Prayerfully walk through this guide as you prepare for the corporate gathering. Confess sin to God and others. Come with a believing heart ready to receive God’s Word. Come ready to engage in fellowship with others.
Use the drop-down boxes below to find the sermon text, songs and rhythms of worship!
Sunday, January 26th
Pastor Rickey Primrose
Mark 12:18-27
As you read through the text to prepare for Sunday, pray for the Holy Spirit to open your heart and keep these questions in mind:
• What does this text say about God?
• What does this text say about people?
• How can I apply this text in context?
• How is the Spirit leading me to respond?
• Did these verses raise any questions as I read?
“Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.” Psalm 147:1 Christians are a singing people. So much so that there are over 400 references to music in the Bible and 50 direct commands to sing. So why should we sing? We sing as an act of worship to God. We sing to encourage each other and we sing to encourage our own souls because our joy depends on it. God’s people sing in celebration for what He’s done, they sing in lament, they sing in petition through prayer, in Revelation 15 they even sing and worship in response to God’s judgment and wrath. We just can’t get around it. God has redeemed a singing people. Something unique happens when we put lyrics to a melody. Take the happy birthday song for example. If you just spoke the words of that song to someone on their birthday, it wouldn’t be too joyous. But when you sing the words, you and the one being sung over can feel a greater sense of joy than if you just spoke the words. Similarly when we sing songs that are filled with God’s truth, our hearts and minds are engaged in worship and there is a greater sense of joy that comes when we sing what we know to be true about God.
You may be like me and enjoy singing so this rhythm of worship is not a struggle for you. But I know there are some who genuinely don’t like to sing. There may be a variety of reasons why you don’t sing but my encouragement for you would be to first obey God’s command for us to sing to Him. Secondly, if you feel self conscious or apathetic about your contribution, particularly in the corporate gathering, know that your voice matters. Each one of our voices, whether amplified or not, plays a significant role in the sound and atmosphere in our gatherings. And fortunately for those who think they don’t have a good singing voice, when it comes to singing as worship, skill is not what’s most important. Participation is. Each one of us plays a role in the unity of the church when we all lift our voices together in song to a God who deserves all of our worship. So let us all sing and let the sound of His praise be heard!
As we continue to memorize Ephesians 1:3-14, we will be focusing on verses 13-14 for the month of January.
“13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:13-14
Next date: Sunday, February 2nd
Here are some ways that you can prepare your hearts to sit at the Lord’s Table, which we partake in twice a month together:
Reflect – Reflect on the person and work of Christ.
Meditate on who He is and what He has done.
Examine your heart – Examine your heart and confess any sin or areas of misplaced hope.
Examine your love – Examine your relationships. Is there anyone that you need to reconcile with before taking the Lord’s Supper.
Rejoice – Come with gladness and thanksgiving that God has made you worthy to enter His presence.