Welcome to Sojourn’s weekly worship music set list review & service recap. You’ll not only read a list of the songs we led, but also the readings and prayers from our liturgy. You can also watch the video stream of the whole service from our Facebook page, or here below (you’ll also see a video of the sermon alone).
Our liturgy is written by worship director Justin Shaffer in collaboration with worship directors at other Sojourn churches.
This Sunday Pastor Travis McGowan preached from Esther 1-2, the first sermon in our series on Esther – Steady: Standing Strong In A World Of Chaos. To learn more about Sojourn Church, click here.
June 9, 2019 – Steady 1 – Travis McGowan from Sojourn Collective on Vimeo.
It Is Well With My Soul by Horatio G Stafford and Philip P Bliss.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Welcome to Sojourn, friends! If you’ve come in today with a heart full of questions, like “Why, God?” you’re not alone. Jesus Christ himself asked the same question, even though his life and faith were perfect. Even as our Savior hung on a cross, he quoted the Psalmist as he cried out. And we can receive that cry as an invitation to draw near to our God today, in the midst of our deepest questions. Hear God’s word, and read the underlined portions aloud with me:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
-Psalm 22:1-5
Let’s cry out to God together in song, knowing that His desire is to deliver us from evil, that we can put our lives in His hands, because He is good…
God is Good by Dustin Kensrue.
CONFESSION
Even though we may say that God is good all the time, many times are hearts are not fully convinced of this. We know it with our heads, but don’t trust it with our hearts. As a church, we have been really good at feeling the weight of our sin, but for many of us, we know that God forgives those who trust in the work of Jesus, but we still don’t feel like God likes us. We are like the man from these verses from Mark 9. Hear the word of the Lord:
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” – Mark 9:23-25
Let us recognize the unbelief in our hearts, and confess that to the Lord.
Oh Help My Unbelief by Isaac Watts and Justin Smith.
ASSURANCE & GIVING
The Psalmist sings this, and let’s read it aloud:
“The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.”
God is faithful to his word: when he says he will forgive, that means he actually will. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says:
20 For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!”.
So his promise to give us life now and forever is true, and that even though our physical body may die now, we are promised that we will be with Jesus forever.
(Invitation to giving)
Steadfast by Sandra McCracken.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
God gives us this promise in His word:
12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
…And what He’s given us is peace with Himself and each other. Let’s greet one another with that same peace.
[Sermon]
[Communion]
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us by Stuart Townend.
BAPTISM
Made A Way by Travis Green.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thank you for joining us. Pastor Travis taught that we must embrace the limits of our knowledge so that we might have a steady faith.
If you have a prayer request or want to get connected, fill out a Connect Card from a seat back in front of you and drop it off at our Welcome Table. You can also come forward after we dismiss, and pray with those here in the front. Next week we look at how we are shaped by the world around us, in ways we don’t always realize. How do we become a people who reject worldly power in favor of true power?
Come back, and invite a friend!
BENEDICTION
(adapted from Isaiah 41:10)
May we not be afraid, because God is with us. May we not be dismayed, because He is our God. May He strengthen us; may He help us; may He hold us in His righteous hand. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, peace be with you.
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