The Promises Of God: Worship at Grace from June 20, 2010

The Promises of God
The worship script from Grace EV Free La Mirada on June 20, 2010.

“Ethics (motivation based on ideas of right and wrong ) we can manage on our own. We can even observe biblical ethics to keep God at a safe distance. But if our hearts are believing the promises of God, we cannot say no to him. We yield to him. We suffer dislocation in this world for his sake. We feel the ground shifting under our feet and we don’t panic. Nothing seems stable, but we accept that. We surrender to God. Drawn on toward his promises, we start changing.”
Ray Ortlund Jr.

May the Lord draw us to his promises today, and may faith spring alive as a result. Let’s start with the promise that the love of God will never fail us. It is constant, it never fails, and is with us forever.

Congregational Reading

LEADER:
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!

CONGREGATION:
His love endures forever!

LEADER:
Let Israel say:

CONGREGATION:
His love endures forever!

LEADER:
Let the house of Aaron say:

CONGREGATION:
His love endures forever!

LEADER:
Let those who fear the LORD say:

CONGREGATION:
His love endures forever!
PSALM 118:1-4

Song: Forever

Song: You Are Good

Prayer
Eternal Father, you never had a beginning.
You will never have an ending.
You are the Alpha and the Omega.
This we believe, because you have revealed it to us.
Our hearts leap up with gratitude that you have opened our eyes to see and know that Jesus Christ is your eternal, divine Son, begotten, not made, and that you, O Father, and he, your Son, are one God.
We tremble even to take such glorious truths on our lips for fear of dishonoring you with withering and inadequate words. But we must speak, because we must praise you.
Silence would shame us, and the rocks themselves would cry out. You must be praised for who you are in the world you have made.
And we must thank you for you have made us taste and see the glory of Jesus Christ, your Son.
Oh, to know him! Father, we long to know him.
Banish from our minds low thoughts of Christ.
Saturate our souls with the Spirit of Christ and all his greatness.
Enlarge our capacities to be satisfied in all that you are for us in him.
Reveal to us the Christ, and rivet our attention and our affections on the truth and beauty of your all-glorious Son.
And grant that whether rich or poor, sick or sound, we might be transformed by him and become an echo of his excellence in the world. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN.
(Piper SEEING AND SAVORING p. 32)

So what other promises have we to claim this morning? Paul gave some advice to Timothy, reminding him that….
….the holy Scriptures
were able to make him
wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
1 Timothy 3:15-17

The following hymn speaks of the foundation of promises we have that are found in the Holy Scriptures. Let’s let some of these promises wash over us and awaken our faith as we sing.

Song: How Firm A Foundation

Prayer
Promises of God from the Congregation

Prayer
Lord, we have the word of the prophets made more certain, because the passing centuries have tested and proven Scripture to be true again and again, in the face of fierce and relentless critics.
Help us to pay attention to it – to read it and then to heed it. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. May it have authority in our lives, and unseat any other rivals voices.
Help us to see that it is our one true and unique light source that exposes the darkness of our hearts and chases it away, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.
Give us an appreciation of the uniqueness of Scripture, that it is not mere imaginations of man, but that these authors are speaking your words as they are being carried along by the Holy Spirit.
May the promises we come across be like wind in our sails, renewing and reviving our faith day by day as we place our trust in you, whatever life throws at us. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now And Forever

Offering

Forever With The Lord
Montgomery/Harrah
©2008 Seedsower Music ASCAP

Verse 1
Forever with Lord,
Amen! So let it be!
Life from His death!
We live in hope of immortality.
Here in this body spent,
I with creation groan,
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day’s march nearer home.

Verse 2
My Father’s house on high
Invades this earthly sphere,
By means of faith’s foreseeing eye
Those golden gates appear;
And then my spirit faints
To reach that land I love,
The bright inheritance of saints,
Jerusalem above.

Verse 3
Clouds form to intervene
And all my prospect flies,
Like Noah’s dove,
I flit between rough seas and stormy skies;
In time the clouds depart,
The winds and waters cease,
And there above my gladdened heart
Expands the bow of peace.

Verse 4
Forever with the Lord!
Forever in His will!
The promise of that faithful word,
Lord, here in me fulfill;
With you at my right hand,
Then I shall never fail,
Uphold me, Lord, and I shall stand,
Through grace I will prevail.

Verse 5
So when my latest breath
Breaks through the veil of pain,
By death, I shall escape from death
And life eternal gain;
That resurrection word,
That shout of victory,
Once more, “Forever with the Lord!
Amen! So let it be!”

Sermon: Dave Talley

Lord’s Supper

We Remember You

Song: Jesus Paid It All
The Lamb of God was slain for me
Upon that cross at Calvary
Atoning for my sins he died
Then raised to life, was glorified
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

A child of God by His design
Now I am His and He is mine
Saved by His grace, held by His love
All praise to Him who reigns above
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus