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:

As we worship together, we recognize the presence of Jesus, who longs to be with us and make his home within us!

We open with this prayer adapted from Hebrews 13:1-8 by Eldon Degge:

Dear Father, hospitable king,

Fill me with brotherly love. Please make me a generous provider of hospitality to strangers. Let angels find provision under my roof, even when I don't know who they really are.

Help me remember those in prison, as though in prison with them, and those ill-treated since I am also in the body.

Help me hold marriage in honor. May my own marriage bed remain forever undefiled.

Keep me from the love of money. Instead, please help me be content with what I have, knowing that you will never fail me or forsake me.

And most of all, thank you for Jesus Christ, who forever remains true to me. Thank you, my God, for being my rock of salvation and hope, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

We worship the King of glory, knowing that by coming to our Father in humility, he welcomes us, no matter where our life has taken us in the past. We invite each other to worship our Father of grace as we sing "All the Poor and Powerless" with All Sons and Daughters leading us:

Focusing on the Scriptures:

We yearn for the Lord to be real to us, to fill our hungry souls with spiritual bread, and to slake our thirst with his water of grace and mercy, so we pray.

Awaken our spirits and awaken our churches as you come, Holy Spirit, and help us to be aware of Jesus within us. Awaken us all. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's sing "My Awakening" with Canyon Hills as we ask for God to draw near and use us as we trust him to be our sufficiency:

Matthew 25:37-40 is the emphasis of our Verse of the Day:

[Jesus continued his parable with these words:]"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

As we seek to fulfill our mission of serving and helping others, we need to open our hearts to Jesus' promise to be real to us and make his home in us, as we hear Phil's message:

We make room for Jesus to do whatever he wants us to do with us and through us by surrendering our hearts to do his work in our world. Let's commit to making room for the Lord to work through us as we sing "Make Room" with Community Music:

Sharing The Supper:

As we prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper, we sing "New Wine" with Hillsong Worship:

Jesus promised that he is present with us individually (John 14:23 ESV) as well as with groups of two or more of us (Matthew 18:20), just as he was with his early disciples. When our Lord gathered with his closest disciples before his Passion, he shared bread and wine with them. He also commanded them — and us — to remember him by sharing this same simple meal. And, Jesus' statements in the following verses drip with anticipation for us as we live in this world but wait for the full dawning of his coming Kingdom:

When actively sharing compassion with those in need, we get to gaze into the face of Jesus!
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:26-29).

Jesus joins us as we share this bread and this wine.

Let's pray for the bread:

Lord Jesus, we thank you for giving us this simple meal to remember your love for us and the cost you paid for us. We love you. We welcome you as we share in your Supper, and we rejoice that you not only died for us and rose again but that you are present in each of us through the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As you eat the bread, take time to reflect on its meaning.

Let's pray for the cup:

Lord Jesus, make us into your new wine as we take this cup of blessing and remember your love for us. Make us into whatever you want us to be and empower us as we seek to be your presence in our broken world. We ask this to glorify the Father as we worship in the Spirit and honor you, the Son, as our Lord. Amen.

Again, take time to remember that Jesus was willing to bleed and die to offer you and me salvation, and he wants us to dedicate our lives to him and to serving others.

Closing with Praise and Blessing:

Our worship has called us to bless those in need in the name of Jesus, trusting that our Lord will be present and real to us as we do. As we sing "Send Me Lord," Matt Redman invites us to serve:

Let's close our time of ToGather worship with this blessing from the apostle Paul:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you (2 Corinthians 13:13 NRSV).

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