HOW GREAT THOU ART
Call to Worship: Psalm 70:4-5
We gather not for a spiritual pick-me-up, but to delight our hearts in the salvation of our great God. The One who has enabled us through Jesus to be in right relationship with Him. Let’s delight in that truth together:
WAYMAKER
MY JESUS, I LOVE THEE
Sermon: Joshua 5:1-9
The people of Israel saw God do great and glorious things and still did not obey. Brothers and sisters, we sit on this side of the cross of Christ and still do not obey. Our obedience to God does not earn God’s love for us. God loves us, so we desire to obey. Let’s remind one another of that truth together - would you stand and sing:
HOW DEEP THE FATHERS LOVE FOR US
RAISE UP THE CROWN (ALL HAIL THE POWER)
Corporate Worship
Shifting The Culture
We are always building culture.
We shape the culture and the culture shapes us.
As leaders, specifically, those who oversee an area of ministry, we have a responsibility to intentionally form, clearly articulate, and faithfully model the culture we are seeking to cultivate.
Intentionally form. You are forming the culture of your team right now. Rather than haphazardly letting it grow wild, cultivate, till, prune toward the kind of culture you believe with honor God and serve His people - both the congregation and the team - well.
Clearly articulate. Much teaching and training is caught, but it is also important to teach, train, and articulate the kind of cultural values you are seeking to develop among the team. We cannot expect people to embrace and embody a culture if we articulate it one time, this is an ongoing, repeated conversation.
Faithfully model. Our behavior reveals our values. I can say that I value being healthy and in shape, but if I do not consistently eat well, and exercise, those are just words, not values. As leaders we always go first - we must show our team how to carry the culture. Do not give up, or lose heart. Consistency is essential in establishing and shifting anything meaningful.
Ultimately real change is only possible through the empowering and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. But if we neglect to continually cultivate our culture, the strongest personalities and cultural forces will shape, and disciple our team. Our cultures will grow either way, so why not intentionally invest beauty, goodness, and truth into what is growing in your team?
January 30: Liturgy + Set List
ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK
Call To Worship: Psalm 100
You will hear no other word from this platform this morning that is more important than the Word of God. That is why we sing God’s Word, we pray God’s Word, we hear God’s Word, we preach and teach God’s Word, and we live our lives in response to God’s Word. It is in God’s Word that we learn about the Word made Flesh - Jesus. Who He is, what He has done, and how He has called us to live. Let’s sing to Him together.
PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY/GOOD GOOD FATHER
I SHALL NOT WANT
Sermon: Joshua 3-4
Elder Ordination
RAISE A HALLELUJAH
Identifying Team Culture
Last week I wrote about identifying the culture of your church. This week I want to take a look at how to identify the culture of your worship team. In many ways, identifying the culture of your team is similar - to identify the culture of your team you must be in relationship with the team members, you need to observe over time, and you need to ask questions. But as a church has a unique culture, so does a team functioning within the church community.
Are you stepping into a team that already exists?
No group of people is a blank slate. These are people who have served together, who have history, who have been formed and discipled, who have shared together. What things have historically been normative? What does the team value? What is the shared language and understanding of the mission and vision of the team?
Are you building something from scratch?
If you are church planting or beginning a new area of ministry within your church - you are the culture. Vision is important - without it, the people will perish (Proverbs 29:18). But we must also be open-handed enough to shift, change, and grow and God gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Much of the work of identifying the culture of your team is so you can determine what needs to be celebrated and redeemed, and what needs to be rejected entirely. In what way has the team been formed? In what ways do they need to be counter-formed?
When I was living abroad a fellow American once shared with me, ‘The goal of serving here is not to make people become more American, it is to help them be more like Jesus.’ What would it look like for the people on your team to serve in this culture, with these skills, on this team as Jesus would serve? What would their life and ministry look like free from the weight of sin?
Culture-making is discipleship. And discipleship is the long-long, ongoing work of the Spirit and the community. Learn. Grow. Celebrate. Reject. Be counter-formed by the Gospel.
