Maundy Thursday Service

Welcome/Reading: John 18

• JESUS, ONLY JESUS (Tag V1)
• O THE DEEP DEEP LOVE OF JESUS
• GRACE ALONE
• ROCK OF AGES (Chorus tag)

Reading: John 19:1-16

• JESUS, ONLY JESUS (Tag V2, C)
• WHEN I SURVEY

Reading: John 19:17-30

Sermon: Bread - John 19:30

• MAUNDY THURSDAY HYMN (a rewrite from a hymn by Anne Steele)

          Enslaved by sin and bound in chains, beneath its dreadful tyrant sway

          And doomed to everlasting pains, we wretched guilty captives lay

          Jesus, the Lord, the mighty God, an all-sufficient ransom paid

          O matchless price! His precious blood, for vile, rebellious traitors shed

          No gold, nor gems could buy our peace, nor all the world's collected store

          Suffice to purchase our release; a thousand worlds were all too poor

          Jesus the sacrifice became, to rescue guilty souls from hell;

          The spotless, bleeding, dying Lamb, beneath avenging justice fell

          Amazing goodness!  Love divine!  Oh, may our grateful hearts adore

Reading: John 19:31-37

• MY JESUS I LOVE THEE
• I LOVE YOU LORD

Sermon: Wine John 19:37

• THERE IS A REDEEMER
• MAN OF SORROWS
• FORGIVEN FOREVER (Tag: Bridge, Bridge, Chorus)
• JESUS ONLY JESUS (Tag: Bridge, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus)

Reading: John 19:38-42

Close

Exit: Rock of Ages

2018 LENT DEVOTIONAL

A 2018 Lent Devotional around the 'I AM' statements of Jesus, I designed and wrote for the churches of the Cornerstone Collective.

20 March: Tuesday Refocus

‘God wants us to know that when we have Him, we have everything.’ – AW Tozer

Eternity is written on our hearts (Ecc 3:11).  Eternity – what goes on forever without end.  Built within us desires that outstretch the sixty, seventy, eighty years we’re given in this life.  And most people spend the whole of their lives trying to reconcile that eternal desire written on their heart through non-eternal means.  But for those who follow Christ, the belonging, home, value and worth that we desire is already ours in and through Christ.  Our lives are hidden in Christ and He is our true identity (Col 3:3).

I pray that is freedom for you and me as we step up to lead and serve every week.  We already have the very thing we desire – in, through and because of Christ.

You have nothing to earn, nothing to prove because everything is already yours in Christ (1 Cor 3:20-23).

Rest,

AB

6 February: Tuesday Refocus

‘Move, I pray Thee, upon my disordered heart; take away the infirmities of unruly desires and hateful lusts; lift the mists and darkness of unbelief; brighten upon my soul with the pure light of truth.’ – Valley of Vision

Our hearts are divided and disordered (Ps 86:11).  The things we want to do, we do not.  The things we do not want to do we do (Rom 7:15-20).  And it is only in the Light of Life that we can see the light (Ps 36:9).

We can only fulfill the calling we have as bringers of light when our lives are brought under the light of God’s Word, the authority of God’s Spirit, and in sanctifying submission of God’s people (Matt 5:14).

Bring your life into the light, walk in the light and serve in the light (1 Jn 1:5-7).  The Light of the World is the always, forever and only hope of every darkened and disordered heart.

Looking to the Light,

AB

30 January: Tuesday Refocus

‘The greatest sign of pride isn’t the presence of boasting, it’s a lack of prayer.’ – BJ Thompson

Ouch.

We can wax lyrical about being humble servant leaders, but if we don’t come away from the crowd for communion with our Father (Lk 5:16), if our lives are not filled with unceasing prayers (1 Thess 5:16-18) of dependence, humility is merely aspiration.  And if our songs are really prayers, sung in faith and belief – they must be desperate echoes of a father, ‘I believe! Help my unbelief!’ (Mk 9:14)

Pray like you believe. 

Pray because you believe. 

Pray because you need to believe.

To prayer,

AB

28 January: Sunday Set

• GREAT ARE YOU LORD
• ALL CREATURES OF OUR GOD AND KING

SERMON

• LORD, I NEED YOU

BAPTISMS

• BUILD MY LIFE
• ALL HAIL THE POWER (RAISE UP THE CROWN)

16 January: Tuesday Refocus

‘O thou who hast the hearts of all men in Thine hand, form my heart according to the Word, according to the image of Thy Son, so shall Christ the Word, and His Word, be my strength and comfort.’ – Puritan Prayer

Everything we do is formative. 
Everything we do is liturgical. 
How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. 
As one of my pastors said regularly, ‘Don’t let the world teach you theology.’

