Intense, Focused Exaltation of God

This Sunday's songs are on Spotify. 

If you've missed any of the sermons in the "church" series, they're all available on the church website: www.fellowshipjoplin.org

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - March 5, 2017

We’ve finished our study of Worship and what a great time it’s been. I’ve truly enjoyed not only studying the subject deeper, but teaching through many elements of what we do when we gather together. What a joy it is each week to meet with my brothers and sisters in Christ for a time of turning our minds and hearts to focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ. 

As we continue through a few more weeks of our series, I’m really looking forward to growing together in our worship of Christ. If we all come to our gathering intentionally and prepared, we can truly make the most of our time together each week. 

As we begin this Sunday, we’ll be singing a song that we learned in January. It’s probably not a song we all know as well as some others, but the lyrics are so perfect for turning our minds and hearts to the One we have gathered to exalt!

Oh, How Good It Is

It is always a joy to come together as brothers and sisters in Christ. As we prepare to look at the dynamic of growing spiritually together, this song is all about us walking together in the Spirit and in the bond of peace. The chorus is so fantastic:

So with one voice we'll sing to the Lord

And with one heart we'll live out His word

Till the whole earth sees

The Redeemer has come

For He dwells in the presence of His people

How Great Thou Art

Who doesn’t love this song? Then sings my soul.... How great Thou art!. Worship begins in the heart, and as we strive or intense, focused exaltation, this is a wonderful way to help our minds lead our hearts in worshiping our awesome Lord!

(the instrumentation on this version is quite different from what we have, but it’s a great version of this beautiful Hymn)

Meditating on God’s Word

Keep up with Psalm 103. Even if you’re not quoting the passage, if you’re working on memorizing it, then in a couple more weeks, you’ll have all of Psalm 103 memorized. This will help you to really meditate on some of the wonderful aspects of who God is. 

My Ransom

I came across this song about a year ago on YouTube and fell in love with it immediately. I can’t wait to hear our choir leading us to the throne with this song! 

Worship through Giving

As I pointed out last week, when we give back to the Lord, it’s an act of worship. Whether you’re giving this week, gave last week, or give once a month, remember that our giving should be sacrificial and joyous. During this time, as you pray, acknowledge the Lord’s provision for you, pray for your own heart and attitude, pray that He would receive your act of worship, and that He would use your gift for the advance of His kingdom.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

As we sing together, may the Spirit enable us to sing praises to Him from our hearts!

This version, from the first David Crowder Band album over 10 years ago remains one of my favorite recordings of the song. 

Grace Greater than Our Sins

Since we started our study of Romans a little more than a year ago, this song has become one of my favorite songs. I love singing about the overwhelming grace of God poured out for us on the cross. 

Sermon: What Is Discipleship?

One of the joys of being a member of a church is that you’re intentionally involved in relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ where we are not only seeking to grow spiritually, but are also committed to helping each other grow. What should we be striving for when it comes to the process of discipleship? What does it look like when a church is rightly committed to a culture of discipleship, where we’re all striving to help each other love Christ more? 

O Church Arise

We should always be striving together toward the advance of the Kingdom of God. As we sing this song, notice that the dominant theme is the church together. We’ll stand, Our Call, We will fight, we know, that we may run... This song is about advancing together as the church - one of the results of true disicpleship. 

We’ll conclude our time by reflecting on our time together. After our time of contemplation, we’ll conclude our time together with a prayer of consecration, and then head out into the mission field!

Sunday Nights @ Fellowship - this Sunday night, our study is an Introduction to Paul’s Letters.  

We start at 5:00 and are done by 6:00 p.m.,

We’ll be singing When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and He Will Hold Me Fast. While we’ve only been singing He Will Hold Me Fast for a short time, this song is one that I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of. We’ll be singing the new verse I mentioned this past Sunday. How coll is it that we’ll be singing a song written over 100 years ago, then added to first several years ago, and finally, just a couple of weeks back!!!    

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 this week.

As always, I’m really looking forward to our time together this Sunday - it truly is the highlight of my week. 

Rob

It's all about Jesus!

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - February 26, 2017

We’re opening our service this week a little bit differently. We’ll begin by turning our thoughts to many of the Attributes of Jesus and then our combined Adult and Children’s Choirs will pick up there and continue to lead us in exalting Him as the Lion and the Lamb and the King of kings. What a great beginning to our time together this promises to be!

