JUNE 3, 2019
Schedule Welcoming Hymn Teaching: Let Us Draw Near (Hebrews 4:14-16) Bidding Prayer Ministry Moment: Life Explored Small Group Prayer Closing Hymn
Jesus the Saviour reigns, the God of truth and love; when he had purged our stains, he took his seat above: Refrain
Rejoice in glorious hope; Jesus the Judge shall come, and take his servants up to their eternal home: We soon shall hear the archangel’s voice; the trump of God shall sound, Rejoice!
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Teaching:LetUsDrawNear(Hebrews4:14-16) 14
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through
the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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Prayer Items for Bidding Prayer PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING
• Thanks for the Chat and Play program and the families from St. John’s and the Oakridge/Marpole community that have been attending.
• Thank you for the new Children’s Ministry Assistant, Will Gray, who will start in the late summer.
• Thanks for all of our youth group leaders.
• Thanks for a great All-In Retreat! A couple youth came to Jesus, and many were called to a renewed repentance and faith!
• Thank you, Father, for the Tuesday Men ministry partnership with Lighthouse Harbour mission to sailors coming from many countries in the world.
• Thanks for a great eight weeks working through Discipleship Explored at Women@10 – Grateful so many have seen anew the transforming power of God’s grace to us in Jesus, and for the encouragement and inspiration to LIVE IN Christ that comes through that.
• Thanks for the fruitful ministry of so many women in our congregation through Women@10 – leaders, hosts, prayer team, board.
• Father, you know the great needs of all who face adversity, suffering, and loss, thank you for those who are participating in the grief group and may the grace of Jesus be sufficient for those who lean into their loss so that they may receive faith in you to face the future with divine hope.
• Thanks for the time our community groups have spent being nourished by the Life Explored series.
• Thank you for the challenge which Life Explored brings to our small groups, as we are confronted by our idolatry and invited into a deeper relationship with Jesus.
• Thanks for the ways in which Artizo interns have been serving our congregation. 3
Prayer Items for Bidding Prayer
• Thank you that the Satar family have begun to settle into their new home in Vancouver.
PRAYERS FOR ST. JOHN’S MINISTRIES
• For the open ministry positions:
• wisdom for the search committee • for a Director of Student Ministries as Tad and Nicole move away this summer • for a Director of Evangelism • for a new Administrative Specialist as Jo moves away this summer
• For Life Explored:
• That the time spent going through the Life Explored series will equip us to run the program well in the fall. • That we will have a clear vision about how to run the program evangelistically in the fall. • That our congregation would invite many to participate. • That those who come would encounter Jesus and be transformed. • That God would be glorified in our midst as he exposes the idols in our hearts, and in the hearts of our neighbours.
• For the bible camp leadership team as they plan the Wild Kingdom camp.
• For all the campers that will be attending bible camp this year, that they will hear and receive the good news of the Gospel.
• We pray Holy Spirit that you would give our graduating Artizo interns wisdom and guidance as they seek to discern the next steps in their ministry.
• Ask God to use the ministry of Welcome to Worship to share the gospel. Would it be a welcoming context, would people invite their friends and neighbours, would the gospel be made known clearly in word and deed. 4
Prayer Items for Bidding Prayer
• Prayer for the Satar family. That God would lead them and bless them as they begin their life in Canada.
• Pray for the Navigators and for the Speidel family. Pray that many on campus would come to know Jesus, and that those who are regularly meeting would be encouraged to boldly share the hope which they have in Christ.
• That St. John’s will warmly welcome international newcomers who have begun to attend services.
• Give the Evening Service leadership team wisdom as it sets direction for that congregation.
• For a rehearsal space for the Evening Service music team.
• That the summer break will not mean pressing pause on discipleship and fellowship, but that we will continue to share our lives with brothers and sisters.
• For our partnerships with the Journey Home Community and Kinbrace Refugee Housing and Support and the thousands of newly arrived refugee claimants, our neighbours in Metro Vancouver, that we will be able to reach out to some of these people who have lost everything.
• Pray for God’s mighty hand to continue His work through Nabil Abdalla as he reaches Muslims in the Vancouver area.
PRAYERS OF EVANGELISM
• Almighty God, grant us boldness to proclaim your gospel in our words, our work, and our lives. May you be glorified as we share the good news of your Son, Jesus Christ.
• Pray that our congregation would be bold and courageous in sharing the gospel.
• Pray that God would bless us by adding to our number day by day those who are being saved.
• Pray for our search for a Director of Evangelism. That God would provide us with the right person, and for wisdom for the search committee. 5
Prayer Items for Bidding Prayer
• That like Paul in Acts 17, we would be disturbed by the idolatry in our city and we would speak humbly, thoughtfully, and courageously into those situations.
• Pray that we would be able to communicate Life Explored to the congregation well.
• Pray for the fall launch of Life Explored, that people would understand the program and that people would invite friends.
• Pray for the Life Explored team – ask God to bring people forward who will support and lead the work of Life Explored.
• BLESSED Saviour, who looked with compassion upon the multitudes: Raise up, we ask you, faithful people to seek and find your sheep dispersed and lost, that they may be saved for ever; who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
• ALMIGHTY Saviour, who, being exalted by the right hand of God, did receive gifts for men: Send down the grace of your Holy Spirit upon your people, and grant that they may give cheerfully of their substance for the evangelizing of the world. Bless all those who are banded together for the spread of the Gospel; make them faithful and true witnesses in proclaiming your glorious name; and prosper the work of their hands upon them, that the light of your truth may shine into the darkest corners of the earth. Hear us, O merciful Saviour, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, live and reign, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
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Crown him the Lord of life, who triumphed o’er the grave, and rose victorious in the strife for those he came to save: his glories now we sing who died, and rose on high; who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.
Crown him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time, Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime: all hail, Redeemer, hail! for thou hast died for me; thy praise shall never, never fail throughout eternity.