...when people leave our church on Sunday.

Visit here for a great post by Mark Altrogge, on what should be the goals of a Bible- believing, Bible-teaching church on a Sunday morning. As the ransomed people of God gather together for corporate worship, woe to us if we don’t make much of Christ.

Here’s my thought – when a church realizes that a Sunday morning corporate worship gathering is not about showcasing the awesome preacher, or the awesome worship team, we remove the undue, unhealthy pressure that Churches often feel. We meet together to remind ourselves and each other of the surpassing worth of Jesus, and of knowing Him. Nothing else. And so hopefully our preaching, our corporate singing, our prayer and fellowship all make much of our Savior. A church should feel the accountability and “pressure” (for lack of a better word) to get the Word of God and the content of the Gospel right and clear.

And for music specifically, the goal isn't to have the most awesome vocal solos, or top our creativity last week with how we arrange our songs. The goal is to find fresh ways each week to see Jesus as the most valuable treasure in our lives. We gather to help each other do this, and to equip each other to live another week in the joy of knowing our Savior. If we're seeking to add to this, or to emphasize anything else in our Sunday morning gatherings, we're engaging in idolatry, living as if there are other things more valuable that Jesus Himself.

It's my hope that our desire as a worship team would model the Apostle Paul's, as he says in Philippians 3:7-9,

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—”

Preparing for Sunday, 9-25-11

There are good things in store tomorrow at Grace Brethren. Come ready to sing with us, listen to the preaching, pray together, fellowship - or basically to worship God together as a gathered church. Pastor John will be preaching on 1 Samuel 17:1-58, on David and Goliath. We're looking at David, "A Man After God's Own Heart," so read the passage and prepare ahead as much as you can to engage with God tomorrow in and through His Word. And by the way, it's so good for us to get into the Old Testament in the preaching on Sunday - don't miss it!

Tomorrow is also Celebration of Grace, which will happen during the normal 2nd hour, when we'd normally have our Equipping Classes. Instead, we'll gather again 2nd hour in the main building for some testimonies of the past year, and some updates on what's taking place in the future for our church. Again, you don't want to miss this if you're a part of our church family. We'll eat lunch together afterward as well, which is always exciting. I've been looking forward to this for weeks (not JUST for the food...I promise).

Tomorrow we'll sing the following songs:

1. Indescribable
A great song expressing awe and wonder at God's majesty seen in creation, and awe at the fact that God loves his children even though he is infinitely holy and majestic and we are sinful.

2. O Worship the King
We don't want to leave our singing on the thought that God is indescribable in every way. Though we can't completely comprehend all the depths of God's character, God has told us some very specific things about Himself, and we can know these things for sure. One of my favorite lines from this hymn: "O tell of His might, O sing of His grace!" Let's proclaim this mightily together tomorrow.

3. Stronger
A "newer" song we introduced several months ago, that explores the security and strength of our salvation that we have in and through Jesus. His sacrifice has paid for our sin once and for all, and nothing can take us from Christ's hand.

4. Nothing but the Blood
Christ's blood washes us "white as snow," clothing us with His own righteousness. We'll continue our singing with this great re-working of a hymn's chorus, singing of our glorious God who has given us salvation.

Encouragments for Songwriters

If you care about church music, go here to read some great thoughts by Fernando Ortega on writing timeless, quality music to be sung by the church. Ortega's been a hero of mine for a lot of years, both in his original songwriting, and in his arranging of classic hymns. My own ideas about re-arranging and playing hymns have been influenced by him a ton.

Even if you're not a songwriter, Ortega's thoughts are well worth the read, just to get a glimpse of what goes into writing quality songs meant for congregational singing. Unfortunately, a pretty large part of the modern Church hasn't required too much of her songwriters. It's encouraging to see guys like Ortega (one example of quite a few at the present time) who are being really thoughtful and purposeful about how they write for the Church.

There's more to come on this topic - stay tuned!

Today's Corporate Worship, 9-11-11

Today we gathered for corporate worship on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It seems surreal (to me at least) that it's been 10 years. I thought today was great, in that we really did take time to reflect together on the significance of the profoundly tragic event. And Pastor Tim and Pastor Jordan led us in doing that biblically.

Jordan mentioned Luke 13, where Jesus says,

"I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Jesus talks about a tragic event (the falling of a tower in Siloam, no less) where eighteen people perished. The falling of the tower was not necessarily a judgment, but it is an opportunity for repentance for those left behind. 

God is so gracious, and He remains good through horrible and tragic circumstances. And those of us who are spared in this life have more opportunities to repent and draw near to Christ. And to take the life-giving message of the Gospel to those who haven't heard.

Jordan preached this morning from John 17:20-26, as Christ continues to pray for his disciples (including us - "also for those who will believe in Me"). Christ prays that we, the Church, will be unified, just as Christ and the Father are unified. And Jordan added that, "The purpose of unity is to convince the world that Jesus was sent by God."

Along with the preaching, we sang together this morning of the greatness of God and His sovereignty in salvation (Mighty To Save, How Great is Our God/How Great Thou Art), of the secure hope we have in Christ (In Christ Alone), and of the amazing love and grace of God shown us in the Gospel (Because of Your Love, Amazing Grace). 

All in all, it felt like a very unified morning, by the grace of God. The congregation's singing was loud and done well (I had to step away from the mic a few times and just let the congregation go - that's the best), and good fellowship abounded. 

Hope you're encouraged to head out into your week like I am, to the praise of His glorious grace. See you guys next week.

Josh

Preparing for Sunday, 9/4/11

Hey guys,
hope you're planning on being in church with us tomorrow. We'll be gathering together to make much of Jesus. It should be a great time of corporate worship. Pastor John is preaching through the next section of Jesus' prayer for the disciples and us, from John 17:11b-19. Read the passage ahead of time today if you can!

Our songs will go as follows:
1. Your Grace is Enough
2. And Can It Be
3. Christ is Risen
4. 10,000 Reasons

I'm including the lyrics to 10,000 Reasons below, along with a YouTube video of the tune. It's a great modern hymn of sorts, that is very Psalm-like. I love how the verses sing of the character of God, and also respond with confidence that we can sing even when "the evening comes" - that through trials God is always faithful and good; and knowing Him in Christ, we possess every good thing.

Check the song out and prepare to sing it out tomorrow!

Chorus

Bless the Lord O my soul
O my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name

Verse 1
The sun comes up
It's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass
And whatever lies before me
Let me be singing
When the evening comes

Verse 2
You're rich in love
And You're slow to anger
Your name is great
And Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness
I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons
For my heart to find

Verse 3
And on that day
When my strength is failing
The end draws near
And my time has come
Still my soul will
Sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years
And then forevermore