Sunday morning retuning: The Lord wants us to focus on Him, and keep our focus on Him. I am praying for you if you heard that challenge. God is Your victory, and He is with you!
We have taken the last nearly ten months looking into David’s life, with some detours along the way. We started this journey last fall and concluded Sunday. What things have you learned about David over these months? What has that revealed about you? What are you doing to let God change you into a man or woman after his own heart? Take some time and thank God for the things you have learned.
Maybe you need some help. Perhaps you have a Message Minder that you have been keeping your sermon notes in. [If you still need one you can get them at the Welcome Center FOR FREE!] Maybe you want to use the online resources that are made available. Click here for audio sermons, outlines and PowerPoint files to help you review. Maybe you want to simply flip through 1 Chronicles asking the Holy Spirit to remind you the things you heard but maybe have forgotten.
However you do it, take a few moments to reflect on this journey and prepare for the next part. After a short series on heaven later this summer, we will begin a series in the fall on the life of Jesus. I can hardly wait!
While I’m waiting though I wanted to give you a chance to chime in. For these upcoming series are there songs that come to your mind that would be great songs for us to sing or have sung to us? Would you share those thoughts with me? There are no guarantees we will use your suggestions, but I want to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to me through you if there is something He wants to show me about our upcoming repertoire. I look forward to your input.
Jesus, help us to pursue Your heart. We want to be more like You everyday and we know that will require us to change so we yield ourselves to You. Have Your way in us Lord.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
In Every Season
Sunday morning retuning: Lord of all of me, that’s what I want Him to be. How about you? Are you doing business with what the Lord said to you on Sunday through worship and the Word? I am praying you will.
Happy Summer! Today is the first day of summer and I welcome it. We already have VBS behind us and are looking forward to a couple of months of adjusted schedules, extended time with family, and simply a slightly different pace of life. But that is not the kind of season the writer is thinking about in that song from Sunday. You remember the words…
That’s easy to sing on a Sunday morning standing in our sanctuary loving Jesus with hundreds of your closest friends and a bunch of people whose names you do not know…but what a bout the rest of the week?
What about when your loved one is lying on the operating table undergoing exploratory surgery with less than an ideal prognosis? All of my life…
How about on Monday morning when you get the call from your boss and they tell you they are giving your position to the person you just trained? …in every season…
When you get a text telling you that something that an opportunity for which your child has been training for months has been cancelled? …You are still God…
Right after you son greets you with these words, “The frame on my glasses just snapped” and you are not certain they are still under warranty …I have a reason to sing…
[You fill in the blank with something from your life in the last few days]…I have a reason to worship…
God is our victory and he is here. That is another line from the end of the chorus of that song. Let Him be Lord of all of you. He is already, it would be good to adjust your thinking accordingly, and then let Him be your victory. Whatever you are facing today, tomorrow, in this season, or the next, you have a reason to sing, to worship, and it is because He is still God.
Rest in Him today.
Jesus, You are Lord of all of me. I will trust You in this and every season to help me walk with You, singing all the way.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy
Happy Summer! Today is the first day of summer and I welcome it. We already have VBS behind us and are looking forward to a couple of months of adjusted schedules, extended time with family, and simply a slightly different pace of life. But that is not the kind of season the writer is thinking about in that song from Sunday. You remember the words…
All of my life, in every season,
You are still God,
I have a reason to sing.
I have a reason to worship.
(Bridge from Desert Song, 2008 Hillsong Publishing)
That’s easy to sing on a Sunday morning standing in our sanctuary loving Jesus with hundreds of your closest friends and a bunch of people whose names you do not know…but what a bout the rest of the week?
What about when your loved one is lying on the operating table undergoing exploratory surgery with less than an ideal prognosis? All of my life…
How about on Monday morning when you get the call from your boss and they tell you they are giving your position to the person you just trained? …in every season…
When you get a text telling you that something that an opportunity for which your child has been training for months has been cancelled? …You are still God…
Right after you son greets you with these words, “The frame on my glasses just snapped” and you are not certain they are still under warranty …I have a reason to sing…
[You fill in the blank with something from your life in the last few days]…I have a reason to worship…
God is our victory and he is here. That is another line from the end of the chorus of that song. Let Him be Lord of all of you. He is already, it would be good to adjust your thinking accordingly, and then let Him be your victory. Whatever you are facing today, tomorrow, in this season, or the next, you have a reason to sing, to worship, and it is because He is still God.
