Worship Guide
August 10, 2025
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Creating Disciples of Jesus who Transform the World
ENTRANCE WITH PRAISE
Greeting:
Minister: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
People: And also with you!
Special Music: “How Great Thou Art” Charles
Centering Words:
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
*Call to Worship:
Leader: From the rising to the setting sun,
People: God summons us.
Leader: In the prefect beauty all around us,
People: God brightens our hearts.
Leader: When we worship with acts of love and mercy,
People: God is pleased to give us the kingdom.
Leader: Come! Let justice and righteousness be our worship. Let us pray.
ALL: Mighty God, dress us for action, for the world is in need of our care. Turn us from our selfish ways and help us share the fat of this good land. For when we refuse and rebel, we reap what we have sown. Your care and compassion call to us. Your mercy and grace reach out to us. Heal us this day, and may it be your good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Amen.
Hymn: “Jesus is All the World to Me”
Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all;
he is my strength from day to day, without him I would fall.
When I am sad, to him I go, no other one can cheer me so;
when I am sad, he makes me glad, he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, my friend in trials sore;
I go to him for blessings, and he gives them over and o’er.
He sends the sunshine and the rain,
he sends the harvest’s golden grain;
sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, and true to him I’ll be;
O how could I this friend deny, when he’s so true to me?
Following him I know I’m right,
he watches o’er me day and night;
following him by day and night, he’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better friend;
I trust him now, I’ll trust him when
life’s fleeting days shall end.
Beautiful life with such a friend, beautiful life that has no end;
eternal life, eternal joy, he’s my Friend.
Words of Assurance:
Don’t be afraid, little flock.
God delights in giving us the kingdom.
Amen
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
*Reading from the Gospel: Luke 12:32-40
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39 “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
Leader: This is the Word of God for the people of God
People: Thanks be to God.
WORD AND RESPONSE
Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”
Children’s Message: “Faith & Action”
Hymn: “We Walk by Faith”
We walk by faith, and not by sight;
No gracious words we hear
From Him who spoke as none e'er spoke,
But we believe him near.
We may not touch His hands and side,
Nor follow where He trod;
yet in His promise we rejoice,
And cry, "My Lord and God!"
Help then, O Lord, our unbelief;
And may our faith abound,
To call on you when you are near,
And seek where you are found.
That when our life of faith is done,
In realms of clearer light,
We may behold you as you are,
With full and endless sight.
We walk by faith, and not by sight;
No gracious words we hear
From Him who spoke as none ne'er spoke,
But we believe him near.
Sermon: “Desire a Better Country” Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14 for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Hymn: “In His Time ”
In his time, in his time;
he makes all things beautiful in his time.
Lord please show me everyday
as you're teaching me your way
that you do just what you say
in your time.
In your time, in your time;
you make all things beautiful in your time.
Lord my life to you I bring;
may each song I have to sing
be to you a lovely thing
in your time.
Psalter: Affirmation From Romans
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword?
No!
In all things we are more than conquerors through the One who loved us.
We are sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father and to the son
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Amen.
Prayers of the People: Joys and concerns
Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer
SENDING FORTH
Hymn: “I Know Whom I Have Believed”
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
to me he hath made known,
nor why, unworthy, Christ in love
redeemed me for his own.
But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I’ve committed
unto him against that day.
I know not how this saving faith
to me he did impart,
nor how believing in his word
wrought peace within my heart.
But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I’ve committed
unto him against that day.
I know not how the Spirit moves,
convincing us of sin,
revealing Jesus through the word,
creating faith in him.
But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I’ve committed
unto him against that day.
I know not when my Lord may come,
at night or noonday fair,
nor if I walk the vale with him,
or meet him in the air.
But I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I’ve committed
unto him against that day.
Benediction
Hymn: “Go Now In Peace”
Go now in peace, Never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now in faith, stead-fast, strong and true.
Know He will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there watching from above.
Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
