Romans 12:3-8 - the short version....

As you seek to put God's Word into action and worship Him with your whole body each day, here's a summary of this past Sunday's message:

Romans 1-11 lays out the gospel foundation that chapters 12-16 are built on. 

As we begin our study of these chapters, 

This is what the Christian life looks like, so we should pursue these things passionately

Verse 3 - How to think about yourself

Before turning to address life in the Body of Christ, Paul first speaks to us individually to get the “humility, not pride” thing taken care of. We have to think rightly about ourselves so that we can serve the Body with a right mindset.

(Oh - by the way: If you’re reading these words - YOU. STRUGGLE. WITH. PRIDE.)

sober judgment 

The Foundation of this is found in Romans 3:10-18. You do not deserve any of this. 

Start there - then think about these three things each day:

1. You’re made in the image of God

Unlike the rest of creation, you have a unique ability to intentionally glorify God

2. The Spirit of God dwells in you

Both empowering you to live for Him and giving you assurance that you are His.

3. God has a plan to use you

in His kingdom and for His glory!

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

It’s God’s image - God’s Spirit - God’s plan (not yours, right?)

For a believer with a renewed mind, this should lead to:

Confidence without Conceit

Verses 4 & 5 - How to think about US

This is the central foundation of life in the Body of Christ.

[we are... mutually dependent on each other]

• Our unity is found “in Christ”

Jesus Himself creates the “US”

We are like siblings. Because we all have the same Father, we are, therefore, brothers and sisters. This truth goes deep - far deeper and more profound than the family analogy gives. When we are saved, He creates a union and we have access to Him and His resources.

In Christ, we have:

  Grace

  Redemption

  Justification

  Forgiveness

  No condemnation

  new creation

  eternal life

  all our needs are supplied in Christ

  every spiritual blessing

  we will be presented perfect in Christ

  there is no separating us from the love of God in Christ...

And this “in Christ” that we experience – we experience TOGETHER

2. We are still individuals

We’re not mindless worker bees. Our individual differences are a product of God’s work in our lives as the Body. 

Our true individuality is found, discovered, experienced in our service to the Body of Christ

Meaning: You need the Body and the Body needs you

3. God’s Grace both empowers and sustains everything 

We have different gifts and abilities. God made us uniquely with the gifts, skills, abilities and passions that we have to serve Him through His Church.

Ephesians 4:17 – the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Verses 6-8 - What you should do: SERVE!

Paul is giving us a very specific application. He couldn’t be any clearer and this couldn’t be any more practical. What is God’s will for your life? It absolutely includes serving your church. 

Verse 6 ^– Having gifts that differ... let us use them: 

This isn’t a comprehensive list of gifts, but a “categories of gifting” in the broad sense.

prophecy - This isn’t about an ability to predict the future, but it’s about speaking the truth of God to encourage and strengthen others.

serving - This is same Greek word as “deacon.” It simply means helping others in a practical way

teaching - the ability to explain God’s truth in a clear and systematic way. Pastors must have this gift. Others will have it too.

exhortation - the ability to effectively call others to obey and follow God’s truth. It can be “negative” in admonishing and correcting sin or “positive” when it encourages, comforts, and strengthens those who are struggling. 

the one who contributes... with generosity

The sacrificial sharing of your resources.

Leading - the idea is steering the ship. 

acts of mercy - actively showing sympathy and sensitivity to those in suffering and sorrow. 

cheerfulness - a crucial attitude to go along with mercy - to be genuinely helpful. 

Two obvious concluding questions:

1. Do you have an attitude of humility?

Read Philippians 2:1-11 

... look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

It’s not a one time - and done - thing. 

This will be a constant battle for all of us. 

2. Are you engaged and serving?

Everyone is called to serve in some way. 

Think through your spiritual gifting:

It begins with that unique spiritual “thing” that God has given you and then includes your skills, talents, abilities, resources, and passions. 

Here’s what you should do:

Get a copy of the “Thinking Through Your Gifting” sheet and begin working through it as you seek to be serving God in your church in specific, tangible ways. 

Worshiping TOGETHER as the Body!

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - February 25, 2018

We return to our study through Romans this week. This is really the “big turn” in Romans. After 11 chapters expounding the gospel of God’s grace, Paul turns to explain in great detail how we are to live out the rich theological truths of the gospel. This is where it gets practical!

