Getting Ready For Sunday: How to Prepare for Worship at Uptown, February 15, 2015

In the western world kings and queens now exist mostly for ornamental  reasons. I am unaware of the queen of England making any serious decisions these days, she almost entirely serves as a global celebrity. In our day we even scoff at the idea of a king who rules over a people. In our minds we equate king with evil dictator. Especially with a  democratic mindset we think of monarchies as oppressive. We think of the poor souls who lived under these monarchies and how they had to serve and obey the king. Even though we rebel against the idea of a king in the western world we have ourselves set up kings. As Bob Dylan says ‘you gotta serve somebody.’ It just so happens that the kings that we serve in the West are ourselves. 

In the Old Testament the people of God clamored for a king. They desperately wanted an earthly ruler to govern them and lead them. Kings would come and go with moderate success with the people, but of course each king’s reign ran its course when the king died. The people wanted a king for many reasons, but one of the reasons was for security and leadership. They did not fully have their trust in God so they begged God to send them an earthly ruler. The human race of today has acted much like the Israelites of the Old Testament. Throughout the ages there have been many kings. In the Western world today we have perhaps one of the most bizarre kings. Our king today is human autonomy and reason. Brought in at the age of enlightenment is the idea that we are on the throne of our lives governing our ‘destiny.’

Of course the Bible speaks of a king that is much different than the world’s kings and is even contrary to what many of God’s people in the Old Testament believed He would be. As Christians our king is the Lord God. His kingdom is one of righteousness. In it we are called to serve and love Him. Earthly kings have come and gone, but He is eternal because He is God Himself. The modern king of the last couple of centuries has been the individual, but that has clearly proven to be utterly destructive. When we set up ourselves as the king it ends up killing us, the true King has come to give us life.  This King is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us prepare our hearts this weekend through our devotional lives and through singing these psalms so that as we approach His throne this Lord’s day we may worship Him in all His splendor. 

THE WORD

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:1-22
Sermon: Calling In the Substitute

SONGS

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
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Hail To the Lord’s Anointed (arr. Sandra McCracken)
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Depth of Mercy (arr. Red Mountain Music)
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Song of Preparation: Song Of Confession  (arr. Shane Martin)
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Song for the Supper: At the Table  (arr. Ordinary Time)
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Song of Response: Satisfied (arr. Karl Digerness)
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