Good day! I pray this time of focused worship and reflection is a blessing to you.
Since beginning this new mode of “online” Sunday morning worship, I have honestly found it difficult at times to remain focused, especially with our middle kiddos getting antsy as the minutes pass :). But I know that restless feeling can creep in on anyone. So the best thing for all of us to do before engaging in this time is pray.
Would someone in your house please do that before you continue?
Thank you!
On this page, you will find videos embedded with songs and a message. Along with these, there are song lyrics placed under the song videos to help you sing along and discussion questions after the message video to guide further reflection and prayer (I try to keep kids in mind more during this message).
I genuinely pray God uses this time to bring us all closer to Him!
Come Thou Fount Lyrics:
Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Living Hope Lyrics:
How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb
In desperation, I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night
Then through the darkness, Your loving-kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul
The work is finished, the end is written
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Who could imagine so great a mercy?
What heart could fathom such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own
Beautiful Savior, I’m Yours forever
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Then came the morning that sealed the promise
Your buried body began to breathe
Out of the silence, the Roaring Lion
Declared the grave has no claim on me
Jesus, Yours is the victory, whoa!
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me
You have broken every chain
There’s salvation in Your name
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Jesus Christ, my living hope
Oh God, You are my living hope
Discussion Questions After Viewing:
1) Have you ever gotten a trophy? How did that make you feel? Did that feeling last very long?
2) How did Pastor Brooks explain sin? What are some evidences of sin you have seen in your own life since the shelter in place order?
3) Why is it so much harder for each of us to share and serve others than it is to serve and care mainly for yourself?
4) What are some things you routinely do that you might be tempted to do primarily to be seen by others?
5) Why do you think God will not reward those who routinely do the right things with the wrong motivation? How can our family help each other get our heavenly reward?
MEMORY VERSE:
Matthew 6:1 – “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.”
Use this verse also to close your time in prayer.
GOING DEEPER:
The Bible is clear that our salvation is not something we can earn or work for. We receive it as a gift by trusting in Jesus.
Romans 4:4-5 reads, 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Still, the Bible also uses the coming judgment as a motivation for godly living in the here and now.
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 reads, “6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
J.I. Packer writes in his little booklet Finishing Our Course With Joy (some of you received a copy of this in church one of our last weeks together),
We, with all other Christians and all other people too, will one day face the judgment seat of Christ. What will be determined then (on resurrection day, presumably) is not where we shall spend eternity—that was decided when we first committed ourselves to Christ and received our forgiveness and reconciliation with God through the cross—but in what condition we shall spend that eternity of life with Christ.
Paul’s thought apparently is that the quality of our unending enjoyment of Christ’s love and goodness will in some way correspond to the quality of love and devotion to him that marks our lives now (5:10).
We will discuss this theme of rewards more in the coming messages.
Enjoy the week!
Equipping the Found 