back to indexBerean Community Church 3.29 Sunday Service
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It's been a couple of weeks since we've been isolated. 00:16:52.000 |
You know, this morning as I was coming to church and I saw something very different than last week. 00:16:56.000 |
I was walking around jogging, exercising, and today as I was coming I noticed the streets pretty empty. 00:17:02.000 |
And I think we've had enough time inside the house where we're starting to get stir crazy. 00:17:10.000 |
Maybe you started the isolation thinking like I'm going to be productive, I'm going to read these books, I'm going to do this. 00:17:16.000 |
Just like any New Year's resolution, after time passes and our natural way to respond is to just kind of give in to what comes easy. 00:17:25.000 |
And since we're home, you know, we can naturally just kind of let ourselves go and just kind of do whatever makes us feel comfortable. 00:17:32.000 |
And so, you know, our encouragement is we don't know how long that we're going to be isolated. 00:17:36.000 |
And so just to persevere, let's persevere together. 00:17:39.000 |
We want to try to stay online as much as possible. 00:17:43.000 |
So if you're at home, we encourage you to get in the habit of coming on Facebook and interacting. 00:17:48.000 |
There are devotions that are being put up every day that you can look at. 00:17:53.000 |
There are prayer meetings that we're going to be hosting going forward. 00:17:57.000 |
And so please do your best to stay on track whether this lasts another week or another two, three months that, again, we can be productive with what we have. 00:18:08.000 |
I want to give a shout out to a few of our students that had birthdays this week. 00:18:19.000 |
And Josiah, happy birthday if you're watching out there. 00:18:22.000 |
Hopefully, even though you're isolated, that you had a lot of fun. 00:18:29.000 |
Okay, you know who you are for diligently studying Chapter 7. 00:18:34.000 |
I told him I was going to give him a shout out if he studied it last night. 00:18:38.000 |
Anyway, I have a few announcements before we get started. 00:18:42.000 |
First of all, in order to communicate with the whole church what's going on, and we know we have bits and pieces of information that's been going out through various media. 00:18:53.000 |
Again, our media team has been working overdrive to do what they need to do to communicate. 00:19:02.000 |
But in order for our whole church to get on the same page and answer any kind of questions that you may have, assuming that we're not going to be able to get together physically for a while, 00:19:14.000 |
next Sunday, which is Palm Sunday, at 1 p.m., we're going to have a members Zoom session. 00:19:21.000 |
So there's going to be an invitation that's going to go out. 00:19:24.000 |
After the service, you'll have time to have discussion, grab lunch, and then at 1 p.m. to get back on. 00:19:30.000 |
And we're going to have an open Zoom session. 00:19:34.000 |
Again, this is only open to the members of the church, and you'll be able to log in as a member to do that. 00:19:39.000 |
And we'll be giving you updates on what are some things that are going on online. 00:19:44.000 |
How are the home groups being run, the small groups? 00:19:47.000 |
How are we preparing for the outreach that's coming up for Easter? 00:19:51.000 |
And again, any prayer concerns that we have, we want to share with everybody. 00:19:56.000 |
And so this is not a replacement of our members meeting that we're supposed to have, but it is an info session for the church. 00:20:03.000 |
And so if you are able to make it, and I think it will be a great time to, again, bring the whole church together and get on the same page. 00:20:10.000 |
If you look at some of the announcements, Easter schedule, again, it's only next Sunday is Palm Sunday, and a week after that, obviously, is Easter Sunday. 00:20:23.000 |
We have it scheduled just like the previous years, Monday through Thursday, to have devotions. 00:20:28.000 |
Thursday night, we had the Passover meal, but obviously, we're not able to do that. 00:20:34.000 |
Each of the pastors are going to be sharing the passage about what Jesus struggled with that last week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. 00:20:42.000 |
And I know one of the announcements is Monday through Wednesday, but again, it's Monday through Thursday. 00:20:48.000 |
And then Friday evening, we are going to be having our Good Friday service, again, online. 00:20:53.000 |
And so we want to invite you to participate in that, ask your friends who may not know Christ, what is the meaning of his suffering. 00:21:01.000 |
We're going to be having Friday night service. 00:21:04.000 |
