Sunday, October 27th Order of Worship at Zion Bible Church

Opening Hymns:
Like a River Glorious # 371
It Is Well with My Soul # 381

Worship Set:
10,000 Reasons
Knowing You
O Lord, You're Beautiful

Closing Hymn:
Take My Life and Let It Be # 152

The story behind the song "It Is Well with My Soul" (http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/it-is-well-with-my-soul-the-song-and-the-story.html) reminds me of Job's life.  Job could look beyond his troubles, and see God for who He really was - his friend.

Job 16:20 reads, "My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend."

Earlier, in Job 1:21, it reads, "Naked I cam from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

I find it difficult to understand why Job did not curse God.  In our own lives, we always ask "why God?"  May God give us the strength to know that whenever we are going through what seems an impossible situation, we must continue to bless Him for His faithfulness, even when it does not seem evident.

My Thoughts on Hymns

Peridically, I try to do a hymn sing at Zion.  This week, with our fall outing and prophecy conference behind us, is one of those weeks.  I know that many in my generation do not have the same appreciation for the old hymns as I, but I know that the carefully chosen words can help teach us sometimes moreso than the more self-centric words in more recent "worship" songs.  It is important to note that while it is a personal choice how we choose to honor God through our time of worship, the most important thing is that we keep our minds on Him, and not ourselves.  As John 3:30 states, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (KJV)  Only when we see take the focus off of ourselves and see God for who He is, can we come to the realization of how much we need Him.  He is perfect, and we are far from.

I do, however, especially enjoy hearing the old hymns put to new music, such as these from Chris Tomlin:

Amazing Grace (Our Chains are Gone)
Come Thou Fount, Come Thou King
Crown Him (Majesty)
Fairest Lord Jesus

Recently, Steven Curtis Chapman recorded his version of "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" on his album Deep Roots, released in March of this year.  I love hearing this song on the radio.

Last year, I purchased the compilation entitled "Positively Hymns", recorded with various Christian singers.  This is by far one of my favorite compilations.  I highly recommend this CD for your meditation.
http://www.amazon.com/Positively-Hymns-Jeremy-Camp/dp/B008XRSQ94/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383361073&sr=8-1&keywords=positively+hymns.

Sunday, October 13th Order of Worship at Zion Bible Church

Opening Hymn:
Faith Is the Victory # 216
My Savior First of All # 480

Worship Set:
Days of Elijah
Revelation Song
Open Our Eyes, Lord

Closing Song:
Ancient Words

During this past week, we had Micah Winefeld as a guest speaker at Zion.  He is the founder of Prophecy Today Ministries, a ministry that looks to connect recent events in history and God's prophecy of the end times.  This is the third time Micah has come to speak at Zion, and each time it is a blessing.  His message this morning was entitled "The Eyes of Faith" and had to do with learning to connect our faith to the importance of prophecy.

Life, he stated, was just like driving a car - we constantly have to not only know what is in our rear-view mirror, and be aware of our surroundings, but most importantly we have to have our eyes looking down the road.  Living faith day-to-day without knowing where we are headed is a dangerous idea.  In the Bible, 1/3 of scripture deals with prophecy, and he is alarmed at how little the average Christian knows concerning where we are headed.  His message was geared towards the importance of prophecy and how it should affect our daily lives.  For instance, we can look across the isle and see another for who they are today.  Or we can see them as God sees them, as immortal beings - headed either for an eternity in heaven or hell.

My song selection this morning focuses on prophecy, and how God's Word can help us "open our eyes".  This is the first time we have sung "Ancient Words".  Normally, I try to introduce a song slowly, but the chorus of this song touched me insomuch as to hope that God will allow it to inspire us this morning especially.

The opening lines of the chorus goes as follows:
Ancient words, ever true
Changing me and changing you.

Hear and follow along with the entire song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsz9NRclKa4