Fourth Sunday of Easter Worship Order of Service
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER – Coronavirus
04-25-2021 10:00AM Zoom Worship
OPENING SONG: “Blessed Assurance” Brown #118
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
OPENING RITE FOR EASTER 4 AND THE EASTER PEACE:
L The Good Shepherd is risen, sisters and brothers!
C Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
L He who laid down his life for his sheep, who died for his flock, he of bleeding feet and pleading voice, is risen and alive!
C He had the power to lay down his life, and he had the power to take it up again!
L Sisters and brothers, although we turn from God, God never turns from us.
C Although we consider ourselves beyond God’s reach, God has sent Jesus to love us and seek us, to call us and claim us, to comfort us and lead us… and sometimes to challenge us and correct us.
L Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.”
C He is calling out to you in this place and this moment.
You are neither too good nor too bad for God’s love given in Christ.
L As we listen for the Good Shepherd’s tender and strong voice and keep our toes walking his way, I invite you to turn to a neighbor or turn to yourself… to make the sign of the cross on the forehead… and to share these words of blessed assurance:
“Receive [+] the sign of the cross. Because HE died, YOU are alive!”
SONG OF PRAISE: “Thank you, Lord, for saving me.
Thank you, Lord, for keeping me.
I know you, Lord of all, you hear my call.
We praise you, we bless you, Lord”
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Lord Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd of the sheep, we know love because you laid down your life for us.
Show us how to share your love by giving our lives for one another.
May the goodness and mercy of God be upon us all the days of our life.
And, at our life’s end, may we dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
FIRST READING: ACTS 4:5-12 [Easter faith is our confident trust in God’s transforming love through Jesus Christ.]
4:5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,
4:6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.
4:7 When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,
4:9 if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,
4:10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
4:11 This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’
4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
SONG SELECTION
SECOND READING: 1 JOHN 3:16-24 [Easter witness is our obedient commitment to love our neighbor in need.]
3:16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us–and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
3:17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
3:18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
3:19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him
3:20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
3:21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God;
3:22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
3:23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.
3:24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
GOSPEL VERSE: “Oh, how He loves you and me. Oh, how He loves you and me.
He gave His life, what more can He give?
OH, HOW HE LOVES YOU; OH, HOW HE LOVES ME;
OH, HOW HE LOVES YOU AND ME!
Jesus to Calv’ry did go, His love for this world to show.
What He did there brought hope from despair…”
GOSPEL READING: JOHN 10:11-18 [Easter living is trusting and following Christ.]
10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
10:12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away–and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
10:13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.
10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.
10:16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
10:17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.
10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
THE SERMON: Pastor Clesha Staten
SONG RESPONSE: “Lead Me, Guide Me” Brown #70
AN AFFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH:
Because Jesus is our Good Shepherd, and because we live in the good news and promise of Easter, let us be bold in confessing our faith…
The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
for You are with me: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies:
You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
OFFERING [Our Second Reading asks, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need, yet refuses to help?” With love for God and neighbor, let us offer our lives to the Lord.]
THE OFFERTORY SONG: “Get all excited, go tell ev’rybody that Jesus Christ is King! [sing this line 3 times]
Jesus Christ is still the King of kings, the King of kings!”
OFFERING PRAYER:
O God, it is only by your amazing grace that we are Easter-alive today! Now give us the bold confidence and the passionate love to dry tears, to lift up broken hearts, and to testify with our gifts and our lives that there is new life, more life, eternal life in Christ. Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION: Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS… We pray that all people might be transformed by the GOOD NEWS of Easter!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
CLOSING SONG: “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” Brown #220
THE BENEDICTION:
L Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
L Leave with a message upon your heart… on your lips… revealed through your daily living: I have seen the Lord!
Go in the faith-filled power of the Risen Christ (+) to love God and to serve your neighbor in all that you do! AMEN!
4 important questions during Easter:
- Do you believe that God loves you?
- Do you believe that you are a sinner?
- Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins?
- Will you now trust Jesus as your Savior and Lord?
We invite you to join in our new life together as we hear God’s fresh word to us, grow in grace, and offer our God-given gifts in service to others. A heart that is open to Jesus Christ is a heart that is open to change. May we each live fully in the time and place where God has called us.