Worship
Service for July 20, 2025
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: We have been called here to face into
God’s gracious and patient way of living.
We are to leave the past behind us and walk into these new days of our
ministry.
P: Sometimes we’d rather remember how things
used to be. Sometimes we are afraid to
be disciples.
L: But this is a new day, and Christ is
sharing freedom with us. It is a day to
put aside all fear, to leave doubting behind, and to take courage in God’s
loving and patient call.
P: We will look to the new day, and we will
set ourselves on the Jerusalem road. We
will strive for faithfulness, even at the cost of popularity, and we will be
disciples of Christ, renewing and healing the world around us.
Opening Hymn – God of the
Ages, Whose Almighty Hand #262/809
Prayer of Confession
Most holy and most merciful
God, in Your presence we must face the sinfulness of our nature and the errors
of our ways, intended and accidental.
You alone know how often we have failed by wandering from Your paths, wasting
Your gifts, and underestimating Your love.
Have mercy upon us, O God, for we have broken Your requirements for
justice and overlooked opportunities for kindness. Humble us with Your truth and raise us by
Your grace that we may truly be the people of Christ and the witnesses of Your
Spirit. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Rejoice!
God, whose love is poured over you at all times in all places, has
healed your hearts and spirits. Be
people of love, joy, peace and patience, bringing hope to others.
P: Thanks
be to God for His patience with us and also for God’s tender love and grace. Amen.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
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 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead. I believe in the
Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness
of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Holy God,
as we enter this space of quiet and prayer, we are reminded that our prayers
are sometimes one-sided. So, today our
prayer is not only for the usual things we pray for, but also for the opposite
things.
We pray
today not only for the sick who need your tender care and your compassion as
they go through treatments and healing, but we also pray for those who are
well, lest their sense of pride in their own health override Your benevolence
to us. We pray not only for the poor who
struggle with daily living, face days of hunger, who worry about making ends
meet, but we also pray for the rich who find it so hard to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. We pray not only for the
troubled, those who are depressed and worried about today’s difficulties, but
we also pray for the favored ones, lest peace with the world be confused with
the peace of God. We pray not only for
the dying, those who face terminal illnesses, cancer treatments, but we also
pray for the living, since they face eternity as well.
We pray
not only for the burdened but also for the casual, lest indolence rot the very
soul they hope to save. We pray for not
only the President of our country and leaders around the world, but we also
pray for the people of the world, because it is they who pay for misrule when
it comes. We pray not only for
missionaries on foreign shores, but also for the rest of us who still don’t
know that in Christ there is no east or west, north or south, but one great
human family in a house that grows smaller and smaller by the years.
We pray
not only for ministers of the Gospel, but also for people of the gospel, since
all who believe are called to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We pray not only for fair weather, but also
for bad weather, since nature is impartial and often prodigal, and human
estimates of good and bad do not count.
We pray not only sinners to turn and be saved, but also for the rest of
us who think we have no sin and are in the greater need of penitence and
healing. And finally, Lord, we pray not
only for others, but also for ourselves, because salvation and righteousness
begins right here, in the household of God.
We especially pray today for…
We pray
with words spoken aloud, but also with hearts unburdened by language in this
time of silence.
Hear us as
we pray... 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. Forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors. And lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – It is Well With My Soul #705
Brown
Scripture Reading:
First Scripture Reading – Psalm 37
Second Scripture Reading – Romans
8:24-28
Sermon – Fruit of
the Spirit: Patience
You’ve probably
heard it said that patience is a virtue.
But, exactly what is a virtue? It
is a quality in a person that is considered morally good or desirable. And since it is one of the Fruits of the
Spirit, it isn’t something that we automatically have. It’s something that is given to us by the
Spirit, but it needs to be cultivated, nonetheless.
Cultivating
patience is a journey that intertwines our faith with spiritual growth and
practical steps. In order to do that, we
need to practice prayer. I’m not sure if
you’ve noticed, but so far, all of these gifts start with the practice of
prayer. So, we need to regularly seek
the Holy Spirit’s help in our cultivation of patience. In today’s world, cultivating patience is
both a challenge and an opportunity for growth.
Patience is more than just enduring delays and hardships; it's a
deep-seated virtue rooted in our prayer life and in our faith, characterized by
the gentle persistence woven into our spiritual fabric. This biblical patience — an “unyielding,
defiant perseverance” — offers us a pathway to strength and tranquility in
times of trial.
We also need to
reflect on Scripture. Great verses on
patience, love, and endurance are the ones that we read this morning as well as
Chapter 5 of Romans and James Chapter 1.
Through them we see patience as more than a passive trait. It’s an active, courageous stand against
trials, urging us to develop endurance, which in turn fosters a solid character
and a hopeful future. Embracing this
form of patience enables us to bear hardships gracefully, confident in God’s
purpose and timing.
The opposite of
patience is impatience. And impatience
can often lead to saying and doing something that we’ll later regret, so
immediately learn to apologize when impatience arises.
The most
difficult part of cultivating patience, in my opinion is the acceptance of
waiting. And we need to learn how to
view waiting as a spiritual exercise in faith.
In order to develop and cultivate patience, we need to accept
discomfort. We’ll need to recognize that
life will have its challenges, and instead of resisting them, we should accept
them with humility. Accepting discomfort
requires us to surrender our complaints and unrealistic expectations. As we learn to accept what God allows in our
lives, we become more patient.
And forgiveness
is crucial for cultivating patience.
When we hold onto past grievances, impatience festers. By forgiving others, we release the burdens
of resentment and allow patience to flourish.
Forgiveness is a discipline that requires constant practice, but it
leads to a more patient and peaceful heart.
Grace is part of that. When we
remember the grace God has extended to us, we find it easier to extend that
same grace to other people. This
perspective helps us respond with love rather than impatience, fostering a more
harmonious relationship with all those around us.
And finally, we
need to put our trust in God, believing that whatever comes about; it is part
of God’s plan for your life. To learn
something, to grow somehow, to stretch ourselves, to rest in victory, to
strengthen our character in times of struggle – whatever it might be is a
lesson for us in learning more fully God’s plan for our lives. Shifting our focus from people to God can
significantly improve our patience. When
we prioritize our love for God over the opinions or actions of others, we are
less likely to be swayed by impatience.
This focus not only strengthens our relationship with God but also helps
us respond to life's challenges with a calm and patient heart.
Faith and
patience go hand in hand. It’s only
through faith and patience that we will inherit God’s promises. This means that patience is not a passive
waiting but an active faith-filled journey.
Faith fuels patience, allowing us to trust in God's timing and promises,
even when that path is unclear.
To see how
Patience as the Fruit of the Spirit works in someone’s life, I want to tell you
a story about Rick. Rick was one of the
kids at my church in Leetsdale. He had
two older sisters, Sara and Stephanie.
The eldest sister, Sara, was extremely gifted in singing and she was
often given solo opportunities, even at a young age, to sing at church. She was also a talented actress, starring in
her high school musicals and has gone on to a career as an actress in New York.
The middle
daughter, Stephanie, was sort of the darling of the church. She helped out in everything that was
happening, always ready to lend a hand and even helped out at other churches
during the summers at their VBS programs.
She went on every mission trip our church had. Her faith was probably the strongest of any
kid her age that I’ve ever known.
And then there
was Rick. Rick rebelled against most
everything, but since his parents were so active at church and his sisters as
well, he didn’t really have an option.
He didn’t really like being at our afterschool programs or VBS or
church, for that matter. But he
reluctantly attended, all of it. Even
though he didn’t actually sing, at one point, he even joined our choir.
When Rick was in
5th or 6th grade, his dad asked me if I could find a way to interest Rick in
reading, anything. He was failing in
school and didn’t seem interested in many topics. So, Rick and I spent some time together and I
learned that he was interested in flying.
His dad had been in the Airforce and he’d always thought about being a
pilot.
Not sure if any
of you knew this, but in another life, I had also owned a bookstore. So, Rick and I spent a day going through the
books at Stop, Book, and Listen – the name of my bookstore and he picked out a
number of books on flying and airplanes.
But he also grabbed a children’s book about Robert Clemente. I asked him about it and he said that it
looked interesting. A couple of weeks
later, he asked me for more books on sports.
Now in High
School, in 2004, Rick had a massive Epileptic Seizure. After months of trial and error with
medications, Rick’s doctor found a dosage that kept Rick’s seizures at bay, but
the devastating news for Rick was that he’d never be able to be a pilot. That following summer Rick’s family joined
our church’s mission trip to Puerto Rico.
Rick was sulky and irritable. One
afternoon I caught him alone and we talked.
He was furious at God for dashing his dreams. He told me that all he’s ever really wanted
was to be a pilot. Now, he didn’t know
what to do and blamed God for his epilepsy.
I told him that I didn’t know why he had epilepsy, but that God simply
had something different in mind for him, that he needed to be patient, to talk
to God in prayer, and simply wait for an answer. That fall Rick threw himself into Sports;
sports training, weightlifting and working out.
Fast forward to
today – twenty years later. Here was a
kid who hated school, rebelled against most things, could barely read, hated
God, had his hopes and dreams dashed from Epilepsy. Do you know what he does now? He’s married with a kid of his own and he is
a professor and Athletic Director at Jacksonville University and is a Youth
leader at his church.
Patience. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. By integrating these practices of prayer,
dwelling on the scriptures, asking forgiveness when impatience creeps into your
life, and trusting in God’s timing, you can develop a patience that is both
biblically grounded and spiritually enriching.
Thanks be
to God. AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Lord, take these gifts, multiply them for Your
use in the World and make our hearts and hands busy with the burdens of those
in need, trusting in Your patient Spirit that will one day bring all people to faith. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – God Be With You Till We Meet Again
#232 Brown
Benediction –
Dear Friends,
be patient with one another and in the workings of the Holy Spirit. Although there are times of doubt, it is
through our patience that we learn God has all things under control. Be at peace. AMEN.
Postlude
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