Singing. Communications. Creative. Sample. Leader s Guide THE SONGS OF ZION. A Series of Worship Services by Reed Lessing SNG

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Singing. Communications. Creative. Sample. Leader s Guide THE SONGS OF ZION. A Series of Worship Services by Reed Lessing SNG"

Darren Jordan
5 years ago
Views:

1 Singing THE SONGS OF ZION A Series of Worship Services by Reed Lessing Leader s Guide SNG

3 Singing THE SONGS OF ZION A Series of Worship Services Index About Singing the Songs of Zion4 Service One: Extending Grace 5-39 Service Two: Taking Heat Service Three: Lifting Guilt Service Four: Tasting Life Service Five: Shredding Scrolls Service Six: Singing Victory By Reed Lessing Cover image: istockphotocom 2013 by for the Parish, 1564 Fencorp Dr, Fenton, MO creativecommunicationscom All rights reserved Printed in the USA A Series Of Worship Services 3

4 Singing THE SONGS OF ZION A Series of Worship Services About This Series Zion, the city of Jerusalem, sits on a hill, so the people of Israel would go up to Jerusalem, singing the songs of ascent, the songs of Zion Singing the Songs of Zion is a spiral-bound series of six worship services by seminary professor Reed Lessing that can be offered in the summer or at any time of year Each service begins with a recitation of a highlighted psalm (a song of Zion) and then continues with Bible readings, hymns, prayers, a children s sermon and a sermon that focuses on the themes present in the psalm The psalms celebrated in this series are Psalms 55, 118 (first portion), 32, 34, 119, and 118 (second portion) The spiral-bound kit includes orders of service, prayers, sermons, children s sermons, music, as well as a CD-ROM (Mac/PC) with the text of the entire kit in rtf (rich text format) and a PowerPoint document of all six services with text (with a copyright release) for use on screens 4 Singing the Songs of Zion

5 Singing THE SONGS OF ZION A Series of Worship Services Service Two: Taking Heat Complete Script For Worship Leaders The Opening Verse and Introduction are read silently by the congregation or aloud by the pastor or a reader: Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace Daniel 3:17 Zion the city of Jerusalem sits on a hill, raised up above the surrounding land The people of Israel would go up to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, singing on the way Psalms 120 to 134 These were the Psalms of Ascent, the songs of going up to Jerusalem, the songs of Zion In this worship series we will speak other psalms for our ascent and sing our own songs of Zion as we go up with our Lord Jesus to the cross, the empty tomb and out into the world, walking in newness of life in his name 46 Singing the Songs of Zion

6 The Opening Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Foundation : How firm a foundation, O saints of the Lord, Is laid for our faith in his excellent Word! What more can he say than to you he has said Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled? Fear not! I am with you, O be not dismayed, For I am your God and will still give you aid; I ll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand, Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand Our Psalm of Ascent from Psalm 118 is spoken responsively by the pastor and the congregation: P Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good: C For his steadfast love endures forever! P Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free C The Lord is on my side; I will not fear What can man do to me? P It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man C It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes P All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! C They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! P They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off! C I was pushed hard, so that I was falling but the Lord helped me P The Lord is my strength and my song; C He has become my salvation The Confession and Absolution is spoken responsively by the pastor and the congregation: P Out of my distress I called on the Lord! Let us confess our sins and ask God to look on us in mercy and forgive us C Almighty God, we are surrounded by our enemies the devil, the world and our own sinful desires and daily we surrender to them We turn from your Word and will and sin against you by our thoughts, words and actions A Series Of Worship Services 47

