Worship Round-Up (October 25, 2015)

a weekly review of Sunday worship to provide resource and further reflection from our Sunday service.

Sermon:

"The Journey of Nebuchadnezzar"

Pastor Chuck Mullikin

Daniel 4

Listen to the sermon here.

In this week's sermon, Pastor Chuck highlighted King Nebuchadnezzar's change from self sufficiency as king to recognizing God as his king and the rightful recipient of praise and glory. We drew connection between the sermon and the music by emphasizing God as our king with "Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven". In Westchester's rendition of "O Worship the King" we refrain

"Lift up your voice to the glorious King

Let us enter His courts with praise.

He was, and is, and is to come,

The Lord is King forever!"

We continue our focus on missions and also emphasize Jesus as the great King who deserving of all praise with "Bright and Glorious". We responded after the service with communion and singing of "You are My King" and then ending with a song of celebration in our great salvation with a new arrangement of "What Wondrous Love is This".

Music:

Praise My Soul the King of Heaven

by Henry Francis Lyte | John Goss | Austin Hilmer

O Worship the King (Lift Up Your Voice)
by Johann Michael Haydn | Robert Grant | Austin Hilmer

Bright and Glorious
by Aaron Ivey | Todd Agnew
Listen on YouTube



You are My King
by Billy J Foote
Listen on YouTube

What Wondrous Love is This
by Alexander Means | William Walker - arrangement by Pacific Gold
Listen and Purchase on Bandcamp

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Austin Hilmer

About the Author:
Austin serves on staff at Westchester as Associate Pastor of Corporate Worship

Worship Round-Up (October 11, 2015)

a weekly review of Sunday worship to provide resource and further reflection from our Sunday service.

Sermon:

"Eyes on God"
Daniel 1
Pastor Josh Earhart
Listen to the sermon here


In this week's service we wanted to highlight the reality of God's sovereignty. At this time in our church we are studying Ezra and the minor prophet Haggai together and it perfectly correlates with the new sermon series through Daniel. God has a plan. God has a mission. God will see that through and we can trust in his promises even when the times seem most dire. The songs we chose to sing all highlight this sovereignty by affirming our trust in Him. We sing that our "One Comfort" is knowing our salvation is complete on the cross. We affirm that he is Lord and creator of all in "God of Wonders". We affirm that we cannot rely on and trust in our name, possessions, and abilities here on earth in "My Worth is Not in What I Own". We ended by reaffirming the greatness of our God in "How Great Thou Art".


Music:


My One Comfort
by Dustin Kensrue
Listen on YouTube

God of Wonders
by Marc Byrd | Steve Hindalong
Listen on YouTube



My Worth is Not in What I Own
by  Graham Kendrick | Keith Getty | Kristyn Getty
Listen on YouTube

How Great Thou Art
by Stuart K. Hine

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Austin Hilmer

About the Author:
Austin serves on staff at Westchester as Associate Pastor of Corporate Worship

Worship Coffeehouse Recap

We had so many people attend the coffeehouse this week! Thank you for all of your support, participation, and especially if you helped set up or clean up you are amazing!

Vision:

After the first coffeehouse we did a couple of months ago I began brainstorming improvements to the coffeehouse and what the future of such an event could look like. The first theme we put music to was Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration-- the storyline of scripture (for a recap of the first event click here). This time we did the theme of The Atonement-- Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the various aspects, and what it means for us. The theology of the Atonement is what truly sparked my interest in studying theology and has become a passion of mine. By digging in deeper to what Christ accomplished in his death on the cross, we get a bigger and fuller picture of our salvation, and also we can have full assurance and peace of knowing that our sin is truly taken care of and we have been fully reconciled to Him. Below you will see the themes, songs, and verses we used to discuss the atonement.

Music:




Note: Unfortunately we cannot stream all of the songs we played that night due to copyright issues. The songs posted above are all in the public domain.


Blood Sacrifice: Jesus himself was our sacrifice---Hebrews 9:11-22


Nothing But the Blood/ There is a Fountain
by Robert Lowry | William Cowper
Listen to our version above.


Reconciliation: Man was estranged from God to the point of being enemies. Through Jesus we have been reconciled to God--- Romans 5:9-11


Jesus Thank You
by Pat Sczebel
Listen on YouTube




Propitiation: Jesus bore the wrath of God--- 1 John 4:10 (Not all translations use "propitiation". The ESV is one that does)


In Christ Alone
by Keith Getty | Stuart Townend
Listen on YouTube

Sweetly Broken
by Jeremy Riddle
Listen on YouTube



Justification/ Imputed Righteousness: Through Jesus' death we are pardoned from our sins and transgressions. We are then counted as righteous because of all that Christ has done right. This is all possible because Christ is our great mediator---Hebrews 4:14-16


Before the Throne of God Above
by Charitie Lees Bancroft
Listen on YouTube




Redemption/ Ransom: Jesus "buys us back" or reclaims us from bondage to Satan, sin, and death. This is holistic in body, mind, soul as well as all of creation to himself.--- Ephesians 1:7-10


My Savior's Precious Blood
by Cathie Fay

And Can it Be
Arrangement by Austin Hilmer

Jesus Paid It All

by Alex Nifong, Elvina M. Hall, John Thomas Grape

Christus Victor: Jesus conquered our enemies--- Ephesians 2:1-5


Sing My Soul
by Brooks Ritter, Rebecca Elliott & TJ Hester
Listen and purchase here

Penal Substitution: Jesus paid the penalty and died in our place--- 2 Corinthians 5:21


Man of Sorrows
by Philip P. Bliss; Arranged by Ex Nihilo


New Heavens and New Earth: We sing the bitter-sweet reminder of the age that is to come in anticipation of Christ's return.