January 23: Liturgy + Set List
HOLY HOLY HOLY
Call to Worship: Psalm 8
We have just sung about the holiness of God. How He is other than us, He is great, glorious, and set apart. And we have just read about how this same God is mindful of humanity - made from the dust humanity. When we face up to the glory of God, we will always find ourselves facedown as we see our own sin. Let’s remember who God is and who we are as we confess our sins to God and one another as we read this together:
Corporate Confession:
Merciful God, We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, By what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. In Your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, And direct what we shall be, So that we may delight in your will and walk in Your ways, To the glory of Your holy name. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen. (from the Book of Common Prayer)
Brothers and sisters, hear the good news from Psalm 103:
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.Psalm 103:10-14
WHO YOU SAY I AM
Sermon: Joshua 2
I SHALL NOT WANT
Communion
STAND IN YOUR LOVE
Benediction
Cross Cultural Worship
I am obsessed with culture. Culture is invisible, powerful, and hard to articulate. And because we are swimming in its waters, we are often unaware of how powerfully those currents of culture are shaping who we are, what we do, and why we do it.
My family and I lived abroad for four years. Serving on staff as a worship leader at a church in the United Kingdom. When you are removed from the familiar, your invisible culture quickly becomes visible. The same is true when you inhabit a new culture. In returning Stateside, I assumed that navigating American culture would be easier - it was my culture after all. But armed with the experience of another culture, and with an awareness of my own, I realized that all ministry is cross-cultural.
All ministry is cross-cultural because we live in the world but as followers of Jesus we are not of this world (John 17:16). All ministry is cross-cultural because although we may be citizens of a particular country, our true citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). All ministry is cross-cultural because we are all temporary residents, passing through as exiles in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11, Jeremiah 29:7).
We minister to those inhabiting a world and a culture that seems normal and familiar. Part of our role is to show there is a greater kingdom, one that is near, now, and not yet. We live as ambassadors of this heavenly kingdom. We must be students of the culture - the one we inhabit right now, as well as the one to come - to point people to the beauty of the better Kingdom. As we study our cultures we can see that all culture-making is an attempt to build what is only truly realized in the culture of Christ’s kingdom.
There is beauty in this world and in our cultures. There are things that can be redeemed, and things that need to be rejected. And part of the work of cross-cultural mission is helping people identify the difference between the kingdom that is fading away and the kingdom that will last forever.
January 9: Liturgy + Set List
GREAT THINGS
Call To Worship: Psalm 98:1-3
ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING
HIS MERCY IS MORE
Sermon: Joshua 1:1-2; 24:29-33
The book of Joshua is marked from beginning to end with the faithfulness of God. Just like every book of Scripture from beginning to end is marked with the faithfulness of God. And for the life of every follower of Jesus from beginning to end is marked by the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God is not dependent on your faithfulness to Him, in fact, Scripture tells us that even when we are faithless, He remains faithful. Let’s respond to our faithful God together.
COME THOU FOUNT
LIVING HOPE
Quotes [Part 1]
A full week into a new year. As you find your feet, I hope these quotes inspire your heart, shape your imagination, and fuel your worship:
C.S. LEWIS
Praise is the culmination of our enjoyment of anything.
JEN WILKIN
Songs of faith are teaching tools, and effective ones. In an age of widespread biblical/theological illiteracy, leaders must choose those songs with care. Many who will sing them under our leadership are spiritual infants. Imagine if the lyrics of the ABC song were 85% accurate.
J.C. RYLE
All services without heart-service are unprofitable and vain.
JOHN CALVIN
We need to have songs which are not only honorable but also holy. They should spur us on to prayer and the praise of God, to meditation on his works, so that we love, fear, honor and glorify him.
In true worship the believer exercises faith and repentance as he meets with God according to His Word and grows in grace.
Singing has a great force and vigor to move and inflame the hearts of men to invoke and praise God with a more vehement and ardent zeal.
