Sunday Setlist: 8/30/09

Mathematically, one is a cardinal whole number. In computer programming, one combined with zeroes become a binary code. Relationally, the 1970′s band Three Dog Night wants you to believe that one is the loneliest number. It can also be a very selfish number of we are only looking out for “numero uno.”

Biblically, the number “one” is pregnant with meaning. The Scripture teaches that God is one. One captures the heart of Jesus’ prayer for the church (John 17). The apostle Paul urges believers to guard the unity of the church in Ephesians 4:3. The Spirit’s emphasis on “oneness” inspires Paul to rehearse all the other “ones” that should matter to us: there is only one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

I’ve missed doing this the last few weeks, but we have continued unpacking the concept of “One” laid out in Ephesians 4:4-6. This week we looked at the fact that baptism is more than a religious ritual. The water baptism of a Christian is intended to communicate a strong message both to the one being baptized and to those watching the baptism.

Service Flow: (Song links go to AmazonMp3 where the songs are $0.99 and DRM free.)

Welcome/Announcements/Greeting
Call to Worship (Deut. 6:4; Zech 14:9; 1 Cor. 8:6)
Our God Saves (Brown/Baloche)
Revelation Song (Riddle)
Offering (showed a recap video of the youth mission trip to Seattle)
Prayer
Praise the Father, Praise the Son (Cah /Tomlin) – chorus only
Message
Special: “I Belong” (Rainey/Scott)
Baptisms
Not to Us (Tomlin / Reeves)
Dismiss (2 Cor. 3:14)

Another great week. We are wrapping up our summer schedule of one service, and will be going back to two services starting Sept. 13. We had a full room today as people are back in town, back in school, and getting into the fall schedule.

The service was focused on the one baptism that matters, the baptism of the believer into Jesus Christ. The songs were designed to draw out and remind people of the salvation found in Christ alone while continuing to remember the work of our triune God in all of this. The message was more of an instructional type message designed to help people understand the importance of baptism, how it is a step of declaration and obedience, and some distinctives of it.

We had three baptisms. One was a teen and two were children. All three were very special. One of the children shared a little about how he was leaning on God to help him through a difficult time with stuff going on in his family. The teen, whose mom had passed away from cancer a few years ago, talked about how he had felt abandoned by God and was angry, but had recently come to again realize how much he needed to depend on God. It was a great time.

We actually ended up cutting a song toward the end of the service, but it was the right thing to do.

It was great to be able to once again be together as a church and celebrate the important milestone of baptism in the lives of these people. It actually made me both think of my own baptism and how I am looking forward to being able to baptize my son in the future.

Thanks for stopping by. If you were there, please leave a comment about what stood out to you.

For more insight into what other churches are doing, check out Sunday Set-lists over at Fred’s blog.