Spirit and Truth

Glorious

2011-03-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Glorious

Written by: Paul Balouche and Benton Brown

CCLI Song No. 5548521 CCLI Song No. 5548521

Lyrics

Look inside the myst'ry - see the empty cross

See the risen Savior victorious and strong

No one else above Him - none as strong to save

He alone has conquered - the power of the grave

Glorious, My eyes have seen the glory of the Lord

Glorious, He stands above the rulers of the earth

Glorious, glorious - Lord You are glorious

Look beyond the tombstone - see the living God

See the resurrected; ruler of my heart

No one else above Him - none to match His worth

The hope of His returning fills the universe

Devotional Scripture:

*Scipture payers from Kenneth Boa, Handbook to Prayer: Praying Scripture Back to God (Atlanta: Trinity House, 1997).

“My attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5–8).*

“You are worthy to take the scroll

And to open its seals,

Because You were slain,

And with Your blood You purchased men for God

From every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

And they will reign on the earth (Revelation 5:9–10).*

“There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:6-7).

Devotional Prayer:

You are the resurrected Savior; strong and victorious. You stand above the rulers of the earth and we wait in the hope of Your returning. You are glorious!

Revelation 9 "Still Complacent?"

2011-03-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

After reading chapter nine of Revelation, I was struck by the people who did not respond to God. Even after all that had happened and seeing his judgment all around them, they continued to worship the idols they have made. But before I could accuse any further God reminded humbly approach these words. How many times did I feel his call to move or change an action and yet I did not respond. I continued to honor something else over him.

The first song that came to mind was “God of Justice”. It is a song that still challenges me to live out the words I am singing. To turn to what Micah 6:8 calls us to do; justice, love mercy and walk humbly.

Revelation is a book that forces you to consider your humility before and all powerful God and this verse reminds us that is not the words that honor God it is the action.

“He has shown all you people what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)

God of Our Fathers

2010-06-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

BLESSED ASSURANCE/TO GOD BE THE GLORY
Jesus is my story and my song was Fanny Crosby’s devotional prayer in this song. She is America’s most prolific hymn writer penning over 8,000 hymns. She would say about her blindness, “Darkness may throw a shadow over my outer vision, but there is no cloud that can keep the sunlight of hope from a trustful soul”. Her hymns became well known through the American Evangelist D.L. Moody crusades. Then they were reintroduced during Billy Graham crusades. This next song, “To God Be the Glory” was written in 1872.

GOD OF JUSTICE
We have been given much as Americans for a reason, so that we can give and be in a position for God to use us.

RAISE UP THE CROWN
It is only through the power of Jesus that we can love others. It is only his work on the cross that can bring freedom and justice to all.

GOD OF OUR FATHERS
We are thankful for the freedom that we have to choose to worship God. We are blessed to be free from oppression and thankful for the courage of those who gave their all to protect this freedom.
“God of Our Fathers” is a song written by a pastor of a small church in 1876. It was written to commemorate the one-hundredth birthday of the Declaration of Independence. In this prayer we are reminded that God is an almighty God and is in charge of nations. This trust in God alone is echoed through the prophet Daniel, "The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17).
Let your prayer during this time of offering be one of thankfulness to God and that we would demonstrate His love and grace to others.

Impulse of Thy Love

2010-06-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

The key verse that drew me into the text this week was in verse 12, “Live such good lives among pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us”. How can our actions demonstrate the gospel? Would there be evidence of God’s presence in my life? This line from Take My Life, written in 1874 prays this way, “Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love”. Before we strive to simply not do bad things, we need to realize that it is God’s love in us that transforms us. It is Christ’ s love in us that leads us to love others, we are simply following his impulse.

Reflections

2010-03-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Songs;
Beautiful One
Blessed Be Your Name
Never Let Go
Our Great God
Father Let Me Dedicate

Do we trust God through tough times?

During Beautiful One we prayed that we would not become too familiar with God. That He would open our eyes to see how wonderful He is and that our hearts would be "captured" with the love He has for us. It is an everlasting love and He is a faithful God.

God is in the dark times and tough circumstance can bring a stronger and more real faith. Sometimes we have to experience His faithfulness in order to grow. Jesus is the "Living Hope". This week lets fix our eyes on him, "the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). Our hope can be secure, lets not put our hope in anything else.

Throughout the songs I was reflecting on the familiar passage from Psalms which promises His presence in our dark times.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:1-4).

May His presence restore your soul this week.

Glorious One

2010-01-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

by Steve Fee

We praise God's glory and the wonder of his greatness in this song. He is great and yet intimate with us as our Healer and Redeemer. My favorite line so far in this song is, "You hold the universe and still you run to the broken". I think this song connects well with our need as a church to see God as great, but also be more aware of his presence among us and in our lives. His love for us is demonstrated in the sacrifice of Christ, he desires a relationship with us. That is something to sing about.

Lyrics...
Our hands are lifted high, our hearts are bowing in reverence
And we're surrounded by the glory of Your presence
With ev'ry creature ev'ry tongue, we're lifting our voice to the Glorious One

Glorious One, Glorious One
Light of the world, You outshine the sun
King of all kings, eternity sings - Glorious One

Oh God of infinite worth with hands that carved out the ocean
You hold the universe and still You run to the broken
With ev'ry heart that's been redeemed we're lifting our songs to the Glorious King

There is none more beautiful...none more wonderful - Glorious One

Scripture Prayer...
Since I am receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, may I be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for my God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29)

My Savior My God

2009-11-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

lyrics by Dorothy Greenwell in “Songs of Salvation”, 1873.
New music and chorus by Aaron Shust.

“I am not skilled to understand what God has willed what God has planned
I only know at his right hand, stands one who is my Savior

I take him at his word and deed; Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find the need for Him to be my Savior

Yes, living, dying, let me bring; my strength, my solace from this Spring
That he who lives to be my King; once died to be my Savior

That he would leave his place on high; and come for sinful man to die
You count it strange, so once did I; before I knew my Savior

My Savior loves, my Savior lives, my Savior’s always there for me
My God he was, my God he is; my God he’s always gonna be”
_____________________________________________
From the lyrics of this beautiful hymn, the author was struck by the honesty of them. He desired to bring it back to his church, so he took the time to translate the music and write a new chorus that would communicate how our King is also our Savior.

The people who sat at the feet of Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount felt the same way as the religious leaders made it impossible for them to understand how to have a relationship with God. They were the outcaste of the religious society, but Jesus comforts them and calls them blessed.