7 Have mercy on us and forgive us for Jesus sake P Take refuge in the Lord and trust in him Our merciful Lord God sent his Son to be our Savior For the sake of Jesus and by his command, I announce to you that your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen C The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation! The Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Foundation : The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose I will not, I will not, desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I ll never, no never, no never, forsake! When through fiery trials your pathway will lie, My grace, all-sufficient, will be your supply The flames will not hurt you; I only design Your dross to consume and your gold to refine The Children s Sermon is given by the pastor or other worship leader: (Needed: a frying pan or pot; pot holders or oven mitts) P If I walk into my kitchen and see a pot or pan on the stove, I probably shouldn t just reach out and grab the handle (pick up the pan) Why not? Why could that be a dangerous thing to do? (Let children answer) If the stove is on, the handle of the pan will be hot too hot to touch! I need to use pot holders or oven mitts, like these, to protect my hands from the heat In our Old Testament story, three of God s people got into a situation that was too hot to handle! Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were three young men from Israel who were taken as captives to Babylon The king of Babylon made a big golden statue When trumpets sounded and music played, everyone was supposed to bow down and worship the golden statue Anyone who refused would be thrown into a fiery furnace When the three young men from Israel heard the trumpets and music, what 48 Singing the Songs of Zion

8 do you think they did? Did they worship the statue? (Let the children answer) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego could not worship a statue! They knew they must only worship the true God of Israel The king was angry and gave orders to throw the three young men into the burning furnace But when the king looked into the furnace, he saw the three men walking around unharmed In fact, he saw four people in the furnace, and the fourth person looked like the Son of God! God went into the fire to save Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego The fire did not hurt them God saved the three young men from the fire God sent his Son to save us from the fires of hell by dying on the cross for us Because of Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life When we are tempted to do wrong or when we have trouble in our lives, we can find ourselves in a situation that s too hot to handle When that happens, just like the three young men, we can pray to God He will help us and forgive our sins! Let s pray Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to be our Savior Thank you for forgiving our sins and helping us in times of trouble Amen The Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Machs Mit Mir, Gott : Come, follow me, the Savior spake, All in my way abiding; Deny yourselves, the world forsake, obey my call and guiding O bear the cross, whate er betide, take my example for your guide I am the light, I light the way, a godly life displaying; I bid you walk as in the day; I keep your feet from straying I am the way, and well I show how you must sojourn here below The Old Testament Lesson, Daniel 3:8-18, is read by the pastor or other worship leader: P Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace There are certain Jews whom A Series Of Worship Services 49

9 you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought So they brought these men before the king Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up The Epistle Lesson, Romans 8:35-39, is read by the pastor or other worship leader: P Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord The Gospel Lesson, Luke 9:18-25, is read by the pastor or other worship leader: P Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him And he asked them, Who do the crowds say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, The Christ of God And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things 50 Singing the Songs of Zion

10 and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? The Sermon Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Machs Mit Mir, Gott : I teach you how to shun and flee what harms your soul s salvation, Your heart from ev ry guile to free, from sin and its temptation I am the refuge of the soul and lead you to your heav nly goal Then let us follow Christ, our Lord, and take the cross appointed And, firmly clinging to his Word, in suff ring be undaunted For those who bear the battle s strain the crown of heav nly life obtain The Sermon: The Heat Is On! is delivered by the pastor: P It s sweltering and sizzling, suffocating and sticky; it s a certain scorcher for sure! The sun is out, the temperature is up and the sweat is rollin down It feels like a five-alarm fire and it s as hot as hell All of this and more, because the heat is on! Just ask Hannaniah, Mishael and Azariah Or maybe you know them by their Veggie Tale names Shach, Rach and Benny Some affectionately call them Your Shack, My Shack and a Bungalow But in Daniel 3 they are called by their Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego It s the sixth century BC and these three Hebrews are standing on the plain of Dura in Babylon, three in the midst of 300,000 people And they had better blend in, bow down and sell out because King Nebuchadnezzar has made a golden statue that is 12 1/2 feet wide and 125 feet high He then issued this decree: At the sound of music everybody must to bow down and worship my statue or else in the same hour they will know firsthand that the heat is on! A Series Of Worship Services 51

