Faith Means Preparedness

October 1, 2023
Pastor Jacob Lee
Worship

Service of Worship

Aria “Art Thou With Me” BWV 508
J.S. Bach
Public Domain

Leader: Come! Now is the time to worship!
People: We come to worship God who loves us.
Leader: When the Israelites grumbled and quarreled when there was no water to drink, God miraculously produced water to show them God’s faithfulness and love.
People: When we question and accuse God, God responds by showing us love.
Leader: When the chief priests and elders questioned Jesus’ authority, Jesus answered them with a story about the righteousness of doing God’s will instead of paying lip service to God’s will.
People: When we test and interrogate God, God responds by pointing us back to love.
Leader: By answering our quarreling and questioning with love, God teaches us how to love God, neighbor, self, and all creation.
People: When we love as God loves, we respond to testing and accusing by living the faith and sharing God’s love.
Leader: Come! Now is the time to worship!
People: We come to worship God who loves us for the long haul.

(Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries)

Prayer of Confession (spoken in unison)
Loving God, we confess that we struggle to forgive, and we struggle to create space for forgiveness to happen. We rush ourselves to excuse the harmful speech and actions of others as a way of suppressing instead of honestly naming the hurt we have experienced. We expect others to pardon our faults without also attending to our own need to repent. We demand forgiveness from others instead of recognizing forgiveness as a gift we give to one another and that we receive from you. We wield forgiveness as a weapon instead of a bridge that brings us back together. Forgive us, we pray, and free us to joyfully extend mercy and grace to one another, to set and respect boundaries with one another, and to receive from you the love and wisdom we need to grow as the community of Christ. Amen.

(Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries)

Staff Recognition

Opening Hymn — #98 “To God Be the Glory” (vss. 1, 2, 3)

1. To God be the glory,
great things he hath done!
So loved he the world
that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life
an atonement for sin,
and opened the life-gate
that all may go in.

Refrain
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father
thru Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory,
great things he hath done!

2. O perfect redemption,
the purchase of blood,
to every believer
the promise of God;
the vilest offender
who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus
a pardon receives.

Refrain

3. Great things he hath taught us,
great things he hath done,
and great our rejoicing
thru Jesus the Son;
but purer, and higher,
and greater will be
our wonder, our transport,
when Jesus we see.

Refrain

To God Be The Glory
Fanny Jane Crosby | William Howard Doane
Public Domain

Holy Communion, The United Methodist Hymnal, page 15

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

…The pastor concludes:
And so,
with your people on earth
and all the company of heaven
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

…The pastor concludes:
And so,
in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.

The pastor concludes:
All honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and for ever.
now and for ever.

Amen.

Pastor’s Time With the Children – Rev. Jacob Lee

Joys and Concerns, Pastoral Prayer, Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and glory forever. Amen.

For those who are called and able, gifts and tithes can still be made through online giving, by mailing them in, and by dropping them off to the office through the secure mail slot to the left of the double door entry to the church hallway.

Offertory – Hani

When We All Get To Heaven
Arr. Greg Howlett
© 2017 Greg Howlett Productions
Pending Approval

Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (Old 100th)
Louis Bourgeois | Thomas Ken
Public Domain

Offertory Prayer

Holy God of infinite patience and grace, we bring our offerings today knowing that our actions too often don’t live up to our intentions and aspirations. When calling ourselves Christians, we announce ourselves as followers of Christ, knowing how many times our choices have made us unrecognizable as his disciples. Yet you wait patiently for us to find our way back to the path. May our giving this day and our living reflect our desire to be on the path that would be recognized as faithful to the Savior, in whose blessed name we pray. Amen.

(Matthew 21:23-32)

Scripture Readings — Judges 7:1-8, 15-25 (NRSV)

1 Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the troops that were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was north of them, belowa the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

2 The LORD said to Gideon, “The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ 3 Now therefore proclaim this in the hearing of the troops, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home.’” Thus Gideon sifted them out;a twenty-two thousand returned, and ten thousand remained.

4 Then the LORD said to Gideon, “The troops are still too many; take them down to the water and I will sift them out for you there. When I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; and when I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” 5 So he brought the troops down to the water; and the LORD said to Gideon, “All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, you shall put to one side; all those who kneel down to drink, putting their hands to their mouths,a you shall put to the other side.” 6 The number of those that lapped was three hundred; but all the rest of the troops knelt down to drink water. 7 Then the LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred that lapped I will deliver you, and give the Midianites into your hand. Let all the others go to their homes.” 8 So he took the jars of the troops from their hands,a and their trumpets; and he sent all the rest of Israel back to their own tents, but retained the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

15 When Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped; and he returned to the camp of Israel, and said, “Get up; for the LORD has given the army of Midian into your hand.” 16 After he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars, 17 he said to them, “Look at me, and do the same; when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. 18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”

19 So Gideon and the hundred who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. 20 So the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” 21 Every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the men in camp ran; they cried out and fled. 22 When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah,a as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. 23 And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after the Midianites.

24 Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against the Midianites and seize the waters against them, as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were called out, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah, and also the Jordan. 25 They captured the two captains of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the wine press of Zeeb, as they pursued the Midianites. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

The Word of the Lord:
Thanks be to God.

Choral Anthem — Chancel Choir

The Servant Song
Richard Gillard
© 1977 Universal Music – Brentwood Benson Publishing
Used with Permission. CCLI License # 656051

Sermon — Rev. Jacob S. Lee
“Faith Means Preparedness”

Closing Hymn — #430 “O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee” (v. 1, 3, 4)

1. O Master, let me walk with thee
in lowly paths of service free;
tell me thy secret; help me bear
the strain of toil, the fret of care.

3. Teach me thy patience; still with thee
in closer, dearer company,
in work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
in trust that triumphs over wrong;

4. In hope that sends a shining ray
far down the future’s broadening way,
in peace that only thou canst give,
with thee, O Master, let me live.

O Master Let Me Walk With Thee (Maryton)
Henry Percy Smith | Washington Gladden
Public Domain

Benediction

Postlude – Hani