The Lion and the Lamb

Below are the songs we’ll be singing together this Sunday. Take some time to listen to them so that you can make the most of our time together. The more familiar you are with the songs, the better you’ll be able to truly engage in exalting Christ as we sing together, pray together, and study God’s Word together. 

May the Peoples Praise You

What a great new song this has been to learn this month. It’s such a fantastic expression of what we have gathered for. As we open our time of singing together with the opening words of this song perfectly set the stage for our time together:

You have called us out of darkest night

Into Your glorious light

That we may sing the wonders of

The risen Christ

  

This Is Amazing Grace

Who breaks the power of sin and darkness? I love the series of questions and answers that this song brings. How can these things not lead us to celebrate His Amazing Grace?

Meditating on God’s Word

We’re currently memorizing Psalm 103. If you keep up with the memory work, in a couple more weeks, you’ll have all of Psalm 103 memorized. Stay disciplined and work on memorizing this wonderful Psalm. 

We’ll also hear God’s Word read to us during this time. It’s always a highlight to me when we simply read God’s Word and hear Him speaking to us!

Prayer of Praise

What a joy and privilege it is to pray together. I appreciate the men who lead us in this time of praising God for all that He has done for us. It’s such a privilege to approach the Throne of Grace with both confidence and humility.

Sermon: Ephesians 5:18-19

We’ll conclude our study of Worship this week and spend some time walking through what our singing together should look like. What kinds of songs should we sing? While the Scriptures don’t give us a list of songs, a defined order or worship, or even a distinct “style” of music, they are very clear in what we are to do. What a joy it is to open God’s Word and hear from Him.   

Behold Our God

We spent two weeks in the throne room. This song is a beautiful expression of the joy it is to behold Him on His throne. We truly serve an awesome God - in every conceivable way!

Offering

When we gather, everything we do is to be done unto the Lord, to show Him His infinite worth to us. That’s the foundation of the word “worth-ship,” the root of our word “worship.” What better way to express His worth to us than to give back to Him a portion of the financial resources He has so richly blessed us with. 

Amazing Grace

There’s really not much to say about this hymn other than it’s been a beloved hymn for hundreds of years. I always love singing this together! One of our young men recently commented on this song, saying, “You can’t go wrong with Amazing Grace!” I agree.

All Because of Jesus

As we prepare to head back out into the world - let these words ring in your ears all week - it’s all because of Jesus! 

Sunday Nights @ Fellowship - Tonight, we’re looking at the Acts of the Apostles 

We start at 5:00 and are done by 6:00 p.m.,

We’ll be singing Victory in Jesus, Grace Greater than Our Sin, and There Is a Redeemer together as we celebrate all that Christ has done.    

As always, be in prayer for:

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

• Those who will be praying and reading Scripture

• Pray for yourself that God prepares your heart for what He wants to teach you through His Word.

• Pray for the Body that God places in each of us a deep desire to worship Him.

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach this week.

Last weekend’s marriage retreat was fantastic. It was a wonderful time of teaching led by several of the men in our church and we all enjoyed some great fellowship as well. Amy and I had a wonderful time with 18 other couples from our church. I’m also really looking forward to being together with the whole body gathered this Sunday. Come ready to exalt our glorious Savior!

Rob

Worship Guide for Sunday, February 19, 2017

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - February 19, 2017

As you prepare for our time together, read through these thoughts and listen to the songs so that you can make the most of our time together this Sunday.

Read 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 to turn your mind and heart toward praising the Lord. 

Forever

What better way to begin our time than singing a song drawn directly from God’s Word! 

May the Peoples Praise You

While this is a new song for us, I’m really growing to enjoy singing it together. I can hear everyone singing it louder and louder each week. What an encouragement it is to hear everyone singing together. My spot up in the front of the congregation is a great spot, as I can really hear our Body singing together well from there. 

O God Our Help in Ages Past

What a wonderful reminder of the faithfulness of God throughout the generations. I love this version of the song! Pay close attention to Verse 2

Under the shadow of Thy throne

Still may we dwell secure

Sufficient is Thine arm alone

And our defense is sure

Wow! What a fantastic truth! Our defense is sure! We have no need to fear anything when we are under the protection of the King of the universe! He truly is, as the ending of the song says, “worthy of our praise.” (kind of an understatement, huh?)

