What Jesus Left - Acts 1:1-11

Guest Speaker: John Phiri

We welcome John, church planter and leader of the Sierra Leone Christian Reformed Church.

Click here to listen

Let’s Celebrate! As another season of ministry winds to a close, we want to take a moment to celebrate what God has done and to acknowledge the many, many volunteers who serve Him faithfully with a church-wide potluck, Sunday, June 28th following the 10:00am service. Check back for details.

Share a story: We want to hear about people who have touched you with their acts of service this past year - e-mail your story to worship@willoughbychurch.com so we can share them on June 28th. worship@willoughbychurch.com so we can share them on June 28th.

Help us show the community that we love our city through acts of kindness! Sign up to help out at a car wash/BBQ in the Power to Change parking lot or the water/newspaper handout at the Albion Ferry line-up on Saturday, June 13th between 10am and 2pm. Click here to sign up

Welcome/God’s Greeting
Songs of Praise: Crown Him With Many Crowns; Famous One
Reading: Acts 2:1-4
Song of Invocation: Breath On Me, Breath of God/Holy Spirit, Come
Reflection: “The day we began to be like Jesus…”
Songs of Response: Breathe; Be the Centre/Holy Spirit, Come
Prayers of the People:
Offering/Offertory: Reign In Me
Scripture: 1 John 3:11-24
Message: Seasons of Life in Christ: Fall
Song of Response: Fill Me Now
Blessing:
Song of Praise: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

We begin our service this week where we left off last week – with songs of praise to the ascended, reigning Lord: “…hail Him as your matchless King through all eternity” (Crown Him); “…great is your fame beyond the earth” (Famous One). We remember that this Sunday is Pentecost, a day to celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit, and we read part of that account in Acts 2.

Our worship continues with a petition to God to work in our lives through his Spirit - “…breathe on me, breath of God, fill me with life anew” and we both invite the Holy Spirit to be present among us and celebrate the fact the Spirit is present with the words “…Holy Spirit, Come”. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit began helping people to look and think and act like Jesus and we spend a few moments reflecting on what that means. In Breathe we acknowledge that “…your holy presence living in me” is as necessary for life in Christ as air for our physical bodies. Be the Centre reminds us that we approach God only through Christ – he is “our centre, our source, our light, our hope, our song, our vision, our path, our guide”. As we offer our money gifts, we also offer our lives: “…my one request, Lord, my only aim, is that you reign in me again”.

As the services closes, we respond with another petition for the spirit to “…fill me now” and close as we began – with a reminder of the Lordship of Christ: “…let every tongue and every tribe responsive to his call, to him all majesty ascribe and crown him Lord of all!”

Call to Worship
Songs of Praise: Come All You People; Come Now is the Time to Worship
Introduction
Songs of Confession and Commitment:
O Breath of Life; When A Prophet Sings of Justice
Prayers of the People
Offering Song: Everlasting God
Scripture: Acts 1:1-11
Message: What Jesus Left
Song of Response: Here I Am, Lord
Blessing:
Song of Praise: Amen, We Praise Your Name O God

Jesus said, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

This week we observe “Ascension Day” – described in Acts 1 (above). When Jesus ascended into heaven, he left us to complete the work of making disciples. This morning, as we welcome guest pastor John Phiri from Sierra Leone, Africa, it is most appropriate to recognize that we join with brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world as witnesses to Christ’s love, grace, salvation and faithfulness. And so, we begin our service with an invitation: Come, All You People “…come now and worship the Lord!”, and with a reminder “…one day every tongue will confess you are God”.

We continue to worship with a spirit that confesses our own failures to do justice and love mercy. In O Breath of Life we ask God to “…come cleanse, renew us; and fit your church to meet this hour”, and follow with a commitment to make God’s word of love become flesh in our actions through the words of When A Prophet Sings of Justice: “…stripped of empty act and talk; we may take a humbler walk; justice, kindness, no abstractions; but made real in words and actions”.

Following prayer for the church, here and everywhere, we joyfully acknowledge “…strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord”. He is the Everlasting God.

As the service closes, we again sing words of commitment. Here I Am, Lord asks “…whom shall I send?” and we respond “…I will go, Lord, if you lead me; I will hold your people in my heart”. We go out with praise: “…amen, we praise your name, O God”, because Jesus didn’t leave us to do this work alone, but left us the gift of the Spirit – more about that next Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost!