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 following the Call To Worship, but also the readings and prayers from our liturgy.
(Steven & Kattie Peercy w/ Pastor Brian Howard, whom we’re sending as missionaries to Lima, Peru).
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.
Photos here by Chuck Heeke and Troy Harvey. These photos focus on Midtown morning guest speaker Dr. Russell Moore, East campus missionary sending for Steven & Kattie Peercy, who are heading to Lima, Peru, and Midtown 5pm sending ceremony for Matt & Sara Galyon, who will be part of a church planting team in Boston, MA.
Call to Worship:
Welcome. Hear this from God’s Word:
You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
-Ephesians 2:11-14
We were all once outsiders, and God gave us His Son, Jesus, so that we could be insiders with Him. His invitation to us says, “come as you are. I will call you my children and make you family together. Let’s be reminded of God’s gracious invitation as we sing together.
(Pastor Brian introduces and prays for Matt & Sara Galyon, whom we’re sending to Boston. Matt is a former intern here at Sojourn, and Sara has just left our staff, where she served as office manager.
Song: Come Ye Sinners written by Joseph Hart. This song itself is a great call to worship:
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy
Weak and wounded, sick and sore
Jesus ready, stands to save you
Full of pity, love and power.
Transition: God has extended a gracious invitation to helpless sinners. Let’s continue to celebrate our adoption into God’s family.
Song: Fellowship So Deep written by Aaron Senseman and Kinley Lange, songwriting partners who have written many strong modern worship songs, most popular through the recordings of Caedmon’s Call.
(Dr. Russell Moore preaches during the morning service at our Midtown Campus).
Confession: Let’s pray this:
God, you gave us a place in your family when we trusted in Your Son, Jesus. You didn’t reserve a place in Your family for the most educated, the most spiritual, or the most dignified people. We have all turned our backs on You, broke Your law, sinned against You, and You gave Your Son as a sacrifice to forgive us.
Forgive us now for assuming that we ever had our own right to Your grace. Forgive us for forgetting that we were once lost because of our sin. By the power of Your Spirit, remind us of our place as Your children. Amen.
Song: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go written by George Mathison and Christopher Miner. We sang this classic hymn as a celebration of our assurance in Christ:
Oh love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean’s depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
Assurance/Peace:
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And now that we belong to Christ, we are the true children of Abraham. We are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to us.
-Gal. 3:26-29
Think about this gathering as a family reunion and now we have the opportunity to welcome each other and also meet some relatives you have never met before. Let’s greet each other today.
Giving:
Hear the word of the Lord:
Let us give thanks to the Lord with all our being.
In the company of the upright,
let us honor God for the blessings and goodness we have received.
—based on Psalm 111:1
Our offering is an act of worship in which we express our gratitude and reliance on God. Pray with me.
We praise You, God of all creation; through Your goodness we have these gifts to share. Accept and use our offerings for Your glory and for the service of Your kingdom. Amen.
Song: instrumental
During this time, our East Campus featured a Missionary Sending celebration and prayer, for a couple in our church whom we’re sending as missionaries to South America.
Then our pastor preached from Romans 8:12-14 on our adoption as sons and daughters of God. During the two morning services at our Midtown campus, we welcomed special guest preacher Dr. Russell Moore, who delivered this sermon. Dr. Moore is teaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church here in Louisville, as well as a published author and Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Last but not least, he’s the host of one of my favorite podcasts: The Cross & The Jukebox – Roots, Music and Religion. You need to check it out.
Song: How Deep The Father’s Love For Us written by Stuart Townend. This was our communion hymn of the week. It’s a good contemporary hymn, which will probably (and hopefully) have a long shelf-life in the universal church canon of songs.
Song: All You Saints, Adopted Ones written by Jamie Barnes and Brooks Ritter, based on Gadsby Hymn 624. We haven’t recorded this one yet, so you’ll have to come to Louisville to hear it (especially since few modern songs touch on the doctrine of adoption):
Sing to Him, enthroned on high
Who calls us sons and heirs of light,
He sent his son, the ransom for our crimes.
Should thieves or death or demons try
To cheat us of this new birth-right,
We’re safe within the First-born’s sacrifice.
Reading:
So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will die. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
-Rom 8:12-14
Song: We Are Changed written by me, Neil Robins and Dave Moisan, recorded on Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One. If you don’t own our record, you can listen to “We Are Changed” in its entirety here.
And as announced last week, we’re releasing Volume Two of the Isaac Project — a 12 song album — nationwide on Tuesday, April 26. If you’re in Louisville, you can be among the first to pick up a copy of the CD at our Good Friday service, 7pm on the 22nd at Memorial Auditorium, downtown.
Benediction:
This week be reminded that God has given us His Son, Jesus, the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our inheritance as children of God. Go in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you.