For us today it is the same principle, we are unified in our humble need for a Savior. May we never forget that and in the words from the author of Amazing Grace John Newton, there are only two things we need to know, that we are great sinners but he is a great Savior.

For Your Glory

2009-11-05T22:54:00.000-08:00

Written by Matt Maher
Devotional Themes: In every season of life seek God’s face,
Trust Him through Trails, and demonstrating Christ’s love.

Why we sing this song...
This song comes right out of our study in Ecclesiastes especially chapter two. We are called to seek God’s face in all the seasons of life - that is why worship is called a sacrifice of praise sometimes. “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name”(Heb 13:15). The bridge reminds us that Christ lives in us through the Holy Spirit and as a response we love and serve others.

Verse 1
There is a time to live; there is a time to die
There is a time to laugh; there is a time to cry
There is a time to dance; a time for joy's embrace
And in all seasons God, we humbly seek Your face

Verse 2
There is a time to sow; there is a time to reap
A time for victory; a time to claim defeat
A time to be renewed; a time to be reborn
And in all seasons God, we bow before Your throne

Chorus
This is our offering to You - this is our offering
Ev'rything I am is for Your glory; ev'rything I am for You Lord

BRIDGE
The earth stands still without You
We could only move because You made us to
The world is nothing without You
We could only love because You made us to

Summer Blast Kids Songs

2009-07-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

I absolutely loved singing with the kids this last week and I was blown away by the songs and response from the kids. God indeed was glorified as we came together each morning and worshiped him. Thank you Lyndsey for letting me apart of the team (and for the dance moves). Here were some of my favorite lines to sing with the kids;

"King of Majesty I have one desire, just to be with You my Lord/ Jesus You are the Savior of my soul and forever and ever I'll give my praises to You"
"Oh I believe the King of heaven died for me...Jesus loves me..."
"Oh Lord anything You want from me I'll give it - I'll fie it 'cause I know I'll find all I need in You...Lord I will lean on You"
"Tell the world that Jesus lives... Tell the world that He died for them...He lives again"

These are words that the kids will not forget and will take root in their hearts as they learn about what a relationship with Christ about. I am blessed to be a part of what God is already doing in the lives of these kids. Please pray with me, Lyndsey and the whole team that God would draw these kids to His heart.

Sunday Reflections

2009-06-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Songs we sang this week.

O Praise Him - Crowder
Mighty to Save - Feilding and Morgan
Jesus Paid it All - Hall and Nifong
O Sacred King - Redman

Reflections
In an effort to take notice of the Spirit's work among us when we gather, I wanted to jot down some notes that I wrote down during our worship time together (By the way, when I say 'worship time' I mean the whole service). I was caught up in the phrase "Author of Salvation" which was a line in the song "Mighty to Save". It was a phrase that stood out to me while I practiced the song and when we sang it together I was overwhelmed by God's message that he is mighty to save because he is the creator of salvation. Scott went on to talk about what was distinguishable about God and what was beautiful about him and it was that he is the mighty judge who made salvation possible...He is the Author of Salvation, the pioneer. Praise God for revealing these truths this week and I hope that it is an encouragement for your week and as you pray for your Oikos.

Please respond with comments about what you noticed the Spirit doing Sunday in our midst. You can leave a comment below or send me an email and I will post it for you. jrnall@fbcsd.com

Blessed Be Your Name

2009-03-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

As you prepare for our time together Sunday morning, here are some thoughts and scripture to pray through. Be expectant for God to move in You and in us as a family.

O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing        (Wesley)
We thank You for Your love, give us the courage and strength to demonstrate and announce it to others.

“Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion”
(Psalm 103: 1-4)
“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).
Indescribable        (Laura Story)
Lord we are in awe of You, and of Your creation. Thank You for choosing to love us.

"All Your works will praise you, O Lord, and Your saints will bless You. They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power, so that all men may know of Your mighty acts and the glorious majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures through all generations" (Psalm 145:10-13). 
Blessed Be Your Name         (Redman)
Sometimes I don’t feel like worshipping You Father because of the circumstances of life, help me to call You Lord even when the darkness closes in.

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:15-16).

For Your Glory         (Maher)
In all of the seasons teach me to seek Your face and submit to Your Sovereignty.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1).
“When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future” (Ecc. 7:14)

We Give You Glory

2009-03-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a new song that we are introducing with some themes and scripture.

We Give You Glory
by Jeremy Camp on the album "Beyond Measure"
Devotional Themes: God's Glory and greatness, He is worthy of our Praise, Hope and trust in God's sovereignty alone.

Verse 1
We have raised a thousand voices just to lift Your Holy Name
And we will raise thousands more to sing of Your Beauty in this place
Oh none can even fathom no not one define Your Worth
As we marvel in Your Presence to the ends of the earth
Verse 2
As we fall down before You with our willing hearts we seek
In the greatness of Your Glory it's so hard to even speak
There is nothing we can offer no nothing can repay
So we give You all our praises and lift our voices to sing
Chorus
We give You glory
Lifting up our hands and singing holy - You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your Heart Lord (touch Your Heart)
Glory lifting up our voice and singing holy - You alone are worthy
We just want to touch Your Heart Lord (touch Your Heart)
BRIDGE
Our hope is found in You
Our faith has been renewed
We trust in Your ev'ry Word
Nothing else can even measure up to You

©2006, Thirsty Moon River Publishing CCLI #155583

Why We Sing this Sing
This is definitely a "family song" that reminds us when we get together that He is worthy of our praise and nothing else can compare with Him. In this song we can corporately declare that we put our hope in Him. We are reminded about God's presence being among and that we are to come before God in humility.

Verses found in this song
Isaiah 24:14-16, “They raise their voices, they shout for Joy; from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; exalt the name o the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing; ‘Glory to the Righteous One’”

The first verse tells us about the indescribable greatness of God (Dt. 3:24; 5:24; 32:1-3; Isa 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9) and realizing His presence among us when we gather together (Matt. 18:20; Phil. 3:15; Heb. 10:25)
The second verse reminds us to be humble in His presence (Is 61-6; Ecc. 5:1-2)
The chorus highlights two worship responses raising hands and voices. Lifting our hands is both a sign of humility and surrender to God (Ps. 141:2; 1 Tim. 2:8).

To God Be the Glory

2009-02-26T12:44:00.000-08:00

I love singing songs from Fanny Crosby, because she worshiped God in every area of her life. She was a blind woman living in the 1800s and wrote over 8,000 hymns, but what is more encouraging to me is her devotional life. She wrote a song for everything, even to the point when her neighbors would come to her when they needed a song for an event. Talk about loving your relational world (Oikos). Her songs are filled with personal testimony thanking God for what he has done for her and praising His name. How often do I praise God throughout the day? How often do we notice God in our day?

