We’re in the third week of the “Be People of the Word” series as we focused on the value and benefits of the what the Bible offers us as an owner’s manual for life. We tackled Psalm 119 (all of it), and approached it be first focusing on the blessing of obedience that comes from studying the Word and then presenting a number of “tips” based off of the main themes in Psalm 119.
We began with Welcome and Announcements, and then as part of the Call to Worship, I took a teachable moment focused on why we sing when we gather (because we are instructed to and because it helps us to remember and declare the truth of who God is and what He has done). I mentioned that the songs we sing are from Scripture, some of them exactly, and that the reason we often put verses on the screen during musical interludes was to help people connect the songs with their Scriptural basis. I then read a medley of Scriptures (Col 1:19, John 3:35, Phil 2:9-11, Eph 1:21, Col 1:16, Rom 14:9, Col 2:10, John 1:16).
Our songs included Because of Your Love (Baloche/Brown), Our God Saves (Baloche/Brown), and You are My All in All (Jernigan). We then moved into a time of prayer and reflection inviting people to consider Christ as the greatest treasure, and that the treasure has been fully revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the Word. People were invited to consider that and what it was that was preventing them from fully taking ahold of that treasure – a deep need, a hurt, doubt, sin, etc. We then responded by singing It Is Well with My Soul (Spafford/Bliss). Our God Saves was a last minute addition. The congregation really seemed to engage and respond, and the team did a great job leading. We didn’t necessarily intend to make it a Baloche start, but it worked. We also played the recording of his new song Glorious as the service began.
We then moved into our offering time, and took a moment to focus on the needs of Haiti and how people could respond. While recognizing many viable options, we encouraged people to connect with CAMA Services, the relief arm of our denomination (their online option is here). To worship through singing and then leave without anything being different or our worship not translating into compassion for our fellow man begs the questions of whether or not we have really worshiped.
We also took a few moments to remind people about a season of prayer our church is currently in regarding some future decisions, and then invited people to cluster up and pray. During our first service, a lady in our congregation was greatly impressed with the need to pray specifically for a child trapped in Haiti. It was neat to be able to take a moment from our planned order to pray together.
We then transitioned with a simple text based video that reminded us from Scripture of the value of Scripture before moving into the message. Unfortunately, I don’t have a link for the video.
As we closed the service, the team had two songs ready because I just wasn’t sure which one to prepare for at practice time. We had both Lord, You Have My Heart (Smith) and I Give You My Heart (Morgan) ready to go. We ended up doing I Give You My Heart because it seemed to connect just a little better.
Our benediction was again from Number 6:24-26, and we had everyone say it together. It was a good day and a positive time of being together for worship. If you were there, please leave a comment about anything that was significant for you.
Thanks for stopping by. I did this recap a little differently, and would like your feedback. Check out more service summaries from other church’s at Sunday Setlists at The Worship Community.
