Drawing Near to God:

Welcome!

We are delighted that you joined us for ToGather.church. (Find out more.) What follows is our home worship guide for you to use on your own or to share with your friends, family, home group, or house church.

Our theme today comes from Romans 8:9. Our focus is on the incredible promise of a tender relationship with God as our Abba Father through the work of the Holy Spirit. Not only are we shaped into mature followers of Jesus because of the nurture of God's guidance and teaching, but we also have the nature of God within us through the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

Jesus taught, prayed, and lived in constant relationship with God as his Abba Father. Because of the Holy Spirit, we can, too! Jesus voluntarily submitted to his role as the Son of God on earth. He chose to be controlled by the will of God. Most of us find the word, "controlled," distasteful. Yet being controlled by God is not a burden, but a blessing if we understand it through the lens of God as tender, loving, life-giving, Abba Father!

In his letter to the Romans, Paul elaborated on the significance and effect of our being given the Spirit:

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you (Romans 8:9-11).

Rather than bristling at God being in control of us to bring us life, we rejoice and praise God for his goodness and grace that we have as his children!

Let's join the Zoe group in singing the "Magnificat" and declaring our heart's desire to worship God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength:

Welcome to the Table of the Lord:

Joining Jesus in this simple meal of remembrance should be an exciting time for us as the body of Christ. Today, Randy Yarbrough leads us in a few thoughts about how special our time is at the table:

Set Free by the Spirit to Find Life:

We long for the Spirit of the Lord to lead us to life and in life. Let's praise God for his goodness, faithfulness, and grace as he leads us in his path of life. We join Bethel Music in singing, "The Goodness of God":

We are God's children because of the Spirit! We are becoming like God's Son, Jesus, both because of God's nature within us through his indwelling Spirit and because of his nurture — the Scriptures, his blessings, and other believers' encouragement. Join Phil as he leads us into a deeper understanding of our Verse of the Day, Romans 8:9, and what it means to be "controlled by the Spirit" to be set free from our fleshly, sinful nature:

Wow! Jesus has given us the freedom to live life to its fullest as the Holy Spirit transforms us increasingly to be more like our Lord. The Spirit transforms us both by the Father's nature within us and his nurture of us. The Spirit will faithfully do God's work in us until he brings us home to be with him. Let's celebrate God's work in us with Bethel Music through the song, "Faithful to the End":

Our Closing Blessing:

Before we close with a biblical blessing, let's take a few minutes and be still in the presence of God. Let's trust him to sustain us and continue to conform us to the likeness of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let's confess our faith in God's graciousness through the song, "I Will Be Still," led by the Zoe Group:

Because we share the Father's nature and his nurture, the Holy Spirit helps transform us to be like Christ and to control the desires of our sinful nature.

Our closing Scripture blessing is shared with us by Randy Yarbrough. We encourage you to read it along with Randy and make it your own.

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

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Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:10-11, 15)

Postscript:

Shortly after ToGather is posted each weekend, the videos are professionally captioned and posted on YouTube. See all of our ToGather.church videos on our YouTube® Channel.

Special thanks for Multi Transcription Services of America (MTSOA.com) for their fine work. See them for all your questions about marketing YouTube® videos and expanding your online reach. Email Lee for more info.

Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus' ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images.