A Celebration of Grace!

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - August 8, 2017

As we turn our thoughts to Romans 9, there will be many things that come out in our study of this great chapter. God’s continued faithfulness to His people, the trustworthiness of His Word, and the abundant overflow of His grace toward us are just a few things that stand out. As you think toward our time together this coming Sunday, be in prayer for those who will be leading as well as carefully thinking through the lyrics to the songs we’ll be singing. The songs are so rich and deep in directing our minds and hearts toward the Lord. As always, I’m really looking forward to our worship gathering this Sunday.  

May the Peoples Praise You

What amazing lyrics! This song is a wonderful expression of thankfulness “to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:12-13) As those who have been saved - we gather together to exalt Him for His glorious grace!  

Hallelujah for the Cross

As we continue to sing about what Christ has done for us, this song leads us to think about the gospel again. I love Verse 2: What good I've done could never save, my debt too great for deeds to pay. But God my Savior made a way, Hallelujah for the cross!

Prayer of Praise

Each week, someone is asked to lead us in a prayer of praise to God. We place this prayer right after a time of singing so that we can continue praising God together. As I’ve mentioned before - let this be a time where you’re very intentional to track with the person leading the prayer and when he’s finished praying, join with the congregation in saying “AMEN!”

Worship through Giving

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7) This

Giving is an act of worship. The New Testament teaches that our giving should be sacrificial and joyous. When we give back to God, we are acknowledging that everything we have is because of His grace toward us. Whether you give weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or otherwise, use this time as an opportunity to meditate on your giving back to the Lord through Tithes & Offerings. 

Meditating on God’s Word

What a joy it is each week to hear someone reading directly from God’s Word. As the Scripture is read this morning, make effort to truly focus on hearing the Word. 

The Ligonier Statement on Christology

A couple of weeks ago, in the sermon, I presented four things that characterize a True Christian. First on that list is “Believes in Christ.” It is absolutely critical that when we speak of Christ, that we speak accurately. As we read this statement together, let this time 

Pastoral Prayer of Petition

As we turn our thoughts back to the Lord and prepare to praise Him, we tune our minds and hearts to His amazing grace and declare together our desire to hear from Him. 

Nothing But the Blood

This song, along with the next one, is what we would call a “classic hymn.” There’s a reason these songs have been sung by Christians for many years. The truth contained in these two songs is both deep and should drive us to passionately praise Him for what He has done for us. After declaring who He is through the Ligonier Statement, we turn to celebrate what He has done for us! It is through what Jesus did that our sins are forgiven, our brokenness made whole, and our lives are turned back to God. (P.S. - The version in the video is a little different than we'll be singing it)

The Solid Rock

As we have been talking about for several weeks, our hope is not built on anything we would do, anything we own, our own strength, or even a great Godly heritage. Our hope is built on the Righteousness of Christ that is “infused” into us in salvation.  

Sermon: God’s Grace in Salvation - Romans 9:10-13

As you prepare for our time together, read through Romans 9. It’s ideal to read from Romans 8:28 all the way through to the end of chapter 9, but if you only have a couple of minutes read Romans 9:6-13 a time or two. 

Our study tomorrow is primarily in verses 10-13 - as you think through these verses, consider the following questions:

1. What does the phrase “not only so, but also” point to?

2. List all the things that Jacob & Esau had in common. 

3. What was Rebecca told about her unborn twin sons?

4. When she was told this, what had Jacob & Esau done?

5. What was the purpose of the Lord telling Rebbeca this?

6. What does Paul mean by “loved” and “hated” in verse 13?

7. Which of the twins deserved God’s love more?
(yes, that last one is a trick question - for the answer, read Romans 3:10-18)

Grace Greater than Our Sins

We should be struck by “Jacob I loved,” for Jacob certainly wasn’t deserving of God’s love. When we think about God’s grace, it not only overwhelms our sinfulness, it comes in spite of our sinfulness. None of us deserve God’s love or His grace even in the slightest bit - but thanks be to God that though we were His enemies - HE. SAVED. US!

