WORSHIP TOGETHER

WELCOME AND CALL TO WORSHIP

FROM HEBREWS 2:14–16

Beloved, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.

Let us, therefore, hold fast our confession.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

YOUR GREAT NAME WE PRAISE

Immortal, invisible, God only-wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes!
Most holy, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, your great name we praise!

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Not wanting, nor wasting, you rule us in might.
Your justice like mountains high soaring above,
Your clouds which are fountains
of goodness and love.

Most holy, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, your great name we praise!

All life comes from you, Lord,
to both great and small;
In all life you live, Lord, the true life of all.
We blossom and flourish, but quickly grow frail;
We wither and perish, but you never fail.

Most holy, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, your great name we praise!

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Your angels adore you, all veiling their sight.
All praise we would render, O Father of grace,
Till one day in splendor we see face to face.

Most holy, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, your great name we praise!

Words: Walter Chalmers Smith, 1867; Music: Welsh melody; Chorus: Bob Kauflin; © 2001 Sovereign Grace Music; CCLI License #11029770

SPEAK, O LORD

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow’r that can never fail—
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

Words/Music: Keith Getty & Stuart Townend; © 2005 Thankyou Music; CCLI License #11029770

CONFESSION OF FAITH

FROM HEBREWS 9 AND 7

When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, he entered once for all into the holy places by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Christ has entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Jesus holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

PASTORAL PRAYER

GIVING

TRINITY SONG

Holy Father, Son, and Spirit;
Holy Communion, Three-in-One.
Holy Father, Son, and Spirit;
Holy Communion, Three-in-One.

Come with your peace, with your invitation.
Bind us together with holy love.
Come with your peace, with your invitation.
Bind us together with holy love.

Holy Father, Son, and Spirit;
Holy Communion, Three-in-One.
Holy Father, Son, and Spirit;
Holy Communion, Three-in-One.

Come with your peace, with your invitation.
Bind us together with holy love.
Come with your peace, with your invitation.
Bind us together with holy love.

Holy Father, Son, and Spirit
Holy Father, Son, and Spirit
Holy Father, Son, and Spirit
Three-in-One, Three-in-One, Three-in-One.

Music/Words: Sandra McCracken; © 2016 Drink Your Tea Music; CCLI License #11029770

GLORIA PATRI

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Words: Anonymous, 2nd c.; Music: H. W. Greatorex, 1851; PD; CCLI License #11029770

SERMON

SERIES: THAT YOU MAY BELIEVE

SERMON: THE PRIEST IN PRAYER

SCRIPTURE: JOHN 17

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

OUTLINE

1 – The source of Christian unity

2 – The character of Christian unity

3 – The goal of Christian unity

SING HIS LOVE

Father, long before creation,
you have chosen us in love,
And that love, so deep, so moving,
draws us close to Christ above.
Still it keeps us, still it keeps us
firmly fixed in Christ alone.

And the world will sing his love!
Yes the world will sing his love!
And we’ll all join hands, every woman, every man,
To sing his love, to sing his love.

Though the world may change its fashion,
yet our God is ever the same;
His compassion and his cov’nant
through all ages will remain.
God’s own children, God’s own children
must forever praise his name.

And the world will sing his love!
Yes the world will sing his love!
And we’ll all join hands, every woman, every man,
To sing his love, to sing his love.

God’s compassion is my story,
is my boasting all the day;
Mercy free and never failing
moves my will, directs my way.
God so loved us, God so loved us
that his only Son he gave.

And the world will sing his love!
Yes the world will sing his love!
And we’ll all join hands, every woman, every man,
To sing his love, to sing his love.

Loving Father, now before you,
we will ever praise your love,
And our songs will sound unceasing
till we reach our home above,
Giving glory, giving glory
to our God and to the Lamb.

And the world will sing his love!
Yes the world will sing his love!
And we’ll all join hands, every woman, every man,
To sing his love.

And the world will sing his love!
Yes the world will sing his love!
And we’ll all join hands, every woman, every man,
To sing his love, to sing his love.

Words: Chinese Hymn, trans. Francis P. Jones, 1953, alt.; Music: Andrew Osenga; © 2005 The Velvet Eagle Sings; CCLI License #11029770

BENEDICTION