LUKE: The Expansion of the Kingdom
Preacher: Jeff Flanagan Scripture: Luke 13:10–21
Worship Notes
It is great to get to share some of my notes on the song selections again for this Sunday. I hope that we will be able to listen to the songs and meditate on the texts as we prepare ourselves for worship each week.
Excited to worship with you this Sunday!
- Chris
The King of Love
“Lost and foolish off I strayed
But yet in love He sought me
And on His shoulder gently laid
And home rejoicing brought me”
John 10:14-18
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Listen to this song with full text here:
He Will Hold Me Fast
“For my life He bled and died
Christ will hold me fast
Justice has been satisfied
He will hold me fast
Raised with Him to endless life
He will hold me fast
Till our faith is turned to sight
When He comes at last”
Patience is not one of my spiritual gifts. I don’t understand why all the good promised in the future, can’t just happen now. I get frustrated while waiting, especially in times that seem particularly hard. This year alone has felt like a decade and I am growing impatient and weary. Thankfully, I know that God’s timing is perfect, and we are not to rely on our own plans and schedules. When I find myself giving in to doubt or temptation He is always there and faithful. He will keep me close if I simply turn to Him. I thank God that He gives me His patience. The patience that puts up with me and forgives my selfish ways again and again and again and again. I know that I can have faith in God and His timing. “For my life He bled and died” God is faithful to the faithless, He is patient with the impatient. “For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.”
Listen to this song here:
Facing a Task Unfinished (We Go to All the World)
Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Our worship Sunday begins and ends with the same tune set to different words. We start the service with “The Church’s One Foundation”. We are the church. We are a new creation, called by God through Jesus Christ to salvation and eternal life. He is our foundation, and all things are possible through Him. Jesus gave His church a great commission, to make disciples of all nations. In 1930 Frank Houghton, an Anglican bishop and missionary to China, wrote the hymn “Facing a Task Unfinished”. The hymn was sent with a request to send 200 more missionaries to China. More than 200 missionaries were sent in response. In the 1930s there were estimated only about 750,000 Christians in China. Today the estimate is more than 80 million. The thought of that many lives changed fills me with joy and excitement for what God can do through us. Now let us imagine what God might do in our neighbors' lives through us.
Listen to this song with full text here: