Preparing for Sunday, 4/21/13!

Hey guys, hope you'll be there with us tomorrow. Hebrews 10:23-25 says,

     "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (emphasis added)

Meeting to together as a local church is so important. Not because of individual benefits or what we'll get out of a church "service" (poor terminology anyway - I prefer "gathering"); but we meet together for mutual encouragement, helping each other "hold fast" to our hope in Christ's return, which is "drawing near." We should, ultimately, show up to church for the sake of that encouragement, and to hold fast to our hope without wavering. And we do all this together. And the singing and the preaching and anything else we do together in that gathering should be to help us do these things.

So again, I really hope we'll see each other tomorrow. Here are a few more things to help you prepare to make the most of our Sunday morning gathering:

Jordan will preach on 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, on "The Gifts of the Spirit: Unity in Variety." These passages from 1 Corinthians on spiritual gifts and their use in the life of the Church is controversial stuff, but hugely important for us as believers. It would do us good to read the passage ahead of time.

We'll also sing the following songs tomorrow:
 1. Open The Eyes Of My Heart
An opening call to worship, and a prayer for God to engage with His people in our time of gathered worship of Him. We need Him to sovereignly open our eyes to his glories, and to the glories of Christ tomorrow.

2.  Awesome Is The Lord Most High
We haven't done this one in a little while, and it'll be good to come back to it. This is a song that praises God for his majesty and greatness, and also includes some response for us as worshipers, in light of God's greatness and care for His people - that we will go wherever He sends us to proclaim the Gospel.

3. How Deep The Father's Love For Us
This song is a wonderful modern hymn, that's really a theology of Christ's crucifixion and the atonement that God accomplished there for His people. I love the glories communicated about what Christ accomplished at the end of Verse 2: "His dying breath has brought me life/I know that it is finished!"

4. Near The Cross
A classic hymn, that's a response to what we sang about in "How Deep The Father's Love." This song helps us pray that God will keep us near the cross - that Christ's sacrifice and atonement will forever be our theme, our hope, our joy, and our message to everyone else.