Preparing For Worship: December 2nd

Wow, it's December already. I've been at Crossroads for two months, and I just want to say what a blessing it is to worship with you each week. Your encouragement and friendships have meant so much to me and Jessica.

I'm starting to write this from the Digital Photography class at Village Christian High School where I'm subbing today; God has been so good to provide part-time work to fill in the hours that I'm not working for the church.

I'm looking forward to this Sunday for a number of reasons, including our church Christmas party Sunday evening. I hope to see all of you there! Sunday morning is also going to be a great morning of corporate worship and praise that we'll offer up together. As my last post implied, I've been thinking a lot about the idea of "coming into God's presence," and when we come together as the body of Christ, by the blood of Christ, and respond to all that God has revealed himself to be, it is truly coming before the very throne of God!

We're going to start the service with a song that reminds us of the grounds on which we come before the Father: "Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus," which will be followed by a time of annoucements for opportunities to serve in various areas in the coming weeks. We'll jump right back into singing, and continue recounting God's goodness to us through the death and resurrection of his Son. We'll sing "Lord, I Lift Your Name On High," "To God Be The Glory" and respond to the glorious truth of the gospel with a new (to some of you) song called "I Stand In Awe."

Pastor Todd will then continue teaching us God's Word from the book of 1 Timothy (3:14-16), where the apostle Paul continues to instruct God's church in how they should operate as the "pillar and foundation of truth."

After the sermon we'll celebrate the Lord's Supper together, via the communion "stations" that we have done in the past. We'll take time to reflect on Christ's work on the cross, and take the bread and the cup in remembrance of him.

After this time, we'll respond in joyful song with "That's Why We Praise Him" and we'll end our service with a plea for God to ignite a passion for him in our hearts as we go out into the world with "Stir In Me." Normally, the words to the song include the phrase "I come to worship you" but since we're singing this song at the end, and we're going out to live our faith in the world, we'll change that line and sing "I live to worship you."

See you Sunday!