Now Why this Fear

Since I first heard this song a couple of years ago, it’s become one of my favorite songs (there are probably 10-20 songs that rotate through that list). Originally written by Augustus Toplady in 1772, this song has a beautiful theological depth that draws you to love Christ more as you sing the song. Be sure and read through the lyrics  (http://sovereigngracemusic.org/music/songs/now-why-this-fear/) and then go listen to it again!

Read through Matthew 10: 26-33. Randy Corp will be preaching about our citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Because Jesus is our King, and He holds all authority in His hands, we have no need to fear. We can boldly follow Him in obedience and proclaim His message with confidence! We truly have an amazing Savior! 

Wonderful Merciful Savior

What a wonderful meditation on who Christ is and what He has done for His children. He has rescued us and so we worship, adore, and praise Him. What a joy it is to sing to our God and celebrate His love for us!! (I can’t hardly stop listening to this song - I love the simplicity of this version of the song).

Fellowship House2House - This Sunday is our first “House 2 House” of the new year.  Be sure and make plans to get together with someone for lunch or dinner. You can go out to a restaurant, invite someone to your home, or even invite yourself over to someone else’s house (give them a little warning, LOL!). Don’t miss out on this opportunity to become more intertwined with your brothers and sisters in Christ here at Fellowship. 

As you spend time in prayer this week, pray for:

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

• Those who will be praying and reading Scripture

• Pray for yourself that God prepares your heart for what He wants to teach you through His Word.

• Pray for the Body that God places in each of us a deep desire to worship Him.

• Pray for Randy as he prepares to preach from Matthew 10 this week.

• Pray for the 20 couples from our church who will be at our 4th Annual Marriage retreat all weekend. 3

While I’ll be with a fantastic group at our Marriage Retreat this week, and Amy and I both love spending the weekend with others from our church, I will miss being with the entire Body and worshiping with you all. I’m looking forward to continuing our series on the Church next Sunday when we finish looking at Ephesians 5:18-19 and how that passage, and others, speak to our time together each week, 

We're now on Spotify!

Here's the link. Click on the link and you can listen to the songs on your computer, mobile phone, etc. 

https://open.spotify.com/user/robsigns/playlist/43VUO3dDNbnff29AkdXxNc#

May the grace and peace of God be with you each day as you live a life of worship! 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Rob

...as we join together to Exalt our Savior!

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - February 12, 2017

So we’ve looked into the Throne Room of heaven, seen the atmosphere and activity of Heaven. We’ve also seen that Christ and what He did for us on the cross is central in heaven. The question we still have to ask is: so what does that mean for our worship here on earth? What should we be doing when we gather for worship. Not only the Throne Room, but also in other passages, we see instruction for what kinds of activities should occur when the Body of Christ gathers on the Lord’s Day. 

Below are the songs we’ll be singing together this Sunday. Take some time to listen to them and read the passages listed so that you can make the most of our time together. The more familiar you are with the songs, the better you’ll be able to truly engage in exalting Christ as we sing together, pray together, and study God’s Word together. 

May the Peoples Praise You

We opened our service last week with this song and will do that again this week. What a great way to begin our time of focusing our minds and hearts on what Christ has done for us.  

Majesty

God’s majesty and authority flow from His throne! As we’ve seen the cherubim, elders, angels, and every living thing sing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” we will praise Him for His majesty and more this week. 

Fighter Verse

We’re currently memorizing Psalm 103. The first week, we memorized Psalm 103:1-4, this past week was verses 5-7. If you stay current, you’ll soon have Psalm 103 memorized. 

Jesus Loves Me

Our choir will be singing this song about what Christ has done for us in Salvation. His love for me is truly astounding!

When I Survey the Wonderful Cross

Written in 1707 by Isaac Watts, this song turns our focus to the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross on behalf of all His children. As we strive to always keep what Christ has done for us as the central focus of our Worship Gatherings, this song definitely keeps us on track!  

Show Us Christ

The main goal of preaching for all of us is to exalt Christ, and this song really helps turn our thoughts to why we have gathered.

Sermon: Ephesians 5:18-19

After seeing what worship is like in the Throne Room for the past two weeks, this week, we turn our attention to specifically what our worship is. If you haven’t had a chance, carefully read through Psalms 95-100, paying attention to the expressions of worship you see there. 

In Christ Alone

As we consider all that we do when we gather for worship, the focus should always be on Christ and what He has done for us. This song is such a beautiful summary of the hope that is found in a relationship with Christ alone. 

