Set List, 09/17 - 09/18/11 Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, we focused on John 2:1 - 4:44, and looked at several people and their responses to Jesus. Ultimately, we all need to have the mindset of John the Baptist, that Christ must increase, and we must decrease. Jesus should be the one to receive all the glory in our lives, and not us. From salvation to the day-to-day, Jesus is the one who deserves the credit and thanksgiving for all that is good in our lives. We also focused on the gospel, and how our lives should interact with it on a daily basis. In the songs for this weekend, we emphasized the miraculous and God's ability to do the impossible, with the ultimate point being that the gospel is a fantastic miracle, where Jesus accomplished the impossible on our behalf, and rescued us from our sin. Here's our service plan from this weekend:

Time of Preparation Welcome/Greeting Time Call to Worship/Prayer "Unchanging" (G) [Chris Tomlin] "Our God" (G) [Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves] "The Lost Are Found" (A) [Ben Fielding, Sam Knock] "God Is Able" (A) [Reuben Morgan, Ben Fielding] Prayer Message - John 3:22-36 [Joe Hishmeh] Offering/Announcements Response - "God Is Able" [Reuben Morgan, Ben Fielding] Dismissal Baptism Service

"Unchanging" - We sang this song this weekend because it speaks about the eternal, unchanging existence of Jesus. He has always been God. As the Gospel of John begins, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This song is a strong part of our church's worship vocabulary, and we are able to sing it from our hearts and not merely from the page. I have loved this song since it was first released back in 2002 on Tomlin's Not To Us album, partly because it says something that isn't quite common in worship music: Jesus was, and is, and is to come. As Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

"Our God" - As we have been reading through the Gospel of John as a church, we have begun reading the accounts of Jesus' miracles as His public ministry began. This song speaks of some of those miracles, and turns those to point to Christ's supremacy - He is higher than any other, and there is no one like Him. This is another staple in our vocabulary, and it is a great reminder of the glory of God.

"The Lost Are Found" - We began teaching this song a few weeks ago, and brought it back this week as a refresher, as it fit very well with where we have been reading in John. One thing I value about this song is how it not only looks back to the miracles that Christ worked on this earth, but also forward to the future when Chris returns and makes everything new. He will restore all that is broken, heal hurts, right the wrongs of injustice, and wipe away every tear. We can look forward with confidence and hope to that day, that hope should change the way we live (as 1 John 3:3 says). This not my favorite song, because there is not a whole lot to it. However, it communicates a great truth in a new way, and some of our people really connect with it.

"God Is Able" - This was a new song that we taught this week. I have not been able to get this song off of my heart and mind over the past few weeks since I first heard it. It is very easy to sing, and it is a very encouraging song that points to the power and ability of our God to change things. Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37), and He will never fail. We can place our hope and confidence in Him as we look to the empty grave and see God's power over sin and death. He is truly the Almighty. Here's the lyric:

"God Is Able" Reuben Morgan and Ben Fielding

VERSE 1 God is able, He will never fail He is almighty God Greater than all we seek Greater than all we ask He has done great things

CHORUS Lifted up, He defeated the grave Raised to life, our God is able In His name, we overcome For the Lord our God is able

VERSE 2 God is with us, God is on our side He will make a way Far above all we know Far above all we hope He has done great things 

BRIDGE God is with us, He will go before He will never leave us, He will never leave us God is for us, He has open arms He will never fail us, He will never fail us

This is one of my favorite songs of this year. It grabs my heart and points my hope and my glory to the risen Christ. We repeated this song after the message. I look forward to this song becoming a part of our church's worship vocabulary over the next few weeks. Our congregation was already singing out and engaging with it this weekend, so I can't imagine how that will develop with time.

I hope you had a great weekend of worship wherever you were.

In the Son,

Bill

p.s. don't forget to check out The Worship Community!

