The Gathering - Part 19

     If you are like me, you started a One Year Bible Reading Program (again) and breezed through Genesis, slowed down in Exodus and came to a complete stop in Leviticus. I'm making progress this year - I made it to Numbers! Not sharing this to boast, but to help explain what was different this year. I began to understand the context for the laws and regulations of Leviticus. What was God doing by handing down 247 laws in this book alone? He wanted to let the Israelites know how it was possible to live in God's presence. All throughout the scriptures we see God desiring to dwell among a people that belong to Him - the Garden, the Tabernacle, the Temple, Jesus, the Church, Heaven! The problem is God's holy presence cannot be approached by those who are defiled and impure - expulsion from the Garden, death of Nadab and Abihu, and on and on it goes. Sinful creatures separated from their creator.
     As we jump deeper into the last section of our purpose statement, "to live in light of this covenantal relationship with God and with each other" we must keep Leviticus in mind. We can't come flippantly into God's presence and we certainly can't live in a relationship with Him in an impure state. Next time we will take a look at how the Gathering should motivate us to live in light of this New Covenant with God the Father through the blood of Jesus the Son empowered by the Holy Spirit.

"Father, as we gather this week, may we not come casually or without thought. Help us to comprehend Your holiness and Your desire for us to approach. Allow us to recognize that we are completely unable to produce any purity in our lives that makes us acceptable to You. Show us Christ! Amen!"

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

     by Isaac Watts

This Is Amazing Grace

     by Jeremy Riddle | Josh Farro | Phil Wickham

Good Good Father

     by Anthony Brown | Pat Barrett

I Love You (FSat, F1, F3)
     by Yancy

My Jesus I Love Thee
     by William Featherston, additional verse Mike Lukens

This Word (FSat, F1, F3)
     by Amy Sandstrom-Shroyer      

'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (F2)
     by Louise Stead

The Rock Won't Move
     by Jacob Sooter | Kyle Fredricks | Landon MacDonald | Tyler Miller

The Gathering - Part Eighteen

Once again, we have stated that the purpose of corporate worship is . . . 

"to remember what God has done to bring us into relationship with Himself through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to celebrate the communion that is now possible with God, to give attention to His word and to recommit to living within the grace of this covenantal relationship with God and each other."

     We want to spend the next few posts exploring the last section of this purpose statement. The response to what takes place as we remember, celebrate and give attention is that we recommit to living within the grace of this covenantal relationship with God and each other. The worship gathering should prepare us and motivatate us to go out and live lives of worship. As has often been said at FBC at the end of our services, "Now the worship service truly begins!" One of the clearest calls to this is found in Romans 12:1. Here Paul urges us, because of the mercies of God, to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Our lives ought to be an offering of worship to God! It's as if we are adding a huge AMEN! to the end of the worship gathering. Because of what we have seen, heard, celebrated, we are proclaiming that we desire to live out the calling that God has called us to - to bring Him glory with all of our lives. Worship gatherings that don't lead us to this place fall short. No one in scripture every had an encounter with the living God and went away unaffected.

"Father, may our worship gatherings this weekend lead us to the place where we desire to offer our lives to You. May they be lived out for Your glory and used to bless those we come in contact with this week. Give us the grace to live this out. Amen!"

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Rejoice

     by Dustin Kensrue | Stuart Townend

Great are You Lord

     by David Leonard | Jason Ingram | Leslie Jordan

Strong to Save

     by Eddie Hoagland | Tyler Miller

Christ the Lord is Risen Today
     by Charles Wesley | Samuel Arnold | Kurtis Parks

The Gathering - Part Seventeen

"Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable." - Ps. 145:3

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" - Rom. 11:33 

"and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might . . . " - Eph. 1:19 

When we see terms like these – unsearchable, unfathomable, immeasurable – it should not cause us to give up on trying to know God as we seek to worship Him. It should cause us to dig deeper into scripture, relying on His Spirit to reveal to us who He is and what He has done.

One author reminds us, “Vagueness about the object of our praise inevitably leads to making our own praise the object. Praise therefore becomes an end in itself, and we are caught up in our own ‘worship experience’ rather than in the God whose character and acts are the only proper focus.”  When we don’t have clarity in our worship in regards to God’s character and God’s works, our worship is directed to a god of our own imagination, not the God of Scripture.

That’s where the significance of the content of our songs comes in to play. Someone once said that our songs are our “sung theology.” The songs we sing are a reflection of our core beliefs and our walk of faith. We must have theologically accurate, clear and passionate songs about God. That is why we want to introduce a new song this weekend at our gatherings - Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery.

