August 8 Livestream – Community

Today we are happy to welcome Darlene Sowell, President and CEO of Unleashing Potential, to our community. Unleashing Potential is one of the oldest nonprofits working on early childhood education, after school programs, youth development and enrichment programs to bring out the best in St. Louis’ children.

WELCOME

PRELUDE – Anna DiVesta

*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Come, worship our God who moves us to serve.
All: We owe everything we have to God.
One: Come, worship Christ Jesus who is our all in all.
All: We worship our Savior with all that we are.

*HYMN – We Come, O Christ, to You – #289

1. We come, O Christ, to You,
   True Son of God and man,
   By Whom all things con-sist, In Whom all life be-gan:
   In You a-lone
   We live and move, and have our be-ing in Your love.
2. You are the Way to God,
   Your blood our ran-som paid;
   In You we face our Judge And Mak-er un-a-fraid.
   Be-fore the throne
   Ab-solved we stand, Your love has met Your law’s de-mand.
3. You are the liv-ing Truth!
   All wis-dom dwells in You,
   The Source of ev-ery skill, The One E-ter-nal True!
   O great I AM!
   In You we rest, Sure an-swer to our ev-ery quest.
4. You on-ly are true Life,
   To know You is to live
   The more a-bun-dant life That earth can nev-er give:
   O ris-en Lord!
   We live in You, in us each day Your life re-new!
5. We wor-ship You, Lord Christ,
   Our Sav-ior and our King,
   To You our youth and strength A-dor-ing-ly we bring:
   So fill our hearts,
   That all may view Your life in us, and turn to You!

*PRAYER OF INVOCATION
God of amazing power and almighty love, breathe on us. Long ago, on the evening of your Resurrection, you came to your followers and you breathed on them, Jesus. This day, may we realize that you are among us – risen, alive, and offering us your blessing. Each one of your disciples is a human being striving to love, to serve and to give as fully as you do. Christ Jesus, your wounds reveal there is no limit to your love. Help us to perceive that you are here and that you are God. Before any of us entered this sanctuary, Jesus, you already were here! Astonishing! Breathe new life into us and renew our spirits this morning, we pray. Amen.

*PRAISE RESPONSE – Bind Us Together – #130
Bind us to-geth-er, Lord,
Bind us to-geth-er with cords that can-not be bro-ken.
Bind us to-geth-er, Lord,
Bind us to-geth-er, Lord;
Bind us to-geth-er with love.
There is on-ly one God;
There is on-ly one King.
There is on-ly one bod-y,
That is why we sing:
Bind us to-geth-er, Lord,
Bind us to-geth-er with cords that can-not be bro-ken.
Bind us to-geth-er, Lord,
Bind us to-geth-er, Lord;
Bind us to-geth-er with love.

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE

GOD’S WORD – Psalm 34:1-8

HYMN – I Sing a Song of the Saints of God – worship booklet, pp. 52-53

1. I sing a song of the saints of God,
   Pa-tient and brave and true,
   Who toiled and fought and lived and died
   For the Lord they loved and knew.
   And one was a doc-tor, and one was a queen,
   And one was a shep-herd-ess on the green;
   They were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
   God help-ing, to be one too
2. They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
   And his love made them strong;
   And they fol-lowed the right for Je-sus sake,
   The whole of their good lives longs.
   And one was a sol-dier, and one was a priest,
   And one was slain by a fierce wild beast;
   And there’s not an-y rea-son, no, not the least,
   Why I shouldn’t be one too
3. They lived not on-ly in a-ges past;
   There are hun-dreds of thou-sands still.
   The world is bright with the joy-ous saints
   Who love to do Je-sus’ will.
   You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
   In church, by the sea, in the house next door;
   They are saints of God, wheth’er rich or poor,
   And I mean to be one too.

MISSION MOMENT – Unleashing Potential – Darlene Sowell, President and CEO

SPECIAL MUSIC – We Are the Body of Christ (arr. Lawrence) – Anna DiVesta

GOD’S WORD – Ephesians 4:14-16, 25-5:2 – Pastor Dan

SERMON – Pastor Dan

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and Lord’s Prayer – Pastor Dan

*HYMN – To Be God’s People – #121

Al-might-y Fa-ther give us a vis-ion
Of a dy-ing world that needs Your love and care.
We see the need, the yearn-ing for a Sav-ior,
In Je-sus’ name, grant this our prayer

Refrain:
To be God’s peo-ple in this place,
Live His good-ness, share His grace,
Pro-claim God’s mer-cy thru His Son,
Be His love to ev-ery-one.

And when we fal-ter be Thou our com-fort;
Guide us as Your chil-dren that our lives may be
A bea-con in this dark-ness that sur-rounds us,
A light that oth-ers then may see.

Refrain

*BENEDICTION – Pastor Dan

*POSTLUDE – Anna DiVesta