Pray through these scriptures in preparation for worship this week

Romans 15:5-6
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 29:2
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Romans 11:36
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Galatians 1:3-5
Grace and peace to you form God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:21
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In our response song this week we are going to sing the famous song It is Well by Horatio Spafford.

Horatio’s story is a sad one. He lost his family as the boat sank coming from England to America. He wrote this lyric when he passed over that place in the ocean, “When sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul”. The story that we don’t see is how he dealt with this grief, but what we do know is at the end of the anger, frustration and sadness he placed His hope firmly in Christ. Lets remember from last week that “when times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made one as well as the other” (Ecc. 7:14a). He does not promise us a life of prosperity, but he promises us His presence in adversity. Worship for Horatio meant taking all of his emotion before God.

2009-02-19T21:38:00.000-08:00

Devotional Scripture

"Praise the Lord! Praise God in His Sanctuary;

Praise Him in His mighty heavens.

Praise Him for His acts of power;

Praise Him for His surpassing greatness.

Praise Him with the sounding trumpet;

Praise Him with the harp and lyre.

Praise Him with the tambourine and dancing;

Praise Him with the stringed instruments and flutes.

Praise Him with the clash of cymbals,

Praise Him with the resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."

(Psalm 150:1-6)

Lord, we pray that we will come Sunday ready to celebrate Your greatness and may You be glorified in our hearts.

Lyrical Prayers

Blessed be Your name

In the land that is plentiful; where the streams of abundance flow.

Blessed be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place; though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shinning down on me; when the world's all as it should be.

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering; though there is pain in the offering.

Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back to praise

And when the darkness closes in still I will say blessed be Your name

You give and take away;

My heart will choose to say, blessed be Your name.

(Redman, Blessed Be Your Name)

Father let me dedicate all this life to you in whatever worldly state Thou would have me be. Not from sorrow, pain or care, freedom dare I claim.

This alone shall be my prayer, glorify Thy name.

Can a child presume to choose where or how to live?

Can a Father's love refuse all the best to give?

Let my glad heart while it sings, Thee in all proclaim

And whatever future brings glorify Thy name.

(Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864)

Response

Ecclesiates 7:14

"When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about the future."

Both prosperity and adversity come from a Sovereign God. That is a hard concept and the lyrics this week are challenging. How can I train my heart to sing "blessed be Your name" when times are bad? Do I really trust God with my future even if that means it may not be comfortable? I think the important thing is to remember that we are in an intimate relationship with the Father and to bring our honest worries to him. That relationship is worship. We bring glory to Him when we come to Him first with our concerns.

God be glorified in us as we learn to put you first in our hearts and trust You for our future.

Phil. 4:6-7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Be Our Vision

2009-02-12T13:36:00.000-08:00

Devotional Scripture

Psalm 8
1 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!
       You have set your glory
       above the heavens.
2 From the lips of children and infants         you have ordained praise        because of your enemies,         to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,         the work of your fingers,         the moon and the stars,         which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,         the son of man that you care for him?

Isaiah 6
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
       "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
       the whole earth is full of his glory."

Praying through the Lyrics

Be Thou my vision O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me save that Thou art
Thou my best thought by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Riches I heed not nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance now and always (through all my days)
Thou and Thou only the first in my heart
High King of heaven my treasure Thou art
(Be Thou My Vision; Irish Poem, 700)

See from His head His hands His feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing so divine
Demands my soul my life my all
(When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Isaacs Watts, 1707)

Response

The lyrics from “Be Thou My Vision” written so long ago tells of a heart that is fully devoted to Christ. The author, like the author of Ecclesiastes, understands that he cannot find meaning in riches or the praise of others. These things can become our identity and we can place our hope in them, but we are called to find our identity in the cross of Christ and He is our hope of glory.

What things do I put my hope in?
What does it mean to find my identity in Christ?

Philippians 1:20-21
20I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Colossians 1:27
27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

O Worship the King

2009-02-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

Scripture that we are singing...
This week as we prepare our hearts for worship Sunday, I thought it would be good if I simply wrote the scripture that we are singing this week. In your worship time this weekend, pray through these scriptures. On Sunday morning we can proclaim together that God is the Defender, Redeemer, Shield, Ancient of Days and Friend.

Everlasting God - Brown
Isaiah 40:27-31
27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

O Worship the King - Robert Grant (1778-1838) Tomlin
Psalm 104
1 Praise the LORD, O my soul.O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.
2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

King of Glory - Tomlin
Psalm 24:7-15 (New International Version)
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory.         Selah

God of this City - McCann
This is a response song where we as a church can agree that our great God is active and has a plan for the University City area. The love of Christ that we have declared together should be demonstrated and announced to those God has brought in our relational world (our Oikos). This is our spiritual act of worship.
Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Morning Worship Thoughts

2009-02-01T07:45:00.000-08:00

This week we introduced a new/old song, "O Worship the King" which is a great model for why we worship. It was written by Robert Grant in the early 1800's and comes from Psalm 104.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in the light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent." (vv.1-2)

The hymn uses great names of God; King, Ancient of Days, Shield, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. It also uses great imagery found in the Psalm as well. The first verse reminds us of God’s glory, power and love. It uses phrases like “Pavilioned in splendor” which our modern translation would say clothed in splendor, and in verse 2 it describes His robe as the light and canopy space. In the final verse, the hymn uses the word "ineffable" which means, "too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words". That is a great attitude of worship, when you run out of words in trying to describe who God is.

Personally, I love how this starts out with the Psalmist telling his soul to praise God. Often times we get caught up in doing life and we forget to praise God. This is why Paul instructs us encourage each other with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19). This is true for us because songs can remind us of the characteristics of God and even teach us what it means to live in communion with Him.

