Before we return to the story of David in 2 Samuel, we're wrapping up our David's Life in Psalms series with Psalm 57. How does one keep faith in God from inside a cave? On the run, trying to care for others, with vicious enemies lying in wait and trying to find you … how is it that David's heart is so transformed that he prays from there, "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth!"?

We'll be including song lyrics in our bulletins for this coming Sunday, but if you're joining us online for a livestream (Lord willing!), here are the words to the songs we plan to sing.

Looking for a link to the livestream? Find us at facebook.com/carneyfreechurch/live.

Our service this Sunday was our annual Baptism Service (and Church Picnic) at LLBC! What a wonderful time to sing hymns together, to have another visiting missionary challenge us to keep training in the Christian life, to hear children tell us about the good news of the Gospel, to hear adults share their testimonies, and to finish with six public declarations of faith in Jesus Christ through baptism. It was a wonderful morning!

Since livestreaming couldn't happen yesterday out at LLBC, we're gathering some videos together for you here for you to catch what you may have missed earlier. Please be sure to reach out and encourage those who took this step of baptism! And continue to cheer them on as they follow Jesus each day!

Our missionary series continues this Sunday! In addition to what we will be able to livestream, we also welcome you to join us in person for an update on our missionaries and how they are able to serve in the region God has called them to.

Thanks to Ruth H and her team for leading our music in the worship service this Sunday! You can find the song lyrics to sing along with the livestream right here.

Don't neglect to keep what you hear in your head and your heart as you go through the week! Download the sermon notes sheet to help recall what you heard and to help you put God's Word into practice through the rest of the week.

To start off this season of welcoming back our missionaries, we get a word about our identity. Who are you? What defines you? When people boil down what you're made of, what can't they avoid? Our visiting missionary this week charges us to anchor our identity in being disciples of Jesus Christ. And if that's who we are, then that's how we'll live!

The song lyrics for this Sunday are right here.

Looking for a guide to help you write down what you've heard? Or to keep thinking about the message as you go through your week? Get a pen or pencil and print off this sermon notes guide to plant what you hear deeper in your heart and mind.

This summer we've seen David hounded by Saul's bloodthirsty assassins in Psalm 59, caught in a no-win situation in Psalm 56, elated by his deliverance in Psalm 34, and vindicated against the treacherous Doeg in Psalm 52. But how could one's own kin turn David in? Those who were strangers but should have stood up for a brother in need––how does David handle betrayal by those who hardly even know him? Find out as we look at Psalm 54 together.

Song lyrics are right here – glad you're singing along with us!

Sermon notes are back! Note-taking helps us remember what we've heard, so fill up that first page while you listen to the sermon. Use the second page for personal application with a question each day, Monday through Saturday.

How do you pray when the wicked are winning? How do you pray when evil men are getting their way by murdering the innocent and deceiving those in power? David pens Psalm 52 in response to Doeg the Edomite, whose actions left a city of defenseless priests dead. We need David's confidence in God that "their foot shall slide in due time" (Deut. 32:35), and that we are secure when we are planted and flourishing in the house of God.

Lift up your voice with us in singing during the service! The lyrics to our songs are right here.

Also: sermon notes are back! After taking notes on the message, the second page gives a question to think through and live out each day for the rest of the week.

Last week, we saw David crying out to God to deliver him from enemies in Israel and enemies of Israel. This week is part two: David crying out to celebrate out loud God's amazing deliverance! Do we have a story of deliverance to tell? Are you ready to shout it out to those who will hear? Join us in Psalm 34 for a story of celebration, testimony, and instruction!

Looking for lyrics? Here you go.

Kids get bullied at school. Men and women are abused by their spouses, physically, verbally, emotionally. Ladies get shunned by those who flock to gossip around them. When the fear descends … will we flee? Will we fight? Or will we turn to trust God? As David descends into one of the most fearful episodes of his life, we learn with David to cry out to God from the dark in Psalm 56 and trust Him back into His light.

Looking for song lyrics? Here you go!

When we move from skimming the psalms and humming through them to meditating on them and letting them live in us, we're moved to a new conversation with God in our lives. God is ready to hear us when we are being hunted down without cause by people who don't care about Him––God is our Strength, our Fortress, and His steadfast love for us will never fail. May you be restored as you seek the Lord of hosts with us this morning in Psalm 59!

Looking for lyrics? Here you go!

We had some sound issues while we were recording during the service, so we captured the sermon on an iPhone. Glad you can join in with us:

James wraps up a supremely practical letter for Christian living with instructions for anyone among you, in whatever situation: suffering, celebrating, sick, or straying. How are we living out an active conversation with God in every circumstance? Open up with us to James 5:13-20 as we talk with God through everything He sends our way in life.

Looking for lyrics? Got some right here for you.

When we experience bullying, when we get overlooked for something we've worked hard for, whenever we know we've been slighted by someone who has the power to do right towards us but doesn't … it's so easy for us to launch into righteous anger, to retaliate, and to take power into our own hands. And patience? Patience gets thrown into our emotional trunk. But in James 5:7–11 we learn to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and others, with patience, waiting for the judgment of the Lord. In James 5:12 God commands us to be men and women of integrity with every word we speak. Thanks for joining us as we let God's Spirit transform our actions and reactions through His Word.

