Preparing For Worship: March 30th

My wife is enjoying her well-deserved Spring Break this week. She's been running at top speed since the beginning of the school year (both teaching at Village Christian, and attending graduate courses at APU), and for her to make it to the break was a major accomplishment and cause for much rejoicing in our home!

I'm going to take her down to San Diego tonight for a few days, so I wanted to put up our Preparing for Worship post before I left.

There sometimes seems to be a emotional let down after climactic Sundays (such as Easter), and on top of that, I'm short a few musicians this week, so I've picked all familiar songs this week.

Darren Utley will be preaching this Sunday, as Pastor Todd escapes for a few days with Stacey for their anniversary. He'll be talking about King Solomon, and how a man with everything could find it all ultimately worthless, and how it is only when we find our purpose and fulfillment in God that the things of this world are worthwhile. This will help prepare us for our study in Ecclesiastes starting next week.

We'll start with "Stir In Me" as our call to corporate worship, followed by a time of announcements that includes Foundation Youth Bible Study, Pastor's Coffee, and Friday Fellowships.

We'll then sing some songs that talk about the glory and supremacy of God. We'll sing "Let God Arise," "Better Is One Day," and "Come Thou Fount," as we reflect on where it is that we are tempted to find fulfillment outside of God.

Darren will come and teach us from the Word, and we'll respond with "You Alone" and "Your Grace Is Enough" as songs of corporate and individual commitment to seek God first.

That's pretty much it for the service, but I have one more thought for us. I wrote a while back about "post-Christmas melancholy" (see the post HERE), and I think the same thought is appropriate here: that we must not put our hope and joy solely in the "celebration" aspect of times like Christmas and Easter, but in the TRUTH of what those celebrations are well...celebrating.

As for Easter, we read in 1 Corinthians where the apostle Paul tells the church that without the resurrection, our entire faith is null and void. Wouldn't it make sense that we continue to "celebrate" Easter the whole year through (bunnies and eggs aside)?

I read this on a an old college roommate's blog, and it really captured my thoughts on the idea:

Everyday Easter.

The corporate celebration has come and gone, but I’m doing my best to tether myself to that rugged cross and empty tomb.

So, don't be surprised if we sing "See What A Morning" or our bluesy rendition of "He Lives" again really soon, and keep the idea of "Everyday Easter" in your mind. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the crux of our faith, it's what sets Christianity apart from every other religion on the face of the earth.

There have been tons of "prophets," there's many "holy books," but there's only one man that conquered death for us all. Jesus Christ.

Malibu Presbyterian Blesses World Impact After Burning To The Ground

Back in October, Malibu Presbyterian Church pledged $500,000 to help build a teen center in Los Angeles. The next day, their church burned to the ground in a wildfire. Some wondered if the church would follow through on their pledge in spite of this horrible tragedy, but they did!

That's the body of Christ for ya. All denominational differences aside, I'm thankful for the ministry of this church to the kids in LA, and it's witness to its own community in doing so.

Read this encouraging article HERE.

Easter Reflections

What a great weekend of celebrating the resurrection of our Savior from the dead!

As the new song we sang, "See What A Morning" says: "Death is dead! Love has won! Christ has conquered!

The weekend started with our Good Friday service during which we reflected on the cross, and sang songs that reminded us of the work that Jesus accomplished there.

We had a time of confession where we wrote our sins out on small slips of paper and nailed them to the big crosses at either end of the cafeteria; a powerful outward symbol of our sin being paid for on that horrible and wonderful tree.

We shared a time of communion after that, and Pastor Todd encouraged us with the truth of the power of the cross from God's Word.

Sunday morning we had two services celebrating Christ resurrection from the dead; the event which solidifies our faith, and gives us hope of our own future resurrection.

Amid all the greetings of "Happy Easter!" I started to wonder where the term "Easter" came from; and whether it was linguistically related to the resurrection, or if it was just a name that was coined to paste on this season.

Here's what dictionary.com had to say:

Easter

originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occured at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version (1611) was formed, the word "passover" was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Act 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, "passover," is always used.

