Worship Guide for Sunday, JUNE 7TH

For information on these worship guides & instructions on how to access Kingdom Kids curriculum, please click HERE.

Tips for Working through the Order of Worship

We encourage that someone takes the lead in prompting through the prayers, reading, and discussion questions below, as many sections will have a “leader” and a response by “everyone.” Accordingly, each participant is encouraged to follow along on their own device (or displaying this on a screen everyone can see). *Underlined Text is meant to be read together, corporately.

INTRODUCTION + LAMENT

Church Family, 

This week we released a letter from our pastors to our congregation. You can access that letter here. This week’s worship guide & sermon were filmed in advance to the events that have transpired in our country over the past few weeks. We wanted to begin our time together this week with a prayer of lament as we continue to pray to God to intervene & bring healing to the division & brokenness of our world. We also wanted to remind you that our pastors would like to invite all who call The King’s Church home to a conversation over Zoom tonight (June 7th) @ 7:45pm.

Prayer of lament

Psalm 77:1-3, 7-10
Leader: I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
    my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan
when I meditate, my spirit faints

Everyone: “Will the Lord spurn forever,
    and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
    Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”

*Take a few moments to silently pray for our country, confess our own sin, and ask the Lord to intervene and bring peace to the brokenness & division we are experiencing.

ORDER OF WORSHIP

CALL TO WORSHIP

Psalm 100:
Leader: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Everyone: Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

SINGING
Man of Sorrows & What A Beautiful Name
(The King’s Church)

RESPONSIVE READING

This excerpt comes from from the Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 17 Q & A 45:

Leader: How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?

Everyone: First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us share in the righteousness he obtained for us by his death. Second, by his power we too are already raised to a new life. Third, Christ’s resurrection is a sure pledge to us of our blessed resurrection.

SCRIPTURE READING
Acts 2:22-32
*Note: Scripture reading also available in the sermon video

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
    for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
    my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
    or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
    you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

Leader: This is the Word of the Lord
Everyone: Thanks be to God!

SERMON
"The Third Day He Rose Again From the Dead" (Acts 2:22-32)
*We encourage you to corporately read along with The Apostles’ Creed in the video

DISCUSSION & PRAYER

Based on Acts 2:22-32 & Pastor Ian’s sermon, discuss the following questions:

  1. Why is the bodily resurrection of Jesus so important? Does this impact your life right now in any way?

  2. How does the resurrection of Christ give meaning & purpose to the things in your life that may feel “dead” right now?

  3. How does the resurrection of Christ give you a living hope? Where do you need this kind of hope right now?

Spend a few minutes praying together for the following:

  • Pray that we would live as people who have a living hope because of the resurrection of Christ.

  • Pray for the Lord to bring life out of death in the painful things happening in our individual lives, community, and world.

  • Pray for unity in our church, eagerness & wisdom as we gather again together, and for the message of the hope of the resurrection to be proclaimed to our community through our witness.

CONFESSION OF SIN, COMMUNION, & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

*The Lord’s Supper is a meal instituted by Jesus for his followers to specifically remember his death on our behalf (see Matt. 26:26-28 & 1 Cor. 11: 23-26). Partaking in the bread and the cup together is a reminder of where our hope is rooted, and prepares us for the marriage supper of the Lamb that is to come in the New Heavens & the New Earth. Accordingly, only Christians (and Christians with a clear conscience) should partake in this meal. A confession of sin & assurance of pardon bookend communion below to capture our need for and our response to the death of Jesus.

CONFESSION OF SIN (Psalm 51)

Leader: Merciful God, you pardon all who truly repent and turn to you. We humbly confess our sins and ask your mercy. We have not loved you with a pure heart, nor have we loved our neighbor as ourselves. We have not done justice, loved kindness, or walked humbly with you, our God.

Everyone: Have mercy on us, O God, in your loving-kindness. In your great compassion, cleanse us from our sin.

COMMUNION

Leader: The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON (Psalm 145:13-14)

Leader: The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.

Everyone: Thanks be to God!

BENEDICTION

Revelation 1:5b-6:
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Leader: This is the Word of the Lord
Everyone: Thanks be to God!

GIVING

In this unique & difficult time, it's important to remember that the Lord is still at work. We anticipate there being many ministry needs and opportunities in the coming days and weeks. As you are able, consider giving to support the mission & vision of The King’s Church.

*Financial contributions can also be mailed to:
The King’s Church
PO Box 2663
Lakeland, Fl 33806-2663