Gah! Lost everything I typed due to server maintainance on WordPress…. trying to recall what I wrote haha

        Basically in light of the events that happened the last week. Meeting all the people who knew Apostle and the testimonies they shared about how he impacted their lives and that many of them are serving full-time, if not serving in various ministries in their local churches. The song Blessed assurance keeps coming to mind

        “This is my story, this is my song, praising my savior, all the day long”

         I started to think, what will my story be? what do I want my story to be about – more than just saying praising God, I wanted to think in details – How? What? Why? When? to be deliberate about it, asking God for direction and strength. What do you want your story to be about?

        HOMEWORK! – I am sure Apostle has made an impact in your life in one way or another. This Friday when you come, come with a short sharing about how Apostle has impacted your life. Give it some serious thought ya.

Song list

Thinking of doing the last two song in parts so Elysia and Jewel standby  

Do take note that practice this week is on SUNDAY at 8am not 8:30. Please come prepared we don’t have alot of time to tinker with the technical aspects of the songs. I might be falling sick so do keep me in prayer… hopfully its just the weather but I am starting to feel really yucky….

So songs as follow

• The wonder of your love – E – Elysia Leading
• Hosanna – Paul Baloche one – G
• You are God alone – CFNI – G – Elysia
• At the cross – E – Faith

Just wanna share a verse from 2 Chronicles :14

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”

I think just building on the theme that has been set the past couple of weeks. There has to be a turning away from all things wicked and a turning back to God. Forgiveness and healing comes after repentance. When we call apron God with a humble attitude in prayer and we understand that apart from God we are nothing but sinners, God cannot help but come. The verse after that says that God’s eyes are open and His ears attentive to these types of prayers. God is waiting for us to come to him not asking for something but offering ourselves.

We know that since the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, our bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. What verse 16 said about a physical place, the temple that king Solomon built now applies to us! With what Christ did on the cross, he has chosen us and consecrated us to the glory of His Name!

My eyes and heart will always be there… isn’t that reassuring? knowing that God always has His eye on us and His heart is always for us?

So song list

Forever – G

glorified – D  

None but Jesus – B?? Elysia lead 

Turn your eyes – B 

Lord I give you my heart -

I actually want to make the last three songs all in the same key so we can go right from one to the other, However I am not too sure what is a comfortable key for None but Jesus, B is the original key will have to do alittle more playing around with the keys .

Preparing for this weeks sets, again the call of repentance was heavy on my heart.

Isaiah 53:3-6

He was despised and rejected by mankind, 
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. 
Like one from whom people hide their faces 
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our pain 
   and bore our suffering, 
yet we considered him punished by God, 
   stricken by him, and afflicted. 
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, 
   he was crushed for our iniquities; 
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed. 
⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, 
   each of us has turned to our own way; 
and the LORD has laid on him 
   the iniquity of us all.

Continue reading the whole chapter of Isaiah 53 – It always amazes me what Jesus has done for us. He was pierced for MY transgression, crushed for MY iniquities, the punishment that brought Me peace was on him and by his wounds I am healed!

v6 Talks about us straying away from him and yet he lays our sins, our wickness on himself. We are all forgiven because of his one awesome act. Forgiveness in all God, nothing for us to do other than to receive it. Our part is to repent, which basically means a turning away from sin. To be honest, I feel most of the time we are caught up with the forgiveness part. I heard a preacher once say, God forgives us of our sin and it is gone, however the shame of the sin is ours to left go off, the guilty that we attach to the sin is something we need to let go off. However we see God as we see ourselves. That when a friend betrays us, we find it hard to forget let alone forget and so when we betray God we find it hard to believe that God would forgive and forget because we can’t see ourselves doing that for somebody else – there’s news for you, that’s why you are NOT God and He is! So get over it, get over the guilty that the enemy tries to weigh you down with, get over the shame because there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus! But here’s what we have to do….. We ask for forgiveness and He will forgive.. than we need to repent – and ask God for his strength to face the temptation when it comes around again cause trust me, it will come but in Christ we are overcomes Amen?

Would you take time this week to ask God to examine your heart? And if there is anything that need repenting of I pray that you will have the courage to make the choices as hard as they may be, that God can complete the work that He has started in you.

Psalms 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God and renew a steadfast spirit within me

Good Friday – Pastor Frankie will be sharing and wants to focus on the blood and healing

Malcolm take not of the bass line for At the Cross, never really heard it until today and I think it’s pretty distinct.

