Sunday Morning Worship Service, March 22, 2020
Beloved Congregation of Seacrest,
We will be open for worship services this Sunday at 9:00, 10:30 and 5:00, limited to groups of 50. Please use your best judgment as to whether you choose to attend or whether you choose to worship at home. Whether you are at church or at home, remember that the Lord’s Day is to be kept holy to the Lord.
If you choose to worship at home, we will be providing on the Web-site, www.seacrestchurch.com, a worship service format that you can follow both for the morning and the evening worship services. So whether we are together or apart, we will be worshipping the Lord our God in unity, joining in a chorus of praise to God.
You do not have to use this format, God did not prescribe a fixed format for worship. But we believe the following elements ought to be present in our worship and we hope that this format will prove to be a helpful tool. The goal of our worship is the glory of God.
Call to Worship: On your own, or together with your family, read the call to worship. You may find it beneficial to read it out loud. Let the words of the Scripture draw your heart and mind near to God.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever (Psalm 146:1-6 ESV)
Invocation: Spend a few minutes in prayer. The word invocation comes from a Latin word invocare which means to call upon or to appeal to. So in the invocation, we call upon our Father (Matthew 6:9), acknowledging that He is God, confessing that we trust Him. Ask Him to lead you by his Spirit in worship through the intercession of Jesus Christ.
Sing: Singing is an important part of worship. God desires it, (Psalm 96:1-2). We will be including the words of several familiar hymns. I urge you to lift up your voice and Sing to the Lord, bless his name, tell of his salvation from day to day.
My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
By Edward Mote
Great My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus name
[Chorus]
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
[Chorus]
His oath His covenant His blood
Support me in the ‘whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
[Chorus]
When He shall come with trumpet sound
O may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne
[Chorus]
Prayer: Take time for extended prayer. Don’t forget, prayer is talking with God just as you would talk with an earthly parent who loves you, (See Matthew 6:9-15). There is a model that God’s people have used for may years that gives a helpful outline for your prayer. It has been called the ACTS Model: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.
- Adoration: Begin your time of prayer by praising God. Praise Him for who he is and for all that he has done. (See Psalm 150 for an example)
- Confession: Confession is the act of agreeing with God about the things that we have done wrong. It is acknowledging what we have done that is displeasing to God. It includes things done, and things left undone. It includes our words, thoughts and actions. Confess them and ask God to forgive you. Be assured of his promise: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 Jn. 1:9 ESV)
- Thanksgiving: Take time to be thankful to God. Sometimes in times of crisis such as these we forget to thank God for his many blessings. Thank him for your salvation, for his steadfast love, for his protection, his peace and provision, for our Seacrest Church family, to suggest a few things.
- Supplication: This is when you pray regarding your needs and the needs of others. Prayer for your family, your friends, your pastor, elders and deacons, missionaries, those who are ill. Pray for the spread of the gospel, and the building up of followers of Christ. This is also a time when you would pray concerning what is going on in the world, praying for those in authority, the Coronavirus pandemic. This is also a time to pray for God’s guidance, wisdom, protection, and opportunities to serve Him.
Give: God calls upon his people to give at least a tithe of our income and other offerings to the work of the Lord through the Church of Jesus Christ. By doing so we acknowledge that God is the Lord of our life, and that all that we have has come from his hand. We have recently made available Online Giving at Seacrest. You can do so by going to https://seacrest.breezechms.com/give/online, and following the directions.
Scripture Reading: We will be posting the Scripture passage that the sermon will be drawn from. Don’t forget, as I have often reminded you, God speaks most directly to his people when His Word is read. Take your time as you read the Scripture. You may find it helpful to read it out loud, (See Psalm 1).
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thess. 4:13-18 ESV)
Sermon: Pastor Randy and Pastor Jay will continue to prepare and preach sermons for each Lord’s day. They will be taped and put on the Web-Site for you to be able to listen. They will be the same sermon that is being preached at the church. There are archives on the web-site of previous sermons that you may listen to as well, (See Romans 16:25-27).
Click HERE to listen to the sermon.
The Text is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
The Title: Waiting for Jesus: A Call to Hope
Pray: Pray for your understanding of God’s Word and for wisdom and ability to believe what the Word of God says we should believe, and to do what the Word of God says we should do.
Sing: Close your time of worship with prayer.
How Great Thou Art
By Stuart K. Hine
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed:
[Chorus]
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee;
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze;
[Chorus]
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
[Chorus]
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
[Chorus]
We will post the Sunday Worship Service on the Web-site on Friday for your use on the Lord’s Day.
Please remember that you are deeply loved by God, (see Romans 8:35-39) and by us, (see Philippians 1:3-10). If you have particular needs, prayer requests, ideas, or just want to talk, I can be reached either at the church (561) 276-5533, or on my cell phone (561) 704-8333. If you would like a pastoral visit, please call and we will be happy to set up a time to get together.
May the Lord bless you during these difficult days!
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