Worship Ministry - October 2022
Thank you!
On behalf of Sarah and I, I would like to thank all of you for welcoming us to Oakhill Baptist! The love and kindness we have felt from this congregation have made us feel right at home, and we are incredibly thankful to be invested in God’s work here in Evansville. It is never easy moving to a new town, finding a new house, and making new friends, but we are extremely excited to build relationships with you and put some roots down in this community. God is doing great things here at Oakhill; let us praise Him for His good works and pray that He would draw more people to Himself.
Behold
One of the things that you will quickly learn about me is that I am a nerd. I love history. I love to learn random, most of the time useless, information. I love using google to find said useless information. I am also fascinated with the etymology, the origin, of words and love that it can help you have a fuller understanding of what you are reading. Take the word “behold”, a common word that means “to observe; look at; see.” That’s easy enough to understand when we place it in the context of worship, and we see it throughout scripture. (i.e. Isaiah 7:14, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalm 27:4)
When we worship our God, we are to “behold” Him. We have our eyes, heart, and mind focused on Him and Him alone, recognizing that Christ is worthy of our focus. We show that focus through praise and adoration. We sing songs that declare His goodness and might. We lift our prayers to the Father, seeking wisdom or healing. We fellowship with other believers, encouraging each other in our faith. These are all good things and the Lord delights in them!
When we look at the etymology of the word “behold”, I believe it paints a more complete picture of how we are to “focus” on God. Our use of the word “behold” derives from an old Saxon word “behaltan” meaning “to hold, keep”. Keep! We often in our normal flow of life forget that our worship of God isn’t confined to the church building or to a certain time of day. Even our musical worship isn’t confined to a Sunday morning time with a praise band and singers leading us. Rather, we are to “keep” God in our view, our hearts, and our minds ALWAYS. We are to hold our gaze on the one true God no matter what is going on around us, no matter the storm we are in, and no matter what the world is doing. We will behold our God, our King! Yes, we will fail at this because we are sinful men and women, but we can press into the grace and mercy of God with great assurance that when we fail, he will forgive and redeem us. So, let us strive to behold, to keep, our God in all things…for He is worthy!
Lyric of the Month
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above