We're glad you joined us for ToGather.church! We are praying that our time in song, prayer, Communion, praise, and Scripture will bless you. No matter where you are, please know that God's people from all around the world are joining you in this time of special worship. (Find out more.)

Opening with Praise in Word and Song:

Let's begin our ToGather worship with the wonderful old hymn, "Blessed Assurance":

We will offer God our heartfelt praise using Eldon Degge's adaptation of Ephesians 1:3-4 into prayer:

Dear Father, King of an eternal kingdom,

Thank you for giving me the greatest motivation in life. You have called me into your kingdom, the greatest blessing that can come to any creature in heaven or on earth, in ages past, the present, or time to come.

Blessed are you, O God, Creator of everything that is.

You have blessed us with every blessing of a spiritual nature in the heavenly realms.

In fact, you chose us in Christ before you created the world, that we should be specially dedicated to you, holy and blameless. Continue your work in me, O Lord. Make me holy and blameless in word and deed.

In the name of Jesus and by his authority, I pray. Amen.

Our focus for ToGather today is on giving thanks to God as our Abba Father and recognizing what he has given us. Father's Day is today, June 20, 2021, in many countries and is celebrated at other times around the world. (Find out more about Father's Day!) As those who have been "born of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5), let's celebrate our good, perfect, and gracious Abba Father, today.

We praise God as our "Good Good Father" as we sing this simple, but profound song, with Casting Crowns:

Sharing The Supper:

To prepare us to share in the Lord's Supper, we will sing "O Faithful Lord" with Mark Bradford and Resound Worship:

Donna and Phil Ware remind us in today's Communion reflection that, during his earthly ministry, Jesus was God in human flesh showing how much he loves us and longs to touch us with his love:

The life and example of Jesus call us to follow him in the way of the cross (Mark 10:45; Luke 9:23). We will join Tasha Cobbs in pledging to do just that singing the song "Gracefully Broken":

Focusing on the Scriptures and Closing with Praise:

Jesus' command to be generous with others as the Father has been generous with us is the emphasis of our Verse of the Day:

[Jesus said,] "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:38).

I want to affirm the greatness and grace of our heavenly Father and thank him for adopting us into his eternal family!
We are asked to give because the Father has generously given to us and made us his children, as the apostle John said:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1-2).

Phil's focus is on five key ways our Abba Father has blessed us generously as his children:

The closing praise in Phil's message was an adaptation of Peter's burst of praise in his first letter to believers in Asia Minor (1 Peter 1:3-9 NLT). Join in praising the Father:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance — an inheritance that is kept in heaven for us, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through our faith, God is protecting us by his power until we receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

So let's be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though we must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that our faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold — though our faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when our faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring us much praise and glory and honor from our Father on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

We love the Lord Jesus even though we have never seen him. Though we do not see him now, we trust him; and we rejoice with a glorious and inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of our souls. Thank you, dear Father, for this wonderful hope. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Let's conclude this day of thanksgiving for our loving Abba Father with the song, "Goodness of God," led by Bethel Music and Jenn Johnson:

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