Tag: Battle

Posted on

A 50 Year Journey…Feb. 24th

OGLESBY-ROBERT-414Sunday morning, February 24th, Waterview church of Christ celebrates 50 years with Robert & Willora Oglesby.  Since the spring of 1963, Robert has been the pulpit preacher for this congregation of God’s people.  For that longevity of faithfulness we give God the glory.  As we sing today, our songs are intended to admonish and encourage the family as we bring before God our sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15).  Thanks be to God for working through Robert these past 50 years!

The following ‘order of worship’ is designed to focus our mind toward our worship to Him.  Think about the songs you sing in praise to God…

“…I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.” I Corinthians 14:15

Sunday morning, February 24, 2013

You’ll notice the following songs come from the hymnal, Songs of Faith & Praise.

 

“Step By Step”, “Here We Are But Straying Pilgrims” & “He Has Made Me Glad” – 15, 537 & 103 respectively

This three song medley is a strong, upbeat blend using a hymn, spiritual song and psalm (can you tell which one is which…yes, I know there is some gray in the definition of each, but you get the idea).  We begin this morning proclaiming our faith in God and announcing that, ‘…I will follow You all of my days’.  Our second song in this medley encourages the saints to focus on heaven.  With the verses sung in unison, we sense the oneness of our journey home.  Finally, the last song in this medley is a quote from Psalm 100.  We come together with thanksgiving in our hearts…I’m glad to be worshiping with the saints!

“Til My Faith Becomes Sight” – 836

The second verse provides us the reminder of our reason for coming together this morning…“Lamb of God, dear hope of glory, Savior crucified, by Your blood I am redeemed my debt now satisfied…”  We must ‘keep our eyes’ on Jesus as we meet, communion and worship our King.

“‘Tis Set the Feast Divine” – no bookcross

Not in many of our hymnals, this song by L. O. Sanderson serves to prepare our minds (keep our minds) focused on the Savior and His death on the cross.  “May we the Lord discern…”  As we sing we’re asking that we all recognize and realize the death of Jesus is the only thing we need to concern ourselves with.  When we eat of the bread and drink of the cup…what are you thinking about?

“In Memory of the Savior’s Love” – 335

Following the passing of the fruit of the vine, we’ll sing this old hymn by Thomas Cotterill written in 1805.  Notice the call for us to remember His love, and come before Him with a contrite heart.  How contrite (full of remorse) is your heart when you take of the Lord’s Supper?  We take the bread of life and the token cup of blood as we anticipate the ‘heavenly feast above’.

“This World is Not My Home” – 957

Do you ‘feel right at home’ when it comes to this world?  If you do I would recommend you reconsider your comfort zone.  We’ll sing here about our treasures being stored in heaven (Matthew 6:19) and not feeling at home in this world anymore.  The chorus is so strong; “…if heaven’s not my home, then Lord, what will I do?”  Remember this, without the hope of heaven we’re lost in an unfriendly world.

“Higher Ground” (Ken Young version) – no book

This revised, old song has become a Waterview favorite during the last 8-10 years.  The words haven’t changed, but the music has.  Same tune, but the 2nd verse brings a solid foundation of male voices singing, “Heart has no desire to stay where doubts arise and fears dismay.  Some may dwell where these abound my prayer my aim is higher ground…”  Notice what you just read/sang; My heart doesn’t want to stay here (this world is not my home) where there are doubts and fears that destroy our courage (dismay).  But even though some people seem to dwell in this type of circumstance ( where doubts and fears abound), my prayer and my aim is HIGHER GROUND!

“Let Me Live Close to Thee” – 831

Not a typical invitation song, but since we’re talking and thinking about our journey, this seems to fit our call for repentance, change and renewing.  How willing are you to ‘work and never shirk’ for your God.  Let’s all say (sing) we want to live close to Him each day.

“The Battle Belongs to the Lord” – no book

A contemporary song that proclaims the victory belongs to God.  We’ll close this morning’s worship service with a song of victory.  Will you go out into the world and take on the full armor (panoply) of God?  In the chorus, as we sing, let’s give all our 1) glory, 2) honor, 3) power and 4) strength to the Lord.

Posted on

It Is Finished!

Jesus came to redeem you and me from a lost and sinful life.  His death on the cross, and His final breath sealed our fate (if you will) as He raised His voice and shouted…”It is finished!”

“There’s a line that’s been drawn through the ages, on that line stands the old rugged cross;

line in the sand...1

On that cross a battle is raging, for the gain of man’s soul or his loss.
On one side march the forces of evil, all the demons and devils of hell:
On the other the angels of glory, and they meet on Golgotha’s hill.
The earth shakes with the force of the conflict, and the sun refuses to shine;
For there hangs God’s Son in the balance, and then through the darkness He cries:

‘It is finished!’ The battle is over, it is finished, there’ll be no more war;
It is finished, the end of the conflict, it is finished and Jesus is Lord.

In my heart the battle was raging, not all prisoner’s of war have come home:
They were battle fields of my own making, didn’t know that the war had been won.
Then I heard that the King of the Ages had fought all the battle for me:
And the victory was mine for the claiming, and now, praise His name I am free!

“It is finished!”

This spiritual song was written less than 50 years ago (in 1976) and speaks toward our struggle in this life.  We struggle (battle) against the rulers, the powers and the forces of darkness.  See Ephesians 6:12…Our fight is not against each other.  We don’t compete man to man.  We are not in a ‘hand-to-hand’ combat zone.  Ladies and gentlemen,our adversary is unseen and he (Satan) is behind our struggles.

We sing the song, “Lord, make us instruments of Your peace…” and rightly so.  Our desire is to spread the gospel of peace to a lost and dying world.  Wouldn’t it make sense that Satan is doing the same?  You don’t need to look past the 6:00 o’clock news to see that his minions are carrying out the work of evil.  Sadly, they often do this work unknowingly serving the prince of this world (John 12:31).

Armor Of GodSo how do I ‘fight’ and unseen foe?  With what shall I arm myself before I step onto the battle field against the ‘prince of this world?’  A soldier would be soundly defeated if he walked into battle with only a single-shot, short range pistol. (unless his name was David and his opponent was 9 foot tall.)  Any warrior knows that he must be properly prepared to face his enemy (and David WAS well prepared).  Without the proper tools he’d surely fail.  So what do I ‘put on?’  Stay with Ephesians 6 and you’ll read the answer; the complete armor of God.  Know in your heart the victory has been won and fight with faith (there’s a song about that too).  As our lead song states in its final verse, ‘…and the victory was mine for the claiming…’.  By faith I hope you will claim the victory, because Jesus said it loud and clear, “It is finished!”