O.E. Eastre (Northumbrian Eostre), from P.Gmc. *Austron, a goddess of fertility and sunrise whose feast was celebrated at the spring equinox, from *austra-, from PIE *aus- "to shine" (especially of the dawn). Bede says Anglo-Saxon Christians adopted her name and many of the celebratory practices for their Mass of Christ's resurrection. Ultimately related to east. Almost all neighboring languages use a variant of L. Pasche to name this holiday.

So we got "Easter" from a Saxon goddess of fertility! Hence the rabbits...very fertile creatures, and the eggs! Somewhere along the line, Christendom claimed the title for our celebration of Christ's resurrection because the Pagan sacrifices took place around the same time. I wonder why they chose to take the Pagan name instead of coming up with something on their own, or simply calling it "The Resurrection?" I guess "Resurrection" has twice as many syllables... :-)

Click HERE for a more in-depth essay on the origins of "Easter"

So yeah, that's just an interesting fact for you, a little encouragement try to be well informed on the faith that we hold, of the gospel in which we stand, and by which we are being saved.

Preparing For Worship: March 23rd, Easter Sunday

Easter's here! The day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior from the dead! Have you ever thought about what our faith would be without Christ's resurrection? What would our faith look like if Christ had only died for our sins, but not risen from the dead?

The Corinthian church had started talking and thinking like Christ had NOT risen from the dead, but that even if he hadn't, the Christian life was still a good, and moral way of life, and that they would still be better off for having followed his commands.

But the apostle Paul thought differently:

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. -1 Cor. 15:12-19

The resurrection of Christ is the final nail in the death's coffin! Jesus didn't just die for something he believed in, like a martyr; no, Christ died to take the full brunt of God's wrath for our sins, but then to show God's power and sovereignty, he rose from the dead, ensuring our final resurrection as well! He proved once and for all that death is no match for the power of God!

We're singing a new song to start the service this Sunday that focuses on the day of Christ's resurrection called "See What A Morning" that has a line in it that captures this thought:
And we are raised with him; death is dead! Love has won! Christ has conquered! And we shall reign with him, for he lives; Christ is risen from the dead!

Be sure to check out the video link for "See What A Morning" as it has the lyrics as well. It's a tremendous song, and you'll want to be prepared to sing it with the church body, I guarantee!

After a welcome and greeting time, we're gonna dig into the ol' hymnal and sing the hymn "He Lives" (not in the same style as the link just in case you were wondering...), and then "In Christ Alone" before Wayne Dell comes and reads the resurrection account out of John 20.

The scripture says that "...for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead." We all face a choice when faced with the resurrection of Christ: will we believe and surrender our lives to his Lordship? Or not?

We as believers have made the choice to surrender our lives and follow in the footsteps of our risen Savior, and so we'll corporately declare that together as we sing "Surrender."

Pastor Todd will come and teach us from the Word, and we'll respond to the truth the angel told the women at the tomb: "He is not here." If he's no longer in the tomb, where is he now? Pastor Todd will tell us where Scripture says he is, and what he is doing there on our behalf.

As a response, we'll close with the new song we did last week: "Before The Throne Of God Above" and leave with the ending lines reverberating in our minds:

One with himself I cannot die; my soul is purchased by his blood! My life is hid with Christ on high; with Christ, my Savior and my God!

Happy Easter! He is risen!

Tommy Walker: I Have A Hope

I have been listening to Tommy Walker for many years, as my dad attends his church and plays in his worship team.

His new album is different than most of his others, as previously Tommy did the majority of his albums as live recordings, and this one he did in the studio. His live albums are great, and really capture the congregational aspect of his worship leading, and the studio albums he's tried before have always been "in-house." Now, officially signed with Maranatha Music, he's gotten together with a great producer, Ed Cash (who's also worked with Chris Tomlin), and the result is phenomenal.

Tommy is a much different style of leader than the popular Chris Tomlin/Matt Redman/Charlie Hall sound. Tommy is a highly educated jazz musician, and his songwriting is complex and soulful. At times this may have alienated him by placing his songs a little outside the access of many church musicians, but I appreciate the skill and craft with which he composes.

His new recording: I Have A Hope is a great worship album, and a great change of pace from the Tomlin/Redman/Hall sound that you hear everywhere else (don't get me wrong, I love those guys, but this is a wonderfully fresh sound).