Call to Worship

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, one of the things that guides our worship planning is the “hourglass.” When we gather for worship, at the beginning, our thoughts are often still on the many things going on in our daily lives. The “Call to Worship” is when we intentionally begin to turn our thoughts away from that and toward Christ. 

Doxology (Amen)

(Warning: the history nerd in me is about to come out) When it was first published as “The Doxology” in 1709, the words we sing had apparently been in use for over 25 years. There are 14 verses in the original song, and this Sunday, we’ll be singing a verse we don’t typically sing. I always enjoy discovering a new version of a classic hym that does it justice - this one definitely does!

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

(I've loved the old Crowder band version of this song from the first time I heard it)

“tune my heart to sing Thy praise!” What a great song to sing together as one Body as we begin our time together. Considering God’s mercy should drive us to intense, focused exaltation! Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise

You might have guessed along the way somewhere that I love hymns and while I don’t have a list of “favorites” written down anywhere - if I did, this song would be on it for sure. 

Prayer of Praise

This prayer reflects our desire to tighten our focus (moving further in to the center of the “hourglass”) on praising the Lord for who He is and what He has done for US.

Bringing Tithes and Offerings

Giving of our resources is an act of worship. This time in our service, accompanied by our choir singing about God’s awesome love for US, is an opportunity to worship Him by giving back a portion of what He has blessed each of us with financially. 

Glorious Christ

As we continue to focus on who Christ is and what He has done, this song (that was introduced a few months back during the offering one Sunday) These two songs express the change that the gospel has brought in our lives. 

In the first song, we’ll sing For Thee all the follies of sin I resign. This is a great encapsulation of how the gospel changes the details of how we live our lives. The second song should be the cry of our heart - Knowing You, Jesus knowing you - there is no greater thing. These two songs express both the heart attitude and the outward response of a life changed by the love of Christ. 

Community

Be sure and listen to the tune and read the lyrics a few times - We’ve heard this before (it’s the song that played during the slide show of members we showed a few weeks back), but it’s still a relatively new song for us. What a joy it will be to sing these words together! (check out the lyrics in the comments section)

Sermon: Worshiping TOGETHER, Romans 12:3-13

Read through Romans 12:3-13 several times between now and Sunday morning and think through the following questions so that we can all make the most of our time together:

  • Who specifically is Paul speaking to in these verses? (v. 3)

  • How are we to think about ourselves? 

  • Does this come naturally?

  • Why does Paul use the term “body” to describe the church?

  • How should the phrase “individually members one of another” 

    in verse 5 influence how you think about your fellow church members? 

  • Why does Paul list seven gifts? Why do you think he doesn’t include all the same

    gifts he mentions elsewhere?

  • What should genuine love look like in our church?

  • Is there any evil that you need to grow in your hatred for?

  • Who have you shown genuine love and brotherly affection for this week?

  • Are you experiencing tribulation in any form? What is your attitude toward it?

  • How are you contributing to the needs of others?

  • How are you showing hospitality?

We Are the Body of Christ

As we sat down earlier this week to plan our worship gathering, this was the first song that came to mind after reading this week’s sermon passage. We sang this song several times during the “It’s About US” series at the beginning of the year and what a great way to respond to this passage: singing about who WE are as HIS Body!

Be Praying for:

• Nathan White as he prepares to lead us musically this Sunday. (Rex is on his annual birthday vacation hike this weekend and Nathan is filling in for him).  

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

• Pray that we are obedient to God’s commands and strive for the unity He has called us to. 

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

Rob

I hate missing church!!

So we had to cancel our worship gathering last week due to the "skating rink" that was most of Joplin. I always hate not being able to gather together with everyone on Sundays and I'm really looking forward to our time together in a couple of days.

Take a few minutes to read through the worship order, read Sunday's sermon passage, and pray for US as we prepare to gather as His Body this coming Sunday morning. 

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - February 18, 2018

We return to our study through Romans this week. This is really the “big turn” in Romans. After 11 chapters expounding the gospel of God’s grace, Paul turns to explain in great detail how we are to live out the rich theological truths of the gospel. This is where it gets practical!

Call to Worship

This is a call to the gathered Body to turn away from the cares of daily life and focus our mind’s attention and heart’s affection on Christ. The goal is to set aside the distractions we face daily and exalt our great God together. 

