I'm thankful for the many encouraging words I heard back regarding worshiping with my friend Dan last week at Crossroads! It's so great to know that when I won't be here, that I can be confident that there will be biblical, joyful, genuine worship singing taking place. Thanks again to Dan for his leadership.
This week I'm back and rested after a lovely weekend away. I'm looking forward to our time together, and I hope you are too. Here's what's going on this weekend so you can prepare to come and be a part.
We'll start with the fun and easy "Friend of God," which is always a good tune to wake up and get in the groove for the morning. Ya know, with this tune I've wrestled with the theme being about how WE are God's friends, like it's bragging about ourselves and how great we are or something, so I just wanted to point out that we sing it not because of how great it makes us, but because of how in awe we are that we could actually ever be called friends of Almighty God! So yeah, it's simple, but it's profound; I like how the bridge of the song says it: "God Almighty, Lord of glory, You have called me friend!"
We'll then have the chance to worship through some announcements and opportunities coming up at Crossroads. How do we worship through announcements? As we hear of upcoming opportunities to serve or build community, we listen for the Spirit's guidance and illumination of how we can edify and build up the body of Christ, whether it be by participating in, or praying for said events. Allow your heart to be moved for those in pain, such as those still suffering in Haiti, or when we minister at the Union Rescue Mission; pray for outreach events, or Bible studies, that God might build His church through His Spirit to bring glory to His name; etc.
Then we'll sing the old hymn "How Great Thou Art" which talks about how all creation declares God's glory, and how His glory was perfectly displayed in His Son and through His death on the cross! We'll go from that into a song about the cross "This is Love." In our culture today, "love" is fickle. It's based only on romantic feelings, and there's so little depth to it. The Bible tells us that God so LOVED the world that He gave His only Son. True love is sacrificial; it's HARD. Christ didn't have the easiest time going to the cross. He prayed in the garden that His Father might accomplish His plan another way, but was obedient unto death.
Then Pastor Todd will come and preach from Ephesians five, as we continue our series: Sovereign Grace. The passage is Ephesians 5:1-7 which you can read by CLICKING HERE. It's about living as imitators of God as a child imitates his father. It's a super-convicting passage, and I need the Spirit to teach me to follow its truth and apply it to my own life more so every day. You might not need the same thing (yeah right, we ALL do), but prepare your heart through prayer that the Spirit might teach you to be an imitator of God even better upon hearing this truth preached.
We'll respond with the tune "Majesty(Here I Am)" that recognizes that our hearts are wicked, and that only the Holy Spirit enables us to put it off and put on the new man which we've been reborn into through Christ's death for us on the cross. The line "empty handed but alive in Your hand" is such a good way to remember this truth as we connect our heart and mind and take in God's Word most fully.
We'll close with "Take My Life" (an old hymn with a little bit of a twist on the melody, and a new chorus) as a prayer of commitment to daily sacrifice ourselves to God's glory and submit to His perfect will for our lives.
So that's what's going on; happy prep! Leave a comment if you like! See you Sunday.
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