Obviously, we're going to be postponing our usual communion that Friday, but that's what we're going to be doing. 00:21:14.000 |
Easter Sunday is a huge Sunday for any Christian around the world, and it's a great opportunity to share the gospel with your non-Christian friends. 00:21:22.000 |
So if you have co-workers or people that really need to hear the message of the cross and the gospel and the hope that we have in Christ, 00:21:31.000 |
we're going to be sending out advertisements and things like that that you can share with your friends to join us that Sunday morning and Friday evening. 00:21:38.000 |
And so, again, so everything is as normal as we can be. 00:21:44.000 |
We're going to try to do what we can online until, again, all of this changes. 00:21:49.000 |
But again, those are the things that are coming up. 00:21:54.000 |
As I mentioned last week, we want to keep the normalcy of our service, and we're asking you to take Sunday worship like Sunday worship, 00:22:01.000 |
not like you're watching TV in front of your television, to prepare for Sunday worship. 00:22:08.000 |
We're not asking you, you have to wear a suit or anything, but don't just jump out of bed and then sit on the couch like you're watching some televangelist. 00:22:17.000 |
So we're asking you to take the worship seriously, and that's why we're having our offering the way that we're having. 00:22:22.000 |
We want our offering to be done faithfully, intentionally, and joyfully, 00:22:28.000 |
so that we don't just kind of haphazardly do it and then everything's on hold until we get back together. 00:22:33.000 |
So we're going to try to practice that as much as possible. 00:22:35.000 |
So as already advertised and already mentioned, there is an avenue for PayPal, for Venmo, to be able to offer electronically. 00:22:44.000 |
If you have young children at home, maybe you can prepare offering for them to give, and you can collect it and hold onto it until we get back together. 00:22:52.000 |
But again, we're asking that we are intentional with our Sunday worship so that not only for us, but even for our own children, 00:23:00.000 |
that they would take that time as a sacred time, even though we're not physically together. 00:23:05.000 |
So after I pray for us, before the worship team begins, we're going to give you about 30 seconds to a minute to prepare your offering and to give. 00:23:15.000 |
So after we do that, the worship team is going to come up. 00:23:21.000 |
Our finance team asked, if possible, because the offering electronically is coming through various times of the week, 00:23:28.000 |
and it's hard for them to track what it's exactly for because that's also used for other things. 00:23:34.000 |
So make sure that you make it clear that it is for Sunday offering and also for the purpose of being purposeful, 00:23:41.000 |
if you are able to, to do that on Sunday when we do it, do it together as an act of worship, as a part of the worship that we're having. 00:23:48.000 |
And so if possible, unless you were not able to, let's try to do it together on Sunday morning. 00:23:54.000 |
OK, so let me pray for us and then we'll hand it over to our worship team. 00:24:03.000 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for what you are doing around the world. 00:24:09.000 |
We know, Father God, that you are sovereign, that all of this chaos, all of this pain that this virus has caused, 00:24:19.000 |
that even in this, Lord God, that you show yourself to be faithful. 00:24:24.000 |
We know, Father God, as you promised us to cast our cares upon you because you care for us. 00:24:31.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to remember all of these things, believe these things, that we may not respond as people without hope. 00:24:40.000 |
We pray that even in our giving, help us to be intentional. 00:24:44.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to give in a manner that represents our heart, not just our finances. 00:24:57.000 |
May it be offered up to you in spirit and in truth. 00:26:42.000 |
Let earth and heaven's saints proclaim the power and might of His great name. 00:30:12.000 |
And in love before you laid the world's foundation. 00:30:26.000 |
You have raised me up so high above my station. 00:31:08.000 |
By your blood I have redemption and salvation. 00:31:15.000 |
Lord, you died that I might live but you have seen. 00:32:03.000 |
I drove and touched my sleep and still you were so awake. 00:32:10.000 |
On my darkened heart the light of your colors stands strong. 00:32:17.000 |
Called into a kingdom, nothing I could shake in. 00:32:38.000 |
I will run the race by grace and grace alone. 00:32:51.000 |
I will reach the end by grace and grace alone.