JOIN US FOR WORSHIP
Worship isn’t about performance; it’s about participation.
This Worship Guide serves as a weekly resource as we join in singing, praying, and celebrating the work God is doing in our community.
Whether you’re at the Lyric Theatre or tuning into our live stream, we’re so glad you are joining us!
Let’s jump in.
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not co nsider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:1-14 NIV
PRAYING TOGETHER
God of love,
Forgive us for the times we wrongly believe that righteous behavior is something that earns your love. We repent of pride, of misdirection, and of selfish ambition. In this moment, we simply open our souls to receive your love. Your grace invites us deeper, day by day, into holy union with you. May we never take this gift for granted, and always press on toward the Kingdom of Heaven that surrounds and upholds us.
Amen.
HOME CHURCH: GROWING TOGETHER IN COMMUNITY
Start your time together by having a few people share where they’ve seen God at work in their lives throughout the week.
God is not contained to a service or a building. We want to live with the expectation that God is present and at work in the everyday stuff of our lives. We listen, join him in his work, and share stories of how he’s moving!
Talk It Over
1. In response to the hyper-religious agitators, Paul lists off his religious resume that could have been a source of pride and spiritual security. Instead, he says it’s (literally) crap in comparison with knowing Jesus. What are some of the past experiences, present activities, or things you’ve learned that you’re tempted to coast on instead of meeting Jesus in the present? If you wrote our your religious resume, what would it look like?
2. As our passage comes to a close, Paul tells us: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behindand straining toward what is ahead, I press ontoward the goal to win the prizefor which God has calledme heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Are there things you need to leave settled in the past in order to fully experience Jesus in the present and future?