Prayer is one of the activities Christians were engaging in when they assembled. Prayer directed towards God is an admission that “God Is” and reflects our dependence upon him. The scriptures describe prayer as the “sacrifice of our lips”.
In public prayer the primary audience is God and the secondary audience is the assembled congregation.
Prayer is a teaching tool. There are several prayers recorded in the Bible and they are recorded there for a purpose… they teach us. We can also teach with prayer in our assemblies.
Public prayer can be thought provoking and can create an emotional response in the listeners. I’ve had two occasions when I have led a public prayer and have had people come up to me afterwards with something special to say.
One of those was in Houston. My dad was either sick or had just passed away… I don’t remember which and I was leading the closing prayer. I don’t really remember what I said but I do remember that I was trembling and Julie reached down and held my hand during that prayer. Afterwards a friend came up to me with tears in his eyes and said, “That was a powerful prayer”.
To pray well in public we have to have an active prayer life in private. To have an active prayer life in private we need to have a broad understanding of who God is and we need to spend time thinking about God. We need to pray to God when things are troubling us and we need to pray when we’re happy or have been blessed with good things and for every emotion in between.
We need to also break away from the old traditional prayers we often hear in assemblies and pray with our own words and our own thoughts.
Here is a sampling of things we can pray for…
- We can pray for other people than just those in our congregation. Pray when tragedy or suffering happens in the community. For example, a school bus gets in a wreck and children are injured.
- Pray for things that seem impossible. Pray that Osama Ben Laden will hear the truth and become a believer.
- Ask God to tell a loved one that we’re thinking about them.
- Pray for the simple gift of healing… don’t tell God how to heal, “Lord touch them with your healing hand”.
- Confess in prayer whatever short comings you have in your life.
- Ask for blessings but confess that if you don’t receive them that God is still your God.
- Pray for God to take us all to heaven right now as a church family.
- Pray for things that are expressed well in songs… “O Lord our God, when we in awesome wonder, consider all… “
Public prayer is one of the essentials of congregational worship. God is listening and the congregation is listening. Prepare yourself by immersing yourself in the word and by spending much time in quiet personal prayer. When you stand before the congregation try as much as is possible to let it be just you and God and pray from your heart with your own words just as if you are sitting in your own back yard thinking about things and sharing them with God.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Young Adults at Tornos
We have a monthly schedule for people to have our young adults/college students into their homes. Cyndi Garcia had them last month and we are booked up through May. However, I'm sure if you wanted to have them over they wouldn't mind getting together twice a month. A lot of our students are going out of town but we will have several in town over the holidays... I'm just saying.
Shane Torno's Class
Shane's class prepared holiday baskets for some of the members. Not pictured is McKenzie.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Building Faith: The Lord's Supper
When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper he gave his instruction to the 12 disciples who were with him at the time. Some might argue that it was for them and no one else. However, we see the practice of “observing the Lord’s Supper” in the early church when the disciples gathered together.
Obviously, Peter and the Apostles taught early Christians to observe the Lord’s Supper. We practice it today because of the example of early Christians. Also, by example we observe it on Sundays because that’s when they did it… every Sunday.
There is evidence that the Lord’s Supper was the primary reason the Christians assembled on Sundays. That’s interesting because in many modern day churches the Lord’s Supper is not observed every Sunday. They assemble every Sunday but not for the purpose of taking the Lord’s Supper. They assemble for some other purpose. Many church assemblies today gather *apparently* to listen to preaching or for social reasons. That’s a huge departure from God’s plan for the Church.
If God’s purpose for the Church is to help Christians to grow in faith and the Lord’s Supper is one of the tools to accomplish that purpose then many Churches today are failing in their purpose. It would be like trying to build a house without a hammer or without nails.
If you want to find a church so that you can grow in faith then don’t pick a church that under emphasizes the Lord’s Supper.
On the other hand there are churches who offer the Lord’s Supper every single Sunday but it is a mechanical, obligatory, emotionless sort of observance. Leaders, individuals and the congregation are all responsible to not let that happen. Elders need to select men to wait on the table who can offer thought provoking comments in preparation for the Lord’s Supper. One of my favorite guys is Ken Case. There is not a quieter guy in the congregation than Ken, but when he prays or makes comments at the Lord’s Table then I’m “all ears”. I wish I could record the things he says so I could share them with other congregations.
Individuals have the responsibility to focus their thoughts on what the supper means. The congregation has the responsibility to not cause distractions like whispering or fiddling through your things. If your kid starts screaming… take him out. If he is repeatedly a screamer take him out before the Lord’s Supper starts.
The Lord’s Supper is one of God’s greatest tools to build faith. Let’s be responsible and not neglect it.
Obviously, Peter and the Apostles taught early Christians to observe the Lord’s Supper. We practice it today because of the example of early Christians. Also, by example we observe it on Sundays because that’s when they did it… every Sunday.
