Creation Psalms

What up everybody?!! Sorry this is late, busy week. VBS, wedding, plus everything else that goes on at church! It's been a lot and I'm glad it's almost over. This week Pastor Bruce spoke about Creation Psalms and the glory of God. A lot of worship songs are based on creations psalms. Majestic by Lincoln Brewster comes of mind.

"Oh Lord, Our Lord
How majestic is your Name in all the earth."

That's awesome. Creation psalms, for me, emphasize the transcendence of God. He is so much greater, bigger, powerful, than I am. What that saying? A speck, on a flea, on a rat.... yup, that's me. I am glad that I worship a God that is bigger than I am. That actually has control of my life when I feel like it's spinning out of control. He is great and greatly to be praised.

On July 28th, there is an event at Horse Shoe Lake called Praise In The Park. The worship team is playing for this event as well as other area churches. Should be a great time! 6:00 PM. Hopefully I will see you there!

Setlist
Here For You - Matt Redman
Alive and Running - Kristian Stanfill
Exalted One - Elevation Worship
Hosanna - Brooke Fraser
To The Cross - Paul Baloche

Summer In The Psalms

Hey Everyone, it's been too long. I will try to post every week, so check back. We have started a new series for Summer called Summer in the Psalms. This is right up my alley being a worship leader. Each week we will talk about a different type of Psalm. Last week was Praise. Praise is awesome! It's the basis for most of our contemporary worship songs. When we sing praise, we are accurately describing God, who he is and what he has done or can do. Pastor Bruce made the point that we can't get so wrapped up in emotion that we miss the point of what we are saying or singing. Both the mind and the heart needs to be engaged as we worship.

Last night Pastor Brad spoke on the Lament. A lament is a crying out to God. This could be crying out for rescue, or salvation. We sang the song Always by Kristian Stanfill after the message. It starts as a lament, but then, because we know that our hope is in Jesus, the chorus speaks about how God always comes to our rescue.

My foes are many
They rise against me
But I will hold my ground
I will not fear the war
I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way

Oh my God
He will not delay
My rescue and strength
Always
I will not fear
His promise is true
My God will come through
Always

Trouble surrounds me
Chaos abounding
My soul will rest in you

I will not fear the war
I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way

I lift my eyes up
My help comes from the Lord

I hope this song encourages you today. God is always with you. He may not change your circumstances, but he is with you. Always.

The Promise

Hey Guys,

Tonight Pastor Brad is starting a new series entitled "The Promise". I hope you can make it out! 7:30, tonight!

Jesus As Lord

Hey Everyone,

We are studying Jesus As Lord at Lumen. Sometimes we have a view of God that is too soft, wimpy or friendly. Sometimes we forget that Jesus is not only our friend, but he is the Lord, Master and Creator of everything. Because of his position, he deserves our respect and our obedience. This series has been very challenging for me. I don't treat Jesus with the respect he deserves. You know how sometimes you have friend that you get too familiar with? You start making jokes and poking fun. At first it's funny, but then it gets real annoying. Is that how our relationship is with Jesus sometimes? Come tonight and learn more about this topic. Fortunately, we have each other and can worship and learn together! See you tonight!

Jeff

New Look

Hey Everyone,

It's been a while since I updated the blog! I will be try to be more faithful in updating it! We are in a series titled Jesus As Lord. Come tonight and hear more about it! Hillside Church 7:30.

Jeff

How The Gospel Of Christ Is Good For Us

Last night we wrapped up our series on the book, Good News For Anxious Christians and reviewed the major points of the book. This blog post will be short and if you want to know more about what we talked about last night, read the last 10 posts. Also, if you didn't know, you can listen to all the sermons on our website. The link is http://www.hillsidelbc.org/#/media/lumen

The message of the gospel is that Christ has done everything for your salvation. We have a mixed up view that in order to be saved we have to do something. Pastor Bruce used the example last night of drowning. If you are drowning, by definition, there is nothing you can do to save yourself. If you could, you wouldn't be drowning. Christ saves us. He has done the work. You don't have to do anything. This is truly good news and why the gospel is good for us. Next week we will be video chatting with Phillip Cary. He will be answering "all" of our questions so come prepared. If you haven't read the book, you still have one week left!

Jeff

Setlist

Freedom Is Here - Hillsong

The Lord Regins - Gateway Worship

Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin

Maker Of Heaven - Desperation Band

Unfailing God - New Life Worship

Why Basing Faith On Experience Leads To A Post-Christian Future

On Tuesday night Pastor Bruce shared with us about the importance of doctrine. Phillip Cary shares in the last chapter that much of what we based our faith on is our experience is with God. This unfortunately leads to bad doctrine because sometimes our experiences are good and sometimes they are not. For instance, if your life and what you are experiencing makes you feel like God is far away and distance from you, you could create a doctrine in your own mind that says "sometimes God leaves me" or "God has abandoned me". That is what our experience is teaching us. But we need to base our doctrine or what we thinking about God on His Word. In Joshua 1:5 God speaks to Joshua and says, "I will not leave you or forsake you." That is comforting news, especially when God "feels" far away. While we may feel like God is far away, He is actually is very close because he has said he will not leave us. Cary makes the argument that eventually all of the doctrines are lost when we base our faith on experience. We must dig into God word, so that when we do experience hard times, we know who God is, and that he is always with us.

Jeff

Setlist

For Who You Are - Hillsong

Your Name High - Hillsong

Hosanna - Hillsong

You Alone Can Rescue - Matt Redman

Came To My Rescue - Hillsong