Chorus 1
You alone are the matchless King
To You alone be all majesty
Your glories and wonders
What tongue can recite
You breathe in the air
You shine in the light

Verse 1
O worship the King all glorious above
O gratefully sing His wonderful love
Our Shield and Defender the Ancient of Days
Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise

Verse 2
O tell of His might O sing of His grace
Whose robe is the light and canopy space
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form
And dark is His path on the wings of the storm

Verse 3
O measureless might ineffable love
While angels delight to worship above
Thy mercies how tender how firm to the end
Our Maker Defender Redeemer and Friend

Finding Hope

2009-01-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

Sunday’s Set List

Hosanna - Balouche
Forever - Tomlin
Never Let Go - Redman
Jesus Messiah - Tomlin
Hungry - Scott

Text Ecc. 3:1-15

When you read through the text a song may come to mind...“To everything, turn, turn, turn/ There is a season, turn, turn, turn” The passage is a commentary on life. How there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven (3:1). At the end of the passage the conclusion is that God is in control of time. I love verse 11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time...”. That includes us. God is always at work in us and it is often in the hard times that He makes us beautiful. One of my favorite lines from the songs comes from Jesus Messiah, “All our hope is in you...All glory to you, the Light of the World”. This reminds me that Jesus was the plan from the beginning. That if we place our hope in anything else, life becomes meaningless. We find our meaning in Christ.

Christmas Sunday

2008-12-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

This Sunday we may see a lot of new faces and I am excited to welcome them all to our church. One of the main things that I wanted to communicate this Sunday was the greatness of God. We celebrate the birth of Jesus because through him we are made right with God. We sing carols about this excitement and joy of his birth; Joy to the World, or the, “thrill of hope the weary world rejoices” from O Holy Night. This excitement is real, because our great God provided the long expected King, Jesus. God’s plan did not stop at His birth, How Great Thou Art, tells the purpose of His birth;

        “And when I think that God His son not sparing
        Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
        And on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
        He bled and died to take away my sin
        Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great Thou art”

Jesus is the Messiah sent by God, he is the “rescue for sinners” and the “light of the world”; He is what all the excitement is about. It is important for us to not forget about the cross during this Christmas season. Our response is to bring an offering of worship similar to the wise men’s gift or the bowed Shepherds.

Songs for Sunday...
O Come All Ye Faithful / Oakeley, C. Frederick | Wade, John Francis
How Great Thou Art / Hine
Jesus Messiah / Tomlin, Chris | Carson, Daniel | Reeves, Jesse | Cash, Ed
O Holy Night / Kipley, Pete | Millard, Bart | Dwight, John S. | Adam, Adolphe
Christmas Offering / Paul Balouche

Sunday Flow

2008-11-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing / Wesley, Crowder

        A great song that Charles Wesley wrote in honor of the day he surrendered to Christ.

How Deep the Father’s Love for Us / Stuart Townsend

        This song tells God’s story of salvation and asks the question why we a sinner should benefit from the victory of Christ’s resurrection. Paul writes a song in the book of Philippines that emphasizes this sacrifice.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,       did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,   but made himself nothing,        taking the very nature of a servant,        being made in human likeness.   And being found in appearance as a man,        he humbled himself        and became obedient to death—           even death on a cross!   Therefore God exalted him to the highest place        and gave him the name that is above every name,   that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,        in heaven and on earth and under the earth,   and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,        to the glory of God the Father.” Phil. 2:6-11.
Jesus Messiah / Tomlin
        This song is clear about the identity of Christ and what His sacrifice means for us. In the last part of the Philippines passage we see the power of Jesus’ name and that all will worship Him. His name is above all names, he is the Messiah.
God of Justice / Hughes
        Worship is a verb not a noun and this song prays that God will keep us from just singing and move us into action.
Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Redemption and Righteousness

2008-10-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

Set List
Happy Day / Hughes
Hosanna / Fraser
God of this City / McCann, Tomlin
Nothing But Your Blood / Redman

Thoughts
I love “Happy Day” it is a great song of celebration of the risen Jesus. We do not have to wait for Easter to express the joy of our salvation. My favorite line is “I’ll never be the same, forever I am changed”. When we experience the grace of God, we are changed and our life is about being conformed into the image of Christ.
“Hosanna” we introduced last week and I hope that we can make it our own, because our church’s heart is to serve. The process of our heart being broken for the things that break his heart should be our continuous prayer as a church. This connects very well with the theme of “God of Justice”. After our hearts are broken for others, we have to believe that God has the strength to help and to heal.
“Nothing But the Blood” which speaks about how we can approach God with confidence because of the price that was payed by Jesus’ sacrifice.

Key Verse;
Hebrews 10:19-23
“Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter into the Most Holy Pace by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and have our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Hosanna

2008-10-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

Everlasting God / Brown
Hosanna / Fraser
You Are the One / Brewster
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
In Christ Alone / Getty

The focus this week in the songs is the firm foundation of Christ. Some great words come out of “In Christ Alone” about the characteristics of this foundation.

1 Corinthians 3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Hosanna is a new song for us and it came highly recommended by some of my fellow worship leaders. Hosanna means come save now, which brings a lot of meaning to the verses. The line that is constantly on my heart with this song is, “Break my heart for what breaks yours.” There are always certain words that we walk away with in songs and can be used by God to challenge our perspective of Him or our actions towards others.

This is the essence of what it means to have a lifestyle of worship; these words can be used to develop devotional habits throughout the week.

Worship Progression

2008-10-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

This Sundays songs and thoughts...

Beautiful One
        Praising Jesus for His Majesty, and thanking Him for His beautiful sacrifice.
        Favorite line this morning, “My Soul must sing”

King of Glory
        Jesus in the King of Glory, strong and mighty.
        Favorite line, “Let the Redeemed declare the love” For our church that translates as demonstrating and announcing the love of God, through Jesus, to our Oikos or relational world.
Verse Reference...Psalms 24:7-10
     Lift up your heads, O gates!
      And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
      that the King of glory may come in.
     Who is this King of glory?
      The Lord, strong and mighty,
      the Lord, mighty in battle!
     Lift up your heads, O gates!
      And lift them up, O ancient doors,
      that the King of glory may come in.
     Who is this King of glory?
      The Lord of hosts,
      he is the King of glory!

God of Justice
        Matt. 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Some of you may not know that our church is 140 years old and historically our motto has been this verse- “ not to be ministered unto, but to minister.”
This song talks about the actions Jesus did and encourages us to act.

Worship Reflections

2008-09-23T16:33:00.000-07:00

Set List...
O, For A Thousand Tongues to Sing / Charles Wesley (1739) arr, by David Crowder
How Marvelous (My Savior’s Love) / Charles H. Gabriel (1905) arr. by Tomlin
Father Let me Dedicate (Be Glorified) / Lawrence Tuttiett, Redman
God of This City / McCann, Tomlin

Lifestyle of worship
This week we began First John, a book that looks at some divisions in the Church as well as attributes of Christ and how to love. Looking at 1:1-4, Scott talked about how our joy should be rooted in our fellowship with Jesus and with each other. He cross referenced this passage to one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, John 15. Here we are called to ‘remain in (Jesus) as He remains in us’ or using an older word ‘abide’. Simply put it means to remain as one. This is the transformational process of becoming like Christ. It is what some call a lifestyle of worship. Daily as we strive to obey and develop the character of Christ we are in worship. Music then is simply a tool to encourage this development or come together and celebrate it!