This Is Amazing Grace

This song will be our “Benediction.” The closing thought. As we prepare to head back to our daily lives, all the things that God’s amazing grace is to us should echo in our minds and hearts as we strive to live out the gospel in the details of how we live our lives. 

Sunday Evening: 1, 2, & 3 John.

We’ve got a different approach planned for our study of 1, 2, & 3 John this Sunday night. As always, we’ll be doing a zoomed-out big-picture summary of these three New Testament books, but as we survey the New Testament, looking at the books in a more summary fashion helps us to see some of the interconnectedness of the Bible as well as the recurring themes.  

As always, be in prayer for:

• Rex and all those who lead the music in our time together.

• Pray that we all come together on Sunday with hearts prepared to engage in intense, focused exaltation of God. 

• Pray that we demonstrate holiness, unity, and love in both our personal lives as well as together as the Body.

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach God’s inspired, inerrant, sufficient, authoritative Word.

Rob

Are you "fired up" as you're preparing for our time together?

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - July 23, 2017

As we continue our study in Romans 9, be sure to be preparing your heart for our time together each week. Read through the suggestions below, and listen to the songs so that we you make the most of our time together.   

Forever

We can confidently sing of the eternal love God has for us! What a great beginning to our time together - singing the words of Psalm 136, and following a Responsive Reading (which we have done very rarely in the past five years), we can joyfully celebrate the “foreverness” of God’s love for us. From eternity past and eternally into the future, God has loved us - what a joy to sing “His love endures forever!”

Behold Our God

As we consider not only His love for us, but also the many awesome attributes of our God, and as we think of the throne room of Heaven, how can we not come and adore, worship, and exalt Him?   

Prayer of Praise

I love hearing men in our church leading us in praising God through prayer. This form of prayer is relatively new to our congregation, but the richness and depth of the prayers we’ve been hearing is so encouraging and what a joy to say “AMEN!” with them each week when we pray. 

Worship through Giving

We must always remember that the act of giving our offerings to God is an act of worship. As we take the offering each week, use that time to reflect on all that God has given you and the joy it is to give back to Him.  

Meditating on God’s Word

Pastor Steve Lawson once said, “If you want to hear God speak to you audibly, read the Bible out loud.” We’re also being obedient to Scripture when we read God’s Word publicly. As the Scripture is read this week, try to simply focus your mind and heart on hearing God’s Word as it is read aloud. 

Pastoral Prayer of Petition

As we turn our thoughts back to the Lord and prepare to praise Him, we tune our minds and hearts to His amazing grace and declare together our desire to hear from Him. 

Glorious Christ

The words of this song truly capture my heart. I’ve really enjoyed singing this song congregationally, and I love that the words echo in my mind throughout the week. If you haven’t added this to your playlist yet, you should! (the “acoustic version” in the video above is my favorite version of this song)

How Great Thou Art

What a great way to follow Glorious Christ! When we think about all He is and what He has done for us, how can we not respond by declaring His greatness? 

Sermon: God’s Unchanging Plan - Romans 9:6-10

J.B. Phillips wrote his “New Testament in Modern English” in 1958 after many years studying and translating the New Testament from Greek into English. He says this of his translation, “I want above all to create in my readers the same emotionsa s the original writings evoked nearly 2,000 years ago.” He goes on to say that after many years of translating, with this writing he “felt I must curb my youthful enthusiasms and keep as close as I possibly could to the Greek text. 

Here is his translation of Romans 9:6-13:

Now this does not mean that God’s word to israel has failed. For you cannot count all “Israelites” as the true Israel of God. Nor can all of Abraham’s descendants be considered truly children of Abraham. The promise was that “in Isaac shall thy children be called.” That means that it is not the natural descendants who are children of God, but that the children of the promise are to be considered truly Abraham’s children. For this was the promise: “About this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” And then, again, a word of promise came to Rebecca, at the time when she was pregnant with two children by the one man, Isaac our forefather. It came before the children were born or had done anything good or bad, plainly showing that God’s act of choice has nothing do to with achievements, but is entirely a matter of his will. She was told:

The elder shall serve the younger.

