Woah!
It’s hard to believe there are only three Sundays left in 2012. It’s been quite a year!
As I’ve been praying and thinking about this morning’s set list, I was reminded of the importance of preaching the gospel to myself every day.
I hope that every week our set is not only “gospel centered”, but that it serves as a visible progression of the proper order of worship.
In this set I see the following progression:
Repent, Proclaim, Receive, Respond
True Worship
God’s word tells me that to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love my neighbor as myself, is the greatest commandment of all. (Mark 12)
If I were to get these two commandments right, then everything else in my life would be taken care of. I would naturally love others if I’m consumed with the complete love of God, and I would be the kind of worshiper that God wants worshiping Him.
So how does this happen? It only takes place when an awareness of His love for me begins to grow in my life and mind. This awareness only happens as I keep my eyes on Jesus and what He’s done for me in the gospel.
Preaching the gospel to myself every day is the best way for me to keep God’s love always before me. In this way I engage with the power of God’s love to create in me a wholehearted love for Him in return.
Here’s our set for this morning:
Marvelous Light
In Charlie Hall’s song Marvelous Light I see a song that comes from the heart of a person turning to God. A song of repentance. The song acknowledges that we had a dead heart, but Christ has made it alive.
God Over All
This is a song that proclaims who God is. It’s a simple song that declares what God has done for us in the gospel, and ties it back to his sovereignty as God over everything.
New Doxology
Continuing in the theme of proclaiming who our God is, we’ll sing the newer arrangement of the Doxology by Gateway worship. We’ll proclaim that God is the source of all blessing and life.
Let Us Adore
Coming out of a more robust time of proclamation, we’ll move into a time of reflection and receiving. This is a slower song about simply beholding Christ the Lord. It’s great this time of year as well…
What A Savior
This is another old hymn remade by the Sovereign Grace guys. The chorus is a refrain of action: “We offer our lives to proclaim…what a savior”. After a time repenting, proclaiming, and receiving, it’s time to do something in light of God’s grace. Of course even the consecrating of our lives is an act of God’s grace, but that doesn’t in any way take away from our responsibility to be “doers of the word”.
How could we not do something in light of His great mercy?