Latham Community Baptist Church

May 18, 2025

Prelude - Righteousness, Joy, and Peace

Call to Worship

In this time of worship, help us to focus on you, O God, as the priority of our lives.  Remind us of your steadfast love revealed so clearly in the new commandment of love which Jesus disclosed with his life and with his death.  Speak to us anew as we offer this prayer and our worship in Jesus' name and for his sake.  Amen.

Hymn - Holy Ground

Invocation and Lord's Prayer

Lord, You implored people to worship only you, knowing that whatever was put in your place would become the object of idolatry—would become the priority of people's lives.  Lord, we give ourselves to you alone through this prayer Jesus taught us to say: 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.

Scripture Reading - 1 John 3:7-10 & 1 John 4:1-3

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Joys and Concerns

Lord, you call us to love you with all of our heart, our mind and our soul.  We love you God with an intensity such that no substitute will suffice, the very mention of your name will be precious as we cleave to our time of communion with the sacred.  Lord, help us to respect the wisdom of our elders, to protect the lives and the reputations of those around us, to cherish the relationships entrusted to us, to not take what is not ours, and to learn the value of enough.  Amen.

Hymn - At the Cross

Sermon - Thrive - Practice Righteousness

For Video version, click below.

Hymn - I Will Sing the Wondrous Story

Benediction

Let us go now and glorify God.  Amen.

Hymn - I'm Forever Grateful