Preparing For Worship: February 1st

Well we had an amazing morning of corporate worship together last week at our celebration/baptism/guest speaker morning! I trust that all of you who worshiped with us were immensely blessed, and I am confident that God was honored and glorified by what took place that morning, in every aspect.

This week we'll keep that joy and energy going as we jump back into the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. Pastor Todd will be talking about "Loving Without Limits." Read up on the passage to refresh your memory, and prepare for the teaching time.

As always we will be lifting our voices together in praise to our God, so be sure you warm up your vocal chords in the shower or on your way to church so you can have your full voice when we sing together! We'll start the service with a song that declares that we are Hungry for God to fill us up as we meet together in his name.

After a short welcome and prayer we'll sing some more songs that rejoice in God's sovereignty over all things: We Trust Your Will, and I Have A Hope. Because it's God's all powerful rule over his creation that gives us an indestructible hope!

Pastor Todd will then come and preach from God's Word, and afterward, we'll share a time of communion together, remembering the suffering and death of Jesus Christ for our sins. We'll sing You Are My King while we take the bread and the cup, reminding ourselves that we're forgiven because Christ was forsaken by his Father, and that we're accepted because he was condemned in our place!

We'll close the service by singing Be Unto Your Name as we go out into the world for his glory!

That's what's going on this Sunday; happy preparation!

Preparing For Worship: January 25th, 2009

This Sunday is one of our "Celebration Sundays" that we do periodically throughout the year. This is a Sunday that we have various special things going on in our services, and you WON'T want to miss this week!!

We will be having baptisms in both of our services! We purchased a special "portable" baptismal that we can set up and use right inside our building! No more waiting for warm weather and an available pool at someone's house (although there is something cool and special about that, and we may do it again at some point), because now we can baptize right in our service so that our whole church body can celebrate with those who are publicly declaring that they've put their faith in Christ for salvation!

We will also be privileged to hear from special guest speaker: Bob Kraning. Formerly Director of Forest Home Conference Center, Bob Kraning joined Chuck Swindoll’s staff as Pastor of Men’s Ministry and Evangelism in 1988. Founder of Good Word Ministries, Bob now travels full time teaching and preaching. An excellent and enthusiastic communicator, Bob radiates his love for the Lord. Bob will be speaking from Matthew 17:14-21 so be sure you read it before you come so you can be familiar with it.

Upstairs during our second service, we'll be showing a video preview of the upcoming Financial Peace University series that we'll be hosting at Crossroads. This course teaches biblical principles, and practical steps to get out of debt, and to save and plan intelligently for the future. If money has ever been an issue or worry in your life (who HASN'T worried about money right??), then you need to come at least check out this program. 10:30 am, upstairs in room 204.

Sunday night at 6:30 will also be Pastor's Coffee for those of you who may be new to Crossroads. This is a time to come and find out more about why the church started, and what its vision is for the future. It's not too late to sign up. Maps will be available at the ministry table.

And finally, as far as the songs we're singing together, we'll be starting with a set of two songs that are great songs to call us to corporate worship: "You're Worthy Of All Praise" and "Be Glorified." We'll have our baptisms after this, and then sing a couple more to prepare our hearts for the message on faith that Bob will be bringing to us: "Perfect Savior," and "The Solid Rock." After Bob's sermon, we'll respond with one song as a closing and benediction (huh? what's that??): "Draw Me Close."

So that's what's going on; happy preparation!

Balance in Worship

More than once I've heard someone say that God saved us for his glory, not for our happiness. Or that singing about what God has done for us makes worship man-centered. Or that we worship God because he's worthy, not because we as worshipers get something out of it. Or that spending time ministering to each other isn't worship. These are unfortunate and unnecessary dichotomies.

One of the primary ways we worship God is through proclaiming his glories, perfections, and works. But another equally significant way we worship God is through building one another up through encouragement and blessing. Different activities, but the same end.

Yes, we gather to worship God. But how do we do that? It's not just through songs and words directed to God.

The New Testament Christians gathered in large part to strengthen each other for the purpose of glorifying God in their daily lives. Hebrews 10:24-25 exhorts us about "not neglecting to meet together" so we can "stir up one another to love and good works." We're to be "encouraging one another."

Paul sounds a similar note to the Corinthians: "When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up" (1 Cor. 14:26) Everything in our time together has that same purpose: "building up."

Even our songs of praise are a way we minister to each other for God's glory. That's evident from Ephesians 5:19, where Paul says we're to be "addressing one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs," while at the same time "singing and making melody to the Lord."

