Sunday's Music - October 31

October 31, 2010


All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
You Are God Alone

Choir Anthem – Hear the Call of the Kingdom (You're gonna love this one!)
     Solo – Traci Koon (She'll be singing it at the Pastor's Conference too! As always she's wonderful on this one!)

Fellowship song – I Will Sing of My Redeemer

It is Well
I Will Rise

Special Music – Andrew Smith
 
Wow! Traci and Andrew in the same service? You might want to come to the 8:30 and the 9:45 services!
 
See you Sunday.

I Voted Today

Today is the last day for early voting in Tennessee.

So I made myself get around earlier than I wanted to so I could get to the election commission early and vote. I was there about 7:30. Well, it ends up that they don't open until 8:00. That explained the mostly empty parking lot.

So I sat in my car and listened to my Portuguese CDs. I'm still working on being fluent in Portuguese. Eu gosto de falar em Portugês.

Then about 5 minutes before 8:00 a looked over at the building and the entrance was surrounded by early voters. I was afraid I would have to wait a long time to vote. So I joined the crowd and ended up about tenth in line. They had 8 people checking your voter card or whatever ID you had so that just took a tiny bit of time. Then I went down the hall and there they had around 20 voting machines.

Since I live in the county and not the city I only had four things to vote on: Governor, State Representative, US Representative and something about whether you should be able to hunt and fish in Tennessee. I don't know what they think everyone is doing on the weekends but I guess we needed it in writing.

Total time in the voting place - less than 5 minutes. Total impact - at least 2 years of legislation and/or aggravation and unknown long-term effects from what these guys do.

How you vote is important. If you're not sure which fiscally conservative or socially conservative candidate to vote for send me a note. I'm happy to give you my suggestions. haha

If you miss today's early voting then you'll want to vote on November 2.

Every Good Gift - Memory Monday

I heard about one of the LifeGroup's class yesterday. (That's what we call Sunday School at our church. Long story - but a good reason why we call them LIFE Groups.) Anyway, they are studying Beth Moore's study about the ascension Psalms - I can't think of the name of it - and yesterday they were talking about God's blessings. This particular group couldn't think of too many things other than the usually - family, home, health, food...

But James tells us in his book, James 1:17 that EVERY good gift is from God.

17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is ³⁴from above, coming down from ³⁵the Father of lights, ³⁶with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

So the list is endless. If something is good or perfect it is from God: music, food, paintings, grass, trees, roses, air-conditioning and heat, friendship, love, literature...

"Wait a minute" you might say, "What does God have to do with giving me air-conditioning or beautiful art to look at?" The AC man fixes my air when it's out and I've seen a lot of 'art' that I'm sure God had nothing to do with.

OK. I'll give you a little for that, but in reality, if we have something good it is from God. God gives us the knowledge to figure out how AC works. He is the ultimate Creator and great art and music are possible because we are made in His image and He gives us the skill to create. Yes, we have to work at being good friends to have good friends, but in the end it is when we are like Christ that we have deep meaningful friendships.

Is this a stretch? I don't think so. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Memorize James 1:17 and spend some time meditating on it and I think you'll see more and more gifts from above.

I suppose this picture probably gives a more literal and perhaps a more accurate idea of the good and perfect gifts from above - grace, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control... (you can add to the list) These are the true good and perfect gifts from God. But I still say that other things in our life that are good are from God.

1 Peter 1:14-16 Memory Monday

I'm working on memorizing 1 Peter 1:14-16. They go along with "The Mind of Christ" Bible study that I am working through. The study suggested memorizing verse 15, but I'm trying to be an overachiever - haha - and learn the verses on each side of it.

1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to your former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, 16 because it is written, YOU SHALL BE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY.


Holy means "set apart." It means not doing things the world's way, but God's way. It means keeping all the junk out of your life. It means if someone follows you around they see you living as a reflection of God and not your own usual selfish self.

I supppose that last paragraph isn't the one you'll find in a fancy Bible dictionary, but I was trying to sum it all up for you.

Memorizing these versese is the easy part. The difficult part is living that way. With the work of the Holy Spirit in your life it is possible, however, to live a holy life. I afraid our problem too often is that we don't want to. We've allowed ourselves to be conformed to our former lusts which we ours in our ignorance.

