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Worship - December 2019

Church Family,

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! I love Christmas. Christmas means a lot to me, and I hope it means a lot to you too. As Christians, we celebrate Christmas for more than just Christmas trees, lights, and presents. These things aren’t bad things, as I love all of these aspects of Christmas, and I look forward to them every year. But we celebrate Christmas because of one thing - the birth of Jesus Christ. This is the day we celebrate the world changing. Jesus came, and from the moment He was of born of a virgin, the world would never be the same. But Jesus would go on to live a perfect, sinless life as the son of God, and would die a death in our place, for our sins, so that we could have eternal life with God. Now isn’t that better than gifts, lights, and hallmark Christmas movies? I would say yes, and it’s worth celebrating not only during this season, but every morning of the year and we open our eyes to the grace that God has poured out into our lives through his son Jesus.

During the Christmas season, every year, I always get the question, “Will we sing Christmas carols at Church?” My answer is always a resounding, “Yes!” I love Christmas carols, and I think it’s important that the Church worships with them during this season. So why do we sing Christmas carols? I’d like to point to Keith Getty (author of “In Christ Alone”), and his thoughts on this. He says it well,

“When we look at the simplicity and focus of the early apostles, especially Paul, we see individuals who were uncompromising about the gospel but sought to use strategic opportunities and platforms for its spread to those who had yet to believe. Since Christmas is a time of year when many unbelievers visit our churches, we should be on the lookout for creative opportunities to share the good news.

If the question is about church music, I’d suggest that singing the great Christmas carols is one obvious place to start. The best of them tell the gospel story in some of the most innovative and inviting language we’ve ever seen in religious verse, certainly in the English language. In terms of art, they are the masterworks, the treasured heritage of the church we shouldn’t ignore. Young and old, churched and unchurched, are united in wanting to sing Christmas
carols during the Christmas season.

More than that, however, I’d say it’s our responsibility to have a high view of congregational worship. Our singing is always a witness; therefore, if our churches don’t sing well, or sing apathetically, or sing while distracted by iPhones and casual conversation, we become an appalling witness to outsiders. So let’s take these songs and use them as a galvanizing force for our singing—that we might declare to all who are present the breathtaking good news of Jesus.”

At Oakhill, we want to have a high view of Jesus and what he did for us. We want to sing about his birth, and how the birth of Jesus changed the world, and our lives. So join us on Sundays throughout this Christmas season, as we sing songs, old and new, to give honor and praise to our great God.

In Christ,
Jared

Spiritual Development - December 2019

                                       Persevere in the New Year!

Over the last few weeks, we have listened to sermons from the book of Hebrews and have encountered the repeated themes of perseverance and maturity. These are themes that relate to every Christian at every stage of maturity. We all must keep our focus on Christ by persevering in faith until the end of our lives (Heb. 3:14, 5:9). That can seem like a lot of pressure if we don’t also acknowledge that God is actively preserving the faith of His children as they persevere (John 10:27-28; Rom. 8:38-39; 1 Pet. 1:5; Phil. 1:6). Because Jesus is our Sabbath rest (Heb. 4:9-11) we can trust that the perfect work of Christ has secured our place in the rest that only God can give.
 
But as we are resting in Christ, we must also grow up into Christ (Eph. 4:15), abide in Christ (John 15:5), and sacrifice for the sake of Christ (Rom. 12:1-2). We do this because we now love our Savior more than we love ourselves. Many times, however, we find ourselves lacking in our demonstrations of love to our Savior. Maybe your affections for God have grown cold as of late. Or maybe you are in the strongest state of spiritual assurance you have ever been. Regardless of where you might find yourself, the advice of Scripture is the same for all of us this next year:

 Persevere!

But how? The principles of persevering in faith have not Changed since the founding of the church. The process is summarized in Matt. 16:24-26: “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” We must deny ourselves, be willing to suffer for Jesus’ sake, and follow Him wherever He leads you to go. Easier said than done, right? But this way of living leads to our greatest possible delight. We were created to worship God in all aspects of our life, to have fellowship with Him, and to reflect His glory in all creation. Our purpose in this life is to be faithful to Jesus above anyone or anything else, no matter what the cost.

But  what does this practically look like? In this new year, you will have 1,440 minutes every day. If you started giving 1% of your day exclusively to time spent with God, you would spend almost 15 minutes each day in time alone with God. I don’t know of many other areas of our life where we think of a 1% increase as unreasonable. So work to prioritize at least 1% of every day to time spent alone with God, and increase it over time. What will you do in this time? Begin writing down prayer requests and people that you need to share the gospel with and use this time to pray for them. Find a Bible reading plan for the new year. Spend time reflecting on the ways that you specifically need to grow in your godliness and find Scripture that encourages you to grow in those areas. Review the text from the Sunday sermon and ask God to help you apply to your life what was preached . If you begin incorporating these spiritual disciplines into the rhythm of your day, you will quickly find that 1% is definitely attainable. So, make it your goal to persevere this new year!

Recommended Resource— CSB Day-by-Day Chronological Bible -Many people are unfamiliar with the stories of the Bible and how they fit together into the grand narrative of God's Word. God gave us the Bible to reveal great truth about himself and about our lives, and he wants to draw us into the ongoing story of what he is doing in the world. The CSB Day-by-Day Chronological Bible features a clear narrative approach to the Bible, arranging the complete text into a fresh chronological reading plan with daily readings guided by Dr. George Guthrie.

Ideal for daily Bible study or reading, this chronological study Bible is thoughtfully arranged so readers can track the story of Scripture, day-by-day, from beginning to end, and understand the flow of events and how the grand narrative of Scripture applies to everyday life. My family and I will be using this Bible in 2020 for our annual reading plan. Consider joining us in using this resource to know God and His Word more faithfully in this upcoming year. I pray it is a blessing to you. This reading plan can also be found online at csbible.com/read-the-csb/reading-plans/