WORSHIPING TOGETHER – Sunday September 6, 2020
We pray that you were encouraged by the Live Stream Video (YouTube) and the message, My Sheep Hear My Voice, shared by Pastor Dale. 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)
Lord, our Shepherd, we come before you today with open ears, help us to hear your word for us today and always. We are your sheep and we desire to follow you. We know that you, alone, will not lead us astray. You will guide us and protect us, but we need to listen to your voice and not to the voices that sneak in and try to steal us away. We are grateful for your patience with us when we stray, and we are thankful for God’s Spirit who helps us to listen for and to you. You offer so much more than the world. You offer rest, peace, favour, and a way forward in these troubling and uncertain times. Lead us. We are yours. Amen.
Reading Scripture: (Take Turns Reading)
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them [spirits], because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 1 John 4: 4-6 (NIV)
10 And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. 11 Go now to your people in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ whether they listen or fail to listen.” Ezekiel 3:10-11 (NIV)
4 Make me to know
your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long. Psalms 25:4-5 (ESV)
Checking In:
- Pastor Dale shared five ways to hear the voice of God (cultivate an attentive heart, allocate time to listen, eliminate the false voices, nurture an obedient spirit, and keep a soft spirit), discuss ways to develop these in your life.
Close in prayer for one another and then with these words: (Read by a Single Voice)
20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21 (NIV).