Set List, 01/29 - 1/30/11 Fellowship Bible Church

Here's our set from this weekend, which was also our baptism weekend at Fellowship: Pre-service: "Happy Day" [Tim Hughes, Ben Cantelon] Call to Worship - Psalm 47 "All Because of Jesus" [Steve Fee] Welcome/Offering/Announcements/Greeting Time Focus passage for second set - Ephesians 2:1-10 "Jesus Messiah" [Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse Reeves] "Son of God" [Tim Neufeld, Jon Neufeld, Ed Cash, and Gordon Cochran] "The Stand" [Joel Houston] Message - Pastor Joe Hishmeh Baptisms/Testimonies Response: "Jesus Paid It All" [Alex Nifong, Elvina M. Hall, John Thomas Grape]

This weekend was my second week leading Fellowship Bible Church in worship, and I thought it went well, and that God was glorified. I have many dreams and ideas for the future of our Worship & Arts ministry, but it doesn't all happen over night, and I am looking forward to building these things and making these ideas happen here in the near future.

We opened up with "Happy Day" as some people were still entering the worship center. We had to cut this song for the fourth service, because the baptisms went a little long, and our two services ran into one another, creating quite the traffic jam as people were coming and going. This song is fairly new to this congregation, so it was another teaching moment. I used this song during one of my trips up here to interview with the church, and this weekend was the second time they have sung it. With that in mind, it did seem that the people were with it and participating.

The second song was "All Because of Jesus," and it followed a call to worship, in which the Word of God challenged us in Psalm 47 to clap our hands and to sing praises to our God, the great King over all the universe. I made the comparison between the way we cheer for our favorite sports teams, with loud clapping and shouting, and the way we worship our God. I challenged our people to offer at least as much energy to our God, who is infinitely more worthy than a sports team (especially the Cleveland teams that I root for...).

After the welcome, offering, announcements, and greeting time, we moved into a time of worship focused on the idea of Ephesians 2:1-10, specifically how God made us alive together with Christ when we were dead in our sins and transgressions. We were completely hopeless for eternity before He intervened and rescued us. Because of His great gift for us, we ought to respond with our lives as living acts of worship. The next three songs, "Jesus Messiah," "Son of God," and "The Stand," followed that focus.

"Jesus Messiah" and "The Stand" were both very familiar to the congregation, so they engaged well with it. "Son of God" was new to Fellowship, and is a song that I believe the Church should be singing. It does a good job of describing the story of Jesus, from shaping the stars to fulfilling the prophecy of the Messiah. It wraps it up nicely with a simple, solid chorus ("Jesus, O Holy One/ I sing to You, forgiven/ Savior, I'm overcome/ With Your great love for me") and bridge ("You are worthy/ You are worthy/ You are worthy of all my praise/ You are beautiful/ You are beautiful/ I will lift up my hands and sing").

Pastor Joe's message focused on the life of Saul/Paul as an example for us to describe how God's story has intersected our own story and taken it over, transforming our lives from one centered on ourselves to one that is properly centered on Jesus Christ. After he shared, we baptized people who had signed up and prepared a testimony to share how God had rescued them.

We wrapped it all up with "Jesus Paid It All" as the response song. It's hard to go wrong with that song, as the hymn does a great job of examining our own weakness and dependence on Jesus for our every need, and the additional chorus by Alex Nifong is a beautiful, concise expression of thanksgiving for what Christ has done: "O praise the One/ Who paid my debt/ And raised this life/ Up from the dead". This is another song that I believe the Church needs to sing, because of the powerful truth which it contains.

Three of the four services went without a snag. The third service (Sunday, 9 AM) went a little long because some fo the testimonies were longer than we had planned for. It was a moment where we have to remind ourselves of the reasons we gather together. One of those reasons is to see lives changed, regardless of how long it takes. Sometimes our organization and systems can make it easy to lose track of the things of most importance, because we're concerned about someone complaining or having to change our plans. While I don't prefer to make a habit of this kind of thing (going 30 minutes over our scheduled time), I am reminded that this morning we were witnesses of God's amazing grace and power in the lives of His people. I am thankful that He still moves in such amazing ways, and that He still rescues, just as He rescued me.

I hope you had a great day or weekend of worship wherever you were!

In the Son,

Bill

Sunday Set Lists