And we get a later endorsement of this in the words:

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

As you prepare your heart for our time together, read through the passage several times in different translations. 

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

What a wonderful reminder this song is. We can be confident and secure in a God with whom “there is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compasssions they fail not.” 

I am so grateful that our God does not change. That His perfect plan is unalterable. 

P.S. - there's another really cool version of this song on iTunes. Click here. 

Deacon Flock Fellowships

What a joy it is to spend time with others in fellowship! One thing I’ve always loved about our church is that we truly enjoy being together! Whether it’s a small group studying Scripture together, or the all-church picnic we have each Fall, any time a group of members are together - it’s clear that everyone loves 

As always, be in prayer for:

• Rex and all those who lead the music in our time together.

• Pray that we all come together on Sunday with hearts prepared to engage in intense, focused exaltation of God. 

• Pray that God would stir in you a passion to know Him, obey Him, and make Him known. When we are all moving toward that end, we will become a “fired up Body of Believers...”

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach God’s inerrant Word

Rob

Looking forward to Sunday (7/16)

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - July 16, 2017

As we turn our thoughts to Romans 9, there will be many things that come out in our study of this great chapter. God’s continued faithfulness to His people, the trustworthiness of His Word, and the abundant overflow of His grace toward us are just a few things that stand out. As you think toward our time together this coming Sunday, be in prayer for those who will be leading as well as carefully thinking through the lyrics to the songs we’ll be singing. The songs are so rich and deep in directing our minds and hearts toward the Lord. As always, I’m really looking forward to our worship gathering this Sunday.  

All Because of Jesus

Just the title alone says so much! When you start thinking through the words, what a great expression of our thankfulness for all of the many daily blessings God pours out on us all! 

Glorious Christ

While we’ve only sang this song a few times, it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. I love the Scripture saturated lyrics of this song. It really does paint a beautiful picture of Christ.   

Prayer of Praise

What better thing to do in the midst of our gathering than to pause and just simply praise God for who He is and all that He has done. (don’t forget to say “AMEN!” at the conclusion of the prayer as together we join in affirming our unity in praising God.)

Worship through Giving

Giving is an act of worship. The New Testament teaches that our giving should be sacrificial and joyous. When we give back to God, we are acknowledging that everything we have is because of His grace toward us. Whether you give weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or otherwise, use this time as an opportunity to meditate on your giving back to the Lord through Tithes & Offerings. 

Meditating on God’s Word

What a joy it is each week to hear someone reading directly from God’s Word. As the Scripture is read this morning, make effort to truly focus on hearing the Word. 

Pastoral Prayer of Petition

As we turn our thoughts back to the Lord and prepare to praise Him, we tune our minds and hearts to His amazing grace and declare together our desire to hear from Him. 

Amazing Grace

I was talking to an MSSU student recently about worship and music in the church and during our conversation the song “Amazing Grace” came up. His response was simply, “You just can’t go wrong with Amazing Grace.” I think he was right. It’s always a joy to sing this song! 

Speak O Lord

What a great reminder of the spiritual nourishment God’s Word brings to us. We should always strive to have the living Scriptures planted deep in our souls so that the resulting fruit honors God and points others to Christ. 

Sermon: God’s Faithfulness to His People - Romans 9:1-5

As we begin our study in Romans 9, we’ll see clearly the faithfulness of God in the midst of what Paul’s apparent opponents would have called a lack of faithfulness. What a joy it is to serve a God who has demonstrated so clearly His love for us. 

As you prepare your heart for our time together, here are some suggestions:

1. Read Romans 8:29-9:33

2. Go back and look at 9:1-5 and think through the following questions:

• What is the affirmation of the truth of Paul’s statement?

• What is the attitude of his heart toward those who have rejected Christ?

• What would Paul willingly do to see his fellow Jews be saved?

• What are the benefits that the Jewish people had been given?

• What does this passage say about who Christ is?  

3. Really listen to the songs included here (and on the Spotify playlist) so that when we gather, you’re ready to sing to the Lord with your brothers & sisters in Christ. 