Set List and Thoughts

2008-09-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

How Great Thou Art / K. Hine, Paul Balouche
“That on the cross my burden gladly bearing...”
God’s greatness is demonstrated through his Son’s death.

Scripture Reading Phil 4:5-11
“your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the very nature of God,
        did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
        taking the very nature of a servant,
        being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
        he humbled himself
        and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
        and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
        to the glory of God the Father.”

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) / John Newton, Tomlin
“But God who called me here below will be forever mine.”
The direction of our focus should be on suffering with the world not escaping from it.

God of this City / Aaron Boyd
“Greater things are yet to come
Greater things are still to be done in this City”
The challenge is do we truly believe that, are we ministering to our Oikos with expectancy.

Communion
When I survey the Wondrous Cross / Isaac Watts, Kathryn Scott

Worship Thoughts: Celebration in Nehemiah

2008-08-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Celebration is such a beautiful emotion, but I am reminded in Nehemiah that the greatest celebrations often come our of great sorrow. We celebrate today not because of our worth, but because we place our hope in a Sovereign God who demonstrated his love to us through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus.

Worship Principle...

Worship is being in communion with the Father, we see the people of Nehemiah do this by yielding to His plan.

Song Messages...

We find strength as we wait in hope of God, and celebrate in anticipation of His restoration (Everlasting God, Brewster)

"Hope is stiring" "Hosanna, come have your way among us, we welcome you here Lord Jesus" (Hosanna, Balouche/Brown)

We are made complete in our brokenness so that we can serve (Shout to the North, Smith)

Worship Reflections

2008-07-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

“Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ”Amen, Amen,“ lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord, with their faces to the ground.” (Neh. 8:6)

Reflection:
This week we went into the beginning of Nehemiah chapter 8. This is a key chapter about the renewal of the covenant with God. Scholars have pointed to this being the first “revival” depicted in the Bible. This is a great book for us to be going through as a church. Scott point out in verse 3, that the people had not heard the word of God, and that they have replaced the word of God with traditions. This is a good warning for us to stay true to the truth of God and not get lost in programs. My key verse is verse 6, the people were unified in worship with their hands up and their faces down. When we come to understand the truth of who God is and who we are in light of it, we respond in this type of worship. Next week we will see the joy that accompanies this worship.

In the set list I tried to reflect verse 6, attributing to the greatness of God as a source of strength.
Set List:
Holy is the Lord
Indescribable
God of Wonders
God of this City

Sunday Reflection

2008-07-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

2008-07-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

Last week in Chapter 6 of Nehemiah we are encouraged to stand strong in God when we face criticism and challenged to view ourselves as someone that God can use. As I read through chapter seven a few things caught my attention.

We see that Nehemiah has a burden to count and organize the people and lands (7:5).
Are we ready to listen and act as Nehemiah did when we receive a burden from God? What can get in the way of the hearing? What prevents us from acting?

Genealogies...hugh! Believe me I am not a huge fan of genealogies either, I just read through nine chapter of them in Chronicles today for an assignment. Importance can be seen though in honoring members of our church who have ‘gone before us’ and linking this new generation with the heritage of Israel.

Lastly it was great to see the family of God ‘contribute to the work’ (v. 69, 70). They contributed to the work and the treasury. This is a reminder that as the family of God we are called to serve. This echos the first motto of the church, “Not to be ministered to, but to minister.” The challenge is that we don’t go to church to get be served but to look for the opportunities to serve.

Nehemiah 6

2008-07-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

This week Scott is going into Nehemiah 6

Here is the run down
This is the last opportunity for our friends Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem to stop the wall from being finished. They decide to trick Nehemiah into meeting with them outside. They asked him four times and on the fifth time they made it public knowledge that they are sending reports to the Persian king that the Israelites are building a wall and planning a revolt. This message could be stopped if Nehemiah will met with them outside the wall. The purpose is to cause fear among the people of Israel. Nehemiah does not go out and encourages the people to not stop working. He also prays, “...But now, O God, strenghten my hands” (Neh 6:9b). Then the enemies bribe his friend to prophecy that they should run and hide in the temple. This would give Nehemiah a bad name and cause him to sin, Nehemiah remains a man of integrity and refuses. Then they finish the wall, which was done in an amazing 52 days.

This week I think we will focus in strength and encouragement as a theme and maybe some songs about integrity.

Songs ideas;

Everlasting God - Brown
“strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord” Ps. 123

Never let go - Redman
“I will fear no evil” Psalm 23

If you have any other ideas let me know...

Thoughts on Worship

2008-06-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Songs
All Hail the Power of Jesus Name (1779, Edward Parronet, Tomlin)
        Only the power of Jesus is Redemptive

History Maker // Martin Smith
        How big is our view of God?

Come Thou Fount (1758, Robert Robinson)
        We are only strong through Him, this song is about a longing to be dependent on God.

Hungry // Kathryn Scott
        When we are broken and empty we need to learn to turn to God alone for restoration.

Sunday Morning Prayers...
God I pray that you would challenge our view of You this morning. That we would put our trust in Your strength and not our own.

Worship thoughts...
Nehemiah knew where His strength came from, “The God of heaven will give us success.” (Neh. 2:20a). When we trust our own strength is how we are ‘prone to wander’ as it says in Come Thou Fount. There is a definite progression here.

Verse Integration...
Acts 17:28, “For in him we live and move and have our being...”

Service Reflection

2008-06-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Song Set:

        Blessed Be Your Name // Redman
        Indescribable // Laura Story
        King of Glory // Chris Tomlin
        Shout to the North // Martin Smith

        It always encourages me to see God use the songs in a mighty way. This reminds me more and more that Christ is the worship leader, and that our role as a band is to simply be a vessel for His use.

Message integration...

Nehemiah 1:5, “Lord the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,”

        These songs represented this verse very well. Indescribable speaks of our awesome God and how we are to respond in humble worship to Him. In verse 5, Nehemiah prays scripture and gives God praise for who He is. He trusts that God will keep His promises. In verse 10 we read, “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.” This connects so well to King of Glory, when we sing that the redeemed are called to “declare the love” of God. This song also speaks about the King of Glory and about His strength and might. It comes directly out of Psalms 24:8-10.
        Nehemiah’s prayer is also acknowledging the Sovereignty of God. Through His prayer we can see that he does not tell God how to do it and is unsure of how God will do it. He simply prays that God will open the door and God does. Understanding the Sovereignty of God has to do with trusting God, but it also starts with the understanding that as Christians we are called to something greater than ourselves. Nehemiah’s heart was turned towards God and God gave him the desire to see the walls built. In response we need to be open to God’s work in our lives as we are continually being transformed in to the likeness of His son.

