Sermon Tone Analysis

*Prelude*

Ushers will collect Prayer cards during the first hymn.

*Welcome*

*Call to Worship*

*/ /*/You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free./

*For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth*.

* *

*~*Praise                         *# 508       “I Gave My Life for Thee”  (note:  repeat last line for each stanza)

*~*Invocation (Lord’s Prayer)        *We* *give you all praise, God of salvation.

We come with devotion to you Christ our redeemer.

We honor you, Holy Spirit, our source of encouragement;  One God who sustains us with your love and your presence.

Hear our words of reverence as we bow down before you.

Grace us with your presence that we may learn of your way.

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

*~*Gloria Patri** (*Sung together)*                                                                                 *

*~*Psalm for Today*                                                                    Psalm 124 /(NLT)/ /What if the Lord had not been on our side?

Let all //Israel// repeat:                             /*What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us?              */They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.

/*The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us.

*/Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives.

/*Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart!                                     */We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.

The trap i//s b//roken, and we are free!

/*Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

*

*Our Offering to God     *So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

*~*Doxology                                                                                                                        ~*Prayer of Dedication *Searching God, let us  see you in the mirror of your Word and see you reflected in the faces of need around us, as we give to make a difference and live to go about doing good in Jesus’ name.

*Scripture Reading                                                                   *Romans 12:1-8 /(NLT)/ And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.

Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable.

This is truly the way to worship him.

2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are.

Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body.

We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.

So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.

7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well.

If you are a teacher, teach well.

8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.

If it is giving, give generously.

If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.

And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

* *

*~*Hymn of Praye r                  *# 431        “Come, My Soul, Your Plea Prepare”

 

*Pastoral Prayer  *(praying scripture) Psalm 138

I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises before the gods.

I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.

I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.

As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.

Every king in all the earth will thank you, Lord, for all of them will hear your words.

Yes, they will sing about the Lord’s ways, for the glory of the Lord is very great.

Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.

Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies.

You reach out your hand, and the power of your right hand saves me.

The Lord will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.

Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

Lord, in so many ways you reveal yourself to us, though we do not always recognize you.

We desire to learn more about you through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Thank you for the witness and testimony of others, may you keep our witness pure.

Open our hearts and minds to know more about your action in our lives each day.

Help us to see you more clearly in order that we might follow you more nearly.

AMEN.

* *

*~*Hymn of Praise                   *# 81          “Blessed Be the Name”

*Scripture *                                                                           Matthew 16:13-20 /(NLT)/

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you.

You did not learn this from any human being.

18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

*Message                                          *What to Pray

It would be impossible for me to overemphasize the importance of prayer.

No spiritual activity is greater in significance or in consequence, or more relevant to our daily lives.

What a profound, mysterious thing prayer is: our personal means of communication with the One who spoke the worlds into existence.

Where do we begin to explore this priceless spiritual privilege that God has given us?

The answer that comes most readily to mind is to look first to Jesus.

What did He say about prayer that can equip us for making the most of this vital commitment?

First, Jesus praised God; then he made his requests.

Praising God first puts us in the right frame of mind to tell him about our needs.

~/ Too often our prayers are more like shopping lists than conversations.

~/ Luke 11:1 tells us how one day Jesus was praying in a certain place and when He finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

This disciple, whoever he was, had observed the prayer life of Jesus and he made one of the most important requests any believer can put before the Lord: Teach us to pray.

This was a wise request, because effectiveness in the Christian life is inseparably connected to one’s effectiveness in prayer.

Prayer is an absolute necessity, for it is to the spiritual dimension what breathing is to the physical.

How long could you manage without breathing?

Fortunately, Jesus answered the disciple’s request.

In Matthew’s Gospel (Matt.

6:9-13) we read a fuller account of what He said:

/“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in 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, for ever.

Amen.”    /This is often called “the Lord’s Prayer,” although a more appropriate term would be “the Disciple’s Prayer” since it is a pattern intended to teach us how to pray in the will of God.

Jesus did not give this prayer to us to be memorized and recited a given number of times.