Before the Throne of God Above

As we conclude our time in God’s Word, we’ll be singing this song together. While we’re singing this song congregationally, we can all think very personally as we sing. Because Christ died for me, I have a perfect plea before God’s throne. Jesus sits at God’s right hand and intercedes for me. Jesus brought and end to my sin. God looks on Christ and pardons me. He is my perfect spotless lamb. What a joy it is knowing that we can come into His presence confidently! 

Sunday Evening: James and The Lord’s Table

It’s always a special time to come to the Lord’s Table together. We’ll also be doing a very quick overview of the Epistle of James. Don’t miss this important time in our Body as we come together to celebrate the Gospel. 

As always, be in prayer for:

• Rex and all those who lead the music in our time together.

• Pray that we all come together on Sunday with hearts prepared to engage in intense, focused exaltation of God. 

• Pray that we demonstrate holiness, unity, and love in both our personal lives as well as together as the Body.

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach God’s inerrant Word

Rob

1-1/2 new songs this Sunday!

This coming Sunday, July 2, as we gather for worship, we'll be singing together the song that was introduced last Sunday.

The song's title is "Glorious Christ" and what a beautiful expression this song is! Pulling from ideas found in Romans, Colossians, Philippians, and more - when we sing this song together, we'll truly be exalting Christ and celebrating what He has done. As you think toward our time together this Sunday, read through the lyrics of this song so that you're ready to sing this song:

Glorious Christ

Verse 1
The radiance of the Father before the dawn of time
You spoke and all creation came to be
The molecules and planets reveal Your great design
And every one was made so we could see...
Chorus 1
You are the glorious Christ – The greatest of all delights
Your power is unequaled, Your love beyond all heights
No greater sacrifice than when You laid down Your life
We join the song of angels who praise You day and night
Glorious Christ
Verse 2
You left the air of heaven to breathe the dust of earth
And dwell among the outcast and the poor
You came to be forsaken and died to take our curse
So You could be our joy forevermore
Bridge
You're seated now in heaven, enthroned at God's right hand
You've shattered death and freed us from our fears
And though we cannot see You, You're coming back again
And all will be made right when You appear

Not only that, but we'll be singing another older hymn with some updated lyrics. You may be familiar with the hymn "My Faith Has Found a Resting Place." It's one of the songs I grew up singing. I recently came across some updated lyrics to the song that significantly improved the depth of expression in the song while still being faithful to the "feel" of the original song. There are several things in the song that almost sound as if the song was written for where we are in Romans right now. Imagine that! God, in His sovereignty, brings a song along exactly when we're working through that in Romans? Hmm....

Check out the lyrics to this song - and when we sing it (we did sing it once this past Sunday night), let the lyrics draw you closer to our Awesome Savior and all that He is doing for His Children!

My Faith Has Found a Resting Place (New Lyrics)
Verse 1
My faith has found a resting place, Foundation firm and true
The end of strife and restlessness, At last, no more to do
Chorus 1
I need no other argument, I need no other plea
Not of myself, but by His grace, My soul has been set free
Verse 2
My heart is leaning on the Word, The written Word of God
Salvation by my Savior's name, Salvation through His blood
Chorus 2
I need no other argument, I need no other plea
It is enough the living Word, Proclaims its truth to me
Verse 3
I am His workmanship, prepared For His good works, in love
And yet what worthless offerings, Compared to Christ, above
Chorus 3
I need no other argument, I need no other plea
No earthly hands have made the place, He has prepared for me
Verse 4
My faith has found a resting place, The end of guilt and doubt
He died to pay my debt of sin, And rose to cast death out
Chorus 4
I need no other argument, I need no other plea
It is enough my Savior lives, And intercedes for me
Chorus 5
I need no other argument, I need no other plea
He reigns in righteousness above, One God, eternally

If you're unfamiliar with the tune - here's the original song.

Looking at our Assurance (yes again!!)

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - June 25, 2017

As we continue our series titled “The Great Hymn of Assurance,” we’ll be singing some of the great hymns of our faith and celebrating the security we have in Christ. 

