Prayer & Preparation for August 20th, 2023
This Lord's Day
Hey church,
Here are some details about this week’s services:
Songs: “A Mighty Fortress,” “The Lord Is My Salvation,” “New Doxology” “It Was Finished Upon That Cross,” and “O Church, Arise (Arise, Shine)”
Sermon text: Zechariah 2:6-13
Sermon title: Our Walk
Cross-references: Zechariah 1:3, 16; 2:4-5; 3:10; 6:15; 8:20-23; 10:6-10; ; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 10:14; Ephesians 1:16-21; 2:8-10; 5:1-21; 6:10-12; 1 Timothy 4:16; 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22; Titus 3:1-8; 1 John 3:1-3
Favorite quotes from my study and preparation this week:
“Our call to war, to love the captive soul, but to rage against the captor”
Keith and Kristyn Getty, from the song "O Church, Arise"
“Theologian and author Rebecca McLaughlin says, ‘An alone person in our gatherings is an emergency’”
as quoted by Jen Oshman in Welcome: Loving Your Church by Making Space for Everyone
“Knowing that an inward focus is deadly, church leaders and members are wise to keep an eye out for signs that their churches are too self-focused. Here are some questions worth asking:
- Does you congregation see the culture outside your church as an enemy to be kept away or as a people to be welcomed in with the love and mercy of Jesus?
- Are your church attendees more likely to ask, ‘What can I receive?’ or ‘What can I give?’ Are they consumers or contributors?
- When presented with a plan to plant a new church or to provide a missional outreach activity, is your congregation excited or resistant?
- Does your congregation tend to idolize the past and the ‘good ol’ days’ or is there a fresh excitement about what God is doing today?
- Looking at your church budget and church calendar, do you see evidence of spending time and money on outward-facing ministry?
- As a pastor or church leader, do you feel tempted to view people in the pews as dollars in the bank, thereby making yourself susceptible to catering to the people ‘in here’ at the expense of the souls ‘out there’?”
Jen Oshman in Welcome: Loving Your Church by Making Space for Everyone
“We ought to regard the Christian Church, not as a luxurious hostelry where Christians may each one dwell at his ease in his own inn, but as a barracks in which soldiers are gathered together to be drilled and trained for war. We should regard the Christian Church, not as an association for mutual admiration and comfort, but as an army with banners, marching to the fray, to achieve victories for Christ, to storm the strongholds of the foe, and to add province after province to the Redeemer’s kingdom.”
C.H. Spurgeon
Jeff Tague