Special Music...
        I also loved the special testimonial song by Rebekah Yoon. In talking with and sharing her testimony it is easy to see her openness to God. To give up the big career in music to devote her life to the glory of God shows Christ work in her. I loved the fact that we could hear this come out in the music; that the way she expressed her love to God was evident in the music. This was a moving example of a non-verbal communication to God.

June 8 Worship Service Reflection

2008-06-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Set List:

Everlasting God - Brenton Brown

Holy is the Lord - Tomlin, arr. by Bethany Dillon

Shout to the North - Martin Smith from Delirious

You are the One - Lincoln Brewster

Theme Discussion:

        The theme of strength seemed to ring through the songs as I sang through them this Sunday. There is trust and strength found in waiting on the Lord in Everlasting God. This songs comes out of last part of Isaiah 40 to encourage the people of Israel. Then this theme was in the line, “For the joy of the Lord is our strength”. I love how God orchestrates themes that I did not think of during my preparation time.
        Shout to the North was the focus song for the week. It is a song of restoration of a returning to who God has called us to be. This is a returning to our true identity in Christ. In this identity we can join God in His redemptive work. This connected well with the theme that our days are ordained by God our creator in You are the One.
        After the songs, during our prayer Chris mention new insight on the line “all Your thoughts towards me are holy” from You Are the One. She mentioned that sometimes our thoughts are not holy towards others, but we can trust that all of the thoughts from God are holy towards us.

Sermon Notes:

        The introduction into Nehemiah was great. The theme of the book teaches the art of leading reform. Reform means to go back to the ancient truths of God. The question then is are we concerned about what God is concerned about? This is a questions that has come up often when we talk about church vision. I am excited to see how God will shape our community to be more concerned about these things. On an individual basis, the question is; how does this translate to our 8-15 Oikos family God has provided?
        Truth is a great theme to sing about. Shout to the North is a song that encourages us to be ministers of that truth. In the first verse, men are encouraged to be strenghtened and see that in their brokenness they are made complete in Christ. The second verse exhorts “women of the truth” to “sing to broken hearts”. Finally in the third verse together as the body of Christ we are called to sing again the songs of grace.

Possible future songs:
History Maker - Martin Smith
Blessing - John Waller

Stones of Remembrance

2008-06-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

        “So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” (Josh. 4:4-7, tNIV).

        This last Sunday we had the chance to get together as a team and remember what God has done in the music ministry since September. Coming together as a multi-generational church has not been easy, but the benefit has been great. Some our pile of stones have come from this hard road, but in general as we listened to everyones comments we could see that God was definitely moving among us. This is his ministry and I am so glad that I have the chance to be apart of it.

Here is our pile of stones form our worship team family. I pray that we can remember what God has done as we look forward to what he will do through this ministry.

Soundboard gift...
"The cash gift came in just as we were choosing a sound board."

Together...
"We play better together more and more. Takes less joint practice. Much more confident together." This shows our growth as a band, that it does not take as long to learn a new song.

Daily Dedication to Worship...
"I have appreciated regular Sunday reminder to dedicate worship to God... and seen how that has helped lead to daily dedication of my work day, interaction with others, and relationships, all I do as worship to God"

Musical Growth...
"Nice to have JR sit down and go over a little of the theory or give me a CD to study."

God Being unfalling...
"God has always been unfailing, no matter what songs we do and no matter how well it goes musically."

Growing in Community and models for grace and patience.
“I have been so blessed by everyone on the worship eam and the great examples of patience, grace, humor, caring, etc....i.e. JR with the choir as it transitioned, Milo constant smile and joke.”

Freedom...
"Growing in freedom in worship because we are more comfortable together, the sound folks are providing awesome support, we don't have to worry about 'performing' and we know God is working."

Praise Songs...
"I did not like the 'praise music' because I love hymns. Now I'm use to them and enjoy the worship with another way to sing to our Lord." This takes strength to change musical style, but it is good when the focus in on worshipping God.

Song Selection...
"On paper the songs selection doesn't thrill me but its great - all things work together for good." Being apart of the team it is very easy to get tired of songs quickly, but when you add our congregation it becomes less about the music and more about drawing close to God.

Attention to Music...
"Every few weeks someone from the service asks that the volume be adjusted or the piano louder, ect. After awhile I realized it was really cool that people cared so much about our music." This is a tough lesson, thank you sound crew.

        Here are a couple from my journal that I shared...

Journaling...
"Journaling about the songs and how they interact togethe each week has brought a lot of joy and is my act of worship."

Choir...
"I always have great joy when working with the choir, but the most exciting part is to see them become the lead worshippers in the congregation after the choir week."

Great is Thy Faithfulness...
"Our church came together in September with this song, and the truths found in this song are what makes haveing a multi-genreational church worth it.

We also prayed for Jonathan as he leaves our team. Jonathan, your heart for worship, and expression through music has encouraged us all. We will miss you dearly.

Humble Community

2008-05-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

We are unified through the spirit, and in then humility of Christ we become equal.
Today’s prayer as I prepare my heart is that we can lay our pride aside and the things that we hold dear, in order to unify and submit to God’s sovereign will for us as a church. We can always find common ground in the cross.

Songs and Prayers...

“O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing”
Grace has triumphed, and we can join together and sing.
We can all join and sing of this great love.

“Holy is the Lord”
Unified in our understanding that He is a great God and we humbly proclaim that He is set apart.
In Isaiah 6, we find a great principle of what worship is...
The angels sing
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3)
and Isaiah is humbled.

“Surrender”
We would be able to give up all that we hold dear.
As we approach memorial day, the word surrender can have negative connotations.
In light of the victory at the cross, Surrender does not mean defeated. Instead it means that we put are trust in the Lordship of Christ, and we attribute to him the victory of Christ.

“Hungry”
Falling on our knees is a symbol of our place of humility and as a church our need for redemption.

