Sunday Set List: March 24

| The Way – [New Song] 

| King of My Heart

| The Wonderful Cross

| What a Beautiful Name

| How Deep The Father’s Love for Us

| I Will Follow |

…Anticipatory Reflections of Sunday…

The song The Way welcomes us in, as we begin singing to Jesus together. It’s our newest song, so I want to highlight the last part of it–my personal favorite–the bridge.

It’s a new horizon / And I’m set on You / And You meet me here today / With mercies that are new / All my fears and doubts / They can all come too / Because they can’t stay long / (When I’m here with You) / (When I believe You are…the Way)

When I first arrived at Village in 2015, our elders emphasized this a lot: do not “leave your problems at the door” when you come to church. Bring your problems in, and let’s deal with them together, letting the light of Jesus shine down on them. I find this lyric to cause my soul deep, profound joy! All my fears…all my doubts…they can come into church today.

More important than asking “how does it make me feel?” we should ask “Does God want me to think this way? Is this how He wants me to live?” That’s the most important part of worship: pleasing Him, not ourselves. Jesus states that true worshippers “worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24) Brothers and sisters, we need to ask ourselves “is this how God wants us to live/think/worship?” In this case, can I sing that all my fears and doubts can come along to church? Kind of seems like my dirt gets the pews mess…(even though we don’t even have pews) The answer is yes, absolutely, dirt and all! Here’s why:

The Word speaks of “casting” all our cares on Jesus, because He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7) We cannot cast something off that we are pretending does not exist. Moreover, David lifts up a heart of worship before the Lord, saying “when I am afraid, I will trust in You.” (Psalm 56:3) David confesses that he has fears, not “when people falsely accuse me of being afraid.” David knows what to do with his fear. That last part of the bridge is vital “because they can’t stay long.” Truth speaks, here — fears, doubts and unbelief are not for us to hold onto, rather, when held against God’s vibrant glory, fears melt. Doubts are answered by faith, and unbelief is replaced by who Jesus is: The Way, the Truth, the Life. That’s the life I want to live.

In King Of My Heart, we sing one simple anthem: God is good. My heart goes out to people who get caught up in the repetition, as if it, too, were an unbiblical practice. It is a temptation to stop worshipping in our hearts and start getting bored, but this repetition is the very moment where we can dwell/meditate on God’s goodness. In the Psalms, David and other songwriters use amazing amounts of repetition. (See Psalm 136 or 148) I would say they were pretty biblical…wouldn’t you? You and I can sing to God “You are Good” and He is pleased with our simple anthem. I hope you richly enjoy dwelling on ways that God is good to you, while we sing this song, together. While you sing this song, I challenge you to remember good things God has done for you/given to you–and praise Him for it! Hint: you are singing right next to several good things to praise Him for!

The Wonderful Cross some songs have staying power! What a fun song to sing–I picture the cross in my mind, and Jesus love, His glory, His power on display in the most holy sacrifice–that of Himself! As we carry this song into What a Beautiful Name it models Philippians 2, in that Jesus, who did not need us, was already glorious, was already perfect, did something so beautiful, so wonderful, so powerful, to include us, that He died, and rose to redeem us. Wow! What a beautiful wonderful Name is His: Jesus, the one who loves us like that. The song says “You didn’t want heaven without us/Jesus you brought heaven down” and it’s true, although God in no way needed us, in love, He chose to want us. Do we realize how significant that is? That the King of Heaven never needed you, but has always wanted you? Wow. I want that to sink deeper into my soul.

How Deep the Father’s Love for Us plays like a hymn, but was only written a few short years ago. Stuart Townend is the author and of this song he has said “This melody just kind of popped out of my head on day. And I was aware it was quite hymn-like. Because it came so easily, I wondered ‘was this somebody’s melody that belongs to someone else’?” After playing it for people, he found that it wasn’t, and he wrote a focused little hymn about what it cost the Father to give the Son. “We often think about Christ suffering….But, it cost [the Father] to give His only Son.”

I Will Follow  This song is specifically chosen out of our heart for God’s mission. Being Jesus disciple is to say to God with our lives, daily, “I will follow You.” I want to sing this with open hands, without holding back from His purposes our beautiful house, our precious children, our desires to go on fun trips in the summer, and I want to follow Jesus into anywhere that He will lead us.

I don’t know if I will be there, or worshipping Jesus in a hospital holding our new son or daughter, but I know that Village will be an alive and happening place on Sunday morning, and I hope you are there to Glorify God, to Love People, and to Make Disciple-Makers. It is a beautiful time to be alive, in Christ!

PS: All month long, we celebrate our mission statement and seek to live it out. One of the songs in the wing is Glory to God, Forever – a joyful declaration of praise and glory, as well as an invitation for God to take us and make us a part of how He is glorified. “take my life and let it be / all for You and for Your glory.” This is a singable way to live out our mission!