Worship Resources

Greetings!

Thank you to everyone who prayed and lifted up our Young Adults who attended the Youth Gathering in New Orleans. We had a wonderful time of growth and fun!

And thank you to everyone who supported our VBS effort this last week. Those who participated and those who served were all very blessed!!

We are nearing the end of our summer slowdown period. Here, again, is our basic simplified schedule

Friday, July 26

9:30am – 12:30pm Streams VBS – Education wing (Day 4/5)

9 – 10am Sort Fresh Food

Saturday, July 27

9:30am – 12:30pm Streams VBS – Education wing (Day 5/5)

9 – 11am Fresh Food Distribution, Lg Hall, 5360 E Pima St.

9:30 – 11am Streams VBS meet in Education wing & closing in Sanctuary

Sunday, July 28

8:30 – 9:30am Adult Bible Study & Sunday School

9:45 – 10:45am Livestream Worship in-person

11am – 12pm Streams Charity Bridge meeting

11:50am – 12:20pm Building & Grounds – Classroom A

3 – 4:30pm Zoom Bible Study

Tuesday, July 30

9 – 11am Streams Food Pantry

10:30am – 12pm Bible Study, Office Conference Rm

Wednesday, July 31

8:30 – 11:30am Workday

9 – 11:30am Quilters – Large Fellowship Hall

11am – 12pm VdC Grouping, Office Conference Rm

Thursday, August 1

9 – 11am VdC Grouping, Office Conference Rm

6-7pm Bells Angels Practice

Saturday, August 3

8am – 12pm Youth to Colossal Cave

Sunday, August 4

8:30 – 9:30am Adult Bible Study & Sunday School

9:45 – 10:45am Livestream Worship in-person

11:20 – 12:20pm Worship & Music – Meeting Room A

3 – 4:30pm NO Zoom Bible Study

4 – 6pm Area-wide VdC Ultreya @ Sierra Evangelical Lutheran Church

You can check out the calendar below and watch any of our worship services or read our newsletter on our Website: www.streamstuc.org

Know that you are loved,

Pr Tom

Welcome

GATHERING SONGS MORE LOVE MORE POWER

Chorus More love, more power, More of You in my life
More love, more power, More of You in my life

Verse 1 And I will worship You, With all of my heart
And I will worship You, With all of my mind
And I will worship You, With all of my strength

For You are my Lord, You are my Lord Chorus

Verse 2 And I will seek Your face, With all of my heart
And I will seek Your face, With all of my mind
And I will seek Your face, With all of my strength
For You are my Lord, You are my Lord Chorus

Verse 1

CCLI Song # 60661

Praise and Thanksgiving ELW #689

1 Praise and thanksgiving, God, we would offer

for all things living, you have made good:

harvest of sown fields, fruits of the orchard,

hay from the mown fields, blossom and wood.

2 God, bless the labor we bring to serve you,

that with our neighbor we may be fed.

Sowing or tilling, we would work with you,

harvesting, milling for daily bread.

3 Father, providing food for your children,

by Wisdom’s guiding teach us to share

one with another, so that, rejoicing

with us, all others may know your care.

4 Then will your blessing reach ev’ry people,

freely confessing your gracious hand.

Where you are reigning, no one will hunger;

your love sustaining showers the land.

Text: Albert F. Bayly, 1901-1984, alt.

Come, Now Is the Time to Worship

VerseCome, now is the time to worship;

Come, now is the time to give your heart;

Come, just as you are to worship;

Come, just as you are before your God. Come

Chorus

One day every tongue will confess You are God;

One day every knee will bow;

Still the greatest treasure remains;

For those who gladly choose You now

Repeat verse and chorus

Come, now is the time, Come, now is the time, Come.

THE CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: All who wait upon the Lord shall be fed and cared for!

People: But the crops are small and the rivers are almost dry.

Leader: Let your eyes see the truth: we do not live by bread alone.

People: Then what will sustain us and keep us from surely perishing?

Leader: The Living Bread given to us through the cross and the love of Christ.

People: Blessed be the name of the Lord!