We aren't having our own little worship experiences independent of each other. As Donald Whitney reminds us:

The thought that the Church at worship is an accidental convergence in one place of a number of isolated individuals who practice, in hermetically sealed compartments, their own private devotional exercises, is foreign to the New Testament picture.

When we sing, we're "teaching and admonishing one another" (Col. 3:16). To express that reality, I'll often open my eyes and look out at the congregation as I sing certain lines. I want to remind myself and the church that we're affirming truth together.

But the horizontal aspect of worship can be even more direct. We might take time to pray for those battling life-threatening illnesses. Someone may share a prophetic impression for older saints. We might honor an individual or specific group in the church for their faithful service or godly example.

If we pursue honor and edification for their own sake, we quickly lose sight of the One we're seeking to please. Meetings become all about what we're doing for each other, meeting people's needs, and making sure everyone is happy.

From Bob Kauflin's "Worship Matters." What a great reminder to us about what worship in the corporate setting should look like!

Preparing For Worship: January 11th, 2009

From all eternity the ever-existing, never-becoming, always-perfect God has known himself and loved what he knows. He has eternally seen his beauty and savored what he sees. His understanding of his own reality is flawless and his exuberance in enjoying it is infinite. He has no needs, for he has no imperfection. He has no inclinations to evil because he has no deficiencies that could tempt him to do wrong. He is therefore the holiest and happiest being that is or that be conceived...To share this experience - the experience of knowing and enjoying his glory - is the reason God created the world.
-John Piper

God does not NEED our worship. He does not have low self-esteem which we combat by singing a few tunes and raising our hands telling him how great he is - he is well aware of how great he is! As John Piper says: God created us to know and enjoy HIS glory. As Pastor Daryl Delhousaye taught us a few weeks ago: God's glory is what he wants us to know and think of first when we think of him: his goodness.

We experience God's goodness on a daily basis, and often are quick to dismiss it with barely a notice. In the corporate worship setting (church), we have the opportunity to experience God's goodness in a really special and unique way. Singing songs that remind us of who God is, and the mighty deeds he has done is one way. Praying together; uniting our hearts and minds in thanksgiving, petition, confession, repentance, commitment, and awe; is another way. Hearing the truth and power of God's Word proclaimed with authority is another. And yes, sharing a cup of coffee and a donut hole (or four) is one as well. We are the body of Christ, and caring for, and encouraging one another (even in conviction of sin) is a huge part of how we show and experience the goodness of God, which means it is one of the reasons we were created!

Let's put that into play this Sunday! Come prepared to minister to someone in the body, to sing with all your might, and to devour the perfect Word of God as we sit under its authority!

As we begin this week, we'll sing "I Have a Hope" to remind us of our security in the work of our Redeemer. Pastor Todd will come and lead us in prayer, and share some announcements for the myriad of upcoming events. We'll then sing a set of songs that rejoice in the glory of the gospel and of our salvation: "Marvelous Light" "Forever My Love" and "Stronger."

Pastor Todd will be teaching through the next passage in the sermon on the mount: Matthew 5:33-37. This passage talks about being truthful, and letting your "yes" be yes, and "no" be no.

We'll respond with songs that commit ourselves to be changed and used by God: "Take My Life" and "May The Words (Psalm 19)."

That's what's going on this week; happy preparation!

Summum Bonum

This is an excerpt from Tim Keller's "The Reason For God: Belief in an age of skepticism," which I highly recommend to everyone! If you've ever struggled with your faith (we all have), or wished you knew how to respond to the difficult issues people have with Christianity, Keller's book is very informative and logical, and it will help you to gain greater perspective on why Christianity is really the most logical way of interpreting the world.

In "The Nature of True Virtue," one of the most profound treatises on social ethics ever written, Jonathan Edwards lays out how sin destroys the social fabric. He argues that human society is deeply fragmented when anything but God is our highest love. If our highest goal in life is the good of our family, then, says Edwards, we will tend to care less for other families. If our highest goal is the good of our nation, tribe, or race, then we will tend to be racist or nationalistic. If our ultimate goal in life is our own individual happiness, then we will put our own economic and power interests ahead of those of others. Edwards concludes that only if God is our summum bonum, our ultimate good and life center, will we find our heart drawn out not only to people of all families, races, and classes, but to the whole world in general.

How does this destruction of social relationships flow from the internal effects of sin? If we get our very identity, our sense of worth, from our political position, then politics is not really about politics, it is about us. Through our cause we are getting a self, our worth. That means we must despise and demonize the opposition. If we get our identity from our ethnicity or socioeconomic status, then we have to feel superior to those of other classes and races. If you are profoundly proud of being an open-minded, tolerant soul, you will be extremely indignant toward people you think are bigots. If you are a very moral person, you will feel very superior to people you think are licentious. And so on.