There is evidence that the Lord’s Supper was the primary reason the Christians assembled on Sundays. That’s interesting because in many modern day churches the Lord’s Supper is not observed every Sunday. They assemble every Sunday but not for the purpose of taking the Lord’s Supper. They assemble for some other purpose. Many church assemblies today gather *apparently* to listen to preaching or for social reasons. That’s a huge departure from God’s plan for the Church.
If God’s purpose for the Church is to help Christians to grow in faith and the Lord’s Supper is one of the tools to accomplish that purpose then many Churches today are failing in their purpose. It would be like trying to build a house without a hammer or without nails.
If you want to find a church so that you can grow in faith then don’t pick a church that under emphasizes the Lord’s Supper.
On the other hand there are churches who offer the Lord’s Supper every single Sunday but it is a mechanical, obligatory, emotionless sort of observance. Leaders, individuals and the congregation are all responsible to not let that happen. Elders need to select men to wait on the table who can offer thought provoking comments in preparation for the Lord’s Supper. One of my favorite guys is Ken Case. There is not a quieter guy in the congregation than Ken, but when he prays or makes comments at the Lord’s Table then I’m “all ears”. I wish I could record the things he says so I could share them with other congregations.
Individuals have the responsibility to focus their thoughts on what the supper means. The congregation has the responsibility to not cause distractions like whispering or fiddling through your things. If your kid starts screaming… take him out. If he is repeatedly a screamer take him out before the Lord’s Supper starts.
The Lord’s Supper is one of God’s greatest tools to build faith. Let’s be responsible and not neglect it.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Effective Christian Singing
Eph 5:19 and Col. 3:16 give information and instruction regarding Christian singing. The verses are not specific to congregational singing alone but apply to individual, group and congregational singing.
Christian singing has two audiences; others and God. When we sing to others, according to the above mentioned verses, we are teaching things from God’s word and correcting non-Christian behaviors (admonishment).
An example of a song that attempts to correct behavior is the song, “Angry Words”. An individual, group or a congregation can sing this song to correct behavior. Imagine that a Christian has inappropriate anger and the recipient of that anger starts singing, humming or whistling the song… message delivered.
The teaching aspect of singing is huge and effective. Remember when we were kids in Bible classes? So many Bible concepts, including learning the books of the Bible, were taught with a song. It’s a shame we relegate those kids songs to small groups in the classrooms, they really are powerful teaching tools.
When we sing in the assembly we must remember that the primary goal of singing is teaching and admonishing. Sounding good is important but not as important as teaching and admonishing. There are at least two areas of responsibility in congregational singing; individual and leadership. Elders in congregations are responsible for overall teaching. They must provide the tools and song leaders who can effectively lead the congregation in teaching and admonishing by song.
Songs are written and set to music to provoke an emotional response. There are songs designed to produce reflection and sadness and songs that are designed to produce happiness and hope. An ineffective song leader can kill those emotions. In general, song leaders need to select songs that the congregation knows and loves. Technical difficulty can render a song useless in teaching and admonishing. That’s not to say we should never learn new songs. At Parkway we learn new songs that are tremendously effective but hopefully we are not learning them for the first time on Sunday mornings.
There are both objective and subjective ways to measure the effectiveness of a song leader. Objectively we can measure things like the ability of a song leader to pitch a song, pay attention to dynamics, lead songs the congregation knows and maintain proper tempo. Subjectively, congregations do tend to respond to the energy, passion and emotions of the song leader. My advice to song leaders is to select songs that affect you emotionally and get lost (emotionally) in the song.
Over the years I have written down the songs that were led at funerals of our church family. Those songs will provoke emotion. I really have a tough time when I lead songs that were sung at my dad’s funeral. Like…
“Seek ye First the Kingdom of God”
“Does Jesus Care”
“He Leadeth Me”
“How Great Thou Art”
“Victory in Jesus”
“Amazing Grace”
“Alleluia”
“Blest Be the Tie”
Let’s work hard to be more effective in our singing.
Christian singing has two audiences; others and God. When we sing to others, according to the above mentioned verses, we are teaching things from God’s word and correcting non-Christian behaviors (admonishment).
An example of a song that attempts to correct behavior is the song, “Angry Words”. An individual, group or a congregation can sing this song to correct behavior. Imagine that a Christian has inappropriate anger and the recipient of that anger starts singing, humming or whistling the song… message delivered.
The teaching aspect of singing is huge and effective. Remember when we were kids in Bible classes? So many Bible concepts, including learning the books of the Bible, were taught with a song. It’s a shame we relegate those kids songs to small groups in the classrooms, they really are powerful teaching tools.
When we sing in the assembly we must remember that the primary goal of singing is teaching and admonishing. Sounding good is important but not as important as teaching and admonishing. There are at least two areas of responsibility in congregational singing; individual and leadership. Elders in congregations are responsible for overall teaching. They must provide the tools and song leaders who can effectively lead the congregation in teaching and admonishing by song.
