Drawing Near:

Welcome!

We are delighted that you joined us for this week's ToGather.church. (Find out more.) Use our home worship guide for worship on your own, or share with your friends, family, home group, or house church in as safe a way as possible in these challenging times.

Today in our worship, we are committing to trust God. We choose to believe in the Lord's goodness and grace even when life isn't going as we think it should. We choose to believe even when our hardships feel unrelenting and unfair. We commit to trust and ask Jesus to help us with our unbelief when our faith wavers.

Our VerseoftheDay.com focus for our worship comes from Hebrews 11:1:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1 NIV84).

Hebrews 11 is often called "The Faith Hall of Fame" of the Bible, but in other places in the Bible, the Holy Spirit reminds us that the great people of faith were not always perfect in their faithfulness. Despite their fallibilities, however, they persevered in choosing faith over fear and over their own spiritual failures. They continued to believe and asked for God's help to believe when they struggled with unbelief. They endured, trusting in God to keep his promises:

These [examples of great faith] were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Hebrews 11:39-40).

Opening the Scriptures:

Our ToGather.church family comes together from around the world to honor God, to thank Jesus for his sacrifice, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We join our hearts, coming out of a troubled and sick world. We need hope and faith to live for Christ and share his love with those in darkness. So, let's remind ourselves to "trust the voice that speaks," promising that Jesus can give us peace and lead us to true hope. Let's sing, "Peace Be Still" with Lauren Daigle:

A key message in the song we just sang goes this way:

Let faith rise up
O heart believe
Let faith rise up in me
...
Even when my eyes can't see
I will trust the voice that speaks

These sentiments and passions resonate with our Verse of the Day, Hebrews 11:1. We choose to believe. We choose to trust God. When faith is a struggle, we look to Jesus. Our heart's cry is "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)

In his message today, Phil challenges us to live with this kind of faith. We pray that you are blessed and encouraged!

As we commit to believing, God rushes towards us with the promise never to abandon us (Romans 8:32-39). We need to remind each other of the Lord's steadfastness and dependability. Matt Redman's song, "You Never Let Go," is a great way to encourage each other to trust God's promise to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6):

Sharing The Supper:

Our hope is in Jesus. Our faith is in what he has done to bring us salvation. Let's confess that our hope is found "In Christ Alone," as we sing with the Westover Singers:

We are blessed in our Communion reflection by Ratan and Neelam from India. They made this video for ToGather.church shortly before the birth of their second child. This couple is passionate about loving Jesus and sharing Jesus' love. You will hear about this love as they lead us in today's Communion reflection:

As Ratan urged us, we must share Jesus with others. The world needs God's grace. People around us need the Holy Spirit's comfort and power. With the Zoe Group, let's sing our commitment with the song, "How Can I Keep from Singing." This song captures both the emphasis of sharing Jesus and trusting him in our storms of life:

Closing with a Blessing:

We conclude with beautiful words from Psalm 46 and then the song, "Firm Foundation." We commit to trust that God is with us no matter how badly our world is shaken and disrupted. From Psalm 46:1-3 ESV, Phil reminds us of our declaration of faith and then he reminds us of God's promise from Psalm 46:10-11 ESV:

We declare our faith and the assurance of Psalm 46 as we sing "Firm Foundation," with Nashville Life Music:

May God bless you this week as you live for Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit!

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.