This song takes on the truth that God and His plans are a wonderful mystery, unable to be grasped with human understanding and yet gives clarity and expression of praise to some of the core truths of our salvation.

The lyrics and attached scripture references where the truths that we will sing come from can be found below.

The unifying theme of the song is who Jesus Christ is and how God the Father used His incarnation, death, burial and resurrection to fulfill His righteous demands for our sin. Through Jesus and His substitutionary death on the cross we can have deliverance from sin, both now and when He returns for us. These truths bring us hope and we can remind one another of this hope as we sing this song in our gatherings.


Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery by Matt Boswell | Michael Bleecker | Matt Papa

VERSE 1
Come behold the wondrous mystery (Col. 2:1-3)
In the dawning of the King (1 Tim. 1:16-18)
He the theme of heaven’s praises (Rev. 5:1-14)
Robed in frail humanity (Phil. 2:5-8)
In our longing, in our darkness
Now the light of life has come (2 Tim. 1:10)
Look to Christ, who condescended (Phil. 2:5-8)
Took on flesh to ransom us (Matt. 20:28)

VERSE 2
Come behold the wondrous mystery
He the perfect Son of Man (John 3:14)
In His living, in His suffering
Never trace nor stain of sin (Heb. 4:15)
See the true and better Adam (1 Cor. 15:45)
Come to save the hell-bound man (1 Cor. 15:22)
Christ the great and sure fulfillment
Of the law; in Him we stand (Rom. 5:18-21)

VERSE 3
Come behold the wondrous mystery
Christ the Lord upon the tree
In the stead of ruined sinners (2 Cor. 5:21)
Hangs the Lamb in victory (Col. 2:13-15)
See the price of our redemption (Eph. 1:7)
See the Father’s plan unfold
Bringing many sons to glory (Gal. 4:4-7)
Grace unmeasured, love untold

VERSE 4
Come behold the wondrous mystery
Slain by death the God of life
But no grave could e’er restrain Him (Acts 13:28-30)
Praise the Lord; He is alive! (Matt. 28:1-8)
What a foretaste of deliverance (Rom. 6:4; 8:11)
How unwavering our hope (1 Pet. 1:3)
Christ in power resurrected (Eph. 1:19-21)
As we will be when he comes (1 Cor. 15:51-53)

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

How Rich A Treasure We Possess

     by Matt Boswell | Matt Papa 

Cornerstone

     by Edward Mote | Eric Liljero | Jonas Myrin | Reuben Morgan | William Batchelder Bradbury

Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery

     by by Matt Boswell | Michael Bleecker | Matt Papa

Your Glory
     by Leslie Jordan

The Gathering - Part Sixteen

As we prepare to gather and to celebrate Christ's incarnation, let's remember . . .  

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. - John 1:14-18

When we gather, we are called to give attention to God's Word. We do that through singing God's Word, reading God's Word and listening to God's Word being taught. But let never forget that Jesus Christ is the Word of the Father now in flesh appearing! He has come and dwelt among us in order to show us the glory of the Father. We do well at this time of the year (and any time of the year) to give attention to Him. He should be the central focus of our gatherings. He should be the One we praise!

"Father, we thank You for sending Your son, Jesus to dwell among us and to speak to us about who You are. May we be strengthened by Your Holy Spirit to give Jesus our undivided attention in the midst such a busy time of the year that is full of so many distractions. May You be the center of our gatherings! Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Joy to the World
     by Isaac Watts 

Angels We Have Heard on High

     Traditional Carol

O Come All Ye Faithful

     by J. F. Wade

My Soul Magnifies
     by Chris Tomlin | Daniel Carson

Hark the Herald Angels Sing
     by Charles Wesley

Good Good Father
     by Patt Barrett | Anthony Brown

What Child is This
     by William C. Dix

Jesus, Son of God
     by Chris Tomlin | Matt Maher | Jason Ingram

Glory in the Highest
     by Chris Tomlin | Ed Cash | Jesse Reeves

The Gathering - Part Fifteen

We are told in Colossians 3:16-17 to  . . . 

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."