WELCOME TO WORSHIP

YOUTH GROUP REPORT ON THE GATHERING

Equip

PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Leader: Gracious God,

People: how often in our blindness we have failed to see Your love. How many times we have looked past the wonders You have made and seen only problems and faults around us. How often we have missed the very blessings You meant for us to receive so that our lives in turn might also be blessings. Forgive us, Lord. In Christ we pray. Amen.

(Silence for reflection and personal confession)

Leader:With a love that surpasses knowledge, Christ comes to us saying, “Trust in me. Do not be afraid.” Though we have nothing to offer but our broken selves, he brings forth an abundance of mercy beyond our imagining. Sisters and Brothers, your sins are forgiven; be at peace.

People: Thanks be to God!

PASSING THE PEACE

SONG OF PRAISE PASS IT ON

1) It only takes a spark To get a fire going
And soon all those around Can warm up in its glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love Once you’ve experienced it
You spread His love to ev’ryone You want to pass it on.

2) What a wondrous time is spring,

When all the trees are budding.
The birds begin to sing The flowers start their blooming
That’s how it is with God’s love Once you’ve experienced it
You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring,

You want to pass it on.

3) I wish for you my friend This happiness that I’ve found
You can depend on Him It matters not where you’re bound
I’ll shout it from the mountain top;

I want my world to know.
The Lord of love has come to me I want to pass it on.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

Psalm 145:15-18

¹⁵ The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord,
and you give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open wide your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ You are righteous in all your ways
and loving in all your works.
¹⁸ You are near to all who all upon you,
to all who call upon you faithfully.

Ephesians 3:14-21

We have been rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, which surpasses all human knowledge. Because Christ dwells in our hearts, our lives are continuously strengthened and empowered by the ongoing presence of the Spirit.

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. ¹⁸I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
²⁰Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION THY WORD

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path

And a light unto my path; you’re the light unto my path

John 6:1-21

In John’s gospel, the miracles of Jesus are called “signs,” because they reveal the true character of God. As such, they remain within the mystery of God and cannot be brought under human control.

¹Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
¹⁵When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

SPECIAL MUSIC

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE

ADULT MESSAGE 10 PENTECOST – 7.28.24 – JOHN 6:1-21

An old prospector came into a saloon in frontier California and ordered a glass of milk with a shot of whiskey in it. While the bartender was fixing his drink, the old prospector wandered over to speak to some of his friends.

Before he came back, a man came in wearing a black threadbare coat. He walked up to the bartender and timidly said, “Sir, I’m a poor traveling circuit rider preacher. I’ve just made it across the desert. I’m bone dry. Could you let me have that foamy glass of milk I see you’ve just poured?”

“Take the milk,” said the bartender with a twinkle in his eye. “We’re glad to have you in our town. Take that glass of milk and drink it up.”

The preacher drank that milk with the whiskey in it real slow savoring every drop. Then he looked up towards the ceiling and with a smile on his face he declared, “Lord, what a cow!”

I hope nobody’s offended by that little piece of humor, but this morning we want to talk for a few moments about the bounteous goodness of God. And we want to say, “Lord, what a bounteous God!”

Our text tells the story of the feeding of the five thousand. It is a marvelous story of God’s provision for human need. The focus is on bread, but the lesson is about all of life.

You know the story well. A multitude of people had come out to hear Jesus teach. Many had probably come hoping for a miracle of healing.

Some came, doubtless, out of curiosity. “How shall we buy bread for all these people?” Jesus asked his disciples. For he knew that though we cannot live by bread alone, we cannot live without bread either. The disciples were able to scrounge up only 200 denarii–not enough to even begin to feed this mob.

Andrew came to the rescue. “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish,” he said, “but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”

We experience the bounty of God, first of all, when we take time to sit down.

Mother Theresa said that the biggest problem facing the world today is not people dying in the streets of Calcutta. She said the biggest problem is what she called “spiritual deprivation.” She described this as a feeling of emptiness associated with feeling separate from God and from all our brothers and sisters on Earth.

There are people within the shadow of this church who know about that kind of emptiness.

Nels Ferre once wrote of a Christian missionary convert from Hawaii. This convert spoke on prayer to a seminary audience here on the mainland.

