Skip to main content

7.26.20 - The Kingdom of God is Like...



Welcome to First Presbyterian Sterling Online!

Visit past services at firstonsecond.blogspot.com.
Click here for an automatic playlist that plays this week's videos. (Click "Play All.")
God’s People Gather
*Prelude with Amy
Prelude Pondering
The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It happens quietly. It happens inevitably. Don’t underestimate God’s power. --Alistair Begg
*Welcome with Christina

*Call to Worship with Glenn and Gail
Leader: We gather to worship an amazing God.
People: What miracles there are in God’s world!
Leader: We stand in awe at the wonders of creation.
People: From the tiniest seeds to the mighty sequoias.
Leader: We gather in the name of Christ, who speaks to us through worship and word
People: And we gather to be nourished, so that we may grow in faith.
Leader: From tiny seeds, great things can grow.
People: And from each of us, even if we feel insignificant, the Spirit will cultivate great gifts.
Leader: Praise the God of small seeds and mighty power.
ALL: Let us worship God!
*Opening Song - Reign of God
*Call to Confession (Romans), Prayer of Confession & Assurance of Pardon

Even when we do not know how or what to pray, the Holy Spirit knows. Even when we feel that we cannot approach God, the Spirit goes before us. Even when we know we have done wrong, Christ’s grace goes before us. Trusting God’s promise, let us confess our sins together.
Holy and loving God, we come before you in humility. We confess that we have failed to do all that you have asked of us. We have underestimated ourselves when we consider what we ought to do for your kingdom; so we do less than we should. We have overestimated our goodness, so we have spoken and acted in ways that we should not. We feel weary and confused, gracious God! We want to be all that followers of Jesus should be, but we don’t want to be a nuisance; we want to speak up for justice and inclusion but we don’t want to be unpopular; we want to care for others but we don’t want to be inconvenienced. Most of all, dear God, we want to open our hearts to love, and to let that love flow out to the world. Forgive us! Help us to grow in faith and dedication, to be your disciples. Take our tiny seeds of faith and help us to grow your kingdom. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Silence is kept
Hear these words of assurance from Romans 8: If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and sending the only Son for us, is there anything else God wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? So be at peace! Because of God’s extravagant love, you are forgiven.
People: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God. Amen.

Response: Glory to God

*Sharing the Peace of Christ
Leader: The peace of Christ be with you.
People: And also with you.
God’s Word is Proclaimed
Scripture Reading Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 & Sermon Rev. Landon Whitsitt, Synod Executive, Presbyterian Synod of Mid-America

Responding to God’s Word
*Offering

If you are able, please continue to send in your offering and pledge. If you are enrolled in electronic funds transfer, there is no need to do anything different. If you would like to give online using Paypal, click this link: bit.ly/FPCsterling
*Prayer of Dedication

Thank you, God, that you can take the smallest seed and grow something incredible. Take these, our gifts, and transform them into your kingdom of love and justice. We ask in Jesus’ name, AMEN.
*Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

God’s People are Sent
*Closing Song - Pass it On
*Benediction

Leader:....and let all God’s people say...
People: Alleluia! Amen!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holy Humor Sunday

Worship Service First Presbyterian Church Sterling, Illinois Holy Humor Sunday April 15, 2012 This was our third annual Holy Humor worship, and I think our best ever. The week before Palm Sunday, we handed out postcards for our folks to invite their friends and neighbors for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Easter and Holy Humor Sunday. We sent a press release (see it at the end of this post) to the local paper, and it ran on Saturday the 14 th . We also put the word out on Facebook. We used our regular order of worship, but the bulletin had rebus pictures instead of words (for example a picture of a phone, the numeral 2, and a picture of a battleship – “Call to Worship” Get it?!) The chancel was strewn with balloons, red Solo cups, party hats, streamers and confetti. There was confetti up and down the aisles, and smiley face helium balloons where the flowers normally are. There were “joke breaks” and the jokes are included here, plus a few brave members shared their
Post a Comment
Read more

Rock, Paper, Scissors

A Trinity Sunday sermon Psalm 8; Proverbs 8: 22-31; John 16: 12-15 May 22, 2016 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling, IL Christina Berry Today is Trinity Sunday. It is the only Sunday on the church calendar that addresses a doctrine rather than an event.If you are familiar, which many of you are by now, with the church year, we start with Advent, move on to Christmas and Epiphany, then Lent and Easter, and fifty days later, Pentecost. But on this Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Trinity – a doctrine of the universal church. Not all who fall under the appellation of Christian are believers in the Trinity, and for some people, that makes them “not Christian.” Mormons, for example, believe in Father, Son and Holy Ghost, “united in purpose and separate in person.” [1] Jehovah’s Witnesses do not accept the doctrine of the Trinity, nor do Christian Scientists. But for the last several centuries –actually since the year 451, the year of the council of Chalce
Post a Comment
Read more

Aslan’s Roar

December 23, 2018 Isaiah 2:2–5; Philippians 2:5-11 First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL Christina Berry Our first reading on this last Sunday in Advent is from the prophet Isaiah. It speaks of a time “in the days to come” when all nations will come to worship God and walk in God’s paths. This passage also contains the familiar language describing peace, when weapons of war are transformed into tools of agriculture, and people study war no more. Let’s listen for God’s word to us in Isaiah 2:2–5. In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nation
Post a Comment
Read more