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It’s Thursday but Sunday (2-15) is coming

February 12, 2009 in Music, Preparing for Worship, Worship with 0 Comments

ClearView_Worship
Okay I am going to try to start
a new trend…a new blog post every Thursday giving a preview of what to expect
in services at ClearView each weekend. 
In so doing I hope that we can all be prepared to meet God in the
conversation which is worship.

 

Get ready…there will be a lot of
excitement in the worship room this week as Sunday will be the conclusion of
DNOW weekend for students grades 6-12. The center section of the worship center
is usually packed with students, middle school at 9:30 and high school at 11:00
AM.  It is so fun to see them engaged in
worship.

 

The sermon this Sunday continues
from Nehemiah and our pastor will be walking us through chapters 11 and
12.  In preparation for the service, why
don’t we take a few minutes to read these chapters and maybe even look over
notes from previous weeks.

 

Another way to prepare for
Sunday would be to look at the following scriptures that are the basis for some
of the songs we will sing:

 

Psalm 136:1-5 (Forever)

Isaiah
40:31 (Everlasting God)

Psalm 91:1-44 (Still)

Romans
5:20-21 (Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone)

Revelation
7:11-12 (Hallelujah We Will Sing)

Worship is not just what we do
on Sunday mornings, but how we live our lives in obedience to God.  The gathering on Sunday mornings is important
also as we gain strength from the corporate celebration…the sound of voices
joining together in song and prayer and from the teaching of God’s word.

(photography by David Jones)


Worship everyday

August 23, 2008 in Preparing for Worship, Worship with 1 Comment

I am continually reminded that worship on Sunday is not what God wants as our worship. 

For over thirty years I have been planning those events we call worship services. It is a joy to stand on a platform each week and see people of God call out to Him in praise, adoration, thanksgiving and petition. But that event on Sunday’s should only be a reflection of our daily lives. 

I wonder what God really thinks of our Sunday worship.  I know I have been guilty in the past of neglecting God during the week and then enjoying the Sunday worship experience.  In Amos chapter 5 verses 23-24 we find these words:

Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will
not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. Instead, I want to see a
mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.

I want to spend each day aware of God’s presence. When that happens the gathering on Sunday we call worship becomes even more special.  A.W. Tozer spoke about this same thought in his book What Ever Happened To Worship?

God’s highest desire is that every one of His believing children should
so love and so adore Him that we are continuously in His presence, in Spirit
and truth.  That is to worship
indeed.  True worship of God must be a
constant and consistent attitude or state of mind within the believer.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I will enjoy coming together with those of like mind who want to draw closer to God, speak to Him and listen to
what He has to say through the songs and the spoken word.  But I have also enjoyed Him today because I was aware of His presence. How can you not enjoy Him when you realize He is with you.


Preparing for Sunday: Part 3

August 9, 2008 in Preparing for Worship with 0 Comments

More thoughts from the book by A. W. Tozer, The Root of
the Righteous. 

At the end of the chapter titled “We Must Hear Worthily”
this statement is made:  “God will speak to the hearts of those who
prepare themselves to hear; and conversely, those who do not so prepare
themselves will hear nothing even through the Word of God is falling upon their
outer ears every Sunday.”  I am
afraid to count the times that I have come to church expecting to hear God’s
Word but not doing anything to prepare my heart for those truths.  How much more would I know about God if my
heart had been prepared?

Last night I attended a concert were a song was sung that
was written for the purpose of helping us prepare our hearts and minds for a
worship service or for hearing God’s Word. 
We introduced this song to ClearView last week.  Here are the words to the first stanza:

Speak O Lord

Speak O Lord as we come to You
To receive the food of Your holy word
Take Your truth plant it deep in us
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith
Speak O Lord and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory

CCLI Song No. 4615235 © 2005
Thankyou Music (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
Keith Getty | Stuart Townend
For use solely with the SongSelect Terms of Use.  All rights Reserved.  www.ccli.com
CCLI License No. 1379222

“Almighty God…I have been thinking a lot about you this
week.  And as I have done so I have
enjoyed Your presence.  It is almost
Sunday, and I look forward to that day when as a group of believers we meet
together to worship.  I am touched by Your
presence daily and would not trade that for anything. I am so glad that You
have set aside Sunday as a day when we come together to be encouraged. Lord help me to see You clearly and help me to encourage others to
talk to You and listen to You as we worship.”


Preparing for Sunday: Part 2

August 7, 2008 in Preparing for Worship with 0 Comments

Thoughts from The Root of Righteousness: “We Must Die
If We Would Live”

In every Christian’s
heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he
puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross he remains on the throne.

Our uncrucified flesh
will rob us of purity of heart, Christ-likeness of character, spiritual
insight, fruitfulness; and more than all, it will hide from us the vision of
God’s face, that vision which has been the light of earth and will be the
completeness of heaven.

…I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

Galatians 2: 19b-20


Preparing for Sunday: Part 1

August 5, 2008 in Preparing for Worship with 0 Comments

One of the books on my ‘currently reading’ list is The
Root of Righteousness by A.W. Tozer. The book is a collection of articles
written by Tozer over a period of five years from 1950
-1955. As I read the articles I am amazed at how relevant
they are to today’s culture. Over the next few days I am going to post excerpts
and thoughts based on these articles. They have really helped me as I think of
this coming Sunday’s service and our observance of ‘The Lord’s Supper.”

The Cross Is A Radical Thing

  • The
    cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men.
  • The
    cross of old Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions.
  • The
    cross won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for
    good…with one exception.
  • The
    cross affects its ends by destroying one established pattern, the
    victim’s, and creating another pattern, its own.
  • The
    cross cares not for peace; it cares only to end its opposition as fast as
    possible.

With perfect knowledge
of all this Christ said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up the cross, and follow me.” So the cross not only brought Christ’s
life to an end, it ends also the first life, the old life, of every one of His
true followers. Submitting to the power of the cross cuts to the very core
of our being.� In true submission nothing
is left untouched; our personality, reputations and dreams.

The power of the cross was witnessed in the death of Christ
and countless others but a greater power, the power of the resurrection was
celebrated in the resurrected life of Christ.�

This Sunday at Clearview we will take time to remember the
cross, have the opportunity to demonstrate our willingness to submit to its
power and in that submission find a power that cannot be explained.� I am beginning to prepare now for worship
this Sunday not as the worship leader but as a worshipper remembering all that
I have to be thankful for and searching my life for what must again be
submitted to Christ and His cross.


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