Prepare for Worship (Page 5)

Hey Church! One of the key passages in our personal worship this week has been John 4, where Jesus explained to a Samaritan woman that “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” These words are often quoted but have you ever really thought about what “in spirit and truth” means?  John 4:19-24The woman said to him, “Sir, I…

Hey Church! In addition to wrapping up our series on the book of Isaiah, we also plan to observe a time of prayer for the persecuted Church this Sunday. It may surprise you to learn that the persecution of our spiritual family is one of the biggest human rights crises of our time. The 2021 World Watch list reports the following statistics.* In just the last year……

Hey Church! We will have the opportunity to receive a fresh grace from God through communion this Sunday. Think about it: we will get to hear, see, smell, taste, and touch the holy Word of God this weekend. In an age where information has been so severely cheapened by the absurd number of options that are immediately available to us, it is easy to take for granted this…

Hey Church! There is a Christian doctrine known as the “Perseverance of the Saints” that is not often discussed in popular circles and yet is an indispensable pillar of our faith. In short, it means that one who is authentically saved by grace through faith in Jesus cannot lose their salvation. Though a saved person falls into temptation, or even lives in…

Hey Church! We learned a new song back in July called “Amen (Simple Gospel)” by Kari Jobe and I thought a brief review of the meaning of the word “amen” might be helpful in preparing our minds to sing it together on Sunday.  The meaning of the Hebrew word, אָמֵן֙ (Pronounced ah-mayn), carries a sense of truth, certainty, and agreement. The same…

Hey Church! The brilliant theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was only 39 years old when he was executed by hanging. It was the morning of April 9th, 1945, when this public enemy of the Nazi regime was finally silenced once and for all. Or so it would seem to any who were there to witness such a gruesome, dark morning. Dietrich could not know it then but the world…

Hey Church! “Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things!” (Psalm 98:1) Every now and then I think it’s good to shake up the usual routine in our worship music by programming a song that is a little outside our usual box. For one thing, new music helps keep our services from growing stale and predictable to the point that our souls…

Hey Church! Last week I went on a big Shane & Shane kick around the same time I was planning this coming Sunday’s service, so 3/4 of our music this weekend is either their song or their arrangement! I always love their music but I’ve been a bit obsessive as of late. I would encourage you to watch all of the videos linked below over the weekend. In the…

Hey Church! You may be familiar with the names Keith and Kristyn Getty, the modern-day hymn writers who wrote the massive hit “In Christ Alone,” which has now been sung by tens of millions of people in churches across the world for the better part of the last decade. The position they occupy in the worship-songwriting space is unique from their more…

Hey Church! We will sing “The Lion and the Lamb” together in church this Sunday and, since it’s been a while, I thought a brief review of its meaning would be helpful.  All the way back in Genesis 3, God made a covenant with Adam to restore the fallen creation by means of a Deliverer who would come through the “seed” of a woman, meaning He would be born…