Preparing for Sunday, 7/8/12

Well folks, it's been a couple of weeks since the last "preparing for Sunday" post. Hope this is helpful to you as you think ahead to Sunday morning.

 Jordan will preach on 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, on building a local church on the only real foundation, which is Christ. Paul says to take care how we build, and that God will indeed test at the end, whether or not we built the lives of our church families appropriately on Christ, or not. A question is this: do we rely on the "wood, hay and straw" of superficial entertainment and selfish pursuits in my church, or do I build true, Gospel-centered relationships that honor and proclaim Christ as glorious? As Jordan told me yesterday, this is "a serious local church passage." Hope you're there to take part in the hearing of the preaching. Read the passage ahead of time to enrich what you get out of it on Sunday (the link is above if you missed it).

We'll sing the following songs on Sunday:

1. God Of Wonders 
A church favorite, this is a great "call-to-worship" type of song, that gives us words to sing together, that we'll celebrate and draw near to God when we wake in the morning, and call on Him to save us when we "stumble in the darkness."

2. Let Your Kingdom Come (NEW SONG)
We're introducing a new song this week, so if you're reading this, make sure you click the link above and give it a few listens so you can belt it out with us on Sunday. This song is a prayer of request, for God to give us courage to proclaim the Gospel in a dark, fallen world. This song is also great in that it helps us shape our desire for Christ's Kingdom to come, and rejoices in God allowing us to take part in His Kingdom. The song says, "Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts/May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are."

 3. How Deep The Father's Love For Us 
We'll focus our time, in connection with the 1 Corinthians passage, onto Christ's saving work on the cross. This song proclaims God's sovereign, wise purposes in crushing His own Son to save us, and draw His people out of their sin. It says, "Why should I gain from His reward, I cannot give an answer/But this I know with all my heart: His wounds have paid my ransom."

 4. You Are My King
This song will be a little bit more of a response to the great, lofty truths we sang in the last one. We'll proclaim Christ as King, and as the King Who not only rules, but also died to pay our ransom. The goals of our songs this week are to help us rest and have joy in Christ, our King and Savior. But I guess that's the goal of our songs every week.

Hope you're there with us Sunday! Enjoy preparing!