Drawing Near to God:

Welcome!

We are delighted that you joined us for ToGather.church. (Find out more.) What follows is our home worship guide for you to use on your own or to share with your friends, family, home group, or house church.

Let's sing "God I Look to You" with a members of the Westover Hills praise team (in Austin, TX):

Our theme today, comes from Nehemiah 9:6. Our focus is on how big God is — how big his love, his grace, his power, and his mercy are for us — while we also realize that he cares personally about each of us and has done so since our conception (Psalm 139:13-16). God's greatness is revealed in what he has created (Romans 1:19-21), and his creation declares how big, glorious, and wondrous our God is. Let's join David, as he humbly praises the creator for being so magnificent yet so caring of us. We encourage you to read the following out loud, whether you are by yourself or with others:

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:

all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

(Psalm 8:1-9)



I Forgot How Big!

Paul reminded the new followers of Jesus in Thessalonica that they had "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9). Let's renew our commitment "to serve a living and true God" as we join Phillips, Craig, and Dean in the song, "You Are God Alone":

Let's have our Bibles open to Psalm 19 as Phil leads us into a deeper understanding of Nehemiah 9:6, our Verse of the Day, as the Spirit seeks to speak to our hearts about the vastness of our universe and God's careful attention to us as we seek to live with purpose, meaning, and mission in that universe:

Let's join with the heavens, the highest heavens, praising God with the Doxology Youth Band, from Westover Hills, as they lead us in the "Doxology":



Welcome to the Table of the Lord:

As we reflect on Jesus' gift for us in the cross and the resurrection and as we prepare to share in the Lord's Supper, let's proclaim our salvation in Jesus with the Zoe Group as they lead us in song, "Salvation Belongs to Our God":

Communion TBD



Our Closing Blessing:

Our closing blessing is from 1 Corinthians 16:22-24 NLT:

God spoke the incredibly vast universe into existence, yet he also has known each of us before we were a flutter felt in our mother's womb.

Come, Lord!
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
(1 Corinthians 16:22-24 NLT)

Our closing song is "The Blessing" as sung by a variety of groups from congregations all over the UK. We are thankful for our many brothers and sisters who join us each week from the UK:

May God bless us as we seek to live with the purpose, meaning, and mission that he has for each us!



Postscript:

Shortly after ToGather is posted each weekend, the videos are professionally captioned and posted on YouTube. See all of our ToGather.church videos on our YouTube® Channel.

Special thanks for Multi Transcription Services of America (MTSOA.com) for their fine work. See them for all your questions about marketing YouTube® videos and expanding your online reach. Email Lee for more info.



Special thanks for the image at the beginning and the clip that is included in Phil's lesson, both from "Joe Versus The Volcano," which can be purchased on DVD. All rights reserved.

Special thanks for the use of images related to Jesus' ministry from The Lumo Project and Free Bible Images.