Welcome to sojournmusic.com’s weekly worship music set list review. This set list is from yesterday’s worship service here in Louisville’s Sojourn Church. You’ll not only read a list of the songs we led, but also the readings and prayers from our liturgy. Today’s photos (by Chuck Heeke, Tom Branch and Brad Weir) focus on yesterday’s baptisms at Sojourn Gathered, since this was one of our bi-monthly Baptism Sundays.
You can find links to the set lists of this church and many other churches each week in the Worship Blog Carnival at theworshipcommunity.com. And you can learn about some of the songs we sing at Sojourn Gathered each week in advance of the Sunday service by reading my “Getting Ready For Sunday” post each Thursday at Sojourn’s online journal, TravelBlog.
Call To Worship: (Report card on the screens)
Imagine you got a worship report card. Isn’t it a scary thought: God grading us on how well we worship him and live? Most of us would fear receiving that grade based upon how often we’ve forgotten him or worshipped lesser things. Some of you may think you are awesome and would pass with flying colors. The truth is we would all flunk, but the good news is that it’s not about what grade we would earn. The only grade that counts or matters is Jesus’ and He got an A. Jesus lived the perfect life for us, and he transfers that perfect grade to us.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. – Romans 3:23-24
Your grade doesn’t matter, because in Jesus, you’re welcome in God’s presence. Let’s stand & sing!
Song: Invitation Fountain written by Michael J. Pritzl of the Violet Burning. We’ve been doing this song for most of our existence. It’s a good call-and-response to worship. Typically our male worship leaders sing the part of God, calling His people to worship, and our female worship leaders sing mankind’s fitting response: “If You lead me, Lord, I will follow …”
Song: Come Ye Sinners written by Joseph Hart, arranged by Sojourn’s Brooks Ritter. The theme of our sermon this week was on “Grace,” as we continued our “Faithmapping” sermon series. This hymn does a good job of declaring God’s great grace to us:
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.
Confession:
Lord God, true joy and salvation have been purchased for us by the blood of your son Jesus. Not only do you restore fellowship between you and us, but You call us Your children… You adopt us. Yet so often we forget that your arm reaches out to us and we live in fear as though we were still orphans. Help us to remember that your grace is far greater than our sin, and help us to believe that you will never leave or forsake us. We pray all of this in the sure and strong name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SONG: Refuge written by Neil Robins, adapted from a couple Isaac Watts songs and recorded on Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. You can hear the full “Refuge” mp3 from the playlist in our Over The Grave store.
And by the way, the Sojourn band recorded the bulk of Isaac Watts, Volume Two this past weekend. We’ve got a strong set of songs, and the recording went great. Look for it this spring.
Passing Of The Peace reading:
God shows us grace in Christ. Let’s show grace to each other by simply welcoming and greeting each other with affection.
Passing Of The Giving Baskets:
Special Music: Some campuses/service times played instrumental music. Others played “All I Have is Christ” from the Sovereign Grace album Looked Upon, and written by Jordan Kauflin. Read the “All I Have Is Christ” lyrics here.
Sermon: Pictured above, Lead Pastor Daniel Montgomery preaches “The Gospel Of God’s Grace” from Mark 2:13-17. This was part three in our “Faithmapping” series. You can listen to Sojourn sermons in the Resource Library of sojournchurch.com, or you can subscribe to the free sermon podcast “Sojourn Church,” at iTunes.
SONG: Death In His Grave our communion song of the week, written by John Mark McMillan. This is the second time we’ve used “Death In His Grave” at Sojourn Gathered. I really enjoy this song, and its unique presentation of gospel truth:
On Friday a thief, on Sunday a king
Laid down in grief, but awoke with the keys
Of hell on that day — the first-born of the slain
The man Jesus Christ laid death in his grave.
Baptism: (Sing chorus of “Cling To The Crucified” between each person getting baptized… ) We celebrated baptisms at each Sojourn campus and service time. By the way, we print baptism testimonies every weekend at our sister blog, TravelBlog (blog.sojournchurch.com).
SONG: Cling to the Crucified an anonymous hymn text, unearthed, arranged and fitted with a cool melody by the great hymn excavator Kevin Twit, founder of Indelible Grace and RUF pastor. You can find this on the Indelible Grace album Wake Thy Slumbering Children.
SONG: Amazing Grace perhaps the most famous hymn of all time, written by John Newton. This is the first time we’ve ever sung “Amazing Grace” at Sojourn Gathered, believe it or not. We had a good time with it. We opted to do all of Newton’s original lyrics, including the final two, little-heard verses (in place of the later add-on “When we’ve been there ten thousand years …”)
And when this flesh and heart shall fail
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below
Will be forever mine.
Benediction:
May the God who shakes heaven and earth, whom death could not contain, who welcomes us as children, bless you with power to go forth and proclaim His gospel of grace. Go in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.
