Sermon Cloud

Confession

Pastor: Let’s affirm our need for Christ. Let us renounce our own righteousness. Do you deeply sense your need of God's grace in Christ?

People: we acknowledge a deep sense of our need. We see ourselves as sinners in need of a Savior. The spirit of God has awakened us and shown us our need for Christ. 

Is there no hope of escaping out of this wretched state? We are but dead, if we continue as we are. What may we do to be saved?"

Pastor: being made aware of our sin and its danger, we look for help and deliverance, but we often look everywhere else before looking to Christ.

Nothing will bring us to Christ but absolute necessity. We try to forsake our sins through prayers, and sermons, and sacraments, searching for salvation.

But all of these, though they are needed in their places, cannot save in and of themselves. Our determination cannot help us; in fact, it may reflect the source of our sin.

Ritual alone cannot help; these are but empty vessels. They tell us, "You knock at a wrong door; salvation is not in us."

Can we now utterly despair of our own goodness, or do we trust in anything but Christ?
 

Supplication

People: Lord, be merciful to us. What shall we do? We dare not remain as we are, and we are tired of trying to do it alone.

Our praying alone will not help us. Our hearing alone will not help us. If we give everything we have to the poor, or give up our bodies to be burned, all this would not save our souls.  What shall we do?

Pastor: we must let our sins go. We must let our own goodness go. Christ came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came to seek and to save them that are lost.

Friends, will you now trust Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and has provided everything needed for our forgiveness?

All: Lord Jesus, here we are, lost creatures, sinners against God, under his wrath and curse. Jesus, undertake for us, reconcile us to God, and save our souls.

You have promised not to refuse us, for we have nowhere else to go. If we had come in our own righteousness, you may well have sent us away; but since we come at the command of the Father, and because of your great love, we know you will not reject us.

We come, Lord. We believe, Lord. We throw ourselves upon your grace and mercy. We believe in your blood that was shed on the cross. On you we will trust, and rest. On you we lay our hope for forgiveness, for life, and for salvation.

Prayer: [leader]

Jesus invited us into this covenant relationship with God. Nowhere is that more evident than when Jesus invites us to pray the prayer we have come to call, "the Lord's payer."

It is a community prayer. We pray our Father recognizing that he has drawn us to himself as a people.

It expresses our desire together to see God's kingdom revealed among us - and so let us pray together:

Insert Lord’s Prayer

Commitment

Pastor: we now yield ourselves to the Lord. As his servants, we must give up the control of ourselves to Christ.

The Apostle Paul instructed us, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey it evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness,

But rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law but under grace."

All: we are yours, Lord. We worship you. We dedicate ourselves to your service.

Pastor: in so giving ourselves to the Lord, we affirm that we will heartily embrace what he has appointed us to do, both as a church and as individuals.

Let him appoint you to your work. Christ has many services to be done; some are more easy and honorable, others more difficult and menial.

Some are suitable to our inclinations and interest; others are contrary to both. In some we may please Christ and please ourselves, as when he requires us to feed and clothe ourselves.

Indeed, there are some spiritual duties that are more pleasing than others; as to rejoice in the Lord, to be a blessing and praising God.

These are the sweet works of a Christian. But then there are other works, in which to please Christ is to deny ourselves.

Find what it is that Christ expects of you and then give yourselves totally to his will, without bargaining and without reservation.

All: make us what you will, Lord, and send us where we are to go.  Whether it be a place of high honor or unnoticed ministry, we are your servants. 

Let us be vessels of silver or gold, or vessels of wood or stone; as long as we are vessels of honor we are content.

If we are not the head, or the eye, or the ear, one of the nobler and more honorable instruments, then let us be the hands, or the feet, as one of the lowest and least esteemed of all the servants of our Lord.

Pastor: Lord, place us in your kingdom in the roles you have designed for us.

People: Lord, make all of us your servants.

Pastor: in exalted places, or humble places.

People: let us be full; let us be empty.

Pastor: let us have all things; let us have nothing.

People: we freely and gladly embrace our places in your kingdom.

Covenant Requirements

Pastor: the commitment to Christ we have just expressed is the essence of discipleship. When we have laid all our hopes upon Christ, casting ourselves wholly upon the merits of his righteousness; when we have with understanding, given ourselves to him; then we are Christians indeed, and not until then. His people are a willing people. He will be all in all, or he will be nothing.

The Covenant

Pastor: and now let us confirm our commitment by a solemn covenant to him.

What would it take for us to make a covenant with God? What would it mean for us to commit ourselves to his plan for our lives in 2007?

First, it would mean the forgiveness of our sins and the constant realization of our continual need of the grace of God in our lives.

Second, it would mean a resolve in our own lives to live as disciples of our Lord, forgoing our own selfish motivations and living in our world as servant to others in the name of God.

Finally, it would mean not trusting in our own strength and abilities, but anchoring in the source of our strength and abilities . . . God himself.

God is here in a very real way. His presence is here to give evidence of his promises to us. Can you trust him? Let us pray together.

Directed prayer:

-thanks for what he offers

-show you the barriers to allowing him to be in control.

-show you the freedom of letting him be fully in control of your life.

-commit it to him.

Invitation to the table: [leader]                Thankful - steps

2 Worship songs during communion

The Lord's Supper

Pronouncement of forgiveness: [leader]
 

Blessing

All: and now receive glory, o God, from your children. Thank you for the privilege of calling you Father.

And glory be to the Son, who has loved us and washed our sins in his own blood, and has now become our savior and redeemer.

And glory to the Spirit, who by his mighty power has turned our hearts from sin to God. You, God, have now become our covenant-friend, and through your unlimited grace we are your covenant-servants.

Pastor: and now may the covenant we have made on earth be sealed in heaven. And may God enable you to live faithfully before him. The peace of the Christ be with you all. Amen