PROVIDENCE CHURCH

MARCH 12, 2023

Welcome

Passing of the Peace: Though we are separated by distance our hearts are one in Christ. The peace of Christ be with you!  And also with you!

 

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise him all creatures here below,

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Amen

 

 

Call to Worship:   Psalm 8:1-5, 9

Leader:    O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.

 

Congregation:  Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

 

Leader:  When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

 

Congregation:  Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

 

ALL:  O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 

Songs of Praise:

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (Henry Lyte, 1834; tune John Goss, 1869)

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven; to his feet your tribute bring;

Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven—who, like me, his praise should sing?

Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him, praise the everlasting King.

 

Praise him for his grace and favor to our fathers in distress;

Praise him, still the same forever, slow to chide and swift to bless.

Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him, glorious in his faithfulness.

 

Father-like, he tends and spares us; well our feeble frame he knows;

In his hands he gently bears us, rescues us from all our foes;

Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him, widely as his mercy goes.

 

Frail as summer’s flower we flourish, blows the wind and it is gone;

But while mortals rise and perish, God endures unchanging on.

Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him, praise the High Eternal One.

 

Angels, help us to adore him; you behold him face to face;

Sun and moon bow down before him, dwellers all in time and space;

Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him, praise with us the God of grace.

 

Everlasting God (Brenton Brown & Ken Riley, 2005  CCLI Song #4556538)

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

we will wait upon the Lord

we will wait upon the Lord

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord

we will wait upon the Lord

we will wait upon the Lord…

 

Our God, you reign forever

Our Hope, our strong Deliverer!

 

You are the Everlasting God

The Everlasting God!

You do not faint

You won’t grow weary

 

You’re the Defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on wings like eagles  (Repeat from top)

 

You are the Everlasting God

The Everlasting God!

You do not faint

You won’t grow weary

 

You’re the Defender of the weak

You comfort those in need

You lift us up on wings like eagles

 

Days Without Number (Renee Allsbrook, CCLI #7156215)

We have forgotten You

Days without number

Shrunk down the sky so blue

Onto a screen

 

We’ve forgotten You, day after day

We’ve forsaken You, blindly stumbled away

We’ve forgotten You, turning insane

We’ve forgotten You…

 

Lord, have mercy on my soul

Lord, have mercy on my children

Lord, have mercy on the broken

Lord, have mercy on me

 

Christ, have mercy on my soul

Christ, have mercy on my children

Christ, have mercy on the broken

Christ, have mercy, mercy

Mercy, Lord on me

 

Weary of vanities

Parched from indulgence

I lift my hands to Thee

Crying for rain!

 

You are goodness, Lord:

Mercy defines You

You’re kindness, Lord:

 

You lift up the humble,

You’re holiness, righteousness

You are faithfulness, faithfulness!

Have mercy on my soul

 

Lord, have mercy on my children

Lord, have mercy on the broken

Lord, have mercy on me

 

Christ, have mercy on my soul

Christ, have mercy on my children

Christ, have mercy on the broken

Christ, have mercy, mercy

Mercy, Lord on me

 

 

 

 

 

Confession/Assurance    Psalm 40:1-5

 

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.  He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.  Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!  You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you!  I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.—every one—to his own way;  and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 

Respond in Praise: 

 

Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts (Bernard of Clairvaux, ca. 1150; tune Henry Baker, 1854)

Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, thou fount of life, thou light of men.

From the best bliss that earth imparts we turn unfilled to thee again.

 

Thy truth unchanged hath ever stood; thou savest those that on thee call;

to them that seek thee thou art good, to them that find thee all in all.

 

We taste thee, O thou living bread, and long to feast upon thee still;

we drink of thee, the fountainhead; dry, thirsty souls in thee are filled.

 

Our restless spirits yearn for thee, where e’er our changeful lot is cast;

Glad when thy gracious smile we see, blessed when our faith can hold thee fast.

