Lord’s Supper at Grace EV Free from April 3, 2011
LEADER:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
into this grace in which we now stand.
CONGREGATION:
And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
LEADER:
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering
produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope.
CONGREGATION:
And hope does not put us to shame,
because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit,
who has been given to us.
LEADER:
You see, at just the right time,
when we were still powerless,
Christ died for the ungodly.
CONGREGATION:
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person,
though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
LEADER:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
CONGREGATION:
Since we have now been justified by his blood,
how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
LEADER:
For if, while we were God’s enemies,
we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled,
shall we be saved through his life!
CONGREGATION:
Not only is this so,
but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:1-11
Song: Jesus What A Friend For Sinners
Jesus What A Friend For Sinners 20110403 from Grace EV Free on Vimeo.
PRAYER
Jesus, you are the best possible friend a sinner could ever have. You proved once and for all your love for us on the cross, by reconciling us back to God.
Now you live to intercede for us to that same God, and we are blessed by riding on your coattails. You’ve called us your brothers, you’ve made us family, we are heirs to unbelievable and unending promises, and life everlasting.
Father, may this hour not pass without drawing upon the bank of heaven for more grace, and may we see this table set before us as a feast that you can’t wait for us to partake of.
With joy may we draw water from the wells of salvation here in this place. If we are here tonight unaware of our thirst and hunger, may we look steadfastly at your cross until it begins to dawn on us just what Christ has accomplished for us.
Jesus, we need your intercession, we need your upholding, your sanctification; we need you to work all your works in us, preserving us until the day of your appearing. May this table serve as a reminder, not only of the past events of the cross and the atonement, but of our present need for grace. And may our hope for that marriage supper of the Lamb be energized as we dine here in this room with the bread and the cup, among fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Lead us and guide us we ask. Amen.
CHILD DEDICATIONS
Ric Rodeheaver
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25
VERSE 1
In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:3-6
VERSE 2
In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live
If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.
But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:14-19
VERSE 3
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
What more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection.
Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.
They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them.
They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. Hebrew 11:32-38
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39
VERSE 4
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life?s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand
COMMUNION MEDITATION
Jerrel Haugen
THE PASSING OF THE BREAD AND CUP
Calvary’s Holy Mountain
Rock Of Ages
MEDIA SHOUT
How do you mean to live? With these precious things about you, do you intend to live like a beggar? I mean, will you be sinful, low, groveling, worldly?
Oh, rise to your rank, and as you are so ennobled, walk as becomes saints! Is Jesus Christ precious to you? Then serve Him with your best, give Him your precious things, give Him your lives, give Him your substance, give Him all that you have. Do not give the Redeemer your odds and ends, such as you can afford to give without knowing it.
Say, ‘He died to give me Himself. I will give Him myself in return.’ . . . Go and live like those who are rich to all the intents of bliss, and let your cheerful, your godly, your self-denying example be a protest to the unbelieving sons of men that you know the preciousness of Christ.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon
BENEVOLENT OFFERING
My God How Wonderful You Are
FAMILY TIME
Tribute to Sheila Massey
Thanks to the musicians: Walt Harrah, Marla Bustad, Cynthe Burbidge, Laurel McMillan, and our Grace Congregation.
Lyrics: Ethan Bustad
Live Sound: HK Maynard
Live Video: Marlin Gramenz
Record and mix: Brian Petersen