Instructions for participating in at-home worship:
Readings and prayer are provided here as suggestions for your family to do together. Even though our church is not physically gathered together in one building, there is a unity in Christ that happens when we all read the same scriptures and say the same prayers separately in our homes. Know that as your family participates in this worship time in your home, you are joining many others doing exactly the same thing in their homes.
You may download and print this entire service BULLETIN as well as sermon NOTES for children from the Download Files section at the bottom of this page.
Call to Worship
1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, you his servants; praise the name of the LORD. 2 Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
— Psalm 113:1-3 (NIV)
Praise
Read God's Word Together
23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. 25 “ ‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. 26 I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ”
— Ezekiel 34:23-31 (NIV)
Children's Message
Pray Together
God, our refuge and strength, these are truly trying times for all of us as we face a rapidly spreading virus, with panic that has left grocery shelves nearly empty and supplies in great demand. We have seen the worst in people and the best. Yet, through it all, we take hope in Christ and his promise to never leave us. We are holding one another in prayer. Like the rest of the country, our church communities are physically separated, but we are still deeply connected through our common humanity, spirituality, and strong faith in you. God of grace and mercy, be present with us as we face an unknown future. In the ever-changing and uncertain world where we find ourselves, help us to know and be assured that you are sovereign, that you are all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present. We know you are a good God who holds us in our anxiety and distress, and who has a plan for our future. Calm our hearts and minds and give us hope in you, our only certain hope. We pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Message
Response
Audio only of message
Readings and prayer are provided here as suggestions for your family to do together. Even though our church is not physically gathered together in one building, there is a unity in Christ that happens when we all read the same scriptures and say the same prayers separately in our homes. Know that as your family participates in this worship time in your home, you are joining many others doing exactly the same thing in their homes.
You may download and print this entire service BULLETIN as well as sermon NOTES for children from the Download Files section at the bottom of this page.
Call to Worship
1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, you his servants; praise the name of the LORD. 2 Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
— Psalm 113:1-3 (NIV)
Praise
Read God's Word Together
23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken. 25 “ ‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. 26 I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. 27 The trees will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. 28 They will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. 30 Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them and that they, the Israelites, are my people, declares the Sovereign LORD. 31 You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ”
— Ezekiel 34:23-31 (NIV)
Children's Message
Pray Together
God, our refuge and strength, these are truly trying times for all of us as we face a rapidly spreading virus, with panic that has left grocery shelves nearly empty and supplies in great demand. We have seen the worst in people and the best. Yet, through it all, we take hope in Christ and his promise to never leave us. We are holding one another in prayer. Like the rest of the country, our church communities are physically separated, but we are still deeply connected through our common humanity, spirituality, and strong faith in you. God of grace and mercy, be present with us as we face an unknown future. In the ever-changing and uncertain world where we find ourselves, help us to know and be assured that you are sovereign, that you are all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present. We know you are a good God who holds us in our anxiety and distress, and who has a plan for our future. Calm our hearts and minds and give us hope in you, our only certain hope. We pray in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Message
Response
Audio only of message
Bible Text: James 1:2-12 | Preacher: Tom VanderPloeg | Any test of Christian faith ought to bring two features into clear focus: truth and trust; how does the testing of our faith help us see truth more clearly and help us trust God more completely?