Songs are written and set to music to provoke an emotional response. There are songs designed to produce reflection and sadness and songs that are designed to produce happiness and hope. An ineffective song leader can kill those emotions. In general, song leaders need to select songs that the congregation knows and loves. Technical difficulty can render a song useless in teaching and admonishing. That’s not to say we should never learn new songs. At Parkway we learn new songs that are tremendously effective but hopefully we are not learning them for the first time on Sunday mornings.
There are both objective and subjective ways to measure the effectiveness of a song leader. Objectively we can measure things like the ability of a song leader to pitch a song, pay attention to dynamics, lead songs the congregation knows and maintain proper tempo. Subjectively, congregations do tend to respond to the energy, passion and emotions of the song leader. My advice to song leaders is to select songs that affect you emotionally and get lost (emotionally) in the song.
Over the years I have written down the songs that were led at funerals of our church family. Those songs will provoke emotion. I really have a tough time when I lead songs that were sung at my dad’s funeral. Like…
“Seek ye First the Kingdom of God”
“Does Jesus Care”
“He Leadeth Me”
“How Great Thou Art”
“Victory in Jesus”
“Amazing Grace”
“Alleluia”
“Blest Be the Tie”
Let’s work hard to be more effective in our singing.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
The Local Church
A local church is a collection of Christians who have committed themselves to the Lord and to each other. They assemble on a regular basis to engage in certain activities revealed in the Bible for the purpose of building a diverse group of people into one unified group of people. Individuals grow by coming to a complete understanding of God’s teachings, by living according to these teachings and by living lives of service to each other and to the world. The local church aids in this process.
When considering what we do when we assemble; Lord’s Supper, Pray, Sing, Offering and Bible teaching, we must consider how these activities relate to the function of the church. These activities (and others) help to build us into one people. Therefore, we ought to take a critical look at how we perform these activities to see if we are effectively employing them for the purpose of growing Christians. In future weeks I want to examine each of our assembly activities for the purpose of increasing our effectiveness.
When considering what we do when we assemble; Lord’s Supper, Pray, Sing, Offering and Bible teaching, we must consider how these activities relate to the function of the church. These activities (and others) help to build us into one people. Therefore, we ought to take a critical look at how we perform these activities to see if we are effectively employing them for the purpose of growing Christians. In future weeks I want to examine each of our assembly activities for the purpose of increasing our effectiveness.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Rome, Italy
Our trip to Rome was an incredible experience for me especially from a Christian stand point. A lot of the buildings and structures were from the times of ancient Christianity. The churches were incredible from an architectural and ornamental stand point. It took incredible wealth to build those buildings.
I was astounded by the Pantheon but it barely prepared me for Saint Peter’s Cathedral. I had no idea that something so magnificent existed. I recalled that Saint Peter’s was funded at least partially by the sale of indulgences which was one of the stimuli for Martin Luther’s rejection of some of the catholic doctrines. You might say that the building of Saint Peter’s, as magnificent as it is, led at least partially to the Protestant reformation.
Still, for me as I observed the paintings and sculptures of biblical scenes, it was a moving experience. The tour guide said that in the early church, since so many people couldn’t read, the paintings and sculptures were used to reinforce biblical teachings.
In that great building I was surprised to hear the acapela singing of “Alleluia” and I followed the sound to one of the anterooms where about 20 people were singing with voices unadulterated by mechanical instrumentation.
Outside of some of the great cathedrals were buildings that formerly contained great pools of water for the baptism (immersion) of believers. Of course with the advent of sprinkling those buildings are no longer used. One dome shaped building had an open top. They said that was for the collection of rain water, which they preferred, so that people could be baptized with pure water “from heaven”.
A great trip for us. Our goal at Parkway is to build glorious and magnificent people… there is nothing more wonderful than that.
I was astounded by the Pantheon but it barely prepared me for Saint Peter’s Cathedral. I had no idea that something so magnificent existed. I recalled that Saint Peter’s was funded at least partially by the sale of indulgences which was one of the stimuli for Martin Luther’s rejection of some of the catholic doctrines. You might say that the building of Saint Peter’s, as magnificent as it is, led at least partially to the Protestant reformation.
Still, for me as I observed the paintings and sculptures of biblical scenes, it was a moving experience. The tour guide said that in the early church, since so many people couldn’t read, the paintings and sculptures were used to reinforce biblical teachings.
In that great building I was surprised to hear the acapela singing of “Alleluia” and I followed the sound to one of the anterooms where about 20 people were singing with voices unadulterated by mechanical instrumentation.
Outside of some of the great cathedrals were buildings that formerly contained great pools of water for the baptism (immersion) of believers. Of course with the advent of sprinkling those buildings are no longer used. One dome shaped building had an open top. They said that was for the collection of rain water, which they preferred, so that people could be baptized with pure water “from heaven”.
A great trip for us. Our goal at Parkway is to build glorious and magnificent people… there is nothing more wonderful than that.
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