The Love of a Forever God

2008-05-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

HAPPY DAY

One of the reasons to sing is to gain strength, and to remind ourselves that God is a forever God, and to turn our hearts to him
Everlasting God
Isa. 40
28Do you not know?
      Have you not heard?
      The Lord is the everlasting God,
      the Creator of the ends of the earth.
      He will not grow tired or weary,
      and his understanding no one can fathom.
       29He gives strength to the weary
      and increases the power of the weak.
       30Even youths grow tired and weary,
      and young men stumble and fall;
       31but those who hope in the Lord
      will renew their strength.
      They will soar on wings like eagles;
      they will run and not grow weary,
      they will walk and not be faint.

Forever
One way that the people of Israel worship God when they got together was to have call and response. Psalms 136 is this type of Psalm, it was a way for them to remember God and pass this on to future generations. Let’s try this together, I will call out attributes and thanks and you will respond with the truth that...“His love endures forever”

Ps 136
1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
      His love endures forever.
       2Give thanks to the God of gods.
      His love endures forever.
       3Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
      His love endures forever.
       4to him who alone does great wonders,
      His love endures forever.
       5who by his understanding made the heavens,
      His love endures forever.
       6who spread out the earth upon the waters,
      His love endures forever.
       7who made the great lights—
      His love endures forever.


23He remembered us in our low estate
      His love endures forever.
       24and freed us from our enemies.
      His love endures forever.
       25He gives food to every creature.
      His love endures forever.
       26Give thanks to the God of heaven.
      His love endures forever.

Declare the Love

2008-04-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Day
“Forever I am changed”
It is grace that transforms us.

Indescribable
Our view of God as Majestic, and imposing form or force
Humbled and Amazed by Him

King of Glory
Ps. 24:7
7      Lift up your heads, O gates!
      And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
      that the King of glory may come in.
8      Who is this King of glory?
      The Lord, strong and mighty,
      the Lord, mighty in battle!
9      Lift up your heads, O gates!
      And lift them up, O ancient doors,
      that the King of glory may come in.
10      Who is this King of glory?
      The Lord of hosts,
      he is the King of glory!
Selah

This song encourages as the redeemed to declare the love of God.

Majesty
“Forgiven so that I can forgive”
When we encounter God’s love for us, we are forever changed.

Wonderful Cross
This is the story of grace. The grace that we have allowed to transform us and that we are called to declare.

Humble Dedication

2008-04-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

Colossians 3:18-25
18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Themes...

Dedication
Service of the Lord
Humility

Sunday’s Script...

Our God Saves
Make this our prayer God that we will offering our praise to You, because we find our hope in You.
“We gather together to lift up Your name
To call on our Savior; to fall on Your grace”
PRAYER... “We put our hope you God our savior, help us to be prepared, as Peter says, to give a reason for the hope that is in us.”

Blessed Be Your Name
        we are called to worship Him even in the dark times. We have to come to understand and trust that God has a plan for us. Then we will be able to see past the

Father Let Me Dedicate
Written in 1864, this song was sung from memory as a new year’s hymn to dedicate the year to God. Today we say together that we will trust God in every situation and dedicate our lives to glorifying Him in whatever we do.

Surrender
“Lord we want to trust You for the plans you have for us. We believe that they have been ordained”
In order to surrender to God we have to trust His plans for our lives. We also need to see our position before God.

Reflections...

        The thought from Scott Furrow’s sermon that rang in my heart was the the call to be integrated. This came out of verse 22, “Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.” The concept of having sincerity of heart is a worship concept. Scott related the sincerity of heart to an integrated life. When our lives are fully integrated we allow God to have his home in us and this is an act of worship. We can see in the Jewish culture that all of life was spiritual. There was not separation between religious and non-religious, or sacred and secular. To often we separate our spiritual time to a weekly gathering or a daily quiet time, when we are called to make all of our life integrated with God’s direction. This is also a call to become conformed to Christ, which is a process. Some of my favorite authors like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Kenneth Boas all see this as a process of practicing spiritual disciplines. It takes practice to allow God to integrate our lives. The main point is that this is a process, and we are simply called to join in the process of God transforming us. I view this as our spiritual act of worship.

Romans 12:1-2
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Trustworthy

2008-03-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

The theme for this work will be God’s trustworthiness

We put our trust in the Truth, in the person of Jesus Christ who is the demonstration of God faithfulness.
“Thou has been exchanged for it. faith becomes has faith or belief that something is true, not faith in one who has revealed himself as trustworthy, faithful.” The Cross in Our Context, Hall, 116.

Unchanging
God demonstrated His faithfulness through Jesus and Jesus is trustworthy.
Phil. 2:6-11
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Blessed Be Your Name
Prayer: “That we would be able to train our hearts to sing to you through times of trial.”

Scripture:
Psalms 18:10 says, “the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe”

Psalms 9:1-2, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”

O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing
“My gracious master and my God assist me to proclaim
To spread throughout the Earth abroad the honors of Thy name.”
To abide in Christ means to demonstrate and announce His name to others.

Your Name
key line...“Let the nations sing it louder, ‘cause nothing has the power to save, but Your name.”
Saved from meaningless, giving purpose to humanity.

Hymnbook

2008-02-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

From Hope Publishing, in one of the old hymnbooks from the Church. There is no publishing date that I can find but it is somewhere around 20 years old.

“One of our contemporaries has said, ‘God gave His holy Word in the form of our Bible. Man has compiled a book to be a companion to the holy Word, namely the hymnbook. The Bible is God’s expression to man, while the hymnbook is man’s expression to God. The Bible presents truths and doctrine, and the hymnbook helps translate them to the masses. Good church music is not an end in itself. It is a means to the end that the lost may be saved and the redeemed may be brought closer to God.”

That is the point isn’t it. Our songs are an expression to God, and in response to what we have learned about him from the Bible. I love that picture. It also speaks to why we should sing new songs, to continue responding to God in Spirit and Truth. It was interesting to see in the back of this hymnal two taped in lyric sheets. Typed, before computers or copiers. This shows that they were open to new songs.

This quote also shows an understanding that the song is not the worship. “Good church music is not an end in itself”. It is our corporate prayers, and our response to God in Spirit and Truth that is worship. That is a needed clarification for many who may believe that classical music is sacred. Is there really a sacred music?

The Lord is My Shepherd

2008-02-24T13:08:00.000-08:00

Special thanks goes to the Sunday school classes for coming in to the Hymnsing. That was great. I hope you enjoyed it and had a chance to meet some of our older generation, they are very valuable. All you have to do is talk with them long enough and you will see.

Thank you team for picking the songs this week, it was great to play some oldies, but goodies. Your picks were great. It was so great to see how well the Holy Spirit put the songs and the message together.

