this Sunday is the 2nd in our preaching series on Jesus' school of prayer. I've been really excited about this short series, and last Sunday was a great kickoff for it. Jordan will be preaching this week from Luke 18:9-14, on the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. To give you a heads up, Jordan and I spoke for a while yesterday about the passage, and Jordan is going to lead us in examining the passage as a diagnostic for prayer, rather than a how-to. In other words, how often do we actually pray like the tax collector, who cried to God for mercy because he knew he was a sinner? There's serious hope for the one who comes to God this way - the passage says that the tax collector goes away justified before God, because he threw himself upon God's mercy alone.
To prepare our minds and hearts for the preaching, we'll sing songs that reflect on God's mercy that comes to us through Jesus. The singing will go as follows:
1. The Glories of Calvary
This is the new song we introduced last week. The lyrics are all included in the "Preparing for Sunday" post from then. It's a song of prayer, for God to give us a fresh understanding of the glories of what He has given us in Jesus. The song says, Sinners find eternal joy in the triumph of Your wounds! The question is, do we believe this enough to sing about it? Hopefully so.
2. And Can it Be
One of our best hymns, written by Charles Wesley. The 2nd verse says, 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me. I think this is one line we often pass over in our singing without really thinking it through - what this is saying is, "As a sinner, I am so worthy of God's wrath, that God's mercy MUST be immense and completely free, if God gave it to such a sinner as I am!" I am proof that God's mercy is truly MERCY." This song couples well with the parable in Luke, and the tax collector's cry to God for mercy.
3. Christ is Risen
This is a song of response to what Christ has accomplished for us. It says that we do not have to continue sinning if we're born again in Christ, because Christ has completely conquered the power of sin, and we can rely completely on His power to keep us from sinning. It's a song about the glorious power of Christ's resurrection over sin, death and Hell. The song says, O Church, come stand in the light; our God is not dead, He's alive, He's alive!
4. Take My Life and Let It Be
We'll sing this song immediately after "Christ is Risen," praying together for God to use us, and for our lives to be pleasing to Him as lives of worship. The last verse is great, and is something we shouldn't sing if we don't mean the words: Take my will and make it Thine - it shall be no longer mine.
RENEW: Be at church at 5:00 for a meal (pizza and ice cream!) and stick around from 6:00 - 7:15 for a time of music and teaching. It's gonna' be great! By the way, you have to show up to find out what songs we'll sing, at least for this week! See you there.
No comments:
Post a Comment