PINECREST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Sanctuary

08/31/2025

Preacher: Jeremiah Situka

Welcoming Words 

Please Stand

Call to Worship 

Leader: Today we gather as God’s people, remembering with gratitude the saints of this community who have gone before us from 2015 to 2025. Their lives remind us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

People: Thanks be to God for the faith, hope, and love that still bear fruit through their witness.

Leader: Hebrews 13:15 tells us: “Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.”

People: We come to offer praise—our living testimony to the God who was, who is, and who will be forevermore.

Leader: Come, let us worship the Lord who gives life and keeps his promises through every generation.

ALL: With grateful hearts, we lift our voices to God!

Please be Seated

Opening Song    Yes God Is Real 162

Litany (Lectionary reading Luke 14:1, 7-14)

Leader: On the Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, and he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table.

People: He said, “Do not take the place of honor. Instead, take the lowest place, so that your host may say, ‘Friend, move up higher.’”

Leader: For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

People: Then Jesus said, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors. Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.”

Leader: “And you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

ALL: We remember and believe: Christ invites us all to his table of grace.

Please Stand

Song  I Just Want to Praise You 

Declaration of Faith - The Apostle’s Creed

I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, I believe in Jesus Christ,  God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended to the dead. On the third day, He rose again; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father; and he will come to judge the living and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Spirit; the Holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the everlasting life. Amen.

Please be Seated

Call to Confession 

Leader: Hear the word of the Lord: “My people have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

People: Lord, we confess that we too often trust what cannot satisfy and turn from your living word.

Leader: Scripture names ways that we have forsaken you , “Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. Remember those in prison, those who are mistreated. Keep your marriage undefiled, lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have” (Hebrews 13:1–5).

People: Merciful God, forgive us for making a legacy of our lives by turning them into idols. 

Leader: We fail to love our neighbors, we forget the suffering, we pursue immorality, and bind ourselves to greed. Worst of all, we are empty of living water, we can blame You.

ALL: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Let us come to him who has seen our brokenness and invites us to be brand new.

Silent Confession

Song Hear Our Prayer 658 

Assurance of Pardon

Leader: Friends, hear the good news: “The bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood.”

People: In Christ, we are made holy—our sins are forgiven!

Leader: “Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”

People: Through Jesus, we are forgiven and set free to live as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom.

Leader: “Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

People: Thanks be to God! We are forgiven, renewed, and sent to live in his grace.

Anniversary Presentation

Joys and Concerns

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

Song   Let the Church Say Amen

Announcements & Greeting of Guests

Tithes and Offerings 

Song You Can’t Beat God Giving 671  

Please Stand

Doxology Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow, 651 

Tithes and Offering Prayer

Please be Seated  

Song- Way Maker

Sermon Title: Did you trade love for greatness? 

Sermon Texts:   Revelation 2:1-7

Song Where Shall I Be 196

Benediction