The First Baptist Church at Worship 8 th Sunday After Pentecost July 30, 2017 10:00 AM The Gathering The Congregation is invited to meditate and contemplate during the Prelude. THE PRELUDE Gregory Land, Organist Piano Praise ...................................................... Dino Kartsonakis Classic Settings of Beloved Hymn Tunes Bless the Lord O My Soul We Shall Behold Him His Eye Is On the Sparrow How Great Thou Art In Praise to the Lord ACOLYTES BRING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST INTO THE SANCTUARY TO LIGHT THE CANDLES THE RINGING OF THE CHIMES A three-fold ringing of three signifies the presence of the triune God: Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. CALL TO WORSHIP Rev. David Coggins *PROCESSIONAL HYMN #581 I Love to Tell the Story HANKEY William Gustavus Fischer was born October 14, 1835 in Baltimore, Maryland and died August 13, 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Son of a German immigrant, Fischer showed musical ability at an early age. When he was eight years old, he began singing in a German church in Baltimore. He learned to read music in a church singing class, and afterwards studied piano and organ. He learned bookbinding at J. B. Lippincott’s in Philadelphia, but spent his evenings studying and practicing music. He was an experienced trainer and leader of large bodies of singers of all ages, and was much sought after to lead choirs. *INVOCATION Rev. Coggins *CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE We Are Standing On Holy Ground (SEE INSERT) Davis We are standing on Holy Ground, and I know that there are angels all around; let us praise Jesus now. We are standing in His presence on Holy Ground. *WELCOME & PASSING THE PEACE Rev. Coggins (Please register your attendance by filling out a yellow card from the pew rack and placing it in the offering bag this morning.) We are invited to greet our nearest neighbors, extend our hand, and greet one another in the name of Christ. (Please be seated.) Reading & Proclaiming God’s Word NEW TESTAMENT EPISTLE LESSON Nancy Kerr 1 Corinthians 13: If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. Leader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. People: Thanks be to God! *GOSPEL LESSON Rev. Mark Craig Leader: The Gospel of the Lord according to Matthew. People: Praise be to you, O Christ. Matthew 17:17-21: Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Leader: For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, for the Word of God within us. People: Thanks be to God. *THE FELLOWSHIP HYMN #641 Higher Ground Gabriel Johnson Oatman was born near Medford, New Jersey on April 21, 1856. His father was an excellent singer, and it always delighted the son to sit by his side and hear him sing the songs of the church. Outside of the usual time spent in the public schools, Mr. Oatman received his education at Herbert's Academy, Princetown and the New Jersey Collegiate Institute, Bordentown, New Jersey. At the age of nineteen he joined the M.E. Church, and a few years later he was granted a license to preach the Gospel, and still later he was regularly ordained by Bishop Merrill. CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Debby Menzel (Following the message, children in preK-5 grades will be led downstairs for Sunday School. PreK-1 graders will be in Rm. #4. Grades 2-5 will be in Rm. #3B. Parents are asked to pick up their children after worship.) CALL TO PRAYER #413 (Vs. 1) Dear Lord and Father of Mankind REST Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways; reclothe us in our rightful mind; in purer lives Thy service find, in deeper reverence, praise. PASTORAL PRAYER and Rev. Coggins THE LORD’S PRAYER (Debts & Debtors) ANTHEM Jerome Stueart, Tenor You Raise Me Up (Rolf Løvland, tune; Brendan Graham, lyrics) THE SERMON Rev. Craig “Ye of Little Faith” The Response of God’s People THE OFFERTORY Jerome Stueart, Tenor Spirit, Open My Heart (Ruth Duck, lyrics, 1992; WILD MOUNTAIN THYME) *THE PRESENTATION OF GIFTS (As the ushers move down the aisles, the congregation is asked to stand at the moment the ushers pass their pew. This presentation to God enacts our self-offering and gratitude to God.) *OFFERTORY RESPONSE #667 (Vs. 3) As Saints of Old… FOREST GREEN