“The LORD is my shepherd” was the theme that Dr. John Lillis from Bethel Seminary brought to us, and to not think of the word Shepherd as the important part, but the quality given to the Shepherd, the LORD-Yahweh. One point to ponder this week is that living a life of faith is based on our us learning who the LORD is. Dr. Lillis states it this way, “As we experience God, our faith grows.” As we struggle through the experiences that force us to trust God we are worshipping God. More and more of us is conformed into His image. We can see this struggle in many songs that we sing.

Come Thou Fount;

Verse 2
Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let thy grace Lord like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

This illustrates the point of the message, we learn to trust God through experiences. We struggle with who the LORD is, and learn to trust Him. Our trust in him is the binding fetter (restraints for a prisoner around the ankles). This is the lifestyle of a worshipper. Look at David’s struggles in the Psalm, “My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.” (PS. 71:23, ESV). He is singing so that his soul will rejoice and remember God’s faithfulness.

Dr. Lillis mentioned a verse in Be Thou my vision...“Thou and Thou only, and I Thy true Son.” This is the type of relationship that God is after. That through the struggles we become more and more his. In the newer song, Your Name, by Paul Balouche writes, “Your name is a strong and mighty tower/ Your name is a shelter like no other.” We have to experience God in order to trust Him, and this is our choice.

Hymnsing

2008-02-19T15:39:00.000-08:00

Reformation Hymns

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God 48
Martin Luther 1483-1546
The story of Martin Luther and his 95 thesis is revolutionary. He also saw the importance of songs. During the reformation this hymn was sung to encourage those who were being persecuted by the Church

PS-
We see the start of congregational singing. Bringing back the participation we see in the Early Church. He is quoted as saying, “I wish to compose sacred hymns so that the Word of God may dwell among the people also by means of songs.”

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of All Nature 87
John Huss was someone who was executed by the Church for his preaching that Christ was the head of the Church, and not the Pope. His followers were also attacked and they sang this song to encourage each other. It was a folk song of the people which meant that it was not written down, but people passed it on from memory.

PS-
Because this song was not written down it is attributed to a German translator who brought this song to Germany and modern translators attribute this song with the German crusades, but there is more evidence that it was from the Hussites and sung by the Bohemians.

During this time the Reformers continued to remind themselves that about the greatness of God.

Psalm 145:3
“Great is the Lord and Greatly to be praised, His greatness is unsearchable.”

How Great Thou Art
This was originally a poem written by a Swedish pastor in 1886 after experiencing a violent storm and then the break of the sunshine after the storm. He then wrote out the ten stanza poem in worship of God. It came to America in 1950’s and was sung by George Beverly Shea, who sang with Billy Graham for fifty years during his crusades.

The Simple Truth

2008-02-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

        Looking at Colossians 2:6-12, the song choices came out of the theme of being alive in Christ. During the worship rehearsal and before the service the band and I talked about the line in Hosanna, “In Your Kingdom, broken lives are made new, you make us new.” This rang through in my heart through the talk by Scott Furrow. Being the second week for that song, it still seems to be speaking to themes that our church needs to sing. Last week I was struck by the line, “Come have Your way among us, we welcome You here Lord Jesus.” Great words, without being open to God, then we are hindering the Spirits work in us.

        Paul, being very concerned about the trueness of the followers of Christ, encouraged them to be mindful of false teachers. In that day christianity was a new thing and there wasn’t a bible to go back to during controversies. The pull from the false teachers was to take the parts of truth that you agree with and throw away everything else. How often do we do that a Christians when following Christ gets uncomfortable. We have to know that God’s understanding is high and above ours. I was reminded of the passage in Isaiah,
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
      so are my ways higher than your ways
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9, ESV)
Putting and end to our talk, we are humbled by Proverbs 30:2-6
Surely I am too stupid to be a man.
      I have not the understanding of a man.
3      I have not learned wisdom,
      nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
4      Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
      Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
      Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
      Who has established all the ends of the earth?
      What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
      Surely you know!
5      Every word of God proves true;
      he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6      Do not add to his words,
      lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (ESV)

        The quote from Dallas Willard’s book, ‘The Great Omission’ was poignant, that the greatest problem in Church today is that people are choosing to be Christians and not discples. True worship in the Spirit comes through conforming to Christ. Later in the book he states that, “We can be ‘Christians’ forever and never become disciples”. A good definition for a disciple is a learner. When we are open to learning from Christ out of humility then things get really simple for us. Our purpose is clear and our vision as a church is simple. This is also what worship is. As we are being conformed into His image through the work of the Spirit then we are giving glory to God.

Newness of Life

2008-02-10T06:33:00.000-08:00

Songs for today...
Happy Day - Tim Huhges
Hosanna - Brenton Brown, Paul Balouche
Wonderful Cross - Isaac Watts, Chris Tomlin and gang
Amazing Grace

Through Jesus we can have our broken lives made new. This is demonstrated by Jesus’ resurrection and work of Jesus Christ in our lives. He is always renewing and changing us, he wants it all and as we give it His character is shown through us. Theses are songs of hope, a true hope within a real purpose. Our hope is secure because of His ressurection and our purpose is to become more like Christ.

My hope is that we can unify in singing, “We welcome you here, have your way among us.” The song Hosanna is back from last week, because of this line, because we need to unify in our openness to God. This openness goes beyond our favorite songs, and outside of ourselves. It comes out a humble heart ready to be changed. In ‘Happy Day’ we get a chance to celebrate about the victory in the resurrection even if it is not Easter. In response to this we sing, “I’ll never be the same/ Forever I am changed.” What and exciting line. Can we sing this? Do we want to always be conforming to His image? Or are we fine, not in need of change? When we get to the place where we are not changeable, moldable, and surrendering our lives to God, then we are hindering the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

“God let it be true, let us be a Church that welcomes You, and the change you bring to our lives. Let us be available to you.”

The story of John Newton is a redemption story, of a changed life because of the grace of God. This slave trader was brought to his knees during a storm on the Sea. He began to read, “Imitations of Christ” by Thomas a Kempis. He was gripped by grace. Repented of his slave trading and moved towards God. He became a ministry and began to write hymns for his congregation, one of them being “Amazing Grace”. This was the song of His heart and of his new life. Near the end of his life it is reported that in a loud voice during a sermon he proclaimed, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!”

Spirit and Truth?

2008-02-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

What does it mean to worship in Spirit and Truth? What does it mean to be a "worship leader"? What songs does the Church need to sing? How does God want to use me to better serve the congregation?

This is place for me to take notice of what God may be saying in answer to these questions. These reflections come out of the preparation time, meetings with Scott, and listening to what God may be saying during the services. My hope is to be more available to God and His ministry through me.