Preparing For Worship: December 9th

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. -1 Timothy 4:1-5

This sort of prophecy from the Spirit makes me so sad. That some will actually depart from the faith because they're pursuing their own righteousness through obeying a law of their own invention! Rules do not lead to righteousness, only Christ does that. Obviously, we need guidelines to help us to live in a way that's pleasing to God, but those rules should never be more than the means to an end, and not the end in itself!

I've decided to put off breaking out the Christmas carols until next week, because I think that the lesson from this passage that Pastor Todd will bring to us is so important to how we respond to God through our worship singing, that we need to devote our songs to reinforcing this idea in our minds and hearts.

All of our songs this week speak of our devotion and our pursuit of God, not godliness; our focus on Christ, not on righteousness. We'll start the service with "Come, Now Is The Time To Worship" which reminds us that one day ALL will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, but that the greatest treasure is for us to embrace that truth NOW, and embrace all that it means to us as God's children.

John Book will keep us informed of what's going on in the Crossroads family with some announcements/opportunities for service, and we'll continue to explore the theme of pursuing God, and not godliness. I want to introduce a song I wrote last year called "No Other Name." It is a song that I wrote that proclaims the exclusivity of the name of Christ for salvation. It also talks about how it is our responsibility as believers to take that one name to the nations that they may know and believe on Christ for salvation. We are not the ones who save them, God has chosen those he'll bring to himself, but he uses us to accomplish his perfect and sovereign purpose, and this song rejoices in that.

Next we'll sing "In Christ Alone" which as the title clearly suggests, is a beautiful reminder of the gospel of grace, through which we are saved from the wrath of God for sin. We'll end this set with "Draw Me Close" which is a heartfelt response to the character of God, saying that he is indeed ALL that we want, and ALL that we've ever needed, and it asks for his reassuring peace in our lives as we are faithful to pursue him alone.

Pastor Todd will then preach God's living and active Word to us, that the Spirit might accomplish his work in each of our lives, wherever we are in our spiritual walk. We'll respond with two more songs that commit us to seeking God alone. "I Fix My Eyes" is a song by Tommy Walker from Psalm 27, that speaks of our desire to be in the presence of the Lord all of our days, that we might gaze upon his beauty. We'll end with "You Alone" which is such a simple, yet powerful reminder that God alone is Father, he alone is good, he alone (by Christ) is Savior, and he alone is God!

Hope that this is helpful for you in preparing to come worship together. If you ever have any suggestions, questions, or comments, feel free to leave a comment, and I'll get back to you!

See you Sunday!