Victory In Jesus

It is because of the victory that Jesus won on the cross that we are saved. As the lyrics so beautifully put it - “He sought me and bought me with His redeeming love.” I’m so thankful for His great work on my behalf. What a joy it always is as we sing this song together! 

Blessed Assurance

Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! When we sing together, we get a glimpse of what it will be like when we gather before the Throne in Heaven. The weight of eternal glory far outweighs the difficulties we face in our daily lives. Christ alone is our rock and our salvation. We are heirs of salvation!  

Prayer of Praise

Remember that as we are led in prayer, we are coming before the Father TOGETHER! And at the conclusion of the prayer, when we all say “Amen!” together it is a beautiful indicator of our unity in Christ. 

Worship through Giving

Giving is an act of worship. The New Testament teaches that our giving should be sacrificial and joyous. When we give back to God, we are acknowledging that everything we have is because of His grace toward us.  

As we take up the offering this Sunday, we’ll begin learning a new song titled “Glorious Christ.” This song is a beautiful expression of who He is. You can listen to the song on the Spotify playlist or watch/listen on YouTube. 

Meditating on God’s Word

We’ll hear directly from God as His Word is read. God desires for us to simply hear His Word read when we gather for worship. Let this element of our worship gathering do as the old hymn says “tune my heart to sing Thy praise.” 

Pastoral Prayer of Petition

What a joy and privilege it is to not just pray for you throughout the week, but to come before the Lord, on behalf of the assembled Body, and pray. I’m truly honored and humbled to be your pastor. I love praying for our church in our worship gathering!

The Solid Rock

At the beginning of the sermon last week, we sang just a few lines from this song. We’ll be singing the entire song together this Sunday reminding us that our salvation is built on what Christ has done, not on anything we might do.  It really is who Christ is and what He has done that provides the rock solid foundation for our hope. As we’ll see in verse 31 this coming Sunday, verses 29-30 are the foundation for our hope. It is because God knows us that we can sing of our great assurance. 

It Is Well with My Soul

Pointing back to verse 28 (“all things work together”) and verse 18 (“the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with [heaven]”) we can have a right perspective in the midst of any trials or difficulties in life. Verse 3 has a great phrase reminding me that all of my confidence lies in His personal, intimate knowledge of me: That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood For my soul. Wow! - He did this for ME!

Sermon: The Great Hymn of Assurance, part 2 - Romans 8:30-39

As we near our conclusion of Romans 8, Paul wraps up this great chapter by taking everything he’s said since verse 1 and summarizing it in to what really is an awesome crescendo of assurance. I know we’ve been talking about security and assurance for weeks now - but how can we ever tire of hearing that, as verse 31 says - God is for us - and what hope does anyone or anything that stands against us have? And yes - I LOVE rhetorical questions. 

He Will Hold Me Fast

We’ve sung this song together several times this year - I could sing it every week. What a beautiful reminder of our security this song always is. And my security is not based on my ability to remain true to God or the strength of my own faith. My security comes because HE holds ME!! I’ll be looking forward to singing this song with my church family all weekend!

Galatians

Sunday Nights @ Fellowship returns this week and we’ll be walking through Galatians. If you have a chance to sit down and read through this entire letter in one sitting, it would really help you be prepared for our study this Sunday night. 

As always, be in prayer for:

• Rex and all those who lead the music in our time together.

• Pray that we all come together on Sunday with hearts prepared to engage in intense, focused exaltation of God. 

• Pray that we demonstrate holiness, unity, and love in both our personal lives as well as together as the Body.

• Pray for Mike Walker as he prepares to teach us Galatians Sunday night. 

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach God’s inerrant Word!

I’m truly looking forward, as I do each week, to our time together as the Body. What a joy and privilege is it to be able to gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ and exalt our Lord together. 

Rob

Our Awesome Assurance in Christ!

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - June 4, 2017

One of the main points in last week’s message (you can watch it here if you weren’t able to be with us) was that everything that happens in our lives, whether we would call it “good” or “bad,” is going to be used by God for our ultimate good. We might not always understand it, but we can be confident that God is in control and that He is working for His glory and our good.

