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Good morning! Happy Sunday, happy after Easter Sunday! Just a few announcements this morning. Today, after church, we will be having handbell practice down in 201. So those of you who have spoken to Angie about that, please see her and meet up with her down there.
This week is also the week we have all been a long time waiting for! It is the rummage sale. Tomorrow evening, we need all hands on deck for everybody who can help to set up tables and to bring stuff out of the room because it’s overflowing. We need lots of help! I do believe that they are gracious enough to feed us pizza from Marcos pizza, so that’s tomorrow evening at six o’clock.
I’m sure there will be some of us here who are earlier than that to get the tables out first, so if you show up around five, that’s okay too because some of us like to get things ready. Aside from that, that’s all that I have.
Carrie, good morning! I have an announcement on behalf of Jen Bakay because she’s home with some sick children. We are bringing back a long gone but very beloved tradition here at the church, and we are reinstating the young gift shop. Jen is working on getting that going and needs lots of volunteers to make that a success. It will be on December 2nd.
There is a sign-up sheet in the narthex, and if you have any questions, see Jen. Thank you so much, and see the note there in the bulletin.
Actually, Carrie, do you want to do preschool?
Yeah, I’m going to make an announcement on behalf of Ben. Now I’m just going to be everybody today. The Outreach Committee has decided to support preschool by hosting the preschool spring programs cookie reception. We will need about 500 cookies. So if you are willing to bake some, buy some, whatever you want to do, bring them in the day before, I believe that’s May 9th, and we’ll put them all out on platters for the event. Thank you so much!
And again, sign-up sheet in the narthex or talk to Ben because he needs more interpersonal interaction. He needs to see more people.
Lastly, something that’s been requested by a lot of us, both old members and newer members, is doing a photo directory. And so you’ll see a note in the bulletin here. We’ve got four dates set up to be taking pictures of everybody. This is to help all of us who’ve been here for a while get to know those who are newer and those who are new getting to know those of us who’ve been around for a while.
Those who’ve been around a while to remember who everybody else around us is. Because we all know faces, sometimes we slip on names. So it’s meant to help all of us. We will print out some nice copies after this gets done and also keep on updating it as we bring new people into the congregation.
So please, it is important to sign up in the narthex for when you plan on having your picture taken. It shouldn’t take more than five or ten minutes for each person, and we will do it either individually or as family groups, however you prefer.
So, any other announcements? Friends, seeing none, then let’s please stand and pass the Peace of Christ.
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Writes, “My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the King. My tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword on your thigh, Almighty One, in your splendor and majesty. In your majesty, ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; the peoples fall under you. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”
Here this morning, we have the opportunity, we have the pleasure to stand and sing to our God and to our King. So please, let’s stand and sing hymn number 361, ‘Worship Christ the Risen King.’
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Thank you very much.
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Let us pray.
Lord God, what a privilege it is to be in your presence. We come to worship you with love and adoration in our hearts. You alone are worthy of worship and praise. In this week after Easter, we envision you on your throne in all your resurrected glory, yet present here with us. We bow before you with joy and love in our hearts for you.
May the light of your presence soak into us as we focus our thoughts on you. In your mighty name, we pray. Amen.
You may be seated.
The call to confession comes from Psalm 45: “The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from ivory palaces, stringed instruments make you glad. Daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.”
Please join me in our corporate prayer of confession.
O Lord Jesus, our King, you are the just ruler and you are the justifier of your bride, the church! Make us worthy of your love; purify us, cleanse us of all our many sins. Let us long to be united with you, loving you as you love us. Clothe us in the splendor of your glory before all the world and all the heavenly hosts.
Favor us with the light of your countenance; bring us to yourself, to where you are according to your promise. Cause us to dwell within the courts of our heavenly Father, now and forever. We pray this in your holy name, the name of the Sovereign King. Amen.
Hear us now, Lord, as we bring you our own silent prayers of confession.
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“Daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your people and your father’s house, and the King will desire your beauty, since he is your Lord; bow to him. The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people.
All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. In many-colored robes she will be led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her. With joy and gladness, they are led along as they enter the Palace of the King.”
In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth. I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore, nations will praise you forever and ever.
See friends, this is the joy of the Gospel. We have been made clean, we have been washed, we are purified, and we are made and prepared to be the bride of Christ. We long for that day when we are united with Him in heaven to serve Him, to worship Him, and to love Him as He has first loved us.
This is the image that the psalmist evokes for us, reminding us of the promise of what we shall receive and what we have received because of all that Christ did for us on the cross, being raised from the tomb, and now having ascended to heaven to prepare a place for you, His chosen people, His bride whom He waits for.
Let us wait for Him. Amen.
Let us now continue our worship through our tithes, our gifts, and our offerings.
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Thank you.
