Home Church How-To:

If possible, we encourage you to please gather with those in your home community to read, pray, and sing aloud to one another, following the exhortation of Colossians 3:16, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

• Before 10:15am, please prepare the elements for communion to eat and drink.
• At 10:15am, begin by reading the Call To Worship, followed by a prayer of thanksgiving.
• Sing the songs and read the readings below. Feel free to take turns reading if you're gathered with multiple people.
• Although we are not all under one roof, your financial support towards gospel-work is critical. Please consider giving online. You may do so by clicking HERE.
• Listen to Pastor Israel's sermon, followed by a song of praise.
• Feel free to discuss and pray together.
• If you have not done so, please sign up for Branch Groups (virtual Branch Groups for now) by clicking HERE.
• For Twigs curriculum (children), you can click HERE for a step-by-step lesson plan along with the materials to download. 

Call To Worship

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful

songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of

his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his

name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all

generations.

Psalm 100

Song

Lenten Reading

The Cost of Riches

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him,

“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not

commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”

And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you

still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,

follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus,

seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom

of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the

kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible

with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he

said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or

children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the

age to come eternal life.” And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and

everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be

delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after

flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things.

This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Luke 18:18-34

Prayer Reading

“Paradoxes,” – Valley of Vision

O Changeless God,

Under the conviction of thy Spirit I learn that the more I do, the worse I am,

the more I know, the less I know,

the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am, the more I love, the more there is to love.

O wretched man that I am! O Lord,

I have a wild heart,

and cannot stand before thee;

I am like a bird before a man.

How little I love thy truth and ways! I neglect prayer,

by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly,

by knowing thou hast saved my soul. Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be

an evangelical hypocrite,

who sins more safely because grace abounds,

who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood cleanseth them, who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell,

for he is saved,

who loves evangelical preaching, churches, Christians, but lives unholily.

My mind is a bucket without a bottom, with no spiritual understanding,

no desire for the Lord’s Day,

ever learning but never reaching the truth, always at the gospel-well but never holding water.

My conscience is without conviction or contrition, with nothing to repent of.

My will is without power of decision or resolution. My heart is without affection, and full of leaks. My

memory has no retention,

so I forget easily the lessons learned,

and thy truths seep away.

Give me a broken heart that yet carries home the water of grace.

Song

Confession

We have sinned times without number. There exists in us remnants of the sinful nature so that even our

finest works are stained with sin. God’s people are called to come before the Searcher of hearts and

confess their sins. One way we do this together is by corporate confession:

Prayer

God of grace, we confess that we have elevated the things of this world above you. We have made idols

of possessions and people and used your name for causes that are not consistent with you and your

purposes. We have permitted our schedules to come first and have not taken the time to worship you. We

have not always honored those who guided us in life. We have participated in systems that take life

instead of give it. We have been unfaithful in our covenant relationships. We have yearned for, and

sometimes taken, that which is not ours, and we have misrepresented others’ intentions. Forgive us, O

God, for the many ways we fall short of your glory. Help us to learn to live together according to your

ways through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen

Assurance

By faith, all of our sins have been laid on Christ. If we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just and

will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Scripture reading

Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow;

though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

Isaiah 1:18

Communion

Brothers and sisters, this table is for you who have been forgiven of your sins through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus gave this sacred tradition to us, his church. Do not think that you can only come forward if you are perfect. You cannot come perfect. Jesus alone is your perfection. So you are invited to come broken, but hopeful, believing and repenting.

If you are not a Christian, the bread and the cup is not something you should receive. Only those who have received Jesus should receive communion. We encourage you to use this as a time to consider the offer of forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus holds out to all who are willing to receive Him. Place your hope in Him. You might not come forward for communion today, but you can come to Jesus today and find eternal life, which is what all of this is about.

“23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Online Giving

During this time we worship with our tithes and offerings to the Lord. We give regularly. We give sacrificially. We give cheerfully. We give and it reminds us that The Lord has given us all that we have. He gives us our very breath today. We look forward and trust that The Lord will do good things for His people and through His people to His Glory. We give and it supports our local mission and the missions we support through our church networks. Click Here to give now. 

Song

Please sing along to this song as a means of praying, and preparing your heart for the reading and

preaching of God’s word.

Sermon

Song

Benediction