January 2: Liturgy + Set List
DOXOLOGY | AMEN
Whether this year brings you excitement and anticipation, or fear and anxiety, let’s hear about the unchanging heart and character of our God:
Call to Worship: Lamentations 3:21-25
THIS IS AMAZING GRACE
IN CHRIST ALONE
Every follower of Jesus has bold, complete, and confident access to God the Father, not through the length of time we have been followers of Jesus, not through how spiritually mature we are, not through how much knowledge of the Bible or theology we possess. No, followers of Jesus have direct, bold, complete, and confident access to God because of the God man - the Son of God, and Son of Man, the Man, Christ Jesus. The One who stands between God and man making intercession on our behalf. We are going to go to our Father through Christ the Son and pray together:
Prayers of the People
Sermon: Luke 12:13-21
Thou He was rich, for our sake, He became poor, so that we by His poverty might become rich. God has been rich toward us in Christ, how could we not be rich toward God in response? Let’s stand and respond together to our good and gracious God:
GOODNESS OF GOD
GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS
Remembering, Celebrating, Reevaluating
How much time have you spent remembering as we enter into a new year?
Understandably, the last two years have felt like a blur. And it can be tempting to simply rush past remembrance in hopes of finding something better in 2022 than what we have experienced in 2020 and 2021. But what needs to be remembered? These past two years have been painful but they have not been devoid of God’s grace and kindness. What ebeneezers can you raise in your life and in ministry?
Celebration begins with remembrance. After remembrance, what needs to be celebrated? How can you name the sustaining grace of God in your life and ministry?
Everyone of us has learned first hand, ’The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps (Prov 16:9).’ How can we plan for our area of ministry with open hands? How can we reevaluate how we lead and serve? Perhaps our priorities need to shift from planning further in advance, to being more present with people, more attentive to the voice of the Spirit as we remember, celebrate, and reevaluate.
‘You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes.’ Ps 119:68
December 26: Liturgy + Set List
ADVENT (Andrew Newell, Aaron Bucy, Joy Faulkner, Michael Baggott)
Glory, the earth is full of Your Glory
Immanent, transcendent, incarnate
The heart of God is found in flesh
And the earth is filled with Your Glory
Joy, the silent stars are shouting joy
Salvation sleeps and wakes and breathes
The Timeless One bursts into time and the silent stars are shouting joy
Holy, angels sing You are holy
You are come, silently, suddenly
The darkened hills ablaze with light
And the angels sing You are holy
CALL TO WORSHIP: Philippians 2:5-11
GOD REST YE MERRY GENTLEMEN
GREAT ARE YOU LORD
Sermon: Romans 8:18-25
Psalm 68:5-6 - Father and protector. Not a God that is far off, but One who is near. One whose nearness is our good. For every follower of Jesus is adopted now, and will be adopted forever.
GOD WITH US
O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL
Benediction: Galatians 4:4-7
Sending Song: SILENT NIGHT (SON OF GOD, SON OF MAN)
Cradle and Cross
Advent means arrival. At Christmas we celebrate the arrival of God in human form. Certainly, this is worth celebrating. God is not just out there somewhere, but is here - wrapped in our skin and bone, among us. But I believe we do a disservice to the people we serve when we disconnect Christmas - the arrival of Christ - to the purpose of is arrival - the cross.
Long ago we had lived with God - in the cool of the garden - walking, talking as friends. But our original parents thought that there was life outside of life with God, and it was this seeking that welcomed death. Fracturing relationship between God and man, husband and wife, and all of creation. But even there hiding in the reality of chosen death, God promised to crush the head of the serpent - to bring life and light once more. This is what we remember and celebrate during Advent and Christmas - that there is no plan b, that the redemption of God’s people by the perfect life, death, and resurrection of His Son was always the plan. So we celebrate not just Christ’s coming - although this is a reality so significant it has split time into two halves - we remember the reason for His arrival.
We are people who live between two Advents - Christ’s first coming, and His second coming. When we link Advent to Easter we do not minimize our Advent celebrations but magnify the reality of the beauty of the whole story of redemption.