Eric for Oh the Wonderful Cross was thinking if you can play the lead line http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnjyCsAbzxY&feature=related

Esther Sunday – Pastor Frankie wants more celebration songs

I wanted to do Oh Lord You’re Beautiful after This is our God but I feel that overcome would be a good song to end the worship set so still kinda tore between the two So just stand by Oh Lord ya

All the songs chords are here

Songs for this week are

For who you Are – G – Elysia

Glorified – Desperation Band – G – Jewel  

Holy and Anointed one – G  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLucwS41uDI

How Great – G

Normally I tend to lead the “praise” section and let the girls lead the “Worship” section of the set so this week I thought I would try to change it up a bit. Not sure if the keys are okay but normally G is gender friendly for the most part If cannot we will transpose accordingly

Do listen to the two YouTube videos – I like the flow in which they did the songs. Faith take note of the key intro to Holy and Anointed one where just the keys are playing.

For bassist and Drummers, if you are listening thru your iPhone preferable if you use earphones so that you can hear the bass and drums. The iPhone speakers cannot make it and you’ll probably miss out too much, of course if you feel that the video is too amateur and you are more creative by all means haha but at least we all have the same “feel” for the songs

Leading up to Good Friday and Easter we will be focusing on the cross and Jesus – Duh! Still looking out for songs that speak about that as well as to us, we usually end up doing the same couple of songs, Worthy is the Lamb (Thank you for the cross), Above all, My redeemer lives, You laid aside your majesty….. they are all good songs but wanna hear from you guys as well. What does Good Friday and Easter mean to you and are there any songs that convey that message? Do leave a comment, next weeks practice will be on TUESDAY so I have to come up with the set soon and want to leave space to overlap the songs if they are new so that the church will be vaguely familiar with them by GF and Easter. So you input will be of great value.

Also nobody has sent me any info regarding the scheduling for the next couple of months, I will give another day or two before sending out the latest schedule so do let me know if there are days that you cannot make it, if not I assume you guys are okay with whatever.

Songs for this week

For God so loved the world is an “old” song that I wrote and wanna give it another spin haha. If we can’t pull it off we will do “Blessed be your name” instead.

I’ve been looking at a lot of Keith Greens songs recently and thought it’s not the kind that I am into, somehow something about his singing connects with me. I guess its his heart of worship, his life is about worshipping God and reaching out to his lost generation. His hunger for God and passion for the people drove him to be one of the most influential singers in his time. 

I am actually watching a documentary on Keith Green as I am writing this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXOhSScVMUs&feature=related

Going to continue watching it now haha

This weeks worship set is as follows

Not much of a “praise” factor in this weeks worship set. However it’s more of  bring people back to the basic’s of our Christian walk. We start with worship, coming before God for God and God alone. More than enough again is bring us to the acknowledgement that God is sovereign and more than enough. That God is all that we ever need. The focus is on God, not that we come to him because of OUR need. Leading to URY brings the idea that He is the reason why we live. To live not for ourselves but to live for him!

That alone is a HUGE HUGE idea! Something we say so nonchalantly but if really taken in it true essence it will blow us away! To be honest how many of us can say that we are living for God and God alone???? That EVERYTHING that we do is for God and God alone, that we are not in the picture but God? Tough yes, impossible NO, not with God. Are we there yet…. I’m not but can we get there? Yes if we make the decision to surrender our lives to His will.

Here’s the challenge – Are you will to make the decision? To make adjusticments to our lifestyles, to repent to turn toward God and let Him aline our lifes back to Him. It’s the call of every christian, we can so easily lose sight of, to cease surrendering our lives in exchange for what God wants for us and instead focus on what we want from God.

Hopefully at the end of of URY that idea is birthed in the hearts of the people and than we can ask God to give us the courage to stand for His truth!

Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MKAzYJcWSY

Drums http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fvdEpaRfnk

Gah sorry for the last min song list AGAIN!!! I need to be more accountable to send it out on Tues! I give myself too much excuses – procrastination is my enemy!

Pst Rach has requested for the last song to be “Give us your courage” by Tim Hughes. So I wanted to build the worship set along that line.

The whole concept starts with this – Hebrews 13:1-8 

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.  Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

   “Never will I leave you;
   never will I forsake you.”

 So we say with confidence,

   “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
   What can mere mortals do to me?”

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

It starts of with the idea of giving out, loving one another as brothers, stranger and even prisoners. The whole idea of being a Christian is “centrifugal” remember? It’s about what God has given us so that we can give it out, grace, mercy, salvation(Not that we give that out but we can help someone come to that decision) love, forgiveness and so much more.  It’s not about what we can “get” from God to make my life better but how I can give so that my God’s name is lift up.