So, ‘Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’ [Rom 12:2]

Don’t flippantly be formed by the world – but by the mercies of God, ‘present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God…’ [Rom 12:1].

Be formed,
AB

23 January: Tuesday Refocus

‘The poets, singers, songwriters, novelists, musicians… enable the voices of creation to shout, “How beautiful is the One who made us!”’ – Brennan Manning

There is more taking place on a Sunday morning than we can truly grasp. In the lives of the people with whom we gather, there is joy and sorrow, sin and brokenness, faith and doubt, striving and rest. Spiritually speaking we stand in the very presence of God with Jesus as our Mediator as He inhabits our praises (1 Tim 2:5, Rom 8:34, Ps 22:3). Our praise never stands alone but is joined in the song of heaven and earth, the saints that have gone before, and those that will come after us in God’s story (Ps 19:1, Rev 4:8, Is 6:3, Ps 145:4).

What a privilege as worship leaders to lift eyes to that greater reality. What a privilege to give voice to the people of God to declare the beauty and majesty of God. And to not only to give voice but to put on display the beauty and majesty of God through all we do… well-balanced sound, beautiful harmonies, practiced musicians who are well-rehearsed, lyrics displayed clearly, intentionally-crafted liturgy, a welcoming environment… There is no part of our gathering that is devoid of opportunity to display God’s beauty.

So let’s work hard, practice well, and be intentional in all we do, while still recognising the thing that will most clearly display to our people the beauty of God in our gathering is whether or not you and I have been captured by the beauty of God.

Be captured,
AB

14 January: Set List

Welcome/Call To Worship: Isaiah 44:6-8

• JESUS!
• I LOVE YOU LORD

Corporate Confession: 

We are not righteous, no, not one;
We do not understand;
We do not seek for God.
We all have turned aside; together we have become worthless,

Not one of us does good, not even one.

Our throats are an open grave, and we use our tongues to deceive.
Our lips are venomous, our mouths are full of curses and bitterness.
Our feet are swift to shed blood;
in our path there is ruin and misery,
and the way of peace we have not known.
There is no fear of God before our eyes.

From Romans 3:10-18

• POWER TO REDEEM

Sermon

Communion: Psalm 86:8-13

• MY JESUS I LOVE THEE
• BEFORE THE THRONE
• REVIVE US AGAIN

9 January: Tuesday Refocus

‘We need to reorient our hiding places today. We have attempted to hide from God, but by the cross, He declares that we have been hidden with Christ in God! We can still hide, but today we hide in God rather than from Him.’ – Jennie Shut
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I am praying that the truth of God’s Word, who He is and what He has done, and who we are because of Him become anchors for your 2018 and beyond.

I am praying the excitement and joy of the New Year, our greatest treasure our deepest joy is found in the person and work of Christ.

I am praying in our deepest sorrow, struggle, and sin, we fight against the automatic response of isolation in an attempt to put distance between us and God, us and God’s people, and instead run to the Strong Tower that is our lives hidden with Christ in God. Finding God's care and provision toward us in and through His people - the family of God [Pr 18:10, Col 3:3, Ps 68:6].

I am praying that this year, our hearts are soft and attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit… As He leads us in all truth – Jesus, who stands before the Father as our advocate – the Father who has set His affections on us before the foundations of the world, the One that allows us to stand in His presence because of the perfect and complete work of Christ, who’s Spirit allows us to cry ‘Abba Father!’ [Jn 16:13, 1 Jn 2:1, Deut 10:15, 2 Cor 5:21, Rom 8:15, Gal 4:6].

In subtle and significant ways 2018 will try and convince you otherwise, but ‘This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the LORD of hosts has purposed, who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?’ [Is 14:26-27]

I am praying for you, for me, for our leading and serving, and our people that Truth will be the anchor of our souls [Heb 6:19].

Be anchored in what is true. Lead others who are anchorless to the Rock who is higher [Ps 62:2].

Be anchored,
AB

7 January: Set List

WELCOME/CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 5:1-8, 11-12

• PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY/GOOD GOOD FATHER
• JESUS MESSIAH
• BUILD MY LIFE - Psalm 19:7-11

Sermon

• WHEN I SURVEY/HERE'S MY HEART

CONFESSION: Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. In Your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your holy name. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

• LET IT BE JESUS/BUILD MY