Fire in ordinary places.

A call to worship.

Themes

God’s plan • Providence • Holy Spirit • Power • Witness • Mission • Calling • Guidance • Scripture • Jesus’ ministry • Church • Pentecost • Encouragement • Endurance • Identity • Obedience • Unity • Hope • Missional grounding • Formation • Discernment • Participation in divine life • Redemptive history

Nevertheless, Your plan unfolds. And we are in it.

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Scripture reading

Luke 4:18
Acts 1:8
Acts 2:17

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Today’s call to worship¹ is inspired by the plan that God has, and that is unfolding right now and right here in each of your lives, and right now, right here for this church.

There was this moment when Jesus returned to his hometown. And it was his custom to go to synagogue on the Sabbath day. And so he did. And he stood up and read a passage of scripture about himself from the scroll of Isaiah.  He read 

The Spirit of the Lord 
is upon Me.


Just moments before Jesus ascended up to Heaven, he said this to his disciples: 

You will receive power 
when the Holy Spirit 
has come upon you, 
and you will be 
My witnesses.


There’s this story that Luke records in the beginning of his second book, the Book of Acts, where the Holy Spirit comes down from heaven — In the form of fire — just as Jesus had promised he would. And his Spirit rests on the very first gathered group of Christians. And the power of the Spirit was such that they all started preaching in foreign languages — languages that they had never studied and didn’t know. But people from all over the world who happened to be nearby in the streets heard them and were bewildered because they were hearing this gathered group of Christians speaking to them in their own native languages. And so Peter explains to the crowd what is happening and when he does, he quotes the Old Testament prophet Joel, and he shouts out: 

God declares: 
“I will pour out My Spirit 
upon all flesh.”

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Prayer

Father in heaven, 
You have a plan, 
and Your plan is unfolding. 
And it’s unfolding 
exactly how You’ve planned it so.

Your plan 
is cosmic in scope — 
nothing that happens 
happens outside it. 
It is universal —
we are in it.

This plan of Yours 
goes all the way back to Jesus. 
It encompasses 
the miracles He performed. 
It includes His death, 
His resurrection, 
His exaltation to heaven, 
and it even includes His future role 
as the One 
who will return 
to execute 
Your judgment. 

Your spirit was on Him. 
And everything He did, 
He did according to Your Spirit, 
under Your guidance.
And so everything unfolded 
according to plan.

This plan of Yours 
goes back even further. 
It goes way back to Israel, 
that nation 
where You guided Abraham, 
and Joseph, 
and Moses, 
and David, 
and all the prophets. 

Indeed, 
this plan of Yours stretches 
all the way back 
to the act of creation itself, 
and it goes on into the future 
to the judgment 
at the end of all history. 

All events 
have been planned. 
And Your plan unfolds. 
And it’s unfolding right now — 
at this moment — 
under Your providential guidance, 
under the care 
of Your Holy Spirit. 

And according to Jesus’s own words:
we will receive power 
when the Holy Spirit has come, 
and we will 
be His witnesses.

This is who we are
in Your plan. 
This is why we are 
in Your plan. 

This charge to be His witnesses, 
first given 
to His disciples, 
is no less true for us. 
You have given us the foundation 
for all our actions.
You have given us 
an unquestionable footing 
for living faithfully 
in this world. 

As we have studied the story 
that Your great historian, Luke, 
recorded for us —
the story of Your unfolding plan —
it has encouraged us, 
it has sustained us —
and may it continue to encourage us, 
and may it continue to sustain us — 
as we continue 
to be His witnesses 
in this time, 
in this year, 
in this location, 
in our homes, 
our schools, 
our places of employment, 
our places of shopping, 
and exercise, 
and leisure.
For in this time, 
across these places, 
Your plan will unfold. 
And as it does — 
just as it did 
in the Book of Acts — 
Your guidance 
is available to us 
as we bear witness 
in this rapidly changing,
freakishly irrational, 
subjectively chaotic, 
radically fallen world
that we’ve awaked in this morning. 

Nevertheless, 
Your plan unfolds. 
And we are in it. 

We seek Your guidance, 
for that is what interprets, 
not only all of history, 
but also this very moment 
we find ourselves in. 
Your guidance strengthens us. 
It strengthens our understanding 
of who we are, 
and who we are supposed to be 
in this world 
at this moment 
as we attempt 
to bear witness. 
It reinforces the idea 
that we are Your servants 
proclaiming Your gospel.

Like the early church at its formation,
inspire this church 
by Your Spirit. 
Keep us faithful 
to Your scriptures. 
Give us all we need 
to remain obedient to You. 
Encourage us 
as we live our faith. 

Keep us hopeful. 
Keep us directed toward Your purposes. 
Keep us unified.

Give us the theological grounding we need
for missional activity.
Provide us — 
like You did for Peter and the apostles, 
like You did for Stephan and Philip and the seven, 
like You did for Barnabas and Paul 
and other fellow missionaries — 
provide us, 
as You did for them,
with the respectable ways 
by which potential criticisms 
can be defended.

Give us eyes to see beyond the surface chaos of this world 
to the deeper realities of Your redemptive work 
and to the deeper realities of our participation in Your divine life.

Enable us to see 
Your plan unfold 
with us in it, 
and nurture and equip this church 
for the task 
that You have given us.

In the name of Jesus, 
Who told us 
that on us 
He would pour out His Spirit, 
that we would receive power, 
that we would be His witnesses,
Amen. 

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Inspiring resources

A call to worship creates wonderment, amazement, curiosity, yearning, captivation, provocation, hopefulness, thankfulness, affection, rapture, delight. As these mix together, the response is worship.

If this call to worship leaves you wondering or curious or provoked or hopeful, consider diving into this awesome book that inspired me to write this call to worship.

1. This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered in Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, January 15, 2023.