“Before the missionaries came to Hawaii,” she said, “my people used to sit outside their temples for a long time meditating and preparing themselves before entering. Then they would virtually creep to the altar to offer their petition and afterward would again sit a long time outside, this time to `breathe life’ into their prayers. The Christians, when they came, just went up, uttered a few sentences, said Amen, and were done. For that reason my people called them haolis, `without breath,’ or those who failed to breathe life into their prayers.”

That may be the reason many of us live such barren lives–we rarely set aside time to breathe life into our prayers. We are so busy doing, so caught up in the rat race, so pressed for time, that we have cut out that which gives us the strength, the courage, and the vitality we need to strive successfully.

You may know the famous story of Jean Henri Fabre, the French naturalist, and his processional caterpillars. He encountered some of these interesting creatures one day while walking in the woods. They were marching in a long unbroken line front to back, front to back. What fun it would be, Fabre thought, to make a complete ring with these worms and let them march in a circle.

So, Fabre captured enough caterpillars to encircle the rim of a flowerpot. He linked them nose to posterior and started them walking in the closed circle. For days they turned like a perpetual merry-go-round.

Although food was near at hand and accessible, the caterpillars starved to death on an endless march to nowhere.

That seems to be the story of many people today. They are on a march that leads to nowhere. We need to stop for a moment and sit down in the presence of Jesus.

Then we need to receive what Jesus has to offer us, just as the multitude received the loaves and fish.

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan went to visit a member of his church. He was saddened to learn that she was to be evicted from her house because she could not pay the rent. That was on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday Campbell Morgan told his congregation that he wanted enough money from them to pay the woman’s rent. They gave it to him. First thing Monday morning he went to the woman’s house with the money. He could hardly wait to tell her the good news. He hammered on the door, but there was no answer. What a disappointment! He knocked again, but still no answer. He went away feeling dejected.

Later he discovered that the woman had been at home all the time. She had been afraid to answer the door, for she thought it was the landlord who had come for the rent. All the time she cowered in fear, it was her minister bringing her the money she needed.

When we shut God out of our lives, we, too, shut out the very One who can meet our deepest needs. For you see, God’s greatest wish is to provide. God’s very nature is to give. God is love. Love is always giving. If we are not receiving from God, the problem may be on our end, for He is a giving God.

Sometimes we are simply blind to God’s wondrous bounty. We are like the tragic residents of one of America’s first villages.

During the winter of 1610, the population of Jamestown went from about 500 people to about 60. While disease and Indians took some, most of the settlers simply starved. There were plentiful supplies of fish, oysters, frogs, fowl, and deer; but these settlers from the city were not accustomed to obtaining food from the land. Hence, they starved!

We sometimes act the same way. God comes to us continually in the person of the Holy Spirit to guide us. As a loving Father God awaits the opportunity to meet our needs, but we are not accustomed to receiving from His loving hand. Nor does it occur to us to pray. So, we wander blindly from problem to problem, a sort of picture of those early settlers who starved in a land of plenty.

“Make the people sit down,” Jesus commanded his disciples. Then he took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed these loaves and these fish to all who were seated, as much as they wanted. So also, do we receive God’s blessings when we sit and wait and when we receive what God has to offer.

Notice, finally, how John concludes this story: “So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, `This is indeed the prophet who is come into the world!'”

When we sit and wait upon the Lord and when we receive what He has to offer us, we discover that God is indeed a bounteous provider for His children’s needs.

One lesson Jesus tried to teach us was the extravagance of God. God is the God who provides in abundance–who sets before us a table in the midst of our enemies–who fills our cup to overflowing. Who when wine is needed for the wedding feast tells us to fill the water pots, and fill them to the brim–who when the Prodigal returns home kills the fatted calf and throws a big party.

Most of the worries that beset us would disappear in a moment if we could lean back and rest ourselves on the extravagance of God’s provisions for His children’s needs. All of nature testifies to God’s bounty.

Consider our universe. Did you know that if you could bore a hole in the sun and somehow put in 1.2 million earths, you would still have space left over for 4.3 million moons. The sun is 865,000 miles in diameter and 93 million miles away from earth. Pluto, still in our solar system but in the opposite direction, is 2.7 billion miles away. And there are billions of such solar systems.

