VERDUGO COMMUNITY CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE JANUARY 19, 2025

We begin our service with Pastor Gail Linstrom welcoming all to worship and to participate in the life of our church family. Dale Reynolds calls us to worship with a reading from Psalm 36. Albert Ramseyer opens us in prayer. Nick Baltazar and Ed Manacop lead us in our praise singing. Greg Hart takes up the praises and concerns of the church, our city, and our world in the Prayers of the People.

 

In her sermon, “Experiencing God’s Abundance and Generosity,” Pastor Gail reminds us that God uses ordinary people engaged in ordinary activities to advance his Kingdom. In John 2 we see this when Jesus changes water into wine. She notes that Jesus did this miracle behinds the scenes, asking the servants to fill up the large water jars used for ritual cleansing, and then take some of the wine to the master of ceremonies. Only Jesus, his family, the disciples present, and the servants knew the full story. And Jesus created an abundance of wine, gallons of it, not just the minimum needed for the party. He models for us that God can use ordinary people doing ordinary activities and will abundantly provide the resources needed to accomplish his plans for us: “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (Jeremiah 29:11). When, as now, we face the challenges of fires and windstorms and disagreements in our society, we need to follow the advice that Mary gave to the servants when Jesus was going to act:”“Do whatever he tells you.”

 

Verdugo makes its Sunday sermons and select worship services available to you on Facebook at https://facebook.com/verdugochurch and posts audio copies of the service and sermon at https://verdugochurch.podbean.com.

 

Prayers of the People have been edited to respect the privacy and confidentiality of those participating or mentioned.

 

All song titles, lyrics, and music are used with permission. CCLI license # 2486815.

 

Verdugo Community Church is a Free Methodist congregation serving the Glassell Park, Eagle Rock, and Glendale areas in Los Angeles. It is located at 4300 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles, CA 90065. Our email address is verdugofmc@gmail.com. Contact Pastor Gail at (323) 500-3343.

 

Worship service copyright 2025 by Verdugo Community Church. Sermon copyright 2025 by Gail Whitcome Linstrom and Verdugo Community Church.