Need some lyrics sheets for the songs we'll be singing? Here they are!

Isn't it wonderful that God saves sinners! Isn't it wonderful that God matters in what we do every day! Isn't it wonderful that God cares for those who are weak and powerless! … and isn't that what we need to show to the world around us by what we say and what we do?

Open your Bibles to James 4:11 – 5:7, as we turn away from those actions that tell a false story about God and proclaim instead that God saves, God matters, and God cares. You can also find song lyrics here for the start of the service!

We often think lightly of our following our passions and our own desires, but James takes our halfheartedness to task––showing us how we have become adulteresses in our fights, quarrels, murders and coveting for the things WE want! Will God have us back? And depending on what He does next, how must you and I respond?

Open your Bibles to James 4:1-10 as we find hope in the jealousy and grace of God and humble ourselves before Him. You can also find song lyrics here for the start of the service!

Today we walk through the rest of James 3: on wisdom that is from above, and so-called wisdom that's from below. And as our culture and its perspectives are increasingly polarized and vicious, what a witness we must be for Christ in bringing His wisdom––and the godly character that must go with it! You can find words to our songs here.

• If you would be wise, you'll operate out of meekness––okay with being under the radar.
• If you would be wise, you'll search your heart to rid yourself of bitter jealousy or selfish ambition.
• If you would be wise, you'll desire the good fruit that comes out of wisdom.
• If you would be wise, you'll have a harvest of righteousness for your end goal.

Hope that you had a fantastic Mother's Day! Here's our service from May 10, as we sing together, pray together, and apply God's words to our lives together. Turn to James 3 as you join in on our time of worshiping God as the Carney Free family.

Looking for words to the songs for this morning? They're right here.

Open up your Bibles to James 2:14-26 as we learn about grace and discipleship, faith and works––about what makes the difference between a corpse faith and a real, living, useful faith.

Looking for lyrics? Here you go!

Glad that you could join us for our Sunday morning service on April 26! Break out the Bibles to James 2:1-13 where we examine favoritism in the church. Do we really prefer the rich? Do we even realize it when we do? How can we work on loving all our neighbors as ourselves? (We also go to 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, Matthew 25:31-46, and Micah 6:8 during the service.)

Looking for words to the songs? Here you go.

A month in, and we're still going strong as a church, gathering together to worship the Lord, pray for one another, and attend to God's Word. Pull out your Bibles to James 1:19-27 as we receive, remain in and remember, and respond to what God has to say to us.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

It was good to worship together as the church on this best Sunday of the year, Easter Sunday––even while we were all spread apart in our homes. Thank you for gathering to worship. And if you're watching this video for the first time, we're so glad you can celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with us!!

We had hoped to do this service from the cross under the Carney water tower, but in God's purposes it simply wasn't meant to be. But we still remember with such thankfulness when Jesus Christ died in our place to take away the sins of all who believe in Him. So glad that you can join us in worshiping God together in our Good Friday service.

Happy Palm Sunday to all! Here's our service from April 5. The message was from James 1:1-18, teaching us how to go through trials of various kinds. Announcements for the week ahead include:

• Pastor Kit is collecting your pictures for Palm Sunday! Find a palm, put the camera in selfie mode, and share it with Pastor Kit to put up on our Facebook page. Let's celebrate together, even while we're apart!
• Tuesday, April 7, is a day of prayer for the Forest Lakes District. Consider joining us in setting aside this day to seek the Lord during our current crisis.
• Friday, April 10, is Good Friday! Pastor Kit will be sharing a livestream song service on Facebook from the cross by the water tower in Carney, starting at 6pm Central time. Lyrics will be available on our Media page.
• Next Sunday is Easter Sunday! If you are able, please send your Easter videos to Pastor Kit so that we can abundantly share in our celebration of Jesus' resurrection with one another!

Apologies to all for streaming the service on the Pastor's personal Facebook page rather than the church's! But thanks to some teamwork between Laura Strietzel and Troy Meissner, we got the stream shared back on the church's Facebook again. And, of course, it's now here.

Songs that We Sang

• Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
• Great Is Thy Faithfulness
• Come Lord Jesus (Even So Come)
• I Will Wait for You (Psalm 130)
• My Tribute (To God Be the Glory)

Scripture from the Message

• Proverbs 27:1 – Do not boast about tomorrow …
• Luke 12:19-21 – … so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
• James 4:13-15 – "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

• Revelation 20 – key passage on the thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth
• 2 Peter 3:8 – … with the Lord one day is as a thousand years …

• Matthew 24:30 – … they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
• Matthew 25:31 – When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne …
• Philippians 3:20-21 – the Lord Jesus Christ … will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body …
• Colossians 3:4 – When Christ … appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
• 1 Peter 4:13 – … rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

Here's our worship service from Sunday morning, March 22, 2020.

Facebook Livestream