Songs We Sing, 02/22 - 02/23/2014 - Fellowship Bible Church

This weekend, our family pastor Brian Tryhus concluded our series on Obedience with a message about sacrifice and the providence of God. He urged our congregation to obey the call of God despite the fear that naturally arises, because we can trust Him. You can listen to the message or the entire service here.

Here's our order from this weekend:

Pre-Service - "Suffering Servant" (A–B) [Dustin Kensrue]
Call to Worship - Congregational Reading - Romans 12:1 ESV
"I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous)" (E) [Charles Hutchison Gabriel]
Greeting Time
Special Guest - Pastor Reynixon Rosales
Announcements
Message - "Obedience: Sacrifice" [Brian Tryhus] 
"The Stand" (A) [Joel Houston]
"You Are God Alone (Not a god)" (A) [Billy Foote, Cindy Foote]
"You Have Overcome" (A) [Bill Horn, Erik Oldberg]
Dismissal

Thoughts: This was a powerful weekend. For one, we had a special guest, pastor Reynixon Rosales (he usually goes by Pastor Nixon) from the Smokey Mountain landfill community in Manila, Philippines. He is one of the amazing leaders I had the privilege of meeting a few weeks ago on my trip to Manila with Trash Mountain Project. In our services this weekend, he shared how he grew up in Smokey Mountain, ended up getting out of the community and finishing his education, and then how God called him and his wife back to that community. Smokey Mountain has the worst living conditions I have ever witnessed, and Nixon and his wife, Cora, answered God's call on their lives to head back in these conditions to feed the children and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. They are heroes of the faith for me, and for everyone else who has met them.

The timing of his visit with our church was perfect, as it aligned perfectly with what our family pastor, Brian Tryhus, preached on: obedience and sacrifice. His example was Esther, and how her initial reaction to the call of God on her life was fear, but ultimately she willingly laid down her own life for those of her people, and she became a critical part of God's story. 

The service as a whole was a powerful time of worship. The team led very well, with everyone doing their part to serve the congregation with excellence. We opened in the pre-service again with "Suffering Servant," and after this we read Romans 12:1 together as a congregation. This verse was key to tie everything in the service together–our offering ourselves as living sacrifices is a response to the "mercies of God" (ESV). Kelsey Thomsen then led us on "I Stand Amazed." We responded to the message with "The Stand," and then Kelsey led us again in "You Are God Alone," which we sang for the fourth time now in our services and is our church is learning it and singing it together. I love this song, as it is entirely a song about who God is–His sovereignty, His immutability, and His power. The character of God is crucial to understanding why we should follow and obey Him as He calls us and directs our lives. He is ultimately worthy of all that we are. We closed our services with "You Have Overcome" to bring full circle the connection between Christ's sacrifice for us and putting our obedience in the proper place of being a response to what Christ has already accomplished for us. This truth is critical for us to understand as believers; our obedience, our worship, or any "good work" are all responses to how Christ has accomplished our salvation for us. These deeds do not move us toward salvation. They are a means of following the example of our Savior. They are a means of demonstrating our thanks and love for Him. They are a means of being selfless for others, just as Christ was selfless for us.

It was a beautiful weekend of both celebrating the sacrifice that Christ made for us and contemplating His call on our lives to make disciples. Between Brian's message, Pastor Nixon's testimony, and our time of singing together, it was an incredibly moving and challenging weekend of worship.

Your turn: what were your experiences, observations, or take-aways from this weekend?

- Bill

He was pierced through for our transgressions.

Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, my people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of me. Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for our generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish if His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the portion with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Thoughts on Good Friday, from nearly 400 years ago.

I thought I would share a few thoughts about Good Friday today, as we reflect on the cross of Jesus, where our rescue was accomplished and our ransom was paid. John Donne is one of my favorite poets, and these particular poems are favorites of mine. Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward John Donne

Let man's soul be a sphere, and then, in this, The intelligence that moves, devotion is, And as the other spheres, by being grown Subject to foreign motions, lose their own, And being by others hurried every day, Scarce in a year their natural form obey: Pleasure or business, so, our souls admit For their first mover, and are whirled by it. Hence is't, that I am carried towards the west This day, when my soul's form bends toward the east. There I should see a sun, by rising set, And by that setting endless day beget; But that Christ on this Cross, did rise and fall, Sin had eternally benighted all. Yet dare I' almost be glad, I do not see That spectacle of too much weight for me. Who sees God's face, that is self life, must die; What a death were it then to see God die? It made his own lieutenant Nature shrink, It made his footstool, crack, and the sun wink. Could I behold those hands which span the pose, And tune all spheres at once, pierced with those holes? Could I behold that endless height which is Zenith to us, and to'our antipodes, Humbled below us? or that blood which is The seat of all our souls, if not of his, Made dirt of dust, or that flesh which was worn, By God, for his apparel, ragged, and torn? If on these things I durst not look, durst I Upon his miserable mother cast mine eye, Who was God's partner here, and furnished thus Half of that sacrifice, which ransomed us? Though these things, as I ride, be from mine eye, They are present yet unto my memory, For that looks towards them; and thou look'st towards me, O Saviour, as thou hang'st upon the tree; I turn my back to thee, but to receive Corrections, till thy mercies bid thee leave. O think me worth thine anger, punish me, Burn off my rusts, and my deformity, Restore thine image, so much, by thy grace, That thou mayst know me, and I'll turn my face.