Victory In Jesus

For our Benediction this week, as we prepare to leave our time together and head back out to our daily lives, let the victory that you have because of what Christ has done for you be the song that echoes in your head and heart all through the week. 

Sunday Nights @ Fellowship - Tonight, we’re looking at the Luke’s Gospel. 

We start at 5:00 and are done by 6:00 p.m.,

After the teaching time at the beginning, we’ll be coming to The Lord’s Table together to celebrate the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Don’t miss out on this wonderful time together as the Body of Christ.   

As you spend time in prayer this week, pray for:

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

• Those who will be praying and reading Scripture

• Pray for yourself that God prepares your heart for what He wants to teach you through His Word.

• Pray for the Body that God places in each of us a deep desire to worship Him.

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach this week.

Sundays really are the “icing on the cake!” Can’t wait to join with you all as we exalt our great God!

Rob

What's going on in Heaven right now?

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - February 5, 2017

This week's music playlist is now on Spotify! Here's the link. 

What would you do if you found out you could take a peek into the Throne Room of heaven right now? Would you want to see what is happening there even as you read this? Well you can! We began a two week study of Revelation 4 & 5 last week and it is truly awesome to see the intense, focused exaltation of God revealed to us in Scripture. 

We’ll continue looking at the Throne Room this week. If you missed last week’s message, be sure and watch it before this Sunday as these two messages dovetail into each other to help paint a picture of worship in Heaven so that we can better worship Him here each Sunday that we gather. Here’s the link: http://fellowshipjoplin.org/resources/media?id=235011 

As you prepare for our time together, read through these thoughts and listen to the songs (especially the first one - it’s new, but it’s a great song!) so that you can make the most of our time together this Sunday.

May the Peoples Praise You

Our choir introduced this song to us last week. As we’re in the middle of a study on worship and striving to be more intense and focused in our exaltation of God, this song is such a great expression of our privilege and joy to praise our glorious God! Listen to this song several times 

When singing about our coming together to praise God, what better hymn to continue thinking about gathering for the purpose of worship than the hymn

O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

This tune is just a little different than we usually sing it, and it includes a new verse, but it’s still a great version of the song that should help prepare you to joyfully sing when we gather together this Sunday. 

Alleluia! Glory, Honor, & Majesty

It’s always great to hear the collective voices of our choir extolling the majesty of who God is.  

Come People of the Risen King

As we continue to think about the throne room of heaven, and our worship, this song will help us, as the lyrics say, “tune our hearts to sing to the Morning Star of grace”

The refrain says “Rejoice, Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!”  I can’t wait to sing this song with everyone on Sunday!

Revelation Song

We’ll be studying Revelation 5 this week, looking in to the Throne Room of Heaven. What better way to usher us into this time of studying God’s Word than to sing of the Lamb who was slain for our sins? I always love singing this song, and as we’ve been looking at “Holy, Holy, Holy” before the throne, I can’t think of a better way to prepare us to dig into this passage of Scripture. 

Be sure and take some time this week to read through Revelation 4 and 5. Last week, we saw such an amazing picture of the worship that’s going on in heaven right now. This week, in Revelation 5, we’ll see the Lamb, the Worthy One, who is also unique and is to be exalted in all of creation. This is a breathtaking passage. 

Before the Throne of God Above

If it were not for the Lamb of God who was slain from before the foundation of the world and sits at the right hand of the Father, who reigns on His throne, I would have no hope. My hope, my confidence, my perfect plea, is in what Christ did on my behalf. This hymn, written only 10 years ago, contains some amazingly rich truth in it! 

Sunday Nights @ Fellowship - Tonight, we’re looking at the Gospel of John. 

We start at 5:00 and are done by 6:00 p.m.,

We’ll be singing Wonderful, Merciful Savior and Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It!  as well as praying together.  

As soon as we’re done (no later than 6:00 p.m.), we’ll be turning on “The Game” (I’m not exactly sure what this means, but the sports people tell me it’s a football game that draws the interest of quite a few people, so 

As you spend time in prayer this week, pray for:

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

• Those who will be praying and reading Scripture

• Pray for yourself that God prepares your heart for what He wants to teach you through His Word.

• Pray for the Body that God places in each of us a deep desire to worship Him.

• Pray for me as I prepare to preach from Revelation 5 this week.

Sundays really are the “icing on the cake!” Can’t wait to join with you all as we exalt our great God!

Rob