Sunday, August 28, 2022 - Practices that can Bring you Freedom
Online Playlist
Welcome
Hymn 611 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (In Person Only)
Awakening to God’s Presence (In Person Only)
Prayer for God’s Guidance
Colossians 2:6-10 Common English Bible Translation
So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. Be rooted and built up in him, he established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. (Question: What do you think being rooted in Christ means for your everyday life?)
Colossians 2:11-13
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by human hands. The circumcision of Christ is realized in the stripping away of the whole self-dominated by sin. You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. (Question: What do you feel like is a burden on your life?)
Hymn 442 Just as I Am, without One Plea (In Person Only)
Colossians 2:14-15
He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade. (Question: What does Christ mean to you?)
Colossians 2:16-19
So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. These religious practices are only a shadow of what was coming-the body that cast the shadow is Christ. Don’t let anyone who wants to practice harsh self-denial and worship angels rob you of the prize. They go into detail about what they have seen in visions and have come unjustifiably arrogant by their selfish way of thinking. They don’t stay connected to the head. The head nourishes and supports the whole body through the joints and ligaments, so the body grows with a growth that is from God. (Question: What are the practices you have that keep you connected to God?)
Hymn 1 Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! (In Person Only)
Colossians 2:20-23
If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, why do you submit to rules and regulations as though you were living in the world? “Don’t handle!” “Don’t taste!” “Don’t touch!” All these things cease to exist when they are used. Such rules are human commandments and teachings. They look like they are wise with this self-made religion and their self-denial by the harsh treatment of the body, but they are no help against indulging in selfish immoral behavior. (Question: How do you determine what habit or practice is of value to you?)
Offering Ourselves to God
During this time let us reflect upon the words of the Confession of 1967. The language has been modernized.
“God’s sovereign love is a mystery beyond the reach of one’s mind. Human thought ascribes to God superlatives of power, wisdom, and goodness. God has created humanity in a personal relation with Godself that one may respond to the love of the Creator. Life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be pursued with courage. One is free to seek one’s life within the purpose of God: to develop and protect the resources of nature for the common welfare, to work for justice and peace in society, and in other ways to use one’s creative powers for the fulfillment of human life.
Special Music (In Person Only)
Prayers of the People and The Lord’s Prayer
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom and the power
and the glory, forever. Amen
Closing Hymn 837 What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine (In Person Only)
Benediction
Hymn List
1 Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
442 Just as I Am, without One Plea
611 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
837 What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine
Upcoming Themes for Sunday
Sept 4th – First We Sit Down
Sept 11th – Changes
Sermon Series Starting September 18th
Facing Barriers Flourishing
September 18th – Self
September 25th – Others
October 2nd - Expectations
October 9th - Situations