This Is Amazing Grace

While the Isaac Watts song “Amazing Grace” is a favorite hymn of many, this song puts forth a similar theme in a very “declare His glory (Psalm 96)” way. As we begin our time celebrating the gospel, this song is a fantastic expression of all that He has done for US.

Cornerstone

This is the old hymn “The Solid Rock,” with a new tune and chorus. While I really love the original (I’d be happy singing it every week), this new version is great too. The new chorus expresses beautiful Biblical truths. 

Prayer of Praise

This prayer reflects our desire to tighten our focus (moving further in to the center of the “hourglass”) on praising the Lord for who He is and what He has done for US.

Bringing Tithes and Offerings

Giving of our resources is an act of worship. This time in our service, accompanied by our choir singing about God’s awesome love for US, is an opportunity to worship Him by giving back a portion of what He has blessed each of us with financially. 

My Jesus, I Love Thee and Knowing You

These two songs express the change that the gospel has brought in our lives. 

In the first song, we’ll sing For Thee all the follies of sin I resign. This is a great encapsulation of how the gospel changes the details of how we live our lives. The second song should be the cry of our heart - Knowing You, Jesus knowing you - there is no greater thing. These two songs express both the heart attitude and the outward response of a life changed by the love of Christ. 

Catechism

This week, one of our families will quote question 6 (How can we glorify God?) and we’ll read question 7 (What Does the Law of God require?). Both questions lead perfectly into the sermon passage for the day - God’s timing is so awesome!

Sermon: A Life of Worship, Romans 12:1-2

Read through Romans 12:1-2 several times between now and Sunday morning and think through the following questions so that we can all make the most of our time together:

  • What is Paul appealing to as he begins this second half of Romans?

  • What do you know about the Old Testament sacrificial system?

  • What are we to present to God as a sacrifice?

  • What does it mean to be conformed to this world?

  • How are we to be changed?

  • How would Paul have us discern God’s will?

  • How does Paul describe God’s will? 

Take My Life and Let it Be Consecrated

As we sat down earlier this week to plan our worship gathering, this was the first song that came to mind. We always begin our worship planning session by reading the sermon passage - and this song came to mind immediately. Read these words and be prepared to sing them as a prayer of consecration together. They’re beautiful!
(the tune on the video is different - this is NOT how we'll sing it Sunday, we'll sing the traditional tune, but it's a beautiful version of the song)

   Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee

   Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise

   Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love

   Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee

   Take my voice and let me sing always only for my King

   Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee

   Take my silver and my gold – not a mite would I withhold

   Take my intellect and use ev’ry pow’r as Thou shalt choose

   Take my will and make it Thine – it shall be no longer mine

   Take my heart it is Thine own and it shall be Thy royal throne

   Take my love my Lord I pour. At Thy feet its treasure store

   Take myself and I will be ever only all for Thee

As always, be in prayer for:

• Rex, the worship team, and choirs as they prepare to lead us in singing.  

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

• Pray that we are obedient to God’s commands and strive for the unity He has called us to. 

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

Rob

What's coming this Sunday (2/11)

Preparing Your Heart for Worship - Sunday, February 11, 2018

This weekend is our annual Marriage Retreat - 25 couples from our church will be heading out to the Bradford Inn in Branson for a weekend of fun, food, fellowship, and most importantly - strengthening our marriages. We all covet your prayers during the weekend. 

In addition to praying for our retreat, be praying for Nathan White as he prepares to preach in our worship gathering this Sunday. Nathan grew up at Fellowship, and what a joy it has been to see him following God’s path! He’s going to bring us a message from 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 titled, “The Better Wisdom of God.”

Call to Worship

We have a Call to Worship each week. It’s typically a short, Scripture-based exhortation calling us all to turn away from the cares of daily life and turn to Christ. We gather each Sunday to turn our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection to Christ - this is when that time formally begins.  

This Is Amazing Grace

While the Isaac Watts song “Amazing Grace” is a favorite hymn of many, this song puts forth a similar theme in a very “declare His glory (Psalm 96)” way. As we begin our time celebrating the gospel, this song is a fantastic expression of all that He has done for US.

Cornerstone

This is the old hymn “The Solid Rock,” with a new tune and chorus. While I really love the original (I’d be happy singing it every week), this new version is great too. The new chorus expresses beautiful Biblical truths. 