OK. Self-reflection time. What things in your life do you need to give over to God so that you can live a holy life? So often we say, "Well, that's just the way I am. Can't help myself." or "I don't feel like I"m holy or feel like I want to be holy." I guess we could rewrite these verses. "Be holy when you feel like it 'cause God knows it's difficult."
Ha! Holiness like so many other things is a choice we make. We choose to be obedient children or we choose not to be. Feelings should be a biproduct of what we do, not the driving force behind what we do.

I suppose if I was planning a sermon to preach I would go through this and put things in order and have nice connecting sentences to tie it all together. But I'm not. I'm just typing and hoping that you are following what I'm trying to say.

That's it. You have to decide now to be holy or to be conformed to your former lusts...

I hope you choose holiness.

The View Out My Window (Sunday's music)

I love this time of year! The colors of Autumn are incredible.

This is the view out of my office window.

These pictures were taken by Christi - one of our Administrative Assistants.

Incredible!

So how could I not plan an order of worship that gives us an opportunity to express our love and thanksgiving to God for His greatness, faithfulness and the beauty of the earth?

Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee

"All Thy works with joy surround Thee, Earth and heav'n reflect Thy rays. Stars and angels sing around Thee, Center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flowery meadow, flashing sea, Chanting bird and flowing fountain Call us to rejoice in Thee!"

God of Wonders
"Lord of all creation, of water, earth and sky, The heavens are Your tabernacle. Glory to the Lord on high. God of wonders beyond our galaxy, You are holy."
Choir anthem – Sing Alleluia
"All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing. Sun, moon and stars rejoice on high, praise to the Lord of light divine! Sing Alleluia!"

Great is Thy Faithfulness
"Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun. moon and stars in their courses above Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is Thy faithfulness."

For the Beauty of the Earth (not the old hymn but most of the same words)
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which even from our birth over and around us lies. Alleluia! Alleluia! Lord of all to Thee we raise. Alleluia! Alleluia! This our song of grateful praise.

Solo – Ramona Ambrose

Mums at my house - taken by my phone.



TMI !!! - an exception...

We live in an era of TMI - Too Much Information!

People share their entire lives on blogs, FaceBook and Twitter (and yes, I'm a little bit guilty of that) and often share TMI. I started to give some examples and decided that would be TMI! haha. The boxers or briefs question of presidential candidates a few years ago is a mild example of the overflow of personal information that everyone seems more than willing to share now.

Because we are raising our children in this era of sharing-every-moment-of-life-through-social-media we are giving them the idea that nothing is private and that everything is worth talking about. This is part of what led to the young man jumping off the Washington bridge after his room mate shared a live feed of an encounter in his dorm room. (If you don't know this story I'm only sharing this piece of it so I am not guilty of TMI. Google it.) The boundaries of what is proper to share and what isn't have been blurred so much they are no longer recognizable.

There seems to be one exception to our TMI world. We don't like to talk about...

Let me start this way.

I attended a funeral last Saturday. It was annoying and made me a little bit angry. Not because I sang for the funeral or because it took a lot of the day - OK, most of the day - but because it was unnecessary. The guy was only 59 years old. Being in my 50s myself I find going to funerals of 50 somethings unnerving as well as annoying. The thing that irritated me about this was the fact that this funeral and the two years of suffering before it could have been avoided.

I've blogged about this before and now because of this man's suffering (two years of doctor visits and chemo and surgeries and treatments) and slow painful death I must blog again. The man died of colon cancer.

If you are afraid of TMI stop reading (but beware that you may die a slow, painful preventable death).

We don't like to talk about colon cancer because the simple preventative is yucky! It stinks. You have to have a colonoscopy. This involves drinking a year's supply of laxatives in one afternoon which ends up running everyone out of your house from the smell. Oooo! Lyndel!! TMI!!! Yes. It is TMI, but it's a lot less trouble and stink than what you will get if you have colon cancer.

Previous posts on this blog that I tried to make fun to read.

