So this Sunday, I am going to try something that I've never tried before: leading worship from the drums. I don't know of any other worship leaders that have done it; and it might be for good reason that they haven't! But if a 10 year-old girl can do play and sing Phil Collins, and Phil Collins drummed and sang for Genesis, and Genesis is the first book of the Bible...there's gotta be some kind of connection there...I'll let you know when I figure it out!
Anyway, this Sunday is also our last community night of the summer featuring singer/songwriter Chad Long, so plan on joining us for great coffee, desserts, music, and fun on Sunday night. Chad will also be joining the worship team that morning, and giving us a special sneak preview of one of his songs in the service.
We'll start the service with a call to worship: "Stir In Me" which declares our dependence on the sovereignty of God, and on his Spirit to help us worship, and that as we sing, pray, give, study his word, and take communion together, that he would mold us into life worshipers.
Pastor Todd will share a few important announcements with us, and Kathleen Perdisatt will let us know of some ministry needs in our children's department; such a crucial ministry!
We'll continue singing as we continue to explore the depths of God's sovereignty in our lives, and how in times of joy, and in grief, we must make the choice in our heart to proclaim "Blessed Be Your Name." There is true freedom in this surrendering of our lives to God, and realize that it is not by our own power or by exhibiting the trappings of religion, but that in spite of our fears and failures, that God's mercy and grace triumphs over our sin, because God is "Mighty To Save."
By this time, we'll be prepared for Pastor Todd to bring us King Solomon's ultimate conclusion in Ecclesiastes 12: Fear God, and keep his commands. When we surrender to, and embrace, the sovereignty of God, we are able to trust him FULLY, in all of the things Solomon has addressed to this point:
-We can trust him to bring justice where there appears to be none;
-We can trust him to guide, direct, and help us to live life to the fullest when we live with wisdom;
-We can trust that when we invest our lives and our efforts in his work, that he will work his perfect plan and bring fruit from our work;
This would be a great time to reread the rest of Ecclesiastes as we draw our study to a close. Solomon has come a long way, and laid out the truth about life, and after he's seen and done it all, he decides that the end of the matter is to fear God! This book is worth reading frequently in your personal devotions to keep a right perspective on everything that goes on under the sun.
We'll have a time of corporate response as we share communion together after the sermon. Fearing God means having a healthy respect and reverence for him, and few things inspire this sort of fear than reflecting on the cross. We'll sing "At The Cross" together, and reflect on the substitutionary death Christ died for us, before closing our service with a call to worship in all of life with "To God Be The Glory."
I look forward to worshiping with each of you! Happy preparation.
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