11 As they sweat bullets we can imagine these three Hebrews conversing Shadrach: What does it matter if we bow down to a statue just this once? Meshach: Besides, what a great opportunity we have to be a part of this stadium event! Abednego: And besides, I d rather cooperate and assimilate and tolerate and then graduate rather than hyperventilate! When the heat is on us and we are the three in the midst of the 300,000; when we re called to not [be] ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe (Romans 1:16); when we re called to not be conformed to this present evil age (Romans 12:2); when we re called to confess the Son of Man before men with the promise that he will then confess us before the Father in heaven (Matthew 10:32) all too often we shrink back like cowards craving the cool breeze of conformity and coveting the comfortable calm of compromise There s a part of us that soaks up the air-conditioned Christian life where there is no sweat, no perspiration with plenty of iced tea and Pepsi to go around for everybody! When faced with moral compromise, like internet pornography; when faced with ecclesiastical compromise, like character assassination; when faced with doctrinal compromise, like anything goes we say, It won t hurt if I do it just this once Besides, it s fashionable to be undecided these days Besides no one knows what goes on behind closed doors And besides, I ve seen what happens to marshmallows at campfires, hamburgers at barbeques, and yesterday s leftovers in today s ill-timed microwave ovens They all burn up when the heat is on! In spite of these temptations Shach, Rach and Benny are ready to take the heat: If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us (Daniel 3:17) At this point our heroes appear to be hanging off a crumbling cliff, surrounded by ravenous sharks, strapped with bombs that are ready to explode, and cornered by deadly snakes It s that bad because Nebuchadnezzar is filled with rage and orders the furnace to be heated seven times hotter This death chamber even has a window on the side through which spectators can watch the baking, the broiling and the burning when the heat is on! Refusing to blend in, bow down or sell out, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are tied up and thrown into this blazing heat And the fire is so hot that it kills the men who take them up to the opening of the furnace 52 Singing the Songs of Zion

12 Now what happens when just a few stand up against so many? What happens when people take a radical stand and turn neither to the right nor to the left? What happens when believers say, Enough is enough I will not sell out! I ll let Nebuchadnezzar answer that for us: Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth one looks like a Son of God (Daniel 3:25) Amazing! Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are saved by the same Son of God whose kingdom Daniel earlier describes as, A kingdom that will never be destroyed It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever (Daniel 2:44) This is the same Son Daniel sees in chapter seven, coming with the clouds of Heaven, approaching the Ancient of Days and led into his presence He is given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and people of every language worship him His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed (Daniel 7:13 14) And this is the same Son of God, who in Daniel 12:1 3 announces that our names are in his book so that he will completely deliver us on the day when our bodies awake from the dust of the earth and enter the fullness of everlasting life! And what was the result of their bold stand? The hair on their head isn t singed, their clothing is unaffected, and they don t even smell like smoke! I can t even leave a bowling alley without smelling like smoke, but the Son of God s protection is so thorough, so complete, they don t even smell like smoke! This same Son of God climactically entered the furnace once again, only this time it was one against the world The heat is on It s sweltering and sizzling, suffocating and sticky, it s a certain scorcher for sure The Palestinian sun is out, the temperature is up and the sweat is rolling down his bleeding body It s as hot as hell literally because Jesus Christ is taking the heat for your sins and mine Three days later this Jesus came out of the fire alive forever unbound to make this promise from Isaiah 43:2, When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior A Series Of Worship Services 53

13 216 Singing the Songs of Zion Tune Coronation &? # # c c 1 Ó Œ 1 Ó Œ &? # # 6 6 # &? # # j Œ Œ

14 The Closing Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Coronation : All hail the pow r of Jesus name! Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all Hail him, ye heirs of David s line, whom David Lord did call, The God incarnate, man divine, and crown him Lord of all The God incarnate, man divine, and crown him Lord of all Sinners, whose love can ne er forget the wormwood and the gall, Go, spread your trophies at his feet and crown him Lord of all Go, spread your trophies at his feet and crown him Lord of all Oh, that with yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall! We ll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all We ll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all A Series Of Worship Services 217

God Protects Daniel s Friends

God Protects Daniel s Friends Daniel 3 1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 He then summoned the satraps, prefects, governors,