This weekend, we returned to finish our heaven series, "Heaven Revealed." Joe shared about the purpose of heaven and how we can be prepared for heaven. I really loved spending the time this weekend trying to get our hearts and minds around a clearer vision of heaven. You can listen to the entire message here. Here's our service plan from this weekend:
Time of Preparation/Prayer "Jesus You" (E) [Bill Horn] Call To Worship "Sing To The King" (E) [Billy Foote, Charles Silvester Horne] Welcome/Greeting Time "Happy Day" (B) [Ben Cantelon, Tim Hughes] "Glorious Day" (B) [Michael Bleecker, J. Wilbur Chapman] "Jesus Paid It All" (B) [Elvina M. Hall, John Thomas Grape, Alex Nifong] Message - "Heaven Revealed, Pt. 2" [Joe Hishmeh] "Revelation Song" (C) [Jennie Lee Riddle] Offering/Announcements Dismissal
"Jesus You" - We sang this song as our preparation song this weekend. This is an original song that came from a study of the book of Romans, especially chapters three through five. We sang it for the preparation time this week because the song ends by pointing to eternity: "Now Death, where is your sting?/ You send me home, where forever I will sing/ You, Jesus, You." We have no need to fear death if we are in Christ. Death only sends us to our true home - the presence of Jesus.
"Sing To The King" - This was our opener this week. This song was used because it points to Christ's ultimate victory, which gives us the promise of a future together with Him in heaven. The focus of this song certainly gives reason for celebration!
"Happy Day" - We sang this song primarily because of the second verse: "When I stand in that place/ Free at last, meeting face to face/ I am Yours, Jesus, You are mine/ Endless joy and perfect peace/ Earthly pain finally will cease/ Celebrate, Jesus is alive/ He's alive!" Once again, it is because of the salvation we have in Christ that we can look forward in anticipation of the day when we see Jesus face to face. All tears and sorrow will be gone, and we will experience a joy that defies description!
"Glorious Day" - This song is still fairly new to our congregation, being that we only started singing it a few weeks ago. You can read more of my thoughts on the song here. This week, we decided to bring it down another half-step to B to see if it would be even easier for our congregation to sing.
"Jesus Paid It All" - This song is a staple for our church, and we sang it because it celebrates the one who resurrected us from spiritual death - Jesus Christ. He is the reason we have life. He is the one who has saved us. We did not (and could not) save ourselves. We owe all thanks, praise, and honor to Him. He is the one who paid our debt and raised these lives up from the dead!
"Revelation Song" - This was our response song this weekend. It was one that I had planned on doing for this series when we first started talking about it, and when we sang it for the "Heaven Is For Real" event this past Sunday night, it became a natural tie to this weekend as we concluded our formal discussion on heaven in our services this weekend.
This weekend was really powerful, and we experienced the presence of Christ as we worshiped in our services. Our team did a great job, and our congregation sang like crazy, which was exciting to witness. I am overwhelmed by the goodness of Christ in His promise of heaven for us. I can't wait to see Him face to face.
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!