We are excited to begin rehearsing our Easter Musical, IS HE WORTHY, which will be presented on Palm Sunday, February 24th, during our Worship Hour.

         Adult Choir Rehearsals each Sunday at 5 pm 

          God created man, in His own image (Gen 1:27), possessing the qualities that are akin to God’s nature and giving man the freedom over its actions. This was done so that God and man could experience the fullness of life and nature together in love. John 4:7-9 states the following: “7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”. Thus when man was created, he was created to love God parallel to God’s love for man. When we worship, we exalt our love for God.

            Man committed the ultimate betrayal against God by refusing to love God by disobeying and eating from the tree that was forbidden to them. John 14:23-24 “23 Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.’” All of mankind betrays God’s design for life when we sin. It is because of this rejection of God’s love that a separation exists between the parties. Man needs forgiveness. When we worship, we re-align ourselves to God’s design of love.

            Because of Man’s sin against God and rejection of His love, God and Man were separated. Psalm 5:4 “For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome.”. Isaiah 59:1-2 “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”. Man’s sin has caused him to be separated from the Lord, but God loves so much that he did not want man to live in sin and ultimately die. He offered up His own son as a sacrifice to satisfy the justice for Man’s sins. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”. Romans 5:5 “But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We worship because God has forgiven us of our sins.

            For these reasons, we are to worship the God who loves His children. Mark 12:30 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'”. When the church comes together to spend time with the Lord, we begin that time with worship and praise. Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”. Every member of the congregation is equipped to worship (Phillipians 2:10-11) and gives praise through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Ephesians 5:18-20 “....Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”