PROVIDENCE CHURCH

     January 1, 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

 

Baptism                                                                  Sophia Aline Bacon

 

Call to Worship:   Psalm 145

Leader:  I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.

Congregation:  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.   One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.  On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.

Leader:  They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.  They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

Congregation:  The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Leader:  All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you!    They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.   Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

Congregation:  The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.  The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look to you,     and you give them their food in due season.  You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.

Leader:  The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.   The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.  He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;     he also hears their cry and saves them.  The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

ALL:    My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

 

 

 

 

Songs of Praise:

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (Henry Van Dyke, 1907; tune Beethoven, 1824)

Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flow’rs before thee, Opening to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;

Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

 

All thy works with joy surround thee, Earth and heav’n reflect thy rays,

Stars and angels sing around thee, Center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,

Chanting bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in thee.

 

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blest,

Well-spring of the joy of living, ocean-depth of happy rest!

Thou our Father, Christ our Brother—all who live in love are thine;

Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

 

Mortals, join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began;

Father love is reigning o’er us, brother love binds man to man.

Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife;

Joyful music leads us sun-ward in the triumph song of life.

 

By Faith (Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend

By faith, we see the hand of God
In the light of creation’s grand design
In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness
Who walk by faith and not by sight

By faith, our fathers roamed the earth
With the power of His promise in their hearts
Of a holy city built by God’s own hand—
A place where peace and justice reign

Chorus: We will stand as children of the Promise
We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul’s reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith, the prophets saw a day
When the longed-for Messiah would appear
With the power to break the chains of sin and death
And rise triumphant from the grave

By faith, the church was called to go
In the power of the Spirit to the lost
To deliver captives and to preach good news
In every corner of the earth

Chorus: We will stand as children of the Promise
We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul’s reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith, this mountain shall be moved
And the power of the gospel shall prevail
For we know in Christ all things are possible
For all who call upon His name

Chorus 2X: We will stand as children of the Promise
We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul’s reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

We will stand as children of the Promise
We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul’s reward
Till the race is finished and the work is done
We’ll walk by faith and not by sight

We’ll walk by faith and not by sight.

We’ll walk by faith and not by sight.

 

Lord, I Need You (Jesse Reeves, Kristian Stanfill, Matt Maher, Christy Nockels, Daniel Carson)

 

Lord, I come, I confess

Bowing here, I find my rest

And without you, I fall apart

You’re the one that guides my heart

 

Chorus:

Lord, I need you, Oh I need you

Every hour I need you

My one Defense, my Righteousness

Oh God, how I need you

 

Where sin runs deep, your grace is more

Where grace is found is where you are

And where you are, Lord, I am free

Holiness is Christ in me (Chorus)

 

So teach my song to rise to you

When temptation comes my way

And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on you

Jesus, you’re my hope and stay (Chorus 2X)

Respond in Praise:

Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Thomas Chisholm, 1923)

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

there is no shadow of turning with thee;

Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;

as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

 

Chorus:

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see:

all I have needed thy hand hath provided—

great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

 

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,

sun, moon and stars in their courses above,

join with all nature in manifold witness

to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. (Chorus)

 

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,

strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow:

blessings all mine with ten thousand beside! (Chorus)

 

Apostles Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead and buried;

He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand

of God the Father Almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.   Amen

 

 

Scripture Reading:   Psalm 1

 

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.   He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.   In all that he does, he prospers.   The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.   Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

 

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

Sermon:  “ Success in 2023”  Rev Julian Bacon            

                                                                                  

Communion Hymn

 

Nothing But the Blood (Robert Lowry, 1876)

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

 

Chorus: O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

 

Nothing can for sin atone—nothing but the blood of Jesus;

naught of good that I have done—nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus)

 

This is all my hope and peace—nothing but the blood of Jesus;

this is all my righteousness—nothing but the blood of Jesus. (Chorus 2X)

 

Confession/Assurance    Select verses from 1 Corinthians 15

 

For this is what the Lord himself has said about his Table, and I Paul, have passed it on to you before: That on the night when Judas betrayed him, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks to God for it, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this and eat it. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and you that has been established and set in motion by my blood. Do this in remembrance of me whenever you drink it.”   For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup you are retelling the message of the Lord’s death, that he has died for you. Do this until he comes again.

 

So if any eat this bread and drink from this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, they are guilty of sin against the body and the blood of the Lord.   That is why each one should examine their heart carefully before eating the bread and drinking from the cup.    For if they eat the bread and drink from the cup unworthily, not thinking about the body of Christ and what it means, they are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon themself; trifling, as it were, with the death of Christ.    That is why many of you are weak and sick, and some have even died.

 

But if you carefully examine yourselves before eating you will not need to be judged and punished.   Yet, when we are judged and punished by the Lord, it is so that we will not be condemned with the rest of the world.    So, dear ones, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper—the communion service—wait upon each other.

​

Communion

 

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

King of Kings (Brooke & Scott LIgertwood & Jason Ingram, 2019)

In the darkness, we were waiting
Without hope, without light
Till from Heaven You came running
There was mercy in Your eyes.

To fulfill the law and prophets
To a virgin came the Word
From a throne of endless glory
To a cradle in the dirt.

 

CHORUS:      Praise the Father, praise the Son
Praise the Spirit, three in one
God of glory, Majesty
Praise forever to the King of Kings!

 

To reveal the kingdom coming
And to reconcile the lost
To redeem the whole creation
You did not despise the cross.

For even in Your suffering
You saw to the other side,
Knowing this was our salvation,
Jesus, for our sake You died.

 

CHORUS:      Praise the Father, praise the Son
Praise the Spirit, three in one.
God of glory, Majesty
Praise forever to the King of Kings!

 

And the morning that You rose
All of Heaven held its breath

Till that stone was moved for good,

For the Lamb had conquered Death.

And the dead rose from their tombs

And the angels stood in awe

For the souls of all who’d come

To the Father are restored.

And the Church of Christ was born

And the Spirit lit the flame

Now this gospel truth of old

Shall not kneel, shall not faint.

By his blood and in his name

In his freedom I am free

For the love of Jesus Christ

Who has resurrected me.

CHORUS:      Praise the Father, praise the Son
Praise the Spirit, three in one
God of glory, Majesty
Praise forever to the King of Kings, Praise forever to the King of Kings!

 

 

Benediction 

 

KNOW

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

Sunday School:   No Sunday School today

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.

Christmas Decorations:  We will be putting decorations away on Sunday, January 8th and would love your help with that. Many hands make light work

 

 

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 Silverthorne, Robbie Hargrove