Prelude                                                                                                                                  

Welcoming & Announcements                                                           Service Leader Will Parker

Call to Worship—John 12.44-50 ^ESV

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵ And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. ⁴⁶I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. ⁴⁸The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. ⁴⁹For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

Hymn 263                               Lift High the Cross

Scripture Reading—2 Corinthians 5.16-21

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Hymn 247                           O Sacred Head Now Wounded

Confession, Thanksgiving & Intercession                                                     Elder Matt Pile

Words of Assurance—Romans 8.1-17 (leader) & Psalm 32.1-2,5-8,11 (congregation)

¹ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

¹ Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
                        whose sin is covered.
            ² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
                        and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

                    ⁵ I acknowledged my sin to you,
                        and I did not cover my iniquity;
            I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
                        and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

                    ⁶ Therefore let everyone who is godly
                        offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
            surely in the rush of great waters,
                        they shall not reach him.

⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

            ⁷ You are a hiding place for me;
                        you preserve me from trouble;
                        you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

                    ⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

                        I will counsel you with my eye upon you….

                    ¹¹ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
                        and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Tithes, Offering & Offertory

Communion Meditation                         Romans 8.1-17                          Pastor David O’Dowd

Communion

Hymn                                      A Debtor to Mercy Alone

The Bread

Hymn                         How Sweet the name of Jesus Sounds

The Cup                                                              

Meditate quietly on our Lord who willingly poured out his life blood to cleanse and redeem us.

Sending Forth

Hymn 307                                 Nothing But the Blood

Benediction                                                                                                       David O’Dowd