Expanding the Sermon-Heaven Help Our Worship

Expanding the Sermon-Heaven Help Our Worship

How is heaven affecting earthly worship? Read through Revelation 4 & 5 again, asking, how should this affect the way we gather on Sunday morning. Read through the following questions that were asked at the conclusion of yesterday”™s message and think through your responses to each of them: How does you life acknowledge the centrality of God because it is singularly directed? How do your life decisions exalt the authority of God because those decisions are thoroughly biblical? How does your lifestyle emit the intensity of God, because you respond with passionate God-driven emotions? How is your attitude about life sobered by the severity of God, because you are full of a profound awe-struck fear of God”™s greatness? Do you carry yourself on a regular basis in such a way that you are affected by the majesty of God, impacted by the stunning regality of who God is? How do you live in a way that comprehends the transcendence of God – so you base your living in a very unique and dissimilar way than the norms of the world? Could someone examine your life, your speech, your decisions, your character, your love, your emotions, your anxieties, your confidence and see that you are steeped in rehearsing God”™s redemption through Christ? Review the sermon manuscript below to review the details, or listen again to the message HERE. Heaven help our worship pt 1 View more documents from Summit Woods Baptist...
Preparing for Sunday-Revelation 4 & 5

Preparing for Sunday-Revelation 4 & 5

Carefully Think Read through Revelation 4 & 5 in one setting (it won”™t take long). Make a list of one-word statements that would describe the kind of worship taking place in heaven. Put a star beside those words in the list that would be transferrable and helpful in how we should think about our own worship when we gather as a church. Prayerfully Meditate Make a list of one-word characteristics that you find to be true about our church”™s worship gatherings. How could the list of heaven”™s characteristics improve our worship? Review this week”™s bulletin and the various elements of our worship gathering. Which elements can you find biblical warrant for? Can you think of biblical texts that would describe each element?  Can you think of biblical texts that need to better inform our worship?  How would these additions help you worship with all your heart and soul on Sunday? Meditate on the lyrics to this Sunday”™s songs.  What are they teaching about the subject of worship? What themes in these songs are also present in the worship scene in heaven? Actively Respond Pray for all those who will be assisting the church in our worship gathering. Pray that they will arrive with humble hearts ready to serve and focused on making God central in what we do together. Pray specifically for Dawson Bryant and Bret Capranica as they work together each week to prepare our weekly gatherings. Pray that they will be driven by God”™s word and sensitive to how we can best express our praise corporately. Read through Revelation 4 & 5 with your family. Talk through...
A Mid-Week Minute 2.16.11

A Mid-Week Minute 2.16.11

MidWeek Minute 2.16.11 from Bret Capranica on Vimeo. Sunday AM 2.13.11 – Heaven Help Our Worship: The Activity of Heaven, Revelation 4:6-11 – Bret Capranica Sermon Expansion – Revelation 4:6-11 Sunday PM 2.13.11 – A Lifestyle of Worship, Colossians 3:16-17 – Glenn...
Sermon Expansion-The Activity of Heaven Revelation 4:1-11

Sermon Expansion-The Activity of Heaven Revelation 4:1-11

How can you respond to this week’s sermon? You can hear the two sermons on Revelation 4:1-11 through our church’s web-site: Heaven Help Our Worship – The Atmosphere of Heaven – Rev 4:1-6 Heaven Help Our Worship – The Activity of Heaven – Rev 4:6-11 Revelation 4 is a brilliant description of God”™s supremacy and a picturesque vision of the purest worship of God.  God”™s authority, centrality, mercy, redemption, judgment, omniscience, transcendence, and sovereignty are all stunningly described as the very atmosphere of heaven. The activity of heaven responds to God”™s blazing centrality with an intense, focused exaltation of who He is.  Here is the pinnacle of corporate praise.  The entire scene begs the question as to whether our weekly earthly gatherings mirror the emphases we see happening unceasingly in heaven. Our two sermons on Revelation 4 delved into the details of the passage and called us to consider how central God is in our affections, our vocabulary, our prayers, our music, our conversations, and our mindset when we gather with God”™s people on the Lord”™s Day. How can we grow in our worship of God on earth so that our gatherings are more reflective of the worship that happens in heaven? Something to Know Increase your understanding of who God is Simply reading through the Bible, particularly the Old Testament has helped me with this.  For example, while reading through Old Testament books, underline every time the narrator (in the historical books) indicates that God did something. You will be amazed at what God does ““ and thus see His attributes on display. Read some excellent books on...