In consideration of others and as guests of West High School . . .
- Please silence your phone and watch.
- Name tags are a great start to a meaningful connection. Thanks for wearing one.
- If you’d like to give an offering, there are two baskets in the back or you can use the “Giving” tab at the bottom-right corner of the mobile app.
- Thank you for sitting close and singing loud. Let’s bring our full engagement and best attitude as we worship together.
PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Malachi 4:5-6
For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
Matthew 11:13-14
“I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Luke 7:28
John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”… The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:26-27, 29
You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ … He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:28, 30
“If there was anything I learned from John the Baptist, it was that the sooner you confess a mistake, the quicker you can get on to making new and better mistakes.”
― Christopher Moore
“Many a modern preacher is far less concerned with preaching Christ and Him crucified than he is with his popularity with his congregation. A want of intellectual backbone makes him straddle the ox of truth and the ass of nonsense. Bending the knee to the mob rather than God would probably make them scruple at ever playing the role of John the Baptist before a modern Herod. The acids of modernity are eating away the fossils of orthodoxy.”
― Fulton Sheen
WELCOME & CALL TO WORSHIP
Isaiah 40:3-5
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
SONG
Holy Spirit Living Breath of God
[Verse 1]
Holy Spirit, living Breath of God
Breathe new life into my willing soul
Bring the presence of the risen Lord
To renew my heart and make me whole
Cause Your Word to come alive in me
Give me faith for what I cannot see
Give me passion for Your purity
Holy Spirit, breathe new life in me
[Verse 2]
Holy Spirit, come abide within
May Your joy be seen in all I do
Love enough to cover ev’ry sin
In each thought and deed and attitude
Kindness to the greatest and the least
Gentleness that sows the path of peace
Turn my striving into works of grace
Breath of God, show Christ in all I do
[Verse 3]
Holy Spirit, from creation’s birth
Giving life to all that God has made
Show your power once again on earth
Cause Your church to hunger for Your ways
Let the fragrance of our prayers arise
Lead us on the road of sacrifice
That in unity the face of Christ
Will be clear for all the world to see
SONG
Holy and Anointed One
[Verse 1]
Jesus, Jesus
Holy and anointed One
Jesus
Jesus, Jesus
Holy and anointed One
Jesus
[Chorus]
Your name is like honey on my lips
Your Spirit like water to my soul
Your word is a lamp unto my feet
Jesus I love You, I love You
[Verse 1]
Jesus, Jesus
Risen and exalted One
Jesus
[Chorus]
[Coda]
I love you Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship you
Oh, my soul, rejoice
Take joy my King
In what You hear
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound
In Your ear
RESPONSIVE READING
Psalm 32:1-7
LEADER
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
PEOPLE
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
LEADER
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
PEOPLE
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
LEADER
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
PEOPLE
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
LEADER
Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
ALL
You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
SONG
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
[Verse 1]
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer
[Verse 2]
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share
Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer
Tag
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dinner in the Park – Please join us tonight (5/21 at 6pm) at Valley Park (2515 Valley Dr, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254). Bring dinner, chairs, and blankets – or just pull up without any of that and say hi. These “Summer Nights” events are intended to be low-key connection points just to see each other more often. Look for the whole list of weekly events in our mobile app. Next Sunday night (5/28), we’ll be at Handel’s Ice Cream in Redondo.
Closing the Balcony – Thank you all for responding to our prior request to sit closer. It has helped a lot with engagement and energy. Many have commented how it’s nice to hear others sing around them again. We’re very grateful for the building we are able to use, but the extra space that was an asset during Covid has become a potential hindrance to the corporate nature of worship. So your elders and pastors have decided to rope off that back section for now, so as to draw us nearer together – especially as we move into summer. Thank you for your flexibility, and for spreading a positive attitude about all of this. Sit as close as you’re willing and let’s all worship as one body.
OFFERTORY
If you would like to give electronically, you may do so using the “Giving” tab at the bottom-right corner of the mobile app. There are also white baskets in the back of our worship space, where you can give via check, made out to King’s Cross Church, or cash.
SERMON
“Prepare the Way”
Mark 1:1-8
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
SONG
O Come to the Altar
[Verse 1]
Are you hurting and broken within
Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin
Jesus is calling
Have you come to the end of yourself
Do you thirst for a drink from the well
Jesus is calling
[Chorus]
O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ
[Verse 2]
Leave behind your regrets and mistakes
Come today, there’s no reason to wait
Jesus is calling
Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy
From the ashes, a new life is born
Jesus is calling
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
Oh what a Savior, isn’t He wonderful
Sing Hallelujah, Christ is risen
Bow down before Him for He is Lord of all
Sing Hallelujah, Christ is risen
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
Bear your cross as you wait for the crown
Tell the world of the treasure you found
BENEDICTION
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31