House Church Worship Guide
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25.
Welcome to this week’s Worship Guide! May you be blessed as you open your ears, eyes and hearts to God, and be an encouragement to each other.
Remember to encourage anyone who is feeling unwell to stay home. Think about how you can be caring for one another over these weeks.
Find a simple version of the guide you can print here
You can find song lyrics for the songs here:
Use this Worship Guide flexibly, encourage others to participate, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit leading you.
1. CALL TO WORSHIP
You have to fight for faith. It’s not easy. But when we know the fulness of Jesus, our weakness meets His strength.
Ask someone to read this prayer:
Father in heaven, deliver us from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind when we draw near to you.
Stop us from ever drifting off and stir up our love for Jesus as we worship today.
Tie our hearts to you, with the cords of love that sent Jesus into our world.
May we worship you in Spirit and in truth, for this time is yours. Amen.
2. SING
God’s people are a singing people. You can’t shut us up. Praise erupts! Choose some of these songs to sing…..
3. FAMILY CONNECTION
Watch the video : (Length: 5:30 mins)
If the great fishing spot is our faith in Jesus, what is the anchor that keeps us there?
(Hint: After discussion gets going, get people to look for an answer in Colossians 2:9 - 10)
PARENTS: Click on the Family Resources button to find some colouring in activities and videos for preschool and school age children that you can use at any time:
Families, please note that you will need to prepare these colouring and Right Now Media resources ahead of time if you plan to use them.
4. CHURCH UPDATE AND PRAYER
Stream the following church update (Length: 6 mins)
The update gives you a few things to pray about. Ask your group to share any needs that they have.
Pray for Hope Leaders as we lead into Term 2 with Church gatherings. We will be sharing this soon.
Make sure people know about our Easter Services. It’s gonna to be a great big party at Teapot Valley on Sunday, so come with your friends and family, and enjoy the BBQ afterwards.
Here’s the plan for Easter Weekend:
Online Good Friday service, Friday 6:30pm
In-person, Easter Sunday Celebration Service, 10am, Outdoors at Teapot Valley, followed by BBQ! (all welcome, all encouraged to gather with us)
Easter Sunday Online, 10am (for those unable to gather)
Take some time to pray for the church of the week and missionary:
Richmond New Life, Pastor Jono Martin
Craig and Darlene Farrow, Translation Work in Vanuatu
5. SCRIPTURE READING: COLOSSIANS 2:8-15
Our passage today is a big warning: be discerning! Don’t drift away from the fulness and life you have in Jesus
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
6. BIBLE MESSAGE
Stream this message on Colossians 2:8-15
(Length: 11 mins)
7. SHARE AND RESPOND
CS Lewis reckoned that most people don’t decide to lose their faith – they just drift away. What do you think of this?
What do you sense the Holy Spirit laying on your heart today?
What is God calling you to do in response to His Word?
How does this change the way we should relate to each other?
8. COMMUNION
We have been made complete in Christ. He is everything we need. He has done everything we need to do.
We live out of that fulness, not trying to gain that fulness. As we rest in Jesus, we gain the energy to live with sacrifice, purpose, love and mission.
Take some time to remember Jesus by taking communion.
9. BENEDICTION
For your benediction today, you can choose to speak the great blessing of God’s keeping, or sing it:
From Numbers 6:
24 “The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”
The whole service will stream live at 10am if you would prefer to watch it this way. Click on LIVE CHURCH at www.hopechurch.org.nz. Or from midday on, you can find it by clicking on PAST SERVICES.