There is no way out of this conundrum. The more we love and identify deeply with our family, our class, our race, or our religion, the harder it is to not feel superior or even hostile to other religions, races, etc. So racism, classism, and sexism are not matters of ignorance or a lack of education. The real culture war is taking place inside our own disordered hearts, wracked by inordinate desires for things that control us, that lead us to feel superior and exclude those without them, and that fail to satisfy us even when we get them.

This is the essence of living a life of worship! Finding our ultimate purpose and self, our summum bonum (latin for "highest good"), in God, leads to our earnest pursuit of him through prayer, his Word, serving, reaching out to the lost, singing his praise, etc.

Now, if I could only fit "summum bonum" into a worship song...

Any ideas?

Praying For Your Pastor

I found this great guide, written by Pastor Ligon Duncan, to help us to pray for our Pastor. I've inserted Pastor Todd's name into each line. Why not print this out and post it on your fridge?

Pray -

1. That Pastor Todd would know and love the living God, would have a saving interest in Christ, being purchased by His blood, and thus would be bound to the Lord by the indissoluble bond of the Holy Spirit.

2. That Pastor Todd would know, embrace and ever more deeply understand the Gospel and be shaped by it in life and ministry.

3. That Pastor Todd would be useful servant of the Lord, that he would know and love God's word, God's people, and God's kingdom; that he would be used to build it up and so that it prevails even against Hell's gates.

4. That Pastor Todd would study, practice and teach the Word of the Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

5. That Pastor Todd would love to pray, because he loves to commune with his God, and that he would be a man of prayer, characteristically.

6. That Pastor Todd would be ever dependent upon and filled with the Spirit; and that he would possess true Spiritual wisdom.

7. That Pastor Todd would be holy unto the Lord. That his tongue and heart would be wholly God's.

8. That Pastor Todd would be kept from pride, and especially spiritual pride. That the Lord himself would be gracious to slay pride in him, and that your pastor would endeavor to always be putting pride to death, by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

9. That God would give Pastor Todd guidance as to where to focus his efforts in ministry.

10. That He would protect Pastor Todd from himself, from the enemy of his soul, and from all earthly enemies.

11. That no decision which Pastor Todd ever makes or desire he ever pursues would restrict his ability to pour his whole soul into the Gospel ministry.

12.That many would be converted and many built up under Pastor Todd's ministry, to God's glory alone.

13. That the Lord would bless Pastor Todd's wife, Stacey, with holiness and happiness, Gospel assurance and Gospel rest.

14. That God would make Pastor Todd a decent husband and father.

15. That Pastor Todd would be a good friend to his wife, and love her self-sacrificially,

16. That Pastor Todd would be a good daddy to his children. That they would love God, their parents and the church.

17. That Pastor Todd would be a testimony in the home so that his wife might be able to respect him when he is in the pulpit, and so that he will be able to feed her soul, along with the rest of the congregation.

Preparing For Worship: January 4th.2009

Well here we are at our first Sunday in 2009! I hope you all have had a great holiday season and are ready to tackle the new year head on!

I'm excited to be back with you after a great little vacation up to Mammoth Mountain last week. I heard from many of you that my brother did a great job leading in my stead, and I'm sure you guys ministered to him through your eager participation.

This Sunday Pastor Todd resumes our study in the Sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5. Since we've had a few Sundays away from this passage, why not take this opportunity to review the text we've already covered? If you're one of the really "hard-core," you might take out the sermon notes you save each week, and remind yourselves of the important lessons we've learned along the way.

HERE's the text we've covered in Matthew 5 up to this point.

Pastor Todd will be preaching on the next passage dealing with divorce. Be sure to read this important passage as you prepare for Sunday.

Here are the songs we'll be singing: we'll be starting with "How Great Thou Art" and after Pastor Todd welcomes everyone, leads us in prayer, and shares some announcements, we'll learn our new song we've been practicing: "Psalm 62." We'll follow that with "You Alone" which reinforces what we just sang about finding our rest in God alone. After Pastor Todd's sermon, we'll celebrate communion together and sing "How Deep The Father's Love For Us" as we take the bread and the cup that symbolize Jesus' blood and body sacrificed for us.

We'll close with "Everlasting God" as a resolution to wait on God and his perfect plan and perfect timing as we head into the new year.

That's what's going on; happy preparation!