Prayer of Praise

This prayer, led by one of our Deacons this week, reflects our desire to tighten our focus (moving further in to the center of the “hourglass”) on praising the Lord for who He is and what He has done for US.

Catechism

What a joy it’s been to be learning these things together. I’m excited to see where this new method of discipling our children together leads us. 

Meditating on God’s Word

1 Timothy 4:13 – devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture. Each week, we select a passage of Scripture that helps to prepare us for the sermon. It is sometimes a parallel passage, and sometimes a complimentary passage. The goal is to simply hear God’s voice as we meditate on His Word. 

All I Have is Christ & Hallelujah, What a Savior

(Click here to get a wonderful version of "Hallelujah! What a Savior" featuring Joni Eareckson Tada)

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

These two songs are beautiful expressions of the gospel, expressing our need to not rely on our own wisdom, but look to God and what He had accomplished on our behalf in Christ. 

Sermon: The Better Wisdom of God

Be reading through the sermon passage, 1 Corinthians 1:18-23, between now and Sunday to better prepare yourself for Nathan’s sermon. And be praying for Nathan that the Lord would use Him to teach us to follow Jesus better. 

Jesus, Thank You

We typically sing this song when we celebrate the Lord’s Table (as we will next Sunday evening), but will be singing it as a response to the message this Sunday. I was captured by this song from the first time I heard it. Not only is the gospel clearly laid out, but also what my response should be. What a great way to respond to the message - singing these words together! My favorite line is “once Your enemy - now seated at Your  table.” WOW! As we just sang - Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Benediction - I Will Boast

This song is a great summary of the sermon - as we prepare to head back out into the world for the week - let these words echo in your heart and remind you that we boat in Christ alone!

Be in prayer for:

• Rex, the worship team, and choirs as they prepare to lead us in singing.  

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

• Pray that we are obedient to God’s commands and strive for the unity He has called us to. 

• Pray for Nathan as he prepares to preach God’s inspired, inerrant, sufficient, authoritative Word. 

Rob

What's all this "preparing your heart" stuff?

I’ve always enjoyed museums. When I was growing up, I visited the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth often, but it wasn’t until I took an Architecture class in college that I discovered that I’d been doing the Kimbell wrong all along. 

Called by some “the most architecturally perfect building in Texas, if not the world,” there was a specific way that architect Louis Kahn had intended for people to enter the museum to help prepare them for the experience of viewing art in the galleries. 

You’re supposed to walk on the grass, enter a small grove of trees, where you’re now walking on gravel and between two waterfalls. Go up the low wide stairs to the covered porch, through the glass doors, and into the museum. Inside, the floors and walls are all concrete, and the galleries are lit with a lot of natural light that shifts and changes as the sun passes over. I had always come in the back door from the parking lot. 

When I went back to the museum, and entered the way the designer intended, it was a completely different experience. I felt the sun overhead as I crossed the field, noticed the shade and the “crunching” of the gravel as I passed under the trees, the sound of the water, the coolness of the porch, and even the environment change when going through the front doors. It really did help to come in the right way. 

It’s much the same when we gather on Sunday mornings. We are gathering as Christ’s Body for a specific purpose - to exalt our glorious and awesome Savior for who He is and what He has done for us. When we come in rightly prepared for our time together, we not only have a more focused encounter with the Living God, but we also experience greater unity as His People. 

Just like visiting the Kimbell, there’s the “easy-don’t-think-about-it” way of pulling in to the parking lot and just going in the closest door. But if you’re intentional to enter as the creator intended, it’s a whole different experience.

Our Sunday morning worship gathering is the main thing we do each week and there are two things you can do each week to prepare yourself to “enter” that time intentionally. 

First - be reading the passage that will be preached on. The weekly bulletin and prayer guide both have next week’s sermon passage listed. 

Second - be praying for our church throughout the week. 

Pray through Ephesians 3:14-19, and/or the daily prayers in the Prayer guide. 

Also: if you check out this blog, you’ll find an outline of our service each week, including the songs we’ll be singing. Listen to the songs (especially if there’s a new one, or one you’re not familiar with), look at the general flow (which is leading us toward the sermon passage), and come prepared to worship the Lord with your brothers and sisters. 

John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 

Let’s commit ourselves to preparing our hearts to worship Him in Spirit and Truth together each week!

Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor Rob 

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