Sunday, March 22, 2020

Dear GBC Family,

In this post you'll find what you need for an at-home time of worship. There are suggestions for scripture readings, hymns, prayers, and below you can find a pre-recorded sermon video. Of course, this can't replace our corporate gathering for worship, but I hope the time around God's Word will be a blessing and encouragement to us now, and we can look forward to when we can meet together again face to face.

Since giving is part of what we do when we gather on the Lord's Day, I'll include this reminder here. If you are able to continue financially giving during this time (and we understand if you are not able!), we ask that you mail checks only (no cash) to our new P.O. Box:

Grace Baptist Church of Warsaw
P.O. Box 1383
Warsaw, IN  46581-1383

May God bless us all as we seek to honor him on his day!

Here are a few suggestions on how to use these resources: 

• We've tried to keep a similar order of service to what we do when we gather together, but it's ok if you don't go in that exact order! If there are more than one of you, maybe different ones can read different scripture passages and lead in prayer at different times. Since this is not the gathered church, the same guidelines for who leads these things do not apply. I would include as many of your family members as you can!
• For the hymns, I would encourage you to sing along. If you're in the habit for your family worship already, great! If not, now would be a good time to start; you'll have to overcome a little awkwardness, but that's ok! (Feel free to find better versions of the hymns than the ones I've linked to, and if you do, please pass them along to me!)
• We plan to suspend our regular OT and NT Scripture readings and resume them when we can meet together again. In the meantime, I plan to choose passages related to the message.
• The theme of the sermon is the sovereignty of God. Maybe you could discuss as you go how the hymns and scripture readings are related to that subject.
• A note about the sermon recording: we're learning about cameras, recording, file size limitations, etc. as we go. So the recording is divided into 2 videos below. There were also a few snags with recording which you may notice as you watch. 

I think that's all...here you go:

Prayer: Ask God to bless your time of family or individual worship and to bless others as they meet in their homes.

Call to Worship: Lamentations 3:19-26 - while there is no direct call to worship (e.g. Praise the Lord) in these verses, there is much reason for worship. You could maybe discuss what truths in these verses should cause us to worship God.

Hymn: Great is Thy Faithfulness (TH 27) - Piano track and lyrics; Congregational Version

Hymn: Our God Our Help in Ages Past (TH 26) - Piano track and lyrics; Congregational Version

OT Scripture Reading: Psalm 90 

Scripture Memory: Jeremiah 9:23–24 – “Thus says the Lord: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.’” (ESV)

Prayer: - Confess sin and rejoice in God's forgiveness; thank God for blessings; pray for our missionaries affected by the novel coronavirus spread in their countries; pray that God would help you to receive the Word of God as it is preached; pray for other family needs or needs of others in the church

NT Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:1-14

Hymn: Whate'er My God Ordains is Right (TH 94) - Piano track and lyrics; Congregational Version (This is to a different tune, but it may be worth learning! Seriously, you should check it out.)

Preaching: See video below

Prayer and Benediction: Included in the video below.

You may want to take a little time to talk about what you've heard. And don't forget to join our Skype prayer meeting tonight at 5pm. Watch for an invitation link in your email a few minutes before 5pm!