Welcome you to this gathering of Trinity Baptist Church.
Let me invite you to come in and grab a seat as we begin.
Let me begin our service with the words of Psalm 77. The psalmist says,
I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy.
What God is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders.
You have made known your might among the peoples.
You with your arm have redeemed your people.
Amen. Let's stand. Let's worship this great and holy God.
Who else commands all the hosts of heaven?
Who else can make every kid bow down?
Who else can whisper and darkness trembles?
Only a holy God.
Come and behold.
What a holy God.
I call you our quality love.
What a holy God.
Oh, amen, the only cry out.
Sing holy forever, O holy God.
Come and worship the Holy God.
What other glory consumes the fire?
What other power can raise the dead?
What other name remains undefeated?
Holy, a holy God.
Come and behold Him, the man and the only.
Cry and sing holy forever, O holy God.
Come and worship the Holy God.
Come and behold Him, the man and the only.
Cry and sing holy forever, O holy God.
Come and worship the Holy God.
Who else could rescue me from my family?
Who else would offer His only Son?
Who else invites me to call Him Father?
Only a holy God.
Only my holy God.
Come and behold Him, the one and the only.
Cry and sing holy.
Cry and sing holy forever, O holy God.
Come and worship the Holy God.
Come and behold Him, the one and the only.
Come and worship the Holy God.
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Come and worship the Holy God.
O Lord my God, when I am awesome wonder,
consider all the worlds ahead of me.
And I see the stars, and I hear the rolling thunder
that bow throughout the universe display.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee.
How great Thou art!
I sing swiftly in the trees.
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the bright and hear the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee.
How great Thou art!
That truth!
How great Thou art!
Who read Thou art!
How great Thou art!
That on the cross my burden gladly bearing, he pled and died to take away our sin.
Blessings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art.
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow in humble adoration and proclaim, my God, how great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How great thou art.
Please be seated.
Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of John, chapter 5, verses 19 through 29.
This can be found on page 837 of the Bibles in the pews in front of you.
And it will also be shown on the slides behind me as well.
After the reading, I'll say, this is God's word.
And then we respond with, thanks be to God.
Again, that's John chapter 5, verses 19 to 29, page 837.
So Jesus said to them,
Truly, truly, truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.
And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man.
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.
Those who have done good to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
This is the word of the Lord.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, this morning we gather to worship you in all that you've done and created.
Father, you've spun together the galaxies in the sky, we've together every fiber of our beings.
You've created us with every single detail, not just physically, but with a purpose, Lord.
You've created us in the world to sing your praises, sing your glory.
You've created us to be in communion and relationship with you.
To that end, you've given us your word to teach us and bring us into closer relationship with you.
And yet, Father, though you've given us your word and your instruction, though you've given us the example of your Son,
so often we listen but fail to live out your commands.
God, we cling to our own plans, our own capacities and capabilities, though again and again you've promised and demonstrated repeatedly that you provide for us and care for us.
Each day we run from task to task, failing to notice the needs of those you've placed around us,
sometimes even actively choosing to ignore those.
Let's each take a few moments to confess our sins to God in our hearts.
Father, we thank you that you listened to our confession.
We thank you that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, in your power, your name, and your authority to intercede on our behalf,
to die the death that we deserve for our sins.
Lord, we pray that as we confess our sins, you may continue to sanctify us as you've promised,
and continue to draw us into ever closer fellowship and communion with you.
Lord, we thank you that in you we have our hope and we have our salvation.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Friends, please stand with me and hear these words that are true of everyone who has placed their trust in Christ.
This is from Ephesians chapter 1.
The Apostle Paul writes,
In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us.
Do you hear the Apostle's word there, lavished upon us?
What an extravagant word to describe God's love and grace towards those who are in Christ.
He has cleansed us of all of our sins.
He has set us free from death and punishment, and we are truly in him.
Let's sing and let's praise God for this great grace that we have.
The grace of God has reached for me, and pulled me from the raging sea.
The grace of God has reached for me, and I am safe on the solid ground.
The Lord is my salvation.
I will not fear when darkness falls.
His strength will help me scale these walls.
And I'll see the dawn of the rising sun.
The Lord is my salvation.
God blesses my salvation.
Your salvation is salvation.
The earth is another's cline.
Their salvation is an salvation.
God blesses my salvation.
My hope is hidden in the world
Give us each promise of His word
When winter fades and the spring will come
The Lord is my salvation
In times of great and times of need
When I know less than I am weak
And I know His grace, I renew these plans
The Lord is my salvation
Who is like the Lord our God
Strong to save faith, fall in love
My debt is paid and my victory won
The Lord is my salvation
And when I reach the final day
He will not leave me in the grave
Let I know my grace, I know my grace
The Lord is my salvation
He is like the Lord our God
Strong to save faith, fall in love
My debt is paid and the victory won
The Lord is my salvation
Glory be to God, our Father
Glory be to God, our Son
Glory be to God, our Spirit
Glory be to God, our Son
Glory be to God, our Spirit
Glory be to God, our Son
The Lord is our salvation
Please be seated.
Well, let me welcome you again to Trinity.
If you're new, or if you're visiting this morning, or if you have a prayer request,
there's a card in the pew in front of you.
One side is a welcome card.
You can fill that out, and we'd love to be able to connect with you.
You can put those cards in the boxes on your way out.