Blessed Be Your Name

The book of Job is usually considered to be the first book written in the Old Testament. I find it very encouraging that, from the beginning, we’re taught how to deal with the trials and struggles of life. This song, inspired by Job 1:21 is a beautiful way to begin our time of worshiping the Lord. We all face difficulty and suffering in our lives, we’ll begin our time together declaring that we will worship God in the midst of whatever we are going through. 

10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

There truly are far more than 10,000 reasons to worship God. The blessings that He pours out on us on a daily basis - every day - every time the sun comes up - give us reason after reason after reason to worship Him. The song says, “For all Your goodness I will keep on singing. Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.” God is good. All the time. 

Prayer of Praise

Even though there is one person leading us in this prayer, we can all join in as he’s praying. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to praise the Lord together, quietly, as we’re led into the throneroom. Remember: our hearty “AMEN!” at the end of the prayer is how we, collectively, say, “I agree!!!” 

Worship through Giving

We should never forget that giving of not just our time and talents, but also of our resources is an act of worship. Whether you give weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly - use this time to meditate on all that God has blessed you with resource-wise and your commitment to give back to him. 

Meditating on God’s Word

We’ll hear directly from God as His Word is read. God desires for us to simply hear His Word read when we gather for worship. Let this element of our worship gathering do as the old hymn says “tune my heart to sing Thy praise.” 

Pastoral Prayer of Petition

What a joy and privilege it is to not just pray for you throughout the week, but to come before the Lord, on behalf of the assembled Body, and pray. I’m truly honored and humbled to be your pastor. I love praying for our church in our worship gathering!

How Firm a Foundation

Again, this song lays out God’s Word as the foundation for our assurance. Whether sickness, health, poverty, wealth, at home, abroad, short days, or long days, we look to God’s Word for it is in His excellent Word that we find the foundation of our faith. God has spoken! What a joy to sing about this.  

Blessed Assurance

Since this song provided the title for the message this week, how can we not sing it?  “Watching and waiting looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love.” What a beautiful expression of our attitude - always looking toward heaven! (the video is a fun bluegrass version of the song - not how we'll do it on Sunday, LOL!)

Sermon: Blessed Assurance, part 2 - Romans 8:28-30

While verse 28 tells us that no matter what we’re going through, God is right in the middle of it - working it for our ultimate good, the next two verses show us both the purpose of our salvation (sanctification) and the progress of our salvation (based on God’s choosing us and reaching it’s fullness in our glorification). Again, what a blessing to see God’s faithfulness in working not just the details of our lives, but the entire timeline of history to our good and His glory. 

As you prepare for our time together, Read through Romans 8:18-30 several times this week and, looking at verses 29-30, think through these questions:

• What does it mean to be “conformed to the image of His Son?”

• What are the five primary terms that stand out in these two verses?

• What is the meaning of each of these words?

• The word “glorified” is a past tense word used for a future event. Why is that? 

• Ultimately, what does these verses teach us about our hope/assurance in Christ?

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness

O God my Father

There is no shadow

Of turning with Thee

Thou changest not

Thy compassions they fail not

As Thou hast been

Thou forever wilt be

What a deep and abiding comfort this is!

Is Genesis History

Don’t forget that we’ll be watching the film “Is Genesis History” for two consecutive Sundays, June 4 and June 11 in our evening service. This film will equip you to not only understand the truth of a literal six day creation, but help you to defend the truth of Genesis in a culture that desperately wants to deny it. 

As always, be in prayer for:

• Rex and all those who lead the music in our time together.

• Pray that we all come together on Sunday with hearts prepared to engage in intense, focused exaltation of God. 

• Pray that we demonstrate holiness, unity, and love in both our personal lives as well as together as the Body.

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach God’s inerrant Word!

I’m truly looking forward, as I do each week, to our time together as the Body. What a joy and privilege is it to be able to gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ and exalt our Lord together. 

Rob

P.S. - In the next couple of weeks, we'll be learning a new song. This song has some amazing lyrics that extol the awesomeness of Christ in a great way - I'm really looking forward to singing this song together as a family. If you have a few minutes, listen to it a time or two ahead of time: