Opening Song: The Prodigal King “D” (Chris Gates)

Call To Worship:

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Acts 2:42 (ESV)

Yesterday, Today and Forever “F#” (Vicky Beeching)

Cannons “F#” (Phil Wickham)

Prayer of Confession/Assurance of Pardon

Teach Me To Pray “C” (Chris Gates)

Message: Rooted Pt. 7 “Mission Rooted In Jesus” Colossians 4 -Jason McNutt [sermon audio link]

Communion: Hallelujah, What A Savior “A” (Philip Bliss/Tommy Walker) [Shelly Moore Band Version]

Offering: The Stand “A” (Hillsong)

Closing Song: Our God “A” (Chris Tomlin)

You can check out what other churches did this week at www.theworshipcommunity.com.

Before Rehearsal

1) Learn a song with your ears first. Listen to it until singing the melody or playing the chords feels natural.

2) Memorize the chord progression if you are an instrumentalist. Recognize and patterns in the progression, and note any changes in the structure of the song.

3) Think about how the song will sound when your band plays it. Would your leader play it differently than the recorded version?

At Rehearsal

4) Come early, stay late. Don’t rush rehearsal. Remember, you are serving on a team that is on a mission for the glory of God and the joy of his people. Sometimes it takes time.

7) Make good notes so you can refer back to them.

Sunday Morning

9) Come early and be a helper. Don’t just show up and “do your thing.”

10) Practice after Sunday to make any necessary corrections for when you play that song next time.

You can view the entire article here.

Jesus has been portrayed in many ways throughout the history of the church, and in pop-culture. Portrayals vary from the super freakish looking midieval Catholic Jesus, which looks like a mini-me version of a child with an adult face, to the pretty eyed, highly feminine, never angry, walking in fields of wild flowers drag-queen Jesus of many of the so called “Jesus movies.” In today’s pop-culture crazed world, Jesus takes on the appeal of a drinking buddy, someone who likes to get just as crazy as the rest of the crowd, but who also (like the Dos Equis man) can still drive everyone else home safely at the end of the night. There is a popular t-shirt on the market which reads, “Jesus is My Homeboy.”

With all of the various ideas about who Jesus really is out there, discerning which characterization is correct can be quite confusing. Sometimes its hard to know if we should bow down and worship him, or bow down to look at his new Prada unisex high-heeled shoes and matching handbag! What are we to make of all this exactly?

I think Jesus can clear up any confusion as to who he is. Jesus said, ”I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). When Jesus used the term “I AM,” he was clearly (at least in the minds of Jews who immediately tried to kill him for his ‘blasphemy’) identifying himself as Yahweh, the Old Testament God of Israel, who created the world and governs it according to his soveriegn will. Son of Man, as Jesus used the term, was a reference to the Messiah who would one day come in the fiery clouds of heaven to deliver his people and execute judgment on the people of the earth for their sins. Clearly, Jesus was not confused about his own identity. Controversial, but not confused.

So, what does this mean for us today? We must accept Jesus for who he really is (who he said he is), and worship him accordingly. We must love, serve, and worship Jesus in a manner that is acceptable to him, and not according to our own ideas about who his is and how to approach him.

Vintage Worship is committed to exploring all the ways in which we may worship the real Jesus in a manner acceptable and pleasing to him. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Does your church use language such as, “Celebrate Jesus” on Sunday mornings? Is that the only language they use? The following is an excerpt from an article critiquing the modern church’s use of Celebration-only language in worship.

More and more churches seem to be moving toward this kind of language to describe what happens during corporate worship. I’m not convinced it’s a good thing. Now I’m not saying Jesus–and the infinitely good news associated with his death and resurrection–is unworthy of our celebration. But I do worry that “celebrate” is an inadequate word to describe the response we should have to the Lord of the universe.

Read rest of article here.

I agree with the author. While celebrating who Jesus is and what he has done for us (there are many examples of redeemed souls celebrating before the Lord in Scripture), the language of celebration implies that the worshipper is smiling, laughing, and happy all of the time. Otherwise, one does not worship. I prefer the term “worship.” We worship Jesus in the body life of our churches, not only when we are in a celebratory mood, but also when we are sad, or mourning, or tired, or sick, or a million others things when we come together in corporate worship.

Don’t just celebrate Jesus, worship him!

It can be easy for worship team members to fall into the trap of “winging it”.  Showing up, listening to the songs for 30-60 minutes during a 120 minute rehearsal and looking over a chord chart for the first time is not productive rehearsal time. A nice reminder to my fellow worship leaders & team members out there about the calling, the necessity and the importance for each worship team member to actively participate in the mission God has called your local church’s worship ministry to fulfill (not just the guy behind the mic).

Check out the rest of the article here.

In this video interview Matt Redman, one of today’s foremost Christian songwriters candidly displays regret for some of his past song lyrics. He is concerned that lyrics such as, “Jesus I am so in love with you” in his song Let My Words Be Few might not be an appropriate or scriptural way to speak to our King Jesus. I think he’s right.