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.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Humble Dedication
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.”
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.”
Friday, March 7, 2008
Trustworthy
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.
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.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Hymnbook
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?
“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?
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The Lord is My Shepherd
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Hymnsing
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.
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.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Simple Truth
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.
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.
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