I am Jesus’ little lamb; Ever glad at heart I am,
For my Shepherd gently guides me,
Knows my needs and well provides me,
Loves me ev’ry day the same,
Even calls me by my name.
Day by day, at home, away, Jesus is my staff and stay.
When I hunger, Jesus feeds me,
Into pleasant pastures leads me;
When I thirst He bids me go
Where the quiet waters flow.
Who so happy as I am, Even now the Shepherd’s lamb?
And when my short life is ended,
By His angel hosts attended,
He shall fold me to His breast,
There within His arms to rest.
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all Your purposes for Your glory.
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.
When peace, like a river, attended my way,
When sorrows, like sea billows, roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Chorus: It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control:
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul. Chorus:
My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! Chorus:
And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul. Chorus:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see!
The Lord has promised good to me; His Word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come;
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, Than when we’d first begun.
Jesus, Your blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
Bold shall I stand in that great day
Who can a word against me say?
Fully through You absolved I am,
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.
Lord, I believe your precious blood,
Which at the very throne of God
Forever will for sinners plead,
For me – e’en for my soul – was shed.
Lord, I believe were sinners more,
Than sands upon the ocean shore,
You have for all a ransom paid,
For all a full atonement made.
When from the dust of death I rise,
To claim my mansion in the skies,
E’en then this shall be all my plea:
Jesus has lived and died for me.
Jesus, be worshipped endlessly!
Your boundless mercy has for me,
For me and all your hands have made,
An everlasting ransom paid.
O Church, arise and put your armor on;
Hear the call of Christ our captain.
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We’ll stand against the devil‘s lies;
An army bold whose battle cry is love,
Reaching out to those in darkness.
Our call to war - to love the captive soul,
But to rage against the captor;
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on ev’ry side,
We know the outcome is secure,
And Christ will have the prize for which He died-
An inheritance of nations.
Come see the cross, where love and mercy meet,
As the Son of God is stricken;
Then see his foes lie crushed beneath his feet,
For the Conqueror has risen!
And as the stone is rolled away,
And Christ emerges from the grave,
This vict’ry march continues till the day.
Ev’ry eye and heart shall see Him.
So Spirit come, put strength in ev’ry stride,
Give grace for ev’ry hurdle,
That we may run with faith to win the prize,
Of a servant good and faithful.
As saints of old still line the way,
Retelling triumphs of His grace,
We hear their calls and hunger for the day.
When with Christ we stand in glory.
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”
10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
INVOCATION
Pastor: We worship this morning in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Congregation: Amen.
OPENING SENTENCES
P: Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.
C: For true and just are His judgments
P: Praise our God, all you His servants,
C: You who fear Him both small and great
P: For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
C: Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!
PRAYER
C: O God of peace, we turn aside from an unsettled world, seeking rest for our spirits, and light for our thoughts. We bring our work to be sanctified, our wounds to be healed, our sins to be forgiven, and our hopes to be renewed. In You there is perfect harmony and peace. Draw us to You and ease the tensions of our lives. Lead us out of the emptiness of this world and fill us with Your peace. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
CONFESSION OF SINS
P: Dear friends, let us approach God with a true heart and confess our sins, asking Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive us.
C: Lord of life, I confess that I am by nature dead in sin.
For faithless worrying and selfish pride,
For sins of habit and sins of choice,
For the evil I have done and the good I have failed to do
You should cast me away from Your presence forever.
O Lord, I am sorry for my sins. Forgive me, for Jesus sake.
P: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. In His great mercy, God made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our sins. Hear the word of Christ through His called servant: I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood.
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.
Chorus There is power, power, wonder working power,
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power, wonder working power,
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
PRAYER for a Life of Service
C: Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
Heavenly Father, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
In Your Son’s name, we pray. Amen.
APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God the Father, Maker of the heav’n and earth,
And in Jesus Christ, our Saviour, God’s own Son of human birth,
Virgin-born, the Lord incarnate, Whom the Spirit did conceive.
Suffered under Pontius Pilate. He’s the God whom I believe.
Crucified, was dead and buried; Down to hell in victory;
From the dead He rose the third day; Up to heav’n triumphantly.
There at God’s right hand He’s ruling. By His will the world is led.
He will come to judge the nations, Both the living and the dead.
I believe in God the Spirit, In His Church, His chosen band.
They are joined in sweet communion. Holy in His sight they stand.
I believe in sins forgiven. I believe I’ll rise again.
I believe in life eternal. Amen! Amen! Amen!
THANK OFFERING
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
(2 Corinthians 4:18)
PRAYER REQUESTS
PRAYERS
THE LORD’S PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours now and forever. Amen.
(Our prayer team is always ready to go to the throne of the Father for you.
For prayer chain requests, email prayer@livinghopereunion.church.)
P: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
P: Lift up your hearts.
C: We lift them up to the Lord.
P: Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
C: It is right to give Him thanks and praise.
P: Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In love He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ. To Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and thanks and honor and glory for ever and ever.
C: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of Your glory.
You are my God, and I will exalt You.
I will give You thanks, for You have become my salvation.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of Your glory.
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
M: Our Lord Jesus Christ on the night He was betrayed took bread, gave thanks and gave it to His disciples saying, “Take and eat. This is my body given into death for your sins.”
In the same way, He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it all of you. This is My blood of the new covenant poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of Me.”
M: The peace of the Lord be with you always.
C: Amen.
(The Scriptures teach that the celebration of the Lord’s Supper connects us intimately with Christ and with one another as Christians. To understand more about the Lord’s Supper, please visit with our pastor. He would love to talk with you about the blessings of the Lord’s Supper.)
Distribution of the Lord’s Supper
BENEDICTION
P: The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
GREET ONE ANOTHER.
ANNOUNCEMENTS