We stated last time that one very important reason that we gather each week is to give attention to God's Word. Paul tells us in this Colossians passage to let the Word richly dwell in us and to teach and admonish one another with singing. When we gather we are not only called to speak the Word to one another, but to sing it. So what songs should we be singing? Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs! There is much speculation on what Paul meant by these three categories. Are we to be singing from the book of Psalms or is this just a category of songs? Which hymns? What is a spiritual song? We don't have space to take this discussion up in detail here. But let me make one point. The songs we sing ought to be sung not only to God, but to one another in a way that teaches and encourages. They must therefore either contain the Word or help illuminate the Word. The lyrics that we sing are very significant. We take that responsibility at our FBC worship gatherings very seriously. In one sense, our songs are our "sung theology." If there were never any time spent teaching God's Word through a sermon and all we had was singing, what would we know about God? What would we know about our salvation? Hopefully, our songs are a good compliment to the time we do have studying His Word. And let me encourage you that when we do gather and sing to allow your mind, emotions and will be engaged in the process. Allow the words to dwell in you richly and allow God to sing through you to those nearby.

"Father, we thank You for music. Thank you for those you have given the ability to craft songs that teach us about You in ways that are creative and memorable. May we gather together with the purpose to glorify You and to encourage one another! Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Angels From The Realms of Glory 
     by James Montgomery 

The First Noel

     Traditional English Carol

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

     by Chris Tomlin | Daniel Carson

Glorious Day
     by Michael Bleecker | Mark Hall

Christ is Come
     by Mike Weaver

Who Would Have Dreamed
     by Bob Kauflin | Jason Hansen

The Gathering - Part Fourteen

     One very important reason that we gather each week is to give attention to God's Word. This becomes extremely significant when we understand the context of the Gathering. We are God's called out ones who He exhorts to gather together regularly and to not forsake that gathering (Heb. 10:25). It is therefore not our idea to hold church services, but God's. He calls us together and the common element we have amongst so many different people is Christ. He is the One who makes a relationship with the Father possible. Our gatherings each week are an opportunity for His people to meet with Him and with one another. And during these times He desires to speak with us. 
     We see in scripture that when God's people gather together, God's Word is always central. When God gathered the Israelites to Himself at Mt. Sinai, the giving of the Ten Commandments was the focus (Ex. 19-20). When the Israelites returned from captivity and sought to restore the Temple worship they read from God's Word (Neh. 8:1-8). The early church devoted itself to the teaching of God's Word through the apostles (Acts 2:42). Paul urged Timothy to make sure that he gave attention to the public reading of God's Word (1 Tim. 4:13). When we gather, we are to do the same. Over the next few weeks we want to consider what this looks like for us in our gatherings today.

"Father, we thank You for Your Word. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. May we as Your Church continue to hold Your Word in high regard and give attention to it every time we gather. When Your Word is read, sung and taught may we recognize that it is You speaking to us, Your body, and may we be faithful to respond in worship to all that You speak to us. Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

O Come All Ye Faithful

     by J. F. Wade

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

     by Edward Hodges | Henry Van Dyke | Ludwig van Beethoven | add. lyrics M. Lukens

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

     by Charles Wesley

God With Us
     by Jason Ingram | Leslie Jordan

Good, Good Father
     by Patt Barrett | Anthony Brown

The Gathering - Part Thirteen

Last week we started a three week series from the Psalms entitled "Greatly To Be Praised." This title comes from Psalm 96:4 which declares, "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!" We have been talking about why we gather together each week and in the last few posts have been focusing in on the aspect of celebrating the communion that is possible with God. Celebrate! I think I know how to celebrate. When my team scores a touchdown, when someone I love has a birthday, when the hero of the story comes in and saves the day. But is my best celebration given to God? Most often not. I hold back. I am sorry to say, I at times just go through the motions. Why is that? Mark Carey quoted C.S. Lewis last week.

“We delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

Mark also shared from Psalm 117 a pattern that shows up in many of the Psalms - there is a "call to praise" and a "cause for praise." I think we often understand that we have been called to worship. I think that's why we show up. However, the cause for praise is often what we forget. Praise for our sports team or a good meal just comes natural to us because we have enjoyed watching or eating and as Lewis stated this praise completes our enjoyment. I think the reason that our greatest praise is not given to God is because we have not come to know Him like we ought. If we really knew Him we could not help but to praise. It would be our obsession, as I believe it will be in Heaven. So how do we get to know Him? We give attention to His Word. This becomes part of the third reason why we gather. To soak in God's Word so that we know Him more fully. We will take a look at this next time.

"Father, may You be to One who receives our greatest praise and may that praise be great, for You alone are great! As we gather this week, may our focus be given over to You, the object of our praise. May we take great joy in the expression of our delight in You. Amen."

Songs for Our Gathering this Week:

Psalm 100

     by Chris Tomlin | Jason Ingram

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing

     by Charles Wesley

One Thing Remains 

     by Brian Johnson | Christa Black Gifford | and Jeremy Riddle

Greatly To Be Praised
     by Brian Eichelberger | Zach Bolen