WORSHIPING TOGETHER – Sunday August 30, 2020
We pray that you were encouraged by the Live Stream Video (YouTube) and Pastor Dale’s message, Undivided Hope. We are excited to be live streaming as it brings us one step closer to meeting in person. We want to thank all of those who helped prepare for and participated in this week’s service. We are so grateful for your contributions.
As you continue to worship together in your online and household groups, we offer the following as a guide:
Opening Prayer: (Read by a Single Voice)
Gracious Lord, we come before you today grateful for the hope that you offer. We know that it was at a great cost and there are times when we take that for granted. Forgive us in our apathy and our divided hearts. We pray that we become a people who boast of your grace and hope. When fear threatens to overcome us, we pray that we will seek your hope to overcome it. When we are suffering, help us to remember your hope and in remembering, experience your joy and comfort. We pray for hearts that are undivided, hoping only in you and your great promises, that through your grace and our faith, salvation is ours. In giving our hearts and our yeses to you, we will experience your love, know your peace, and live eternally in the glory of your hope. Our grateful hearts sing out our praises to you. Let your kingdom come. Amen.
Reading Scripture: (Take Turns Reading)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV).
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:1-5 (ESV).
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23 (ESV).
Checking In:
- What does it mean to you to live a life consumed by the hope offered by God?
- How have you been blessed by God’s hope?
Close in prayer for one another and then with these words: (Read by a Single Voice)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Amen. Romans 15:13 (ESV)