Journey of Worship

“We are to seek to demonstrate in our lives the perfect love that has existed between the Father and the Son through all eternity. It is the reality of love in our lives which will be one of the most powerful means of people in the world seeing the beauty of the message of Christ. By our love people will know that the Father sent the Son into the world. By our love for one another, people will know that we are loved by God.”

- Jerram Barrs, Learning Evangelism from Jesus (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway Books, 2009), 12.

Sorry that I have not been as consistent in posting lately. I’ve had a lot of stuff going on and some things happening. This will be a quick recap, but I at least wanted to get this up for those of you who look forward to this.

This was the final Sunday of “The Hand-Off”, and the final Sunday of our senior pastor. We’ve spent the last three Sunday preparing for this time of transition. In the midst of all that, we’ve also been getting ready and gearing up for the fall ministry season. It’s been busy.

We began the service with welcome, announcements, and a time of greeting. We then had six children dedicated to the Lord.

One of our team members lead in the call to worship from Psalm 100:4-5, and then we sang O Worship the King (Grant/Gardiner/Tomlin), Be Unto Your Name (DeShazo/Sadler), and Praise the Father, Praise the Son (Cash/Tomlin). Leading into Be Unto Your Name, we had scripture from Psalm 24:1-6 read. Following the third song, we had a time of prayer and confession and scripture from Philippians 3 about not putting confidence in the flesh but our faith in Christ. I didn’t realize until later that all three of these songs were in 3/4 time, but our drummer did a great job giving them depth and body.

We then moved into the offering, and sang How Great Is Our God (Tomlin/Reeves/Cash) during it and invited people to stand toward the end.

We then moved into the message which was based out of Acts 20:17-38 and 1 Peter 5:1-4 and was focused on reminding to be faithful. Part was directed at the congregation and the other part was directed at the elders. Partway through the message, we took a moment to welcome new members into the church.

Following the message, we had a time of prayer for our senior pastor and his family as they transition. We had some folks sing the classic song “Find Us Faithful”, and then the senior pastor closed the service by praying one final time over the congregation.

We had a strong attendance, and I know that many people came to celebrate and connect one final time with a man who has pastored this congregation for over ten years. For many it is a bittersweet time as he leaves, but we also recognize a new season and are faithful to trust in God for what He will do.

To check out what other churches did this past Sunday, be sure to check out the Sunday Setlists posted at The Worship Community. Thanks for stopping by.

I once assumed the gospel was simply what non-Christians must believe in order to be saved, while afterward we advance to deeper theological waters. But I’ve come to realize that the gospel isn’t the first step in a stairway of truths, but more like the hub in a wheel of truth. As Tim Keller explains it, the gospel isn’t simply the ABCs of Christianity, but the A-through-Z. In other words, once God rescues sinners, his plan isn’t to steer them beyond the gospel, but to move them more deeply into it.

- Tullian Tchividjian

“Brethren, there is an abiding fullness of truth in Christ; after you have heard it for fifty years, you see more of its fullness than you did at first. Other truths weary the ear. I will defy any man to hold together a large congregation, year after year, with any other subject but Christ Jesus. He might do it for a time; he might charm the ear with the discoveries of science, or with the beauties of poetry, and his oratory might be of so high an order that he might attract the multitudes who have itching ears, but they would in time turn away and say, “This is no longer to be endured. We know it all.”

“All music becomes wearisome but that of heaven; but oh! if the minstrel doth but strike this celestial harp, though he keepeth his fingers always among its golden strings, and be but poor and unskilled upon an instrument so divine, yet the melody of Jesus’ name, and the sweet harmony of all his acts and attributes, will hold his listeners by the ears and thrill their hearts as nought beside can do. The theme of Jesus’ love is inexhaustible, though preachers may have dwelt upon it century after century, a freshness and fullness still remain.

Charles Spurgeon via worshipmatters.com

The Sunday kicked off the final series of our current senior pastor. As I’ve mentioned before, we are entering into a time of transition in the life of Cody CMA. Over these next few weeks, he’ll be wrapping up ministry here and preparing the church with some biblical counsel for the next season of life.

The metaphor of the hand-off comes from relay races where one runner has to hand a baton off to the next runner to keep the race going. It has to be done correctly so that the team is not disqualified and so they don’t loose precious time in a tight race. When done correctly, it is a thing of beauty that just happens. When done poorly, everyone’s attention is drawn to it and the price can be high.

This past Sunday, we spent time in the book of Philippians talking about gratefulness and thanksgiving. Our service focused on calling people to gratitude and thanksgiving in a number of ways. Read the rest of this entry »

“… the secret of the gospel is that we actually do more when we hear less about all we need to do for God and hear more about all that God has already done for us.”

- Kevin DeYoung, DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed

Last week we did our annual Vacation Bible School for kids from Monday through Friday. The theme this year was ‘Released: God has the power to set you free’ and focused on stories from Peter’s life in the book of Acts. For the last few years, our children’s ministry has developed their own programs instead of buying something.

This year, instead of doing a closing program type thing on Friday evening (after everyone was tired and worn out from the week), we decided to focus the theme of our Sunday service on the VBS theme. We invited families to come and planned a picnic and games for afterwards. We hoped this would be a great way to engage parents and also to engage the bigger church family with VBS.

We did a lot of our normal things with some VBS specific elements. Read the rest of this entry »

“On the Cross we see God doing at the cosmic level what we all have to do when we forgive. There God absorbed the punishment and debt for sin himself. He paid it so we did not have to.”

• Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods (New York, NY: Dutton, 2009), 92.

What’s one thing about worship you wish you knew or that someone would help you understand?

Go.

This was the final week of our summer series “Blockbuster Messages”. Over the past many weeks, we’ve been looking at the various messages presented in our society primarily through movies and how those messages contrast with the truth of God. We’ve asked the question, “Is Truth impacting culture, or is culture impacting Truth?”

Our final Sunday dealt with the movie “Up” and the ideas of making the most of life while also not being afraid of beginning new adventures. This was a timely message for our church as we are entering into a season of transition with the departure of our senior pastor. It is a new season that God is leading us in, and we don’t want to be afraid or miss out on what He is going to do. Our Bible passages included Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, and Matthew 4:18-20; 14:25-36; 28:16-20. Read the rest of this entry »