We continued our Easter series this past week. Do you believe that Jesus is everything we need? That’s a hard question for many to answer and for many to accept. But it’s something that is clearly laid out in John 13-16 as Jesus reveals many things about Himself in those chapters. In considering that He is the source of joy, the source of peace, the only way to the Father, and many other things, there is much to be reckoned with. Because, if we believe these things are true, it must change how we live and view life.
This was the first Sunday for our senior pastor to be back after his trip, and actually the first message he preached in the series. It was a good day. Not just in what happened, but in how people responded and heard. Click for more…We began with the typical grouping of welcome and announcements and then moved into the Call to Worship. I took the opportunity to connect back to last week’s story of Mary anointing Jesus with the expensive perfume and washing His feet with her hair. She didn’t do this because she wanted something from Him, but because she loved Him and He deserved it. I mentioned 1 Chronicles 16:28-29 and asked what offering of worship could we bring to the God who is and has everything.
I used this great quote from RC Lucas. Genuine Christian praise is not primarily a vehicle for the expression of spiritual aspiration and experiences, so much as a celebration of God’s mighty acts in Christ.
Our songs were a little split up today. We opened with a two song set of Blessed Be Your Name(Redman) and Your Name (Baloche/Packiam), and then had a time of Scripture (Psalm 146:5; Psalm 33:18-19; Phil. 4:19; Heb. 13:5-6; Psalm 28:7) and prayer.
We then moved to the offering and showed a video from spoken word poet Amena Brown. Her stuff is available on BlueFishTV.com, and is really good. We used one called “He Is Here” because it captured so much of who Jesus is. Check it out below…
We then moved into message (summary above), and followed that up with another two song set to lead into communion. We combined You Gave Your Life Away (Baloche/Scott) and the hymn Our Great Savior (Chapman/Prichard). Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a Friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.
We then moved into the celebration of communion. Jesus is our everything because He took care of everything on the cross. Because of that, we can come with boldness. So we invited the people to remember, celebrate, and proclaim the Lord’s death. Following communion, we sang a verse of Jesus Paid It All, and then invited people to come to the front who might need prayer for something in their life where they need Jesus to be everything – whether it’s spiritual, physical, emotional, relationship, etc. It had been a while since we’ve done this, so it was good to have the opportunity. While people came, we invited those in their seats to be praying for them or to spend time reflecting on a question on the screen.
We had plans to come back and sing a few more verses of Jesus Paid It All if we didn’t have a huge response to the invitation to pray. But we had a good response in both services, so at an appropriate time, we just dismissed the people.
Despite it being a good day together, the weekend was not without it’s challenges. The biggest challenges was the fact that most of the team that ended serving in worship leading on Sunday was not the originally scheduled team. Due to schedule changes, family situations, and health challenges. we ended up with different people in almost all positions. But it was okay because I have a great team that’s always willing to serve and work heard. Thanks to those who stepped in at the last minute.
If you were there, I’d like to hear any thoughts or comments you have. If you’re just stopping by, thanks for coming and feel free to use anything here. For other service reports and idea, check out the Sunday Setlists at The Worship Community.
