through the night to find my distant soul ,
and from His scars poured mercy that would plead for me,
that I might live and in His name be known.
So I will go wherever He is calling me,
I lose my life to find my life in Him.
I give my all to gain the hope that never dies;
I bow my heart, take up my cross, and follow Him.
What grace is mine to know His breath alive in me;
beneath His wings my weary soul may soar;
all fear can flee, for death’s dark night is overcome;
my Savior lives and reigns forevermore.
So I will go wherever He is calling me,
I lose my life to find my life in Him.
I give my all to gain the hope that never dies;
I bow my heart, take up my cross, and follow Him.
Time of Prayer
Sermon: “Jesus Demands Total Commitment”
James 2:19 (ESV)
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV)
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Acts 15:10 (ESV)
Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
Matthew 7:24–27 (ESV)
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Luke 9:57–62 (ESV)
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Mark 12:29–30 (ESV)
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Mark 8:34–38 (ESV)
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Luke 14:25–33 (ESV)
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
Hymn: “The Communion Hymn”
Words and music: Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend.
Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away, slain for us,
and we remember
the promise made that all who come in faith
find forgiveness at the cross.
So we share in this bread of life, and we drink of His sacrifice
as a sign of our bonds of peace around the table of the King.
The body of our Savior Jesus Christ, torn for you,
eat and remember
the wounds that heal, the death that brings us life
paid the price to make us one.
So we share in this bread of life, and we drink of His sacrifice
as a sign of our bonds of love around the table of the King.
The blood that cleanses every stain of sin, shed for you,
drink and remember
He drained death’s cup that all may enter in
to receive the life of God.
So we share in this bread of life, and we drink of His sacrifice
as a sign of our bonds of grace around the table of the King.
And so with thankfulness and faith we rise to respond,
and to remember
our call to follow in the steps of Christ as His body here on earth.
As we share in His suffering we proclaim Christ will come again!
And we’ll join in the feast of heaven around the table of the King.
The Lord’s Supper
Hymn: “Beneath the Cross of Jesus”
Words: Elizabeth C. Clephane. Music: Frederick C. Maker.
Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat, and the burden of the day.
There lies beneath its shadow but on the further side
The darkness of an awful grave that gapes both deep and wide
And there between us stands the cross two arms outstretched to save
A watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.
Upon that cross of Jesus mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One Who suffered there for me;
And from my stricken heart with tears, two wonders I confess;
The wonders of redeeming love and my unworthiness.
I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face;
Content to let the world go by to know no gain or loss,
My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.
Benediction
Galatians 6:18 (ESV)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.