Than it talks about sexual immorality and keeping our lives free from the love of money, two huge issues that have come against the Christian since the beginning of time and up till not has not let off steam, in our time it has gained even more momentum as the world  focuses more on finances than fulfillment, careers more than family, things more than people. sexual pleasure more than intimacy (In knowing a person). The line blurs cause the cost of living keep going up and keeping up with the Jones is not just left to the few who want “face” but to the masses as media popularized the “standard” for living and anything under that is just unthinkable. Relationships are taken to the point of living as if you are already “married” just so you can “try” to see if you are compatible. People want all the perks of being married without the responsibility that come with it. And the Lord warns us again especially against these two areas cause He knows that we would be greatly tested most in these two areas.

The question is not so much about sexual lust or greed or lack of trust in God as it is a worship issue. Why do I say that? It’s not about what we should do or should not do as a christian but why we do what we do and why we don’t do what we don’t do. All of life is a worship to God – only question is which God? Is it Jehovah God or is it the God of money or the God of pleasure or the God of self? When we give in to greed or lust it is the same as saying that God you alone are not enough for me, that God rather than honor You, I want to honor myself and do what makes me feel good instead of doing what pleases You. At the heart of it all everything we do is worship to God, every act that we do, everything that we stand for.

Are we suppose to be prefect? Other than Jesus no other human is nor can anyone be. I came across this sentence by Ravi Zacharia someone whom I greatly admire, I don’t have the exact quote with me atm but it goes something like this “The Bible and all its laws and commandments it not a guide to show you how to be perfect, contrary to that it shows us how to in our imperfection and weakness still overcome”

The bible isn’t about making perfect people out of us, I and you know it won’t work even God knows it won’t work but in it we find strength to overcome the trials of this life whether it’s through the Holy Spirit, encouragement from the family of Christ or just plain applying the word of God into our lives. I belive it was John Piper that says this “The Mark of a Christian’s life is repentance” That through out our entire walk with Christ, it’s about turning away from sin and becoming more and more like Christ. We might be battling one sin now but in a couple of months we might be battle another and so on, what sets us apart is that we are quick to repent – that means to turn away from our sins and walk away from it. Not just ask for forgiveness but walking away from it and even if we do fail at the same thing again we continue to repent and look to God for forgiveness and strength to overcome every obstacle.

What I fear most as a Christian is that I become hardened to sin, that I allow sin to continue in my life, that I care not because I feel not, what was once sin which lead to conviction, from conviction to guilt, from guilt to indifference, from indifference to justification, and when we come to that point, we justify the sin till it not longer is a sin in our eyes but in God’s it’s never changed. 

I am getting a bit long here so my point is, most if not all our sin is a worship issue, in sinning we are saying that God you are not enough to meet my needs, God you are not enough to fill my desires, God I don’t want You to be God, I want to be God of my life. The next part of the verse is the reassurance to this, that God promises to NEVER forsake nor leave us. That He is our helper in our time of need! Do you truly believe that? At the very core of our foundation in our walk with God we have to believe that. That God is faithful to His word, that our lives are a living sacrifice to God because we love and honor him. And if God is not in that position of honor and love in our lives than I truly question if we can call ourselves Christian.

The song “Give us your courage” has this line in it “For the truth of your word we will stand” I belive that is the heart of the song. The courage to stand for truth, for what is right, for what is Holy in God’s eyes. God would you give us the courage to stand for truth, would you give us the courage turn away from our sin and repent, would you give us the courage to make the right decision even though it might cost us. God would you give us the courage to lay our lives on the altar again and again and again and again and again and when we feel tired and discourage yet again as a living sacrifice to you because God you are worth it. 

So the whole idea of the worship set is this – We need to count on God, We are His chosen people set part by Him and for Him, We are a people of faith that will sing out His praise loudly WITH our lives and we can do it only because He gives us the ability to do it.

So song list as follows

Sorry for the late song list this week. Things just kept coming up. First off the latest schedule is here 5stones schedule. Do check through the whole list and see if there needs to be any amendments. Names in RED means that you have the honor of leading worship that week.

Pastor Rachel will be sharing on the Fear of God this sunday and she requested songs along that line. No song came to mind with the exact phase “Fear God” haha but on the whole I think focusing on God,having a reverence for Him and knowing that He is all-powerful yet in His great mercy and love, He doesn’t chose to wipe us off from the face of the earth. Can our relationship with God because too casual? I think so…. God is often portrayed as a loving God, a friend, a God who provides and comforts us in our time of need. He is all that and more, let us not forget that He is also King and Lord over our lives, that He is a Holy God who cannot stand unholiness, He is a righteous God a Just God. That we a called to serve the King and worship Him in that reverence.  

Song list

Lineup