Worship Service for February 23, 2025 at 11 AM

Welcome

Invocation

Confession and Forgiveness:

P: When we come into the presence of God we cannot help but see our sinfulness. God does not require us to cleanse our own sin and be perfect of our own power for, surely, we could never achieve this. Instead, He tells us to come as we are and receive His great mercy.

Song: Come As You Are

Verse 1:

Come out of sadness from wherever you’ve been.

Come broken hearted let rescue begin.

Come find your mercy. Oh, sinner come kneel.

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal.

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal.

Chorus:

So, lay down your burdens, lay down your shame.

All who are broken, lift up your face.

Oh, wanderer come home. You’re not too far.

So, lay down your hurt. Lay down your heart.

Come as you are.

Verse 2:

There’s hope for the hopeless, and all those who’ve strayed.

Come sit at the table. Come taste of the grace.

There’s rest for the weary, rest that endures.

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t cure. 

Chorus:

So, lay down your burdens, lay down your shame.

All who are broken, lift up your face.

Oh, wanderer come home. You’re not too far.

So, lay down your hurt. Lay down your heart.

Come as you are.

Bridge:

Come as you are. Fall in his arms. Come as you are.

 (a time of silence to reflect and personally confess our sins)

C: Heavenly Father, we confess that we have sinned against you and each other. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ and His suffering and death on the cross, please forgive us and help us to live according to Your ways. Amen

Verse 3:

There’s joy for the morning. Oh, sinner be still.

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal.

Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal.

(Chorus)                    © 2014 9 © t One Songs (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

P: The Lord our God is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.  Therefore, I announce unto you the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In His stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen. 

Opening Song: Come Thou Font

Verse 1:
Come Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Steams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.

 

Verse 2:
Here I raise my “Ebenezer” Hither by Thy help I come.
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood. 

Verse 3:
Oh, to grace how great to debtor, Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.                                                                                      © Public Domai 

Old Testament Reading – Isaiah 55:10–13

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

“For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God. 

Epistle Reading – Hebrews 4:9-13

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Reader: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

Gospel Reading – Luke 8:4–15

And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise be to You, o Christ.

Children’s Message 

Sermon Hymn – Your Grace Is Enough

Great is Your faithfulness oh God.
You wrestle with the sinner’s restless heart.
You lead us by still waters into mercy,
And nothing can keep us apart.

Pre-chorus:
So, remember Your people. Remember Your children.
Remember Your promise, Oh God.

Chorus:
Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough.
Your grace is enough for me.

Great is Your love and justice God of Jacob.
You use the weak to lead the strong.
You lead us in the song of Your salvation,
And all Your people sing along.

(Pre-chorus)

(Chorus 2x)                                   © 2003 spiritandsong.com and Thankyou Music

Sermon – “Strive to Rest”

Prayers: Text in prayer requests to (813) 326-5255

Apostles’ Creed (stand)

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God
the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. 

The Lord’s Prayer (stand)

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.  Amen

Offering

Benediction – The online service ends. The closing hymn video is on the Livestream page bulletin at FaithWesleyChapel.com with lyrics below. See announcements below as well.

Closing Song – Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus 

O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free. 

Chorus:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

(Repeat last 2 lines at the end of the last chorus.) 

Through death into life everlasting,
He passed, and we follow Him there.
Over us sin no more hath dominion,
For more than conqu’rors we are.

 

(Chorus)            © 1922 Public Domain, Words: New Spring, and Music: 1922 New Spring