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Blessings! Praise Him! All creatures here below! Praise Him above! O praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
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Lord, you have the whole world in your hands, and we thank you for this. You have made us, and you have given it to us to be our dwelling place. You have provided all that we have, and you give us everything that we need.
Now we come before you to return a bit of what is your own, to give it to you in thankfulness. We ask that you take these gifts, that you use them, and you multiply them. Help us to be good stewards of them, using them to further your purposes and your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You may be seated, and the kids can come down front.
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Well, good morning! I know there’s not as many of us as we often have, but we may be small, but we are mighty, and that is kind of what today’s story is about.
So we all know who King David was, right? But David wasn’t always a king. Before David was king, there was another king named Saul. And Israel had a major enemy called the Philistines. They went to war against Israel many times, and one time they came to war, and Israel was camped on one side of the valley, and the Philistines were camped on the other side.
The Philistines had a hero among them, and that hero for them was named Goliath. Goliath was a giant.
Now we’re not talking about a token-esque giant, but this was a man who was so very tall—he was over nine feet tall! He would come out and he would taunt the Israelites because, as a way to preserve life, ancient armies would sometimes send out one hero to face off against another hero and decide the whole battle that way. They didn’t have thousands and hundreds of people fighting and dying on either side, and Goliath would come out and he would talk to Israel asking them to send out a champion to send out their own hero, but nobody was willing to go out and face this nine-foot-tall giant.
Do you think you would have wanted to go out and face somebody like that? No! Yeah, he was, I’m sure, scary with all of his armor and his weapons, the sun shining off of them blinding his opponents.
Well, David’s brothers at that time were part of King Saul’s army, and his family sent David to go visit them, taking them some food and some, you know, choice things, you know, sending them a care package because David, the son, was too young to be part of the army.
When he was there, Goliath came out and was issuing his challenge. When David saw that nobody was willing to go out there and face him, David said, “I’ll do it!” David said this because he knew that the Lord God was with him. He trusted God to give the victory because Goliath was not just insulting the Israelite army; he was not just insulting King Saul; he was insulting the honor of God.
So David knew that God would defend His own honor, and in this case, he was willing to take that stand for God. So David went out! After Saul tried to give him all of his armor, none of it would fit. None of it fit right. David just went out dressed as plain as can be.
He took his couple of rocks with him; he took his little slingstone, his little sling, and he went out to face Goliath. I’m going to leave the rest of the story to the folks down in Kid Zone worship this morning.
But the important thing to remember is that David, who was surely afraid—because who wouldn’t be going out to face a giant?—he was confident, and he was willing to face his fear because he was depending on and trusting God.
Let’s pray.
Holy Father, we thank you for the assurance faith and trust in you gives us. Give us the strength to go out and face the giants that are arrayed against us, the giants that stand up and stand against you. Help us to do what is right, to do what you call us to do, and do it for your honor and your glory, and not our own.
Give us faith to overcome our fears, a faith that we can have only in your Son Jesus. Amen.
All right, y’all can go on down to Kid Zone worship.
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Let us pray.
Father God, this is the day that you have made; help us to rejoice and always be glad in it. Help us to be joyful even when we forget the things that we have to be joyful about. We all have our different struggles; every one of us has giants that we are called to face. Sometimes those giants are ones that are standing against us, and sometimes those giants are those that are standing against you, and we are called to face them for your glory and on your behalf.
Give us wisdom to know which is which. Give us strength and courage to do what you call us to do in all faithfulness and rightness and help us to stand firm in that faith, trusting and knowing that you are the one who will deliver us.
Help us when we are ill or feeling poorly or injured or sick. There are a great many of us who are not well—who struggle day in and day out to perform the simplest of tasks. Give us strength; give us help to do what we need to do.
Give us peace; let us rest in you and your comfort, as you are the one who provides. You are the one who will also sustain us. Help us to help others, and more importantly, to accept help from others, to ask for it when we need it, and to be gracious and thankful when it is freely offered in love.
We pray and ask for those around us who we do not know but who are regularly risking themselves, their bodies, and their lives on our behalf to defend those who need defending, to rescue those who need rescue, who put out fires, who restore us to safety, and to bring us to healing.
Their lives are difficult, made even more challenging by the vocations that you’ve called them to. Help them, preserve them, give them your strength, and let them know your love.
Help us to always express our thanksgiving to them and for them in all of our prayers and whenever we see them. You have made us; help us to be a grateful people in all that we do and everywhere we go.
We pray this in the name of your Son Jesus, who taught us to pray by praying, ‘Our Father, which 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 debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.’
Our second hymn is on an insert in your bulletin, “The Resurrection Psalm.”
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Thank you.
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We now turn back to the Book of Judges, chapter 8, beginning at verse 29.
“Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went and lived in his own house. Now Gideon had seventy sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives. And his concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash, his father, at Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side. And they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal—that is, Gideon—in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.”
Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family, “Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you or that one rule over you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”
And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”
And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows who followed him. And he went to his father’s