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Worship - January

Church Family,

I pray this new year finds you well. God did so many great things through our church in 2019, and we cannot wait to see what’s in store for 2020. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved in our Christmas Worship Night. We could not have done it without our praise band, praise team, choir, and production team. I am so thankful for every single person who helped make this evening such a special event. I also want to thank everyone who came out to participate and worship with us. I know there were so many things you could have done with your evening, so thank you if you came to be a part! It was a great night and I am so grateful for everyone who was a part.

Moving on into 2020, I want to share three prayers that I have for our Church Family this new year, and I hope you would pray these things with me as well. I know there are so many things we could pray for, and so many things that we do pray for. But the sake of space, and I’ll share just a few:

1) I pray that worshipping God would be our main priority. I pray that worship would be the goal of my heart, all day, every day. I don't mean only on Sunday mornings. Should we make worship a priority on Sunday mornings? Absolutely. Should worship slide down our priority list during the rest of the week? Absolutely not. Whether we are alone, whether we are together, whether we are at work, or whether we are with our families, I pray we would worship the one who gives us all of these things. God is good, all the time, and he deserves our worship all of the time.

2) I pray that we would pray more. I pray that I would pray more. I pray that you would pray more. I pray that we would see every meal, every goodnight story with our children, every morning coffee, as a chance to come to God in prayer. I pray that we would pray more than once a day. If we believe what God says in His Word is true, and if we believe that He is who He says He is, then why are we not praying more? How much should we pray? I can’t give an exact amount of time we should spend in prayer. But I know that I should pray more than I am, and we should all pray more than we do. Join me, and let’s just pray more!

3) I pray that we would worship God in a fresh way on Sunday mornings. Does this mean that we will worship God in a new way? No. Does it mean that we will worship God in a different way? No. But I also believe that God is the ultimate creator of all things. So my prayer is that God would create something new in us as we come to worship together on Sunday morning. Let’s set our expectations high. Let’s set our standard high. I believe that God will do more than we ask or imagine. Let’s expect Him to do just that.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this year. I love you all and I will see you on Sunday!

In Christ,
Jared

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