Welcome to sojournmusic.com’s weekly worship music set list review & service recap. 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. 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 this week courtesy Tom Branch, from the Midtown Campus evening services.
Call to Worship:
Welcome!
As we begin our time together, let’s be reminded: the same God that spoke everything into existence is the God that speaks to us and invites us into His presence. Let’s be reminded of the God we worship:
The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created.
He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.
He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.
Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him.
For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.
Sing a new song of praise to him and sing with joy.
For the word of the Lord holds true, and we can trust everything he does.
The unfailing love of the Lord fills the earth. - Based on Psalm 33
Song: Praise to the Lord, The Almighty written by Joachim Neander and Lobe den Herren. We use the version by Page CXVI. Incidentally, do you follow Page CXVI on Twitter? Interesting tweets — worth your time if you’re into Twitter.
Song: Awesome God (Your Voice) written by Vikki Beeching. We’ve sang this at Sojourn Gathered services for the majority of our 11-year existence. It’s a good response to God’s call to worship.
Confession
Let’s pray:
Lord, when you word brought life into existence , our sin brought death.
Lord, you spoke light into this world, but we hid from it and cowered back into darkness.
In repentance, we offer you the deep places in our hearts, the places where we feel cut off, dried up, the places where hope seems dim.
Lord, bring new life where we are worn and tired;
new love where we have turned hard-hearted;
forgiveness where we feel hurt and where we have wounded;
and the joy and freedom of your Holy Spirit where we are prisoners to sin.
Father, remind us of our new place as your children.
Jesus, remind us of your triumph over death.
Holy Spirit, breathe life into the barren places of our hearts
that we may know that you are God. Amen.
Song: Christ or Else I Die written by William Hammond and Drew Holcomb. This is a confession of our utter dependence on Christ, which went well with this week’s sermon theme, Resurrecting Grace (what many describe as the doctrine of “Total Depravity”).
All unholy and unclean, I am nothing but sin;
On thy mercy I rely; Give me Christ, or else I die.
Assurance/Passing of Peace
Hear the good news of the Gospel:
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made us alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13-14
Let us continue to celebrate this wonderful new life that God has given us as we welcome each other as family.
Giving:
We now give back to God what he has blessed us with to continue to preach God’s grace and to show grace to this city and the world. Let’s pray:
Living God, you have given us so much in Jesus Christ: hope, joy, and peace.
Above all, you have given us life! What can we give in return?
If the whole world were ours, it would not be enough.
What little we have we humbly offer to you.
We thank you for the grace you have extended in Christ Jesus.
We praise you with our whole lives. Amen.
Song: instrumental
Then our pastor preached the second weekly sermon in our PROOF series. Last week we began with “Planned Grace,” and this week we turned to “Resurrecting Grace.” You can hear Sojourn sermons in theSojourn Church iTunes podcast or in the Sermon Resource library at sojournchurch.com.
Song: Jesus Paid It All written by Elvina M. Hall and John T. Grape. This gospel standard was our communion song of the week. It’s a good congregational song due to its simplicity and strong message: “Jesus paid it all/ all to him I owe/ sin had left its crimson stain/ he washed it white as snow.”
Song: The God Who Saves written by Aaron Senseman.
There is truth in his body, raised that third day
There is joy in the stone rolled away.
There is hope pouring out of the tomb where he lay,
Pouring out, pouring over the grave.
Reading:
Here is the hope of the resurrection:
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 15:51-56
Song: Absent From Flesh written by Sojourn’s Jamie Barnes, adapted from an Isaac Watts hymn. We like this so much we recorded it twice:
- Hear the version on The Water And The Blood: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Vol. 2
- Hear the version on The Mercy Seat EP.
Benediction: As new creatures in Christ, go in hope of the resurrection and the assurance of God’s grace. Peace be with you.
