Shall I Attempt To Speak: Preparing For Worship: October 5th, 2008

Friday, October 3, 2008

Preparing For Worship: October 5th, 2008

Happy October to all of you! One of my favorite signs of autumn is the MLB postseason, and this year is no disappointment, given the performance of our LA Dodgers!

This week marked my one year anniversary of ministry at Crossroads, and I can't thank God enough for the blessing that this church has been in my life! I get to work with an awesome senior pastor, a great worship team, and a wonderful church body; I'm sure I have the best job out there.

Let's turn our attention to this Sunday as we anticipate gathering for worship through singing, preaching of the Word, giving, prayer, and edification.

We're going to start with the hymn "All Creatures Of Our God and King" which is a call to worship in the truest sense: all creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing hallelujah!

Pastor Todd will lead us in prayer and then we will get a chance to corporately welcome our new Director of Student Ministries: Stephen Barshaw.

We'll continue singing after this as we focus our hearts and minds on the character of God. "Lord Jehovah" and "For You Are The Lord" help us to think about the magnitude and complexity of God's character, and all the things he is: merciful, loving, everlasting, creator...

This will help prepare us to hear the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Todd will be teaching us from Matthew 5:9 "Blessed Are The Peacemakers."

Jesus was truly the ultimate peacemaker in reconciling us to a right relationship with the Father. His death brought peace to our infinite conflict with God's righteousness! We get to celebrate this through taking communion together after the sermon.

We'll sing "This Is Love" as we remember and thank Jesus for his sacrifice for us.

We'll close with a song that still might be new to you, so be sure to give it a listen before Sunday: "Stronger." This song celebrates the finished work of Christ for us, and rejoices in the perfect power of the Lord over sin forever!

The chorus goes like this: You are stronger! You are stronger! Sin is broken; You have saved me! It is written: Christ is risen; Jesus, You are Lord of all!!

Amen!

Happy preparation!

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Welcome To Crossroads Community Church's Worship Blog

This blog is a tool for the church community to prepare to come together and worship each Sunday.

So often we go to church just expecting to "be fed." It's true that we need to come with empty hands expecting to be filled with the love and goodness of God each week.

BUT...

I also believe that the church body has a responsibility to each other, and to the Lord, to take this weekly gathering very seriously, and that we should come prepared to participate, and to minister to each other.

This blog helps us to know a little more about what is going on in our services, so that we can prepare by praying, reading the scripture text, looking up the songs we'll sing together, and learning new songs, etc.

It also helps to keep us thinking about worship and our walk with the Lord throughout the week. The way we think through and approach every area of life is an act of worship, and it's the task of the believer to direct that worship towards God in the way we interact with life.