There's also space on the back of that card for prayer requests, so we can pray for you this week.
Let me mention some announcements, some things happening in the life of our church.
So first, let me say thanks to everyone who came out to I Heart New Haven yesterday
and served with the Bridges of Hope Service Day.
If you helped, raise your hand.
Hey, pretty good.
There were a lot of Trinity folks out there.
It was really good to see everyone.
We ended up working at an elementary school, cleaning up the grounds.
I heard someone built a gate.
Someone else was sorting recycling.
There's all sorts of great things going on,
but we're praying that this is just a simple way to show the love of Christ to our city.
A couple things coming up in the life of our church.
So this Wednesday, August 30th, there's going to be a congregational meeting downstairs in the fellowship hall for members.
At this meeting, David Daniel will be standing for his second term as deacon,
so we'll be voting on that as a congregation.
And we also have two new deacon candidates, John and Jess Serbo.
So we'll be hearing from them and voting on them as well about serving as deacons.
The meal will be at 6 o'clock.
Please bring aside members, and the meeting will start at 630.
So that is this Wednesday, August 30th.
Next Sunday, September 3rd.
So next Sunday will be what we call Promotion Sunday for our children's ministry.
So this means that some of our kids will be moving up, promoting, to their next class by age level.
So parents, if you're not sure what that means for your kids, don't worry.
Our children's ministry team will be helping you next week to make sure your kids get to the right class.
Lastly, looking ahead two weeks to September 10th, we will have our Welcome Back potluck as the new semester will be underway.
So if you'd like to stay for the potluck, please come.
If you want to bring something, bring a side or a dessert.
We'll have a good time after the service, just sharing a meal together and connecting with one another.
So that's what's happening by way of announcements.
Now, I would like to invite Matt Smith to come up and tell us about the newly forming missions team at Trinity.
He's going to say a little bit about that, and then he's going to introduce Susie Schneider,
who will be sharing a little bit about her work with Rivendell.
It's our hope to be talking more and thinking more about missions as a church,
and this is one of the ways we're going to be doing that.
So Matt, come on up and tell us about the missions team.
Thank you, and good morning.
The word missions in the name of our team refers to the Great Commission that Jesus gave to the church.
In the Bible, Acts 1-8, we read that Jesus told his early followers
that they were to tell others about himself in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Now, we can think of those geographical references this way.
New Haven, Connecticut, the United States, and to places all around the world.
Trinity Baptist Church, in obedience to Jesus' command to his church,
partner with people whom we call missionaries,
who have accepted the mission to present Jesus and his message to communities of people
that we don't come directly into contact with.
Some of those missions are near at home here.
Some are far away.
But this morning, as has been mentioned,
Susie Schneider, a member of our own church,
is going to come and tell us about one of those missions that operates close by.
Susie.
A little height difference.
Is that ringing?
That's right.
Okay.
I figure since Matt, if you've been in our church very long,
you know that Matt gives Lord of the Rings illustrations.
So I think I have permission to do that, right?
Okay.
In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, there's a description
of the elf Lord Elrond's house in Rivendell.
Some of you may be familiar with this,
but it says that house was a perfect house.
Whether you like food or sleep or storytelling or singing.
Hear me?
Have that effect?
Okay.
I'll try it.
Go ahead.
Try again.
Anyway, merely to be there was a cure for weariness, fear, and sadness.
This expresses the kind of atmosphere and hospitality that at Rivendell Institute at Yale we strive
to provide for members of the academic community and the broader culture.
We have specific programs designed for graduate students, professional students, postdocs, and faculty.
And our desire is that these programs like seminars and faculty lectures, scripture studies, colloquia, retreats, personal mentoring,
that they would equip academics to integrate the fullness of their Christian faith with their various academic and professional callings.
My own personal involvement is working with faculty initiatives like having my weekly women's faculty fellowship,
a medical faculty fellowship, and then small groups and dinners, faculty dinners and discussion groups that are both at Rivendell and in homes.
And then we have our faculty round table that usually has 100 plus faculty coming and from all disciplines across the campus.
And every table has a variety of world views at that.
And we also have been developing some centers like the Center for Christianity in the public square.
And we have Rivendell Center for theology in the arch, which facilitates cross-disciplinary conversations among scholars and artists and theologians.
And we have coming up, I put some brochures in the back that if some of you want a little bit more information.
Friday we have a, the opening retreat, sorry, the opening kickoff picnic that we do every year for anybody in the Yale community coming out and bring your families.
That's 530 to 8. We'd love to see you there. And, um, and then on September 23rd, Rivendell will have a retreat for all the graduate and professional fellowships.
It'll be at a near site nearby seaside resort. And students have really found this is a wonderful opportunity to meet people, especially those just coming to Yale.
From the various fellowships across Yale, like the medical fellowship, SOM, architecture, music, the graduate student Christian fellowship.
Did I say law school? Anyway, sorry if I missed yours.
But at this particular retreat we have Master Pat, Master Pat. How about Pastor Matt?
Speaking on God's grander story, ambition, vocation, and the call of Christ.
Again, there's a little more information in the back.
How many here have been a part of a Rivendell activity before?
Ah, yay, quite a few. So if you happen to be visiting, you saw a hand raise and you want to ask more questions, ask one of them or I will be up front.
Um, just to close, some of the areas of prayer. First, there are four of our staff that go to Trinity here.
John and Anita Hinkson run our spiritual group.