Never Grow Old
by James Cleveland Moore
Listen on YouTube


On Jordan's Stormy Banks
by Christopher Miner | Samuel Stennett
Listen on YouTube

Hitting the Mark

When Jesus was on Earth he never sinned. This is of course very important to us as Christians because he needed to live a perfect life for his death on the cross to atone for our sins. He lived out the life that actually hit the target when it comes to God’s requirements for salvation.

We, on the other hand will not hit the mark. The Greek word for sin, hamartia, actually means to miss the mark. There is a standard that we need to live up to, and every time we sin we fall short of that mark. God knows this and that is why it was his plan from the beginning to provide us with a savior.

However, before Jesus came, the Jews did have a word for hitting the mark, Kavanah. This wasn’t a way to obtain salvation, they recognized their sin and their need for the coming messiah, but it did describe the way in which they should strive to live. There are four things that they came up with that would help them Kavanah, that is, hit the mark. We need to Study, Pray, Love, and Live.

This idea of Kavanah is something that we should continue to understand today and keep as a litmus test for our Christian walk. We should be striving to become more Christ-like through Study of the Bible, an active prayer life, showing love to all of those around us, and living a life that emulates Christ. This is pleasing to the Lord and it will also help us live out the Great Commission.

Take a moment to think of these four areas in your life. Do we struggle with our study of the Bible, or is our prayer life lacking? Could we do a better job of showing love to people, or are we failing to live out the call of Christ?

We can’t obtain salvation for ourselves, but we do have the privilege of being a representative of Christ and we should strive to hit the mark as much as possible. We do this because our love of God and his love for us compels us.  He is deserving of all glory and he deserves obedience.  We should always remember that it is only by his gift of grace through Jesus that we can have eternal life, and it is exactly for this reason that our desire should be to hit the mark. 
 

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Josh Earhart

About the Author:
Josh serves on staff at Westchester as Associate Pastor of Student Ministries

Worship Round-Up (September 20, 2015)

a weekly review of Sunday worship to provide resource and further reflection from our Sunday service.

Sermon

"Loneliness"

2 Timothy 4:9-18

Pastor Chuck Mullikin

Listen to the sermon here.

Pastor Chuck delivered an excellent sermon this week discussing something common to all of us-- Loneliness. The gospel brings people together and pulls us apart in order to fulfill the great commission. Our relationships here are only a taste of the fulness and completion of relationships in the age to come. For the times we experience loneliness in this life we are to cling to Jesus. We emphasized this in the songs we sang by telling God that our hearts are open to him in "Almighty God". We sing of His love and the eternal praise that is due to Him in "Here is Love". We cling to Jesus by singing "Jesus I Come" and "Oh God" (you never leave my side!). Listen or re-listen to the sermon and review the songs we sang this week, and we pray that it would be encouraging to you this week.

Music

Oh Our Lord

by David Leonard | Leslie Jordan | Paul Baloche

Listen on YouTube

Almighty God

by David Leonard | Leslie Jordan | Sandra McCracken
Listen on YouTube
Purchase on Bandcamp

Here is Love
William Rees | 3rd verse by Steve and Vikki Cook
Listen on YouTube

Jesus I Come
David Ward | William True Sleeper
Listen on YouTube

Oh God
by Zach Bolen
Listen on YouTube

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Austin Hilmer

About the Author:
Austin serves on staff at Westchester as Associate Pastor of Corporate Worship

Let the Lion Out!

In my sermon preparation for preaching 2 Timothy 4, I have come across two thoughts/illustrations that I have not been able to use in my sermons on this passage.  So I will share them here.

The first one comes from Charles Spurgeon.  Speaking to his fellow preachers he exhorted them to stop trying to just defend the Bible and, “Open the door and let the lion out!”  What a great image for the Bible.  It is the Word of God.  It must be what we preach.  It is powerful.  It has authority.  It always accomplishes its purposes.  Spurgeon went on to say, “The answer to every objection against the Bible is the Bible.”  So our sermons must be filled with the Bible.  Not our thoughts or even concepts in defense of the Bible, but the actual truth and teaching of the Bible.  Paul put it this way, “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2)

Second, I read concerning the Puritans of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, that whenever they would greet each other and ask how each other were doing, they would always answer concerning the state of their souls.   Not concerning the weather, their physical condition, nor concerning the condition of their churches, instead concerning the state of their souls.  In other words, their replies to each other would be concerning their walk in Jesus, their trust and faith in Jesus, their obedience or disobedience to the Lord of their lives, their recent battles and struggles in the Christian walk, their communion/abiding with Jesus.  I think we have much to learn from this.  This could help us move toward true fellowship within our churches.  This would most certainly deepen the conversations we have with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Let alone that it would force us to know the condition of our souls.

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Dave MacKinnon

About the Author:
Dave serves on staff at Westchester as Senior Pastor