The Purpose for Which You Were Called
TEXT: 1 Peter 2:9-10
ONLINE WORSHIP SERVICE (5.9.2021)
CALL TO WORSHIP:
As we gather for worship this morning, I’d like to call you to worship with the words of Psalms 77…
11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?
OPENING WORSHIP:
“10,000 Reasons”
worship:
“How Great Is Our God”
“Behold Our God”
affirmation:
Isaiah 40:21–31
21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
This next song celebrates the gospel, which is all about how our transcendent God, who rules over the heavens that he fashioned, somehow lowered himself in order to lift up the faint and the one who has no might. In fact, as the song says, God came to rescue us when we were dead in the grave of sin….
WORSHIP:
“All I Have Is Christ”
Prayer:
Oh Lord all too often we live in such a way as though we don’t need you. We depend on our technology, our accomplishments, our relationships. We build our identity around what we’ve done, how much we have, or how we are better than others.
And yet at the cross all of this comes crashing to the ground. Because at the cross we are told that we have nothing at all of eternal value, unless we have Christ. We are told that we are sinners and that without you, we are headed for destruction. All that we have done or owned or achieved is worthless to save us. And yet we run to those things first. Like someone holding onto a candy wrapper to shield them from an atomic bomb, we hold on to false hopes that only destroy us.
Lord forgive us. Our sin has left us naked and exposed before you. All of the things we’ve held so dear we now admit cannot fix our problem. Our problem is our lack of relationship with you. We desperately need Jesus!
So Lord, would you come and help us to say with Paul that we know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Let us boast only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14). Cause us to cling more fully to the one mediator between God and man, the only one who can save!
All we have, all we need is Christ. All that he’s done for us, all the promises that he has secured for us, all the love and affection that is ours because we are in him!
To have Christ is to have life. All we have is Christ!
And now Lord, would you show us the preciousness of Christ in today’s passage? Reveal yourself through the Person of the Word, Jesus Christ. Open our eyes to the sweetness and beauty of Jesus, and satisfy our hearts once again.
Amen!
READ SERMON TEXT:
1 Peter 2:9-10
SERMON:
Pastor Mark Kernan
Title: “The Purpose for Which You Were Called”
Main Idea: God made you his own so that you might joyfully proclaim his mercy toward you in Jesus Christ.
Sermon Outline:
I. You have an Amazing New Identity in Christ (1 Peter 2:9a)
II. You have an All-Encompassing Purpose in Life (1 Peter 2:9b–10)
CLOSING WORSHIP:
“By Faith”