 

Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, thou fount of life, thou light of men.

From the best bliss that earth imparts we turn unfilled to thee again.

 

Scripture   Revelation 11 

  

The Two Witnesses

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.   And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

 

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.   And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.   They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.   And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.   For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.   But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.  Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.    And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

 

The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come. 

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”   And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

 

“We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

    who is and who was,

for you have taken your great power

    and begun to reign.

The nations raged,

    but your wrath came,

    and the time for the dead to be judged,

and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

    and those who fear your name,

    both small and great,

and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

 

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

 

This is the Word of the Lord.   Thanks be to God!

 

Sermon “The Two Witnesses”                                               

 

Hymn of Dedication

My Worth is Not in What I Own (Keith & Kristyn Getty, Graham Kendrick, 2017  CCLI #7024758)

My worth is not in what I own,

not in the strength of flesh and bone,

but in the costly wounds of love

at the Cross.

 

My worth is not in skill or name,

in win or lose, in pride or shame,

but in the blood of Christ that flowed

at the Cross.

 

Chorus:

I rejoice in my Redeemer,
Greatest Treasure, Wellspring of my soul.

I will trust in Him, no other;

My soul is satisfied in Him alone.

 

As summer flowers we fade and die;

fame, youth and beauty hurry by.

But life eternal calls to us

at the Cross

 

I will not boast in wealth or might,

or human wisdom’s fleeting light.

But I will boast in knowing Christ

at the Cross. (Chorus)

 

Two wonders here that I confess:

my worth and my unworthiness.

My value fixed, my ransom paid

at the Cross (Chorus 2x)

 

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.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil:

for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.  Amen

 

 

 

Hymn of Thanksgiving

Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners (Charles Wesley, 1744; tune Rowland Pritchard, 1855)

Jesus, what a friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul;

Friends may fail me, foes assail me, He, my Savior, makes me whole.

 

Chorus:
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah, what a friend!

Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.

 

Jesus! What a strength in weakness! Let me hide myself in him;

Tempted, tried, and sometimes failing, he, my strength, my vict’ry wins.

(Chorus)

 

Jesus! What a help in sorrow! While the billows o’er me roll,

Even when my heart is breaking, he, my comfort, helps my soul. (Chorus)

 

Jesus! What a guide and keeper! While the tempest still is high,

Storms about me, night o’ertakes me, he, my pilot hears my cry. (Chorus)

 

Jesus! I do now receive him, more than all in him I find;

He hath granted me forgiveness, I am his, and he is mine. (Chorus)

 

 

Benediction 

 

KNOW

Welcome to Providence Church! We are glad that you are here, joining us in person or via Zoom!.

Sunday School:   Adult and Youth Sunday School is at 11:15. Paula Rhodarmer will be teaching.   Will/Christina are leading a study in Exodus.  Children’s Sunday School – boys meet downstairs and girls upstairs at the end of the hall.

Children of all ages are invited to participate in the entire service of worship.  Childcare for children up to 6 years of age, in our downstairs Christian Ed wing (on the left) at the end of the hallway.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! – Spring is just around the corner. With its arrival comes beautiful spring grass around the church. Unfortunately, that green grass needs cutting but this gives you an opportunity to serve in a unique, “cutting edge” way. If you are interested in helping us this summer we would love to have you come on board. We have the necessary equipment (riding mower, weed eaters and petro to feed them). We work in groups of two or more with a rotation of about once every 6 weeks. If you are interested, which I KNOW you are, please call Sam M.  at (828)734-1392.

 

 

GROW

Women’s Prayer Group – 10:15am Tuesday mornings, contact Linda Roberts,  828) 506-3101

Men’s Prayer Group – 6:45am Thursday mornings, contact Sam Mitchell,        (828) 734-1392

 

GO

Prayer Requests

For Mercy and Grace:  Bill and Glenda White, Bill Silverthorne, Robbie Hargrove