Rest in Him today.
Jesus, You are Lord of all of me. I will trust You in this and every season to help me walk with You, singing all the way.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Jesus Makes a Difference Everyday
Sunday morning retuning: “The Lord is enough for me” It was easy to say on Sunday morning, but how about since then? I am praying that you will experience the truth of that as you walk one step behind Jesus today. Thanks for reading.
That is our theme for VBS (Vacation Bible School) this week. I really enjoy this week every year, not only because it is a different schedule and routine for me (and I like different), but mostly because I get to be taught some truths I thought I already knew from a different perspective, that of a child. And I also love being infused with the contagious energy that working with several hundred kids brings.
There is an interesting dimension to the opening and particularly closing sessions this year. A common element of drama has been modified to include a very tangible, practical lesson for the kids. That lesson is that we can and should bring everything to Jesus.
There is a cross set up on the sanctuary floor where it can be easily accessed by the kids. Four of the five days of VBS, during the closing session, the kids will bring something to the cross. The first day it was sticky notes with words or a picture representing something for which they are thankful: gratitude. The second day, today, it was a band-aid with someway they help someone around them: compassion. Tomorrow they will bring rocks representing a sin they need to confess: forgiveness. And the last day a gift bow representing using our gifts to serve our world in Jesus’ name: gifts.
Each day the kids come to the cross. I wish you all could be there and see each day as hundreds of kids bring these things to Jesus. It is teaching them our theme for the week: “Jesus makes a difference everyday.” When we bring our gratitude to the cross, to Jesus, He makes a difference in us. When we bring our compassion to Jesus, difference. Sins, difference. Gifts, difference. We can bring everything to Jesus. We should be bringing everything to Jesus. How are you doing at practicing this simple truth?
You may be wondering about the other day. On one day the kids will take a small jewel home with them. It is meant to remind them of the great treasure of God’s grace. Jesus gives us that and we get to keep it. What a wonderful way to teach that God’s grace is a gift to us, and that we should accept and cherish it accordingly. How are you doing at treasuring this gift?
These are some pretty simple questions, but the way you answer them are truly life-changing. The way the kids answer them tells whether they are allowing Jesus to make a difference in their lives today, and the same goes for me and you.
Jesus, make a difference in me today. Turn me inside-out and upside down. Draw me closer to You, Lord.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy
That is our theme for VBS (Vacation Bible School) this week. I really enjoy this week every year, not only because it is a different schedule and routine for me (and I like different), but mostly because I get to be taught some truths I thought I already knew from a different perspective, that of a child. And I also love being infused with the contagious energy that working with several hundred kids brings.
There is an interesting dimension to the opening and particularly closing sessions this year. A common element of drama has been modified to include a very tangible, practical lesson for the kids. That lesson is that we can and should bring everything to Jesus.
There is a cross set up on the sanctuary floor where it can be easily accessed by the kids. Four of the five days of VBS, during the closing session, the kids will bring something to the cross. The first day it was sticky notes with words or a picture representing something for which they are thankful: gratitude. The second day, today, it was a band-aid with someway they help someone around them: compassion. Tomorrow they will bring rocks representing a sin they need to confess: forgiveness. And the last day a gift bow representing using our gifts to serve our world in Jesus’ name: gifts.
Each day the kids come to the cross. I wish you all could be there and see each day as hundreds of kids bring these things to Jesus. It is teaching them our theme for the week: “Jesus makes a difference everyday.” When we bring our gratitude to the cross, to Jesus, He makes a difference in us. When we bring our compassion to Jesus, difference. Sins, difference. Gifts, difference. We can bring everything to Jesus. We should be bringing everything to Jesus. How are you doing at practicing this simple truth?
You may be wondering about the other day. On one day the kids will take a small jewel home with them. It is meant to remind them of the great treasure of God’s grace. Jesus gives us that and we get to keep it. What a wonderful way to teach that God’s grace is a gift to us, and that we should accept and cherish it accordingly. How are you doing at treasuring this gift?
These are some pretty simple questions, but the way you answer them are truly life-changing. The way the kids answer them tells whether they are allowing Jesus to make a difference in their lives today, and the same goes for me and you.
Jesus, make a difference in me today. Turn me inside-out and upside down. Draw me closer to You, Lord.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
The Earth is His Footstool
Sunday morning retuning: How are you serving our world this week in a way that provokes questions about Jesus?
