The musical worship for this weekend was a rare treat. We programmed all the music at the front of the service because of the weight of the passage we were studying (Joshua 9-22).
The opener was Phil Wickham’s Cannons
Then I read a quote by Raymond C Ortlund:
“Worship is the highest and noblest act that any person can do. When people worship, God is satisfied! “The Father seeks such to worship Him,” Amazing, isn’t it? And when you worship you are fulfilled. Think about this: why did Jesus Christ come? He came to make worshippers out of rebels. We who were once self-centered have to be completely changed so that we can shift our attention outside of ourselves and become able to worship Him.”
We continued with a three song set:
For Who You Are – Hillsong
All Creatures of Our God and King – Francis of Assisi, David Crowder
Center – Charlie Hall
As a congregation we read a passage from 1 Chronicles 16:
I read the first line of each verse and the congregation responded with the second.
23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
24 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
25 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
26 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
27 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
28 Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
29 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him.
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”
32 Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!
33 Let the trees of the forest sing,
let them sing for joy before the LORD,
34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
35 Cry out,
“Save us, God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
and glory in your praise.”
36 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the LORD.”
It was a great read in preparation for the passage in Joshua.
Then we closed the set with How Great is our God with a bridge of How Great Thou Art.
Now, I have to say, it is a miracle this service happened at all. Our entire computer network was down before the first run through on Saturday. Once that was finally fixed, my whole rig died. My in ears stopped working, my guitar wireless stopped working, my guitar (which NEVER goes out of tune) was a step and a half flat, after I had tuned it ten minutes earlier. It was just the worst service run through ever. So we prayed and prayed and in his great mercy, God showed up!
Matt Odegaard 