This is a line or two from God’s Word that is an invitation and command to worship God. It helps us to purposefully set our hearts off of the cares and concerns of our lives and onto Jesus.

Psalm 95:6-7a

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

This is a prayer acknowledging our dependance on God and asking for His help to worship Him properly.

Romans 8:26-27

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

God loves when His people sing, so we offer up worship with our voices in singable melodies with Biblical lyrics from the past and present.

Ephesians 5:19 (ESV)

“addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart”

Christians struggle against sin, and when we fail in that fight, we need to confess our sins to God. This part of the service reminds us that we still sin yet are able to freely confess this and find the forgiveness God has given us in Christ. We confess our general sins together before each other as a church in a pre-written form and afterward silently confess our personal sins to God.

1 John 1:9-10 (ESV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

This is our opportunity to hear from God that our sins have been forgiven in Christ with a line or two from God’s Word. By being reminded of the gospel that Christ has paid for our sins and cleared the way for us to worship Him.

Hebrews 10:19-23 (ESV)

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Creeds and confessions are not the source of God’s Word, but are helpful summaries that point us to His Word. By reciting these creeds and confessions, we affirm anew what the Bible teaches and what true followers of Christ have always believed. By reciting them weekly, we get these truths deeply in our minds so it will make a difference in our hearts.

1 Timothy 4:6

“If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.”

Prayer is our talking to God to worship Him, confess our sins, and ask His help (Luke 11:2-4). We don’t pray because God doesn’t know what we need (Matthew 6:8), but because God promises to use our prayers (James 5:17; Luke 18:2-6).

Matthew 6:9-13

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

This is the time where we worship the Lord with what He has given to us.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (ESV)

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

God has ordained the the word to be the means of grace by which faith comes (Romans 10:14-17) and our source of instruction for our lives (Psalm 119:11).

2 Timothy 4:2

“preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

This is a blessing spoken to the congregation taken from the Word of God, usually from the end of a book of the Bible.

Jude 24-25 (ESV)

Doxology

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to ithe only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.