worship Posts

You’re Invited to a Party – Tuesday

26 Mar , 2013 No Comments

“Come to the wedding feast.”  Matthew 22:4

I once heard Billy Graham say, “Jesus has two verbs in His vocabulary: Come and Go.”  Our God is an inviting God.  He says, “Come.”  “Come let us reason.  Come and drink.  Come to me all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, I will give you rest.  Come and I will make you fishers of men.”  And, “Come to the wedding feast”, He says on the last Tuesday of His life.  His invitation is to life eternal with Him.  His invitation is to come eat at His banquet table.  Who can come?  Whoever wishes.  The invitation is both universal and personal.  But you must decide.

Have you ever had a personal invitation ignored?  If so, then you know a fraction of how Jesus must feel.  It’s amazing that He leaves this choice to us.  You can’t choose the weather, or your parents, or whether you’re born with a little nose or blond hair – or born at all.  But you can choose to attend the wedding feast.  You can choose to “come”, but you can also choose to “go”.  The other side of this story, told with great urgency, is that we have a choice to go as well.  This Holy Week many people are thinking about Christ’s death.  Many more are not and have no idea what Easter is about.  Will you go to them?  Look for opportunities to tell others about the wedding feast.  Invite someone to church this Sunday!

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”  Matthew 22:14

Pray:  Lord, I praise You for putting me on Your guest list for the big wedding feast.  I praise You that You have made a way for me to have eternal life.  This week I’m especially mindful of what it cost You for me to come.  Today I will watch for others I can invite to the party.

 

The Day God Got Mad – Monday

25 Mar , 2013 No Comments

“My Temple will be called a house of prayer but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”  Matthew 21:13

Most of us have the mental picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd with a baby lamb on His shoulders, carrying it to safety. We think of the soft images of Jesus in the manger as a baby or as a grown up with children sitting in His lap. But there’s one picture few of us ponder very often. It’s the picture of Jesus on the Monday before His death storming through the temple like a wild man yelling at people to leave! In one of the most dramatic acts of His ministry, Jesus said more about the priority of prayer than in a hundred sermons on the subject. He actually did this twice in His ministry and the first time He made a whip out of cords and was thrashing people out of the temple.

Why was He so mad?  As Jim Cymbala states in Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, “His house was being prostituted for purposes other than what was intended.” The Bible never says, “My house shall be called a house of preaching, or programs that suit me perfectly, or lots of great music.” No, He says His shall be a house of prayer. Cymbala says, “I’ve seen God do more in people’s lives in ten minutes of real prayer than in ten of my sermons.” Then he asks, “What does it say about our churches today that God birthed the church in a prayer meeting, and prayer meetings today are almost extinct?” What about you? Is prayer your first priority?  Is your house a house of prayer? Is your life a life of prayer? Determine that it will be. Let’s let our first priority of the church be prayer!

“The prayers of an upright person accomplishes much.”  Proverbs 15:8

Pray:  Lord, I want prayer to be the first priority of my church and of my life. I don’t want to grieve Your heart because of prayerlessness in my life. I will devote time to pray to You every day. I will be in constant conversation with You today.

St. Patrick’s Prayer

17 Mar , 2013 No Comments

I arise today,

Through the strength of heaven;

Light of the sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of the wind,

Depth of the sea,

Stability of the earth,

Firmness of the rock.

I arise today

Through God’s strength to pilot me;

God’s might to uphold me,

God’s wisdom to guide me,

God’s eye to look before me,

God’s ear to hear me,

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me,

God’s way to lie before me,

God’s shield to protect me,

God’s hosts to save me
afar and anear,

Alone or in a multitude.

Christ shield me today
 against wounding

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through the mighty strength

Of the Lord of creation.

Merry Christmas!

13 Dec , 2012 No Comments

Merry Christmas.

Thank you to my friend Emily Davidson (in our youth ministry) for using her amazing gift of voice to worship her Savior!

The Power of Biblical Hope

03 Dec , 2012 No Comments

When we think of “hope”, we generally are not thinking of biblical hope. We have all “hoped” for things that did not happen or that we did not receive. That is not biblical hope. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. Biblical hope is living in the confidence of a past event, a present reality, and a future certainty. It is full confidence in the finished work of Christ on the Cross, the sovereign work of God in my life right now, and the certainty of His promised future. Like our salvation, there are past, present, and future dimensions of hope. Biblical hope is a bold and certain expectation that God will do what He says He will do. So like faith, hope has this maddening quality of the unseen- the yet to be. It has a future orientation. It’s why Paul says-

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope (present) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (past), to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, & unfading, kept in heaven for you. (future)” 1 Peter 1:3-4

This Christmas remember that your hope & my hope is not dependent possessions, or material things, but on a Person. We need to continually remind each other of our glorious future ahead. It changes everything. My Christmas prayer for you:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13

Where does hope come from?

Hope comes from the “God of hope” so you must come to Him to receive it. Ephesians 2:12 says, “..you were.. separated from Christ.. and strangers to the covenants of promise, having NO HOPE & without God in the world.” Hope comes from the Lord. There is no HOPE apart from Him, because apart from Him it does not exist. You must come to Him to get it. Are you?

How do you get hope?

1. By believing patiently. It says, “in believing”. “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this HOPE we were saved. Now HOPE that is seen is not hope. For who HOPES for what they already have? But if we HOPE for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:23-25

2. By obeying the Word. Rom. 15:4 “through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE.” You must be in the Word. God’s Word gives hope.

3. By the power of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us …” His Spirit in us gives hope. N.T. Wright says, “The Spirit is given to us to begin the work of making God’s future real in the present.”

What does hope look like? What are the marks of hope? Notice too that the Bible describes this hope, not as simply “hanging on” but that we “ABOUND in hope” it is described as a “living hope”- a vibrant, dynamic, vigorous hope!  SO..

Hope results in a life filled with joy and peace.

“Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.” 2 Corinthians 3:12 God’s hope brings great confidence to us! Are you living in hope? Do you live every day filled with hope? Would others describe you as having a confident and constant future orientation? Friend, if you are a follower of Jesus remember, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” 1 Corinthians 15:19

“Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in HOPE of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:2-5
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” Psalm 34:18
Come to Jesus. Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred (delayed, postponed) makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Don’t wait. Don’t go another day without living in His hope. And remember hope is from God alone. Hope has come to us. Hope has a name and His name is Jesus.