Here is another that is fitting for today, as we reflect on the death of death:

Holy Sonnet #6 John Donne

Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me; From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57: "'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

May we never forget the point of Good Friday. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. We had no hope--no claim or right to eternal life--because we were dead in our sins. We had chosen to run our own lives. We had chosen our own way. We were Captives. Slaves. Prisoners. Dead. Enemies. We could not save ourselves. We would not save ourselves, because we liked our way of doing things, regardless of how it destroyed us. The only way for us to have eternal life was through Jesus' perfect sacrificial death in our place, for our sins. The righteous wrath of God against sin had to be dealt with, and God chose to take care of it Himself. He sent His one and only Son to the cross because of His great love for us. He did it while we were His enemies! The very hands that shaped the universe were nailed to the cross so that we could be rescued from sin and death, once and for all. May we never lose sight of the amazing love and grace of God, which kept Him on the cross to finish His defeat of sin and death. There was no other way for us to be saved. There is no other way for us to be saved. Thank you, Jesus, for loving us and rescuing us!

Set List, 03/19 - 3/20/11 Fellowship Bible Church

Here's our set from this weekend: Pre-Service Song- "Your Grace is Enough" (G) [Matt Maher] Call to Worship "Holy is the Lord" (G) [Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio] Welcome/Intro Special Guest Video - Trash Mountain Project, "DR Thank You" Guest - Brett Durbin, President of Trash Mountain Project Announcements/Greeting Time "Glory to God Forever" (A) [Steve Fee, Vicky Beeching] "Our God" (A) [Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin] "Lead Me to the Cross" (D) [Brooke Fraser] Message - "I Believe: God Empowers (Sanctification)" [Brian Tryhus] Response - "Take My Life and Let It Be" (D) [Frances Ridley Havergal and Henri Abraham Cesar Malan]

This weekend we focused on how God empowers believers in the process of sanctification. Brian did a great job unpacking the truth of this doctrine, making it clear and laying all the cards on the table so everyone could understand it. I can honestly say that his message was one of the clearest explanations of sanctification I have heard. It's a beautiful thing. I thought the songs that were planned communicated the same message well, and that the whole was unified and clear that our God is holy, and He is the one who makes us holy.

We also had my close friend, Brett Durbin, in to share about something happening with his missions organization (Trash Mountain Project). They have begun a child sponsorship program in which every dollar goes to feed and educate a child in the Dominican Republic called "Kids With a Hope." Our church's goal this weekend was to sponsor every child they have left to sponsor at the facility, which was somewhere around 140 kids. His organization has taken a risk and has not incorporated any administrative fees into the sponsorship fee, so every dollar goes to the kids. The sponsorship is $34 per month - $28 for food (2 meals and a snack per day) and $6 for education costs. In my family, we have been considering doing a sponsorship for a while, for our daughter to get connected to what God is doing in the rest of the world, so this was a no brainer. We are excited to finally find the right child to support, and we are excited that it is connected with Trash Mountain. Because of my daughter's enthusiasm, I had to fight to hold it together during the last service this weekend. When she found out we were going to be sponsoring a child this morning, she ran upstairs and grabbed her piggy bank and said, "I want to give them all my money!" While it was only a few dollars, her generosity was truly beautiful. I am so proud of her. I was overwhelmed with thanksgiving for what God is doing in her life.

As far as the music part of worship goes, it was a great weekend. A highlight for me was when Sarah Oldberg and the band did a fantastic job on "Lead Me to the Cross," which was a great connection with Brian's message. He emphasized Romans 12:1-2, where Paul calls the church to offer their lives as living sacrifices. I took that and connected it with Jesus' call to take up our cross daily and follow Him before we sung this song. I really love this song and its message, and how it connected with the weekend's focus.

We spent most of the morning on songs that celebrate God's grace, holiness, and greatness. We opened the pre-service time with Matt Maher's "Your Grace Is Enough." This was the first week that I didn't sing the additional choruses from Chris Tomlin's version, because I felt that they were more complicated and would make it more difficult for our people to participate. I think it was a good decision, and I will continue to sing it with just Maher's chorus. After the call to worship, we moved to "Holy is the Lord," which is a great and simple celebration of God's holiness and the fact that His name will go out over all the earth. One day, everyone will understand His holiness.

The rest of the set consisted of "Glory to God Forever" and "Our God," which each have elements of recognizing God's greatness and of challenging us to go in boldness for His kingdom. The bridge of "Glory to God Forever" has become my favorite part of the song, and I consistently call our people to make this our prayer: "Take my life and let it be/ All for You and for Your glory/ Take my life and let it be Yours." The only thing I would have changed would be the key. We tried these again in the key of A, when we have been doing them in the key of G most recently. There are parts of these songs that extend out of most people's reach, so I think we'll return to G in the future with these songs.

We also introduced an arrangement of "Take My Life and Let It Be," which I have taken (and modified slightly) from Andrew Osenga from his days with The Normals. I have always loved this treatment of this great hymn, and it was a perfect opportunity to bring it in, because it really tied in with Brian's message, and where he landed it. It is a great prayer for us to pray, as it focuses on different areas of our lives and how we can give them over to God and His purposes. The writers mention our lives, our hands, our feet, our mouths, our intellect, and our resources as means for worshiping God and building the kingdom of God -

Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee Take my moments and my days Let them flow in ceaseless praise Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee Swift and beautiful for Thee

Take my voice and let me sing Always, only, for my King Take my lips and let them be Filled with messages from Thee Filled with messages from Thee

Take my silver and my gold Not a mite would I withhold Take my intellect and use Ev’ry power as You choose Ev’ry power as You choose

May this be the prayer of our lives, that every aspect of us would be poured out as an offering of worship to our great God!

In the Son,

Bill p.s. Be sure to check out what other leaders did this weekend at Sunday Set Lists!