Getting Ready For Sunday: How To Prepare For Dedication Sunday, 10/18/2009

This Sunday at Sojourn Gathered, parents will come forward to dedicate their babies to God, pledging to raise them under the Lordship of Christ.  We, as a church family, will raise our hands together and make this pledge with them.  Until then we can begin to pray for these parents and their children:

• Pray for their extended families

• Pray for their community group

• Pray for the SojournKids ministry

• Pray for each adult in the Sojourn Community.

Remember that a dedication ceremony is an acknowledgment that all we have — including our kids — belongs to God.  It’s an honor to be entrusted with the nurture and education of the next generation.

Then our teacher will deliver a sermon from Jeremiah 1.  This first chapter introduces nearly every important aspect of the book, from the main themes to the major characters.  By chapters’ end we learn:

1. His call (Jeremiah 1:5)
2. His message (Jeremiah 1:10)
3. His enemies and obstacles (Jeremiah 1:17-19)

God comforts Jeremiah and promises him success in his mission.  God promises us this same thing.  Expect to hear the call of God in this week’s sermon and to see the connection between our mission and our great God’s protection and power.

This week the Sojourn elders will also call for everyone to take the next step into Sojourn community group life, whether that involves becoming a community group leader, joining a group or shepherding and welcoming others into our groups.  We’ll offer clear pathways after the service for people to join a group.  Our mission doesn’t stop with seeing people saved.  God saves us to make us part of His family.  He wants us to function together, rather than simply for each of us to have a “Me and Jesus” relationship.

If you have our Before The Throne CD, practice singing “Come And Sing,” which we’ll sing together as a response to the Call To Worship, and “All I Have Is Yours,” our Dedication song.  And if you have Over The Grave: The Hymns Of Isaac Watts, Volume One, practice “Refuge,” which we’ll also sing together this Sunday.

Other songs for this week include the hymns “Solid Rock” and “Sovereign Grace O’er Sin Abounding.”  See you Sunday, and we hope to see you Saturday at the Sojourn Fall Festival too!