What are they there for? As best we can determine, they have no other purpose than our enjoyment and perhaps to serve as a challenge to humanity to keep moving ever outward and upward.

Galileo once put it this way, “The sun which has all those planets revolving about it and depending on it for their orderly functions can ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the world to do.”

And it doesn’t! God has brought into being a magnificent creation with the sole purpose of providing for His children’s needs. Isn’t that mind-boggling? But why such extravagance, why such bounty, why such seeming waste?

Perhaps this is the reason for God’s extravagance. He wants to prepare us for the greater extravagance of Heaven.

It reminds me of the old story of two fellows who died and were walking the golden streets of God’s celestial realm. There was more beauty and more splendor and more joy there than they had ever dreamed imaginable. One of them turned to the other and said, “Isn’t this wonderful?”

The other replied, “Yes, and to think we could have gotten here ten years sooner if we hadn’t eaten all that oat bran.”

God has so many blessings to pour out on all of us. He asks us to sit down and receive what He has to give. What He has to give, He gives with extravagance. As St. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” AMEN.

Illustrations and ideas of King Duncan used by permission from

Sermon and Worship Resources @ sermons.com

SERMON SONG Jesus Loves Me! ELW #595

1. Jesus loves me! this I know, for the Bible tells me so;

little ones to him belong, they are weak, but he is strong.

Refrain Yes, Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus loves me,

yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.

2. Jesus loves me! he who died

heaven’s gates to open wide;

he will wash away my sin, let his little child come in. Refrain

3. Jesus loves me! he will stay

close beside me all the way;

when at last I come to die, he will take me home on high. Refrain

Text: Anna B. Warner, 1820-1915, alt.

AFFIRMING OUR FAITH Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Respond

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH

P: Trusting in our loving and almighty God who abundantly provides the bread of life to all who hunger, let us pray for the church, the world, and all who are in need.

A brief silence.

P: Loving God, we pray for all those who gather to celebrate the holy feast of Christ’s body and blood. Strengthen every member of your church in love, faith, and service. Lord, in your mercy,

C: hear our prayer.

P: Almighty God, you hear the cries of the hungry, the sick, and the downcast. Send food, healing, and comfort to all who are in need (especially). Satisfy the desire of every living thing. Lord, in your mercy,

C: hear our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

P: Almighty and loving God, we look to you in hope and trust, knowing that you will do far more than we can ask or imagine, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

C: Amen.

WE WORSHIP GOD THROUGH OUR GIVING

Next, we will receive the gifts of forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation from our Lord Jesus, and respond gratefully with our offerings. Offering plates are in the front next to the aisle for your gifts. You may also donate online on the website, by text (the phone number is on the website), by mail, or personally deliver it to the office. Lives are changed through the ministry enabled by your gifts. Thank you for your continued support and partnership in the Gospel. Let us pray

PRAYER OF BLESSING

P: Gracious God, we thank you for blessing us with the riches of your glory -to know the breadth and length, the height and depth of your love for us so clearly revealed in Jesus. We respond with these gifts and pray that you will bless them and all our efforts to enrich the lives of others through our witness, our love and our generosity. In Jesus’ name, we pray.

C: Amen.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION

THE LORD’S PRAYER 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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

HOLY COMMUNION

COMMUNION SONG Sing Alleluia

1. Sing alleluia to the Lord, sing alleluia to the Lord

Sing alleluia, sing alleluia, sing alleluia to the Lord

2. Jesus is risen from the dead

3. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth

4. He’s coming back to take us home

5. We give thanks to God our King

6. He died for us, we’ll live for Him

CCLI-License# 1366369

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Benediction Song As You Go on your way

As you go on your way may Christ go with you.

May he go before you to show you the way;

May he go behind you to encourage you;

Beside you to befriend you;

Above you to watch over;

Within you to give you peace.

In the name of the Father, Son and Spirit. Amen.

Announcements

Streams Theme song

See the streams of living waters,

springing from eternal love,

well supply your sons and daughters,

and all fear of want remove.

Who can faint while such a river

ever will their thirst assuage?

Grace which, like the Lord, the giver,

never fails from age to age.

SENDING BLESSING

Pastor: Greet your worshiping neighbor. Go in peace and Serve One Another!

People: Thanks be to God!!!