MAY 5, 2024

Prelude     The Love of God          arr. Marianne Kim

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell.

Welcome and Greeting

Preparation of Our Hearts

Call to Worship     Based on Psalm 108:1-4

Our hearts are ready, O Lord,

 our hearts are ready!

We will sing and make melody!

 We will awaken the dawn!

We will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples,

 we will sing praises to you among the nations.

For your steadfast love is great above the heavens,

 and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Psalm     # 149     Sing Praise to the Lord          (Gray Psalter Hymnal)

Prayer of Confession          Front of Gray Psalter Hymnal

Psalter     Psalm 82     (NRSVUE)          Sue Young

1God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:

2“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?

3Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.

4Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

5They have neither knowledge nor understanding; they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6I say, “You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;

7nevertheless, you shall die like mortals and fall like any prince.”

8Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you!

Prayer for Illumination

Old Testament Reading     Exodus 7:1-7   

       7 The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. 3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring my people the Israelites, company by company, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.” 6Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them. 7Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

Congregation: Thanks be to God for His Word.

Anthem     Just As I Am

Just as I am, without one plea

But that thy blood was shed for me

And that thou bidd’st me come to thee

O Lamb of God, I come

Just as I am, and waiting not

To rid my soul of one dark blot

To thee whose blood can cleanse each spot

O Lamb of God, I come

Just as I am, thou wilt receive

Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve

Because thy promise I believe

O Lamb of God, I come

I hear that welcome voice

That calls me, Lord, to thee

For cleansing in the precious blood

That flowed on Calvary

I am coming, Lord, to thee

Wash me, cleanse me, in the blood

That flowed on Calvary

Just as I am, thy love unknown

Has broken ev’ry barrier down

Now to be thine, yea, thine alone

O Lamb of God

O Lamb of God, I come

Children’s Sermon

Hymn     Insert     O Wondrous Love          (Gray Psalter Hymnal)

New Testament Reading     John 10:22-42

       22At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me, 26but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. 27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”

       31The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” 33The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human, are making yourself God.” 34Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled—36can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. 38But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.

       40He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. 41Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42And many believed in him there.

Sermon          Pastor Andrew Winter