It's available from Tommy's website, and it's also on iTunes. I recommend the track "Hallelujah, We Will Sing" which is an epic song describing the hope of heaven.

While you're there, check out his other projects, as they're all fantastic (even the other studio recordings).

Christian Music "iTunes"

In my attempt to bring myself up to speed with contemporary Christian music, I've run across a website which functions similar to iTunes, in that it offers digital downloads for either a per-song fee, or for a whole album.

This site however, offers entirely Christian music.

It's called SongTouch, which I think is kind of a ridiculous name that is just trying to sound "sensitive" and "Christian-y," not to mention the corniest tag line ever:
"Believe What You Hear."

Regardless, from my initial perusing, it appears that they have a pretty significant collection of music available. They even offer Performance Tracks, which are versions of the song that have no vocals, so once you know a song really well, you can take out the vocals, and pretend you are the performer in your car or living room. ;-)
Traditionally speaking, Performance Tracks are most normally used for "Special Music" in church, but I can't stand that. If there are able musicians in the church, and you are going to be singing a "Special Song," ask them to learn it!!

Well, now that I'm off my little soap box, go ahead and check out SongTouch if you're looking for a place to find Christian music besides the Christian bookstore, which often times offers a very limited selection.

Good Christian Music: Needtobreathe

I always have people asking me about "good Christian music," especially parents wanting to find clean music for their kids to listen to. Unfortunately, I've been out of the loop of "CCM" (contemporary Christian music), for quite some time, but I've recently made a more concerted effort to keep up to date on creative and unique bands.

I think one reason I haven't followed too closely over the years is that Christian music has always been behind the "world's" music, and often times, a "new" Christian band will come out that tries very hard to sound like a popular secular artist. I have rarely heard a Christian artist/band that blazed any new musical trails, and in the last decade or so, the existing branches of Christian music genres all seemed to melt together (especially in the light of the "worship music" explosion; it seemed like everyone and their brother had a "worship project" or "worship album"). That being said, it's important to realize that Christians can still make "Christian" music without doing a "worship" album.

As I find new music to recommend to you, I'll talk more about the ideas that we have about the music we listen to, and we'll think about what guidelines the Bible gives us for what we listen to, and also try to identify the guidelines that we impose on ourselves, and discern the difference.

The first band I'd like to recommend is called "Needtobreathe." Their second album, "The Heat," is very upbeat, and full of creative musicianship. Needtobreathe combines soaring rock, pop, soul, folk, and a little R&B soul in their songs, and if you like such bands as The Black Crowes, Switchfoot, Train, Collective Soul, Counting Crows, and U2, you'll probably enjoy Needtobreathe.

Check out their website to hear some of their songs.

Preparing For Worship: March 16th

I'm writing from Village Christian where I'm subbing 9th grade English all day. All the classes are watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" today, so it's an easy day, but then again, there's only so much Gregory Peck one can take in a day...

So let's talk Sunday.

We're one week out from Easter Sunday, and I love the focus on the cross that we have for these two weeks prior. Pastor Todd will continue to look at Jesus' last words on the cross; focusing on the words "it is finished" this Sunday.

We'll also focus on the cross in the worship songs that we sing together, starting with "To God Be The Glory," reminding us of our "perfect redemption, the purchase of blood!" We'll have a few announcements, including our In-N-Out lunch over at our new building, following our service (which everyone is invited to! A map will be in your bulletins.)

We'll continue singing with a song that reminds us that there is "No Other Name" that saves except the name of Christ, and that it's only his blood that covers our sin and shame. Then I have another new song to share with you called "Before The Throne Of God Above." It's a great song of the hope that comes from the finished work of Christ on the cross! We'll sing "Once Again" right before Pastor Todd comes to teach us, and focus our hearts and minds with thankfulness for Jesus' sacrifice.
We'll respond to the power and truth of God's Word with the great hymn "Jesus Paid It All" and go out with a song of celebration and commitment: "That's Why We Praise Him."

Be sure to plan on joining us over at our new building for In-N-Out following our service! I should get back to keeping an eye on these feisty freshmen...

See you Sunday!

Foundation Winter Retreat

Our Jr. High/High Schoolers had a great time up at Pine Mountain this past weekend on our first official Crossroads Foundation Retreat!

