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Worship - August

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Well, here we are, six weeks into my ministry with you all here at Oakhill, and another month into this pandemic.  By this time we thought we would be kicking off VBS, we thought we would be well into "phase 5" of the Governor's reopening plan, and if you're like me, you thought by this time things would really be getting back to normal.  Over the last few weeks I have realized that, due to the pandemic, there are a significant number of you whom I have not even had a chance to meet yet.  And even when I have been able to meet many of you, we had to wear masks, which is just weird.  So far, nothing about this year has gone according to plan.  This year has been stressful, confusing, difficult, and at times infuriating.  However, it is not my intention to complain.  In fact, I know that there are countless people who have been far more profoundly impacted by the pandemic than I have, and I just don't think I have any right to complain.

Instead, my hope is to offer a word of encouragement.  Perhaps it sounds cliche to you, and perhaps you're tired of hearing it, but what I want to remind you of today is that God does not change.  Our world has done nothing but change over the last four months... but God has not.  A couple of months ago, I was reminded of this when I was listening to a song, and these words have challenged me and been close to my heart ever since.  The song is called "All That Is To Come", and it is by Christy Nockels.  In particular the phrase that grabbed hold of my attention was this, "Hear me say, 'Yes and Amen'.  Tomorrow you'll be faithful again."  There is so much truth packed into this one little phrase, and it reflects a heart that trusts God, and believes that He is faithful.  As I said, God does not change, period (Hebrews 13:8, Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, and so many more).  And part of His unchanging nature is that He is faithful.  He always has been faithful, and He always will be faithful.  Included within those five simple words "Tomorrow You'll be faithful again", is the understanding that God was faithful yesterday, that He has been and will continue to be faithful today.  The only question is whether or not we believe that He will continue to be faithful
tomorrow.

In my head I know that God is faithful, and in my head I know that He never changes.  However, sometimes I need to proclaim this truth to my own heart so that I can rest in the knowledge of God's faithfulness.  After all, this is exactly what He wants from me.  Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:25-33 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

 

Posted by Derek Niffenegger with

Worship - July

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First of all, let me just say how excited I am to be a part of the pastoral team here at Oakhill.  Even though we have only been here for two weeks, we have already been incredibly encouraged, challenged, supported, and loved.  It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but God has been good, and He has displayed His goodness to me and my family through Oakhill.  I firmly believe that God has created the Church to be a "family for life", and I am so thankful that my family is now a part of the Oakhill family.

As I was thinking about what to share with you all in this newsletter, I figured that a good place to start would be to talk a little bit about, you guessed it, music.  The main point I want to focus on about music (or "worship" as we often refer to it) is that it is all about God.  Hopefully when I say "Worship is all about God" this is not a surprise to anyone, but to assume that we know this and to not take time to emphasize its importance would be a mistake.  Just because we know this to be true does not mean that it is always our motivation. We must  examine our hearts. God created us for His glory, He saved us for His glory, and He has placed us within a local fellowship that exists for His glory (in reality, every verse of the Bible testifies to this truth, but here are just a few to get us started: Isaiah 43:6-7, Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 42:8, Habakkuk 2:14, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Ephesians 1:5-14).  God has also made it clear that He is not impressed with outward displays of "worship", but what pleases Him is a heart that is tender toward Him (1 Samuel 15:22, Hosea 6:6, Psalm 51:16-17).  It is God who dictates how we are to come to Him.  It is God who has given instructions for what we are to do as a church and how we are to do it, and that includes our music.  True worship is all about God, and true worship always comes from the heart.

Now, when it comes to New Testament instructions on music within the church, we are not really given a whole lot of details.  Nothing is said about instruments, styles, ensembles, worship leaders, or any of those things.  It is clear from the New Testament that we are commanded to sing together (Colossians 3:16. Ephesians 5:19, Hebrews 13:15), and it is abundantly clear that we are to sing for God's glory.  With all of that in mind, there are two commitments that I want to make to you.  My first commitment to you is that absolutely every time we gather together for worship as the Body of Christ we will sing for God's glory.  Whether we are singing a traditional song or a contemporary one, whether it is old or new, whether it is accompanied by piano, electric guitar, or not accompanied at all, we will sing it for the purpose of praising, honoring, worshiping, and loving God.  Beyond that, I believe that we have a lot of freedom, and I look forward to creatively exploring those freedoms with you in the years to come.

The second commitment that I want to make to you is that everything we do as a music ministry team, and everything that I do and every decision I make as a pastor will be guided by scripture.  Even though we are not given a whole lot of explicit instructions for music in the Bible, God’s word is infinitely applicable and relevant to every part of life.  God has given us more than enough instruction on how we are to love and serve Him and love and serve one another. These Biblical principles will be our guide as we seek to honor Him and build up His church.

There is a whole lot more that I want to share with you, and I know that I will have the opportunity to do so soon.  For now, I hope that this letter is just a small reminder that we must constantly examine our hearts and our motivations when it comes to worship, because God's glory is that important. We were created to worship and glorify The Triune God, and Him alone.  As we read in Hebrews 13:15 this past Sunday morning: "Through him then let us  continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name."

Posted by Derek Niffenegger with

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