SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost
July 31st, 2022 Ten Thirty in the morning
Minister: Rev. Aaron Ochart
Liturgist: Jananne Lankard
Please silence all cell phones.
Face masks are encouraged for all participants unless leading worship.
Bold face indicates congregational participation.
* Please stand, in body or spirit
WORDS OF WELCOME
CALL TO WORSHIP
“Come, Now is the Time to Worship”
Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God, come.
One day every tongue will confess you are God, one day every knee will bow
still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now.
Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace
streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of God’s unchanging love.
Here I raise my Ebeneezer, hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.
CALL TO CONFESSION
SILENT CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Eternal God, our judge and redeemer, we confess that we have tried to hide from you, for we have done wrong. We have lived for ourselves, and apart from you. We have turned from our neighbors, and refused to bear the burdens of others. We have ignored the pain of the world, and passed by the hungry, the poor, and the oppressed.
In your great mercy forgive our sins and free us from selfishness, that we may choose your will and obey your commandments; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON Romans 8:1-11
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life. because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
*GLORY to GOD “Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone”
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and Grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed
My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
and like a flood his mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures (chorus)
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, Than when we’d first begun (chorus)
CHILDREN’S SERMON
SCRIPTURE LESSON Romans 8:12-25
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
RECEIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY “Revelation Song”
*DOXOLOGY
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
PRAYERS Romans 8:26-27
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
PRAYERS of the PEOPLE and LORD’S PRAYER
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
Romans 8:28-30: And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many siblings. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
SONG “How Great is Our God”
The wonder of our King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice.
He wraps himself in light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at his voice, and trembles at his voice.
Chorus: How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great, is our God.
Age to age he stands and time is in his hands
Beginning and the end, beginning and the end.
The Godhead three in one, Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb, Lion and the Lamb (chorus)
Bridge: The name above all names, worthy of all praise,
My heart will say, ‘how great is our God!’ (chorus)
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Romans 8:31-37
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
SONG “Come! Live in the Light”
- Come, live in the light Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord
We are called to be light for the kingdom
To live in the freedom of the city of God
Chorus: We are called to act with justice We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another To walk humbly with God
2.Come, open your heart Show your mercy to all those in fear
We are called to be hope for the hopeless
So 4hatred and violence will be no more (chorus)
- Sing, sing a new song Sing of that great day when all will be one
God will reign and we’ll walk with each other
As sisters and brothers united in love (chorus)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION Romans 8:38-39
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor nor rulers. neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
POSTLUDE We Are Singing In the Light of God
Participating in today’s service are Rev. Aaron Ochart, Pastor; Louise Ochart, CE Leader; Sam Garnett, Music Director; and Kelly Cuppett, Asst. Music Director. Appreciation to Dennis Lauland, Mike Fortin, and David Garland for the video production of today’s service.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
STAFF |
Church Office. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504.888.1375
Playschool Office. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .504.888.1378
The Reverend Aaron Ochart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Head of Staff
Louise Ochart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Christian Education Leader
Sam Garnett. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Music Director
Kelly Cuppett. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Assistant Music Director
Lauren Oufnac. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Playschool Director
Stephanie Galliano. . . . . Playschool Administrative Assistant
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JCPC Prayer Team
You may write your prayer request on one of the forms, located in the pew rack in front of you, and place it in the offering plate. You may also enter prayer requests on-line at www.johncalvinchurch.org, just click “Prayer Request.” |