FEBRUARY 18, 2024

Prelude     How Beautiful          Twyla Paris, arr. Lloyd Larson

Welcome and Greeting

Preparation of Our Hearts

Call to Worship 

Hymn     # 412     Jesus Shall Reign          (Gray Psalter Hymnal)

Confession of Sin & Assurance of Pardon        

       Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen

Psalter     Psalm 25:1-10     (NRSVUE)          Kris Stith

1To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

2O my God, in you I trust; do not let me be put to shame; do not let my enemies exult over me.

3Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame; let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

4Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.

5Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.

6Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. 

7Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

8Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way.

10All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.

Prayer for Illumination                

Old Testament Reading     Deuteronomy 18:15-22

       15“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. 16This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17Then the Lord replied to me, ‘They are right in what they have said. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. 19Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 20But any prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21You may say to yourself, ‘How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?’ 22If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God for His Word.

Special Music     Everybody Come and See          Faith Youth Choir

Everybody come and see,

God loves kids like you and me.

He won’t push us far away,

In His love He’ll let us stay.

Don’t you think it’s great to know that God loves you and me,

In His Holy Word, He says He always will.

He knows everything about me, even knows my name.

When I make mistakes, He loves me still.

I will sing a thank you song,

Maybe you can sing along.

Thank you God for loving me.

Loving me so perfectly.

​Don’t you think it’s great to know that God loves you and me,

In His Holy Word, He says He always will.

He knows everything about me, even knows my name.

When I make mistakes, He loves me still.

​

​

Hymn     Insert     Here Is Love

​

New Testament Reading     John 5:31-46

       31“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

       39“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41I do not accept glory from humans. 42But I know that you do not have the love of God in you.  43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.

Sermon          Pastor Andrew Winter