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6.28.20 - Brought Back from Death to Life



Welcome to First Presbyterian Sterling Online!

Visit past services at firstonsecond.blogspot.com.
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God’s People Gather
*Welcome with Christina

*Prelude with Amy

Prelude Pondering
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

*Call to Worship (Romans 6, Matthew 10) with Emmett

Leader: In our baptism, we are united with Christ.
People: So that we may walk in newness of life!
Leader: We are no longer servants of the world,
People: but servants of our living Christ!
Leader: We have been set free!
People: And we walk in the light of the Lord!
ALL: Let us worship God!

*Opening Song - Morning Has Broken

*Call to Confession, Prayer of Confession, and Assurance of Pardon with Lillian

Sometimes we think that if no one see us do something wrong, we don’t need to confess it. But we carry the guilt of what we have done, and it weighs on us. Thanks be to God that the Bible says we only need to confess our sins, and God will forgive us and cleanse us. Trusting God’s promise, we pray together our prayer of confession.
Gracious God, so often we try to hide from you, and so often we fail to walk in your light. We crouch in the corners of guilt and shame, and we whisper lies to ourselves and others. We act as if Christ died for nothing, and that the threats of this world are the real truth. We worry about what can kill the body, and ignore sin’s threat to our very souls! We fall prey to fear and forget that our life, our light, our reason for living is in you. Forgive us, God! Help us to shout your grace from the rooftops, and to let your light shine in us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Silence is kept
Leader: Friends, the scripture tells us this: Christ has been raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has power over him. Just as Christ died to sin once and for all, he lives for God with his life. In the same way, we are also dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus. Rejoice and give thanks!
People: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God! Amen.

*Response: Glory to God

*Sharing the Peace of Christ

God’s Word is Proclaimed
*Children’s Time with Nan

*Scripture Reading Genesis 22:1-14; Romans 6:12-14
Sermon Preacher: Rev. Brian Ellison, Stated Clerk, Synod of Mid-America


Responding to God’s Word
*Offering- He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

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*Prayer of Dedication

Thank you, God, for your generous love, for giving us our lives, for giving us your Son. Receive these our gifts. They can never be enough to repay you for all that you have done for us. We bring them in joy and gratitude, for they belong to you, even as we belong to you through Jesus Christ. Amen.

*Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Heavenly Father, we are grateful to you that we can bring our joys and concerns, our praise and thanksgiving, and all our sorrows to you. O God, many in this world live in darkness and gloom. Their sorrows have many names: grief, illness, poverty, worries about family, trouble, addiction, doubt, weariness, a sense of futility. The sorrows of the world pile up: racism, war, climate change, disease, injustice. Gracious and loving God, we rejoice that you are with us in our troubles, you know us and you love us – always. We rejoice that your Son came not to a perfect world, but to a broken world, our world. To bring light to the darkness, our darkness. We pray for our dark and dreary world, a world in need – in need not just of a technical fix, but in need of love and grace, forgiveness and new life, hope, peace and fellowship, in need of renewal, in need of YOU.
We pray that you would come alongside us and all those for whom we pray, that you would show us Jesus, the light of the world. Help us to share the good news in word and action. We have been set free. Enable us to use our freedom to share in bringing in the kingdom. Hear us as we pray, even the prayers we make in silence, and as we pray the prayer Christ taught us, saying:
Our Father who 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
God’s People are Sent
*Closing Song - For Everyone Born



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