I was able to go up on Saturday and lead worship for the morning and evening sessions, and it was a tremendous time of worshiping through song.

The speaker, Ryan Rumbley of Pine Mountain Community Church, challenged the kids with messages focused on pursuing spiritual growth above social comfort. He taught them that God has a purpose and a plan for each of their lives, and they have a place to fill in the church as "bricks" being built upon other bricks, and providing foundation for other bricks all around them.

They occupied the afternoon time with paint-balling, hiking, playing soccer, or just hanging out.

All in all, it was a great trip, and I think the kids were challenged to pursue growth in the Lord above their own social status/comfort.

So be sure to keep them accountable, and ask them what they learned at camp, and how they're applying it in their lives.

Preparing For Worship: March 9th

Well it's that time again: time to prepare ourselves to come together with the body of Christ and worship Him corporately!

I hope your week has been filled with God's goodness, and that you've had opportunities to trust him, and trust in his sovereign plan.

We're still a couple weeks away from Easter, but I want us to start thinking about it now, as the magnitude of what happened that day cannot be grasped in one Sunday morning service! Think of how 2,000 years ago, Christ was drawing near to the time of his death. He knew he had come to die, and he knew it was getting close. We see his human fear and anguish when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on that night he was betrayed, and yet we see his humble submission to the Father's will. What an example, and what a servant was our Jesus!

The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:
...if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Have you ever heard a Christian, or some other religious person say that "even if my faith turns out to be false, I'm still better off for living a life of religion and morality?" I have, and it sounds convincing, but God's Word says otherwise. Paul says if our hope is in this life only, we (Christians) are of all people most to be pitied!! We would have devoted ourselves to a Lord who died the same as we did!

This is the thing that sets Christianity apart from world religions: that Jesus Christ not only was a "good teacher"(like Buddha) or a "prophet"(like Mohamed), but he conquered death and rose from the grave by the power of God! God placed the entirety of his righteous wrath (which we rightly deserved) onto the Savior, and he payed the price for our sins, but didn't stay dead! Because of Christ's resurrection, we have the hope of our own resurrection at the end of days, to rise from the grave, and ascend with the Lord into heaven to enjoy the fullness of God's presence for the rest of eternity!

Whew, so yeah, start thinking about Easter. :-)

This Sunday we'll begin the service with "How Good And Pleasant," reminding ourselves of the joy of worshiping together. Then we'll have a short time of announcements, including our Easter services, Pastor's Coffee, and our need for extra children's ministry volunteers for Easter. That last one is a great way to worship through serving, so if you have the time, consider watching the kids during one of the Easter services.

We'll continue singing praises with the new song we did last week "Let God Arise," and "God Of Wonders" which remind us of God's power, greatness, and holiness. Then we'll consider how this omnipotent God saw fit to redeem us from the bondage of sin by sending his Son to die in our stead with "The Wonderful Cross." This will also help prepare us for Pastor Todd's message, which is the first of a series on the last words of Christ; "Father Forgive Them."

After Todd's message, we'll corporately respond in song to the forgiveness of God that is so freely given to us because of Christ's work on the cross, with "Majesty," and then we'll end our time with a corporate song of commitment and asking God to consume us "From The Inside Out" that we might bring him praise with everything we do, including forgiving others.

That's about it for this week. Next week is our Giving Sunday for our building project, so if you haven't thought about how God might lead you to contribute, take a moment and seek his will on the matter. After the service next week, we'll all go over to our new building and enjoy In-N-Out burgers together, and see the place we'll call home for the next few years!

Worshiping Through Service To A Public Nuisance

Blogger Tim Challies posted an entry entitled "The Public Nuisance" today, and he speaks of the lesson he learned while shoveling snow with his eight year old son.

We've all had this kind of neighbor, and we've all been in a similar situation.

Check out the blog HERE.

John Piper and the Prosperity Gospel

I'm sure many of you are familiar with what is called the "Prosperity Gospel." In case you aren't, it's what is being preached from many pulpits in America, and from many "Christian Living" bestsellers over at Barnes and Noble. It's a message that says "if you accept Jesus, you'll be healthy, you'll be wealthy, and you'll have great relationships" etc.

Here's John Piper telling us what God's Word says the gospel is: