Speaker: Ken Boonstra

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Psalm 19 says, “reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever”. We respond by singing “…we bring an offering of worship to our King; no one on earth deserves the praises that we sing; Jesus may you receive the honour that you’re due; O Lord, we bring an offering to you”. We follow with a statement: “…you’re worthy, you’re worthy, you’re worthy, you’re worthy to be praised, forever and a day.

Looking back to last Sunday’s message (from James 3 and 4) we are reminded, “humble yourselves before God” and do so with words from God, Be Merciful to Me:

“God, be merciful to me; on your grace I rest my plea.
My transgressions I confess; grief and guilt my soul oppress.
Wash me, make me pure within; cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin”.

Our call to confession from James 4 also contains our words of assurance: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honour. Come close to God, and God will come close to you”. This thought continues with words from Before the Throne of God Above:

“Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me”.

Following the message (There’s More to Money Than Being Rich), we respond with a song that reminds us that Jesus is the Lord of everything (“…Lord of all lords you will be) and that the only response to this is worship (“…we bow down and we worship you, Lord; we bow down and we crown you the King”.)

This Sunday it is our privilege to commission Jarvis and Heidi deGroot who will be serving God in Ecuador for the next few years. We look forward to hearing how God has led them to this task and how we can support them. Our special offering this Sunday will be one way we help them begin their work. Following their commissioning and God’s blessing, we respond with the familiar words “…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”, and we are reminded again of all the ways God has blessed us – Amen!

Speaker: Ken Boonstra

True faith - especially concern for the poor - comes through in our actions, not just our words.

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“Jesus in your name, we pray
Come and fill our hearts today
Lord, give us strength to live for you
And glorify your name”

We being with these words of invitation, “…come and fill our hearts today”, and are called to worship with words that remind us that everything in heaven and earth is God’s – He’s ruler of all. So we respond, “here we are, O God, our God, giving thanks to you, praising your splendid name” (from 1 Chronicles 19). We follow with a song that does just that:

“Immortal, invisible, God only wise
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes
Most holy, most glorious, the Ancient of Days
Almighty, victorious – your great name we praise”

A time of confession begins, “If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord”, and ends with a prayer for “courage to make right what I have done wrong”. Words of Assurance are followed by:

A Reminder:
“…be still for the power of the Lord is moving in this place
He comes to cleanse and heal, to minister his grace
No work too hard for him, in faith receive from him…”

A Request:
“…open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you
You are holy, holy, holy and I want to see you”

A Response:
“…we will glorify the King of Kings
We will glory the Lamb
We will glory the Lord of Lords
For he is the great I AM”

As we worship by the giving of money gifts we sing words that remind us again “…all blessing, all honour, belong to you. All power, all wisdom is yours. Holy is your name in all the earth…”

James 3:2 says, “those who are never at fault in what they say are perfect, able to keep their whole body in check”. We respond: “…so let my whole behaviour, each thought, each deed I do, be Lord, my strength, my Saviour, a ceaseless song to you”.

Following God’s blessing we praise God for our volunteers with a special video and reflect on these words:

“You (Jesus) are the face that changed the whole world
No one too lost for you to love
No one too low for you to serve
So give us grace to change the world
No one too lost for me to love
No one too low for me to serve

Let us see
Let us be
The face of love”

Speaker: Ken Boonstra

Today we begin a new series exploring the book of James. The first chapter considers the place of trials, testing and temptation in our Christian life and how we face these realities.

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Beauty surrounds me
Beauty confounds me
So I drink it all in

To all those who came before me
And those who were before them
They all are behind us
And memory reminds us
Of why we are who we are

Our opening video (Wonderfully Made) is both a homage to fathers (Sunday being Father’s Day) and an introduction to the professions of faith that will happen later in the service. As we reflect on “…why we are who we are”, we are moved to respond “…how great is our God! We continue with a reminder of Christ’s great love: “…because of your love, we’re forgiven; because of your love, our hearts are clean; we lift you up with songs of freedom; forever we’re changed because of your love”.

It is our privilege this week to witness several individuals take an important step in their faith journey through baptism and profession of faith at our 11:00am service. It is our joy to join them in this simple song of praise:

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound
Amazing love now flowing down
From hands and feet that we’re nailed to the tree
As grace flows down and covers me”

As we hear the professions of faith and are reminded of our own promises, we join together with a song that invites Jesus to “…be our centre, our source, our light, our hope, our song, our vision, our path, our guide – the reason that we live”.

Our sermon text reminds us that “…we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone”. (James 2:24), and so we respond with a song that reflects our desire to see Jesus’ love multiplied through our actions: “…through our simple words and deeds, let love be multiplied”. Following God’s blessing we end as we began, with the declaration “…how great is our God!”

This project “Street Faith” was inspired by a challenge. Visuals for church were needed for a sermon series called “Street Faith”. I researched graffiti art on the internet and I found much of it is hard to read. Letters are scrunched together and behind them were blasts of colour. This is the first time I have ever created art using spray paint, and I have never worked this large before.

There ended up being symbolism within this piece, and sometimes it was a surprise. As planned, the words ‘believe’ and ‘persevere’ form the shape of a cross. Many times there are arrows placed randomly in graffiti. I guess this red arrow could show that we move forward in life as we believe and persevere; the red symbolizing Christ’s life/death for us. The cityscape adds a sense of balance to the piece. The city represents the place where ‘street faith’ takes place.

My name is Eric and I am a grade 12 student graduating this year. I am an artist who loves to go past the boundaries and explore new ideas in many ways. I enjoy working independently while creating my pieces. After graduation, I hope to pursue a career in the art industry. My family is a clear example of where I get my influence to create my art.

No matter how hard we try to imitate life through art work, life will always be a more artistic piece. The life of an artist is one big piece of art even when we are not creating. God has given me the gift of my artistic ability so that I can express my life through art and express my art through life. As an artist I believe that I am able to appreciate what God has given to me even more through the creations He has made. As his artwork I am able to create pieces to show just a small fraction of how much I appreciate the life He has given to me.

“…praise is rising, eyes are turning to you; we turn to you;
hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for you; we long for you”.

We begin with a song that welcomes “…the God who saves us”; the God present with us and ends with this invitation: “…come have your way among us; we welcome you here Lord Jesus”. Words from Psalm 51 continue to help us reflect and rejoice in God’s salvation and we respond with a song of gratitude to the Faithful One: “Lord of all I depend on you; I call out to you again and again; you are my rock in times of trouble; you lift me up when I fall down; all through the storm your love is the anchor; my hope is in you alone”.

Psalm 15 asks: “Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?” and answers: “Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right…” As we fall far short of that standard, truly our hope is in God alone and the salvation provided through his son, Jesus Christ. Our response? Confession. Humility. Gratitude. In For the Beauty of the Earth we thank God for his many wonderful gifts and particularly “…for yourself best gift divine; to the world so freely given; agent of God’s grand design: peace on earth and joy in heaven”. Gratitude continues with the giving of our money gifts and we acknowledge that “…every good and perfect gift comes from you” – a contemporary song setting of James 1:17 (Father of Lights).

In response to the message from James 1 (Not Every Test is A Temptation) we remember: “…O Lord, I am weak, but in you I am strong”, and make a commitment: “…I will be faithful, I will be true”. We rejoice in our salvation through celebration of the sacrament of communion and make the joyful declaration: “…better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere”. God’s blessing provokes this response: “…praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow – Amen!”

Guest Speaker: Gerrit Venneman

We welcome guest speaker Gerrit Venneman.

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We open our service with God’s words of greeting, “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come” and sing our response “…holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Lift up his name with the sound of singing… for he is worthy to be praised”.

Psalm 126:3 says “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Our invocation (or invitation) is based on those words, and our longings for God’s presence are reflected in the spoken response, “Come quickly, Lord”. The invocation is also an acknowledgement that God is present and this is joyfully reflected in Bless His Name: “…Lord, we come to meet with you again; to worship with one voice in adoration; you deserve our every praise that echoes in this place, you’re the worthy one; so come let us sing for joy, let us shout aloud to our King; come let us worship God, lifting holy hands, bless his name” and in Meet With Me: “…as I wait, you make me strong; as I long, draw me to your arms, as I stand and sing your praise, you come, you come and you fill this place”.

We continue with the Paul’s advice for holy living from the book of 1 Thessalonians: “Always be joyful; Never stop praying; Be thankful in all circumstances; Do not stifle the Holy Spirit; Do not scoff at prophecies; Hold on to what is good; Stay away from every kind of evil” and we realize again that we are not holy and that we will fail, but that God is faithful. Forever reminds us that “…by the grace of God we will carry on” and so we praise him: “…forever God is faithful; forever God is strong; forever God is with us, forever”. We hear how God has been faithful in the lives of the Cadet boys and their leaders and praise and thank him for blessing that ministry. A spirit of gratitude continues as we worship by giving our money gifts and with the words of With Grateful Heart: “…With grateful heart my thanks I bring; before the great your praise I sing… the work you have for me begun; shall by your grace be fully done; your love forever will endure; your mercy, Lord, is every sure”.

In the book of John (3:30) he says, “He (Christ) must become greater; I must become less and so we close with Be Unto Your Name which reminds us who he is and who we are: “…we are moment, you are forever; we are a vapour, you are eternal; we are the broken, you are the healer” and we again respond the only way we can - with praise and worship: “…holy, holy Lord God Almighty; worthy is the Lamb who was slain; highest praises, honour and glory be unto your name”.