At Your Feet
Verse 1
Oh that I may know You
Oh that I may worship
Oh that I may bow down at Your Feet
All I have to offer
All I have to give You
Everything I lay here at Your Feet
Chorus 1
Let my sacrifices
Let my heart of worship
Let the praise I lay here at Your Feet
Be a holy fragrance
In this sanctuary
Only You are Worthy of my praise
Bridge
I worship I worship
I worship I worship You Lord
We have been singing this song over the last few weeks. There have been some lines that have become really meaningful to me, as I am sure is the case with you on certain songs that we sing. For me, a week ago Sunday, the line “Only You are Worthy of my praise” really hit me. We were enjoying a wonderful encounter and then God showed me a bit of His glory in this line.
When we are singing, let God speak to you. Worship is a dialogue. It is not just our talking to Him. Though you know this, be willing to receive the things He is impressing on you as we share that experience together each week.
Also be willing to think critically about the things we sing. Do not just accept them because they are on the screen. Make sense of them, and when you can not, ask someone to help you.
I have been thinking about the apparent spatial limitations to this song. You would pick up on this in the line “in this sanctuary”. So are we really only singing about what we offering as we stand in that space on Sunday morning? I think not. Yes, there, but certainly everywhere. Rather than an Old Testament temple mindset of God dwelling between the cherubim, think of it in the context of Isaiah 66:1-2.
“ 1 This is what the LORD says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
2 Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?”
declares the LORD.
So if earth is His footstool, that means that everywhere we go we are “at His feet”, right? And if everywhere I go I am at His feet then I can offer my worship anywhere, right? I can not speak for you, but I want to know Him at the grocery store. I want lay everything down at his feet when I am with my family at the park. I want my sacrifices, my heart of worship, the praise I lay at His feet when I am at home relating to my wife and kids to be a holy fragrance in THIS sanctuary.
Do you see where I am going with this? I am out to lunch or is this resonating with you? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Challenge mine if they need it. Affirm them if you like. Let’s continue to position our heart, soul mind and strength to worship!
Jesus, show us how to stay at Your feet. Help us to see you as holy, high and lifted up. Pour out Your power and love and help us to worship You.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy
At Your Feet
Verse 1
Oh that I may know You
Oh that I may worship
Oh that I may bow down at Your Feet
All I have to offer
All I have to give You
Everything I lay here at Your Feet
Chorus 1
Let my sacrifices
Let my heart of worship
Let the praise I lay here at Your Feet
Be a holy fragrance
In this sanctuary
Only You are Worthy of my praise
Bridge
I worship I worship
I worship I worship You Lord
We have been singing this song over the last few weeks. There have been some lines that have become really meaningful to me, as I am sure is the case with you on certain songs that we sing. For me, a week ago Sunday, the line “Only You are Worthy of my praise” really hit me. We were enjoying a wonderful encounter and then God showed me a bit of His glory in this line.
When we are singing, let God speak to you. Worship is a dialogue. It is not just our talking to Him. Though you know this, be willing to receive the things He is impressing on you as we share that experience together each week.
Also be willing to think critically about the things we sing. Do not just accept them because they are on the screen. Make sense of them, and when you can not, ask someone to help you.
I have been thinking about the apparent spatial limitations to this song. You would pick up on this in the line “in this sanctuary”. So are we really only singing about what we offering as we stand in that space on Sunday morning? I think not. Yes, there, but certainly everywhere. Rather than an Old Testament temple mindset of God dwelling between the cherubim, think of it in the context of Isaiah 66:1-2.
“ 1 This is what the LORD says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
2 Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?”
declares the LORD.
So if earth is His footstool, that means that everywhere we go we are “at His feet”, right? And if everywhere I go I am at His feet then I can offer my worship anywhere, right? I can not speak for you, but I want to know Him at the grocery store. I want lay everything down at his feet when I am with my family at the park. I want my sacrifices, my heart of worship, the praise I lay at His feet when I am at home relating to my wife and kids to be a holy fragrance in THIS sanctuary.
Do you see where I am going with this? I am out to lunch or is this resonating with you? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Challenge mine if they need it. Affirm them if you like. Let’s continue to position our heart, soul mind and strength to worship!
Jesus, show us how to stay at Your feet. Help us to see you as holy, high and lifted up. Pour out Your power and love and help us to worship You.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy
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