A New Adventure

Preparations for the Adventure

An Adventures Exciting Ending - hahaha

Ron and Jan (warning. this one is very sad)

If you are over 50 you should have a colonoscopy. No one wants to talk about them. Besides the preparation, you then have to have them put something ... hmmm, click on the link about the exciting ending and read for yourself what they do. I tried to make it enjoyable reading. hahaha. Anyway, I had one. They found a polyp. They cut it off. Polyps turn into cancer. Now I have to have another one five years after the first one rather than ten years after. That's OK. That is an EASY treatment. One uncomfortable afternoon. A procedure you get to sleep through and maybe a snip of a polyp. EASY! and not really TMI. I have seen enough friends and others suffer long painful deaths that could have been treated with a snip if they had found a polyp rather than stage 4 colon cancer. You don't get symptoms until it has progressed that far.

So, if you're still with me, if you're over 50 and have never had a colonoscopy, call your doctor today. I don't want to sing at your funeral any time soon. If you are under 50 put an alarm on your smart phone to go off on the day after your 50th birthday (you don't want to mess up your birthday party) and label it "call dr about colonoscopy."

What's Happening at 10:10 on 10-10-10

Well, if we're on schedule, at 10:10 on 10-10-10 the message from our pastor, Dr. Larry D. Robertson will have started. Although I did tell some of the kids in choir the other day that at 1:10 on 10-10-10 they should jump up and say, "it's 10:10 10-10-10!" But I don't think they'll really do it!

Here's what will happen just before all the tens.

October 10, 2010


Come, Now is the Time to Worship
Crown Him with Many Crowns  - a verse or two then back to
Come, Now is the Time to Worship

Choir anthem – Revive Us Again

Fellowship song – My Savior's Love

Mighty to Save
Jesus Messiah

Special music – Remember Me

Message – Dr. Larry D. Robertson

Followed by The Lord's Supper

If you don't know Jesus Messiah very well yet try singing along with Chris. (He sings it too high for most of us, but you'll see how the song goes. Or work on some harmony parts! That would be nice!

Hope to see you Sunday morning!

Kids Choral Connection 2010

Last weekend our 3-5 grade choir traveled to Cookeville for the Kids Choral Connection.

First everyone had to fill out paperwork that was notarized by Christi, Bro. Tim's assistant. (She really liked this picture so I had to be sure and include it here on the blog. And I must admit I took a good picture.)

We met in the parking lot and checked off our list and loaded up the bus.

(Please notice how sad the parents are in being child free for the weekend. haha!)

By the way - you can click on any of these pictures and see a larger view of them.

There was a wreck on I-40 at Lebanon, so we had the fun of seeing the back roads of Wilson County.

Even though it took THREE HOURS longer to get there, the kids were great on the bus and didn't complain at all. (Although some thought we were lost. Nope, just finding a road not shut down by a wreck.)

A funny side note you may have seen on my facebook page. Some of you need to get your kids out of Clarksville more often. As we were approaching downtown Nashville the girl behind me on the bus said, with great wonder in her voice, "is that New York City?"

Once we arrived we had pizza for supper then went straight to our first rehearsal.

Here are a few random shots of kids at the KCC.

 Of course this wonderful trip wouldn't be possible without our wonderful adult sponsors going with us. Here are a few of us.

Recreation times were a lot of fun.

 Some of our kids.

KCC ends with a wonderful time of worship and recording as we sing through all of the songs we have worked on. I didn't take pictures of the concert because 1. it was a worship service, 2. I didn't want the kids saying "CHEEEEEEZE" during the recording, 3. I didn't want clicking sounds on the recording 4. once you've seen a bunch of pictures of kids in red shirts you've pretty much seen them all.

Until next year!

October 4, Memory Monday

Today I began reading Hebrews again. It is such a rich book full of all kinds of deep wonderful truths. Here are the first three verses of Hebrews. I think they set the stage for the rest of the book.

1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

That's probably a little much to think about memorizing in a week, but maybe you can just remember these words. "He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature."

Many today think of Jesus as a really good man or a great teacher. And He was both, but to portray Him as less than God is to deny the truth of scripture. This verse states that very clearly.

What does that mean for us today? It's very important that we don't get caught up in the politically correct line of thought that each of us can determine our own truth. "What's good or true for you isn't necessarily good or true for me." If we believe the Word - which I do! - then these words from Hebrews are a powerful statement to the deity of Christ. We can't dismiss Him as merely a good teacher. We must declare with the writer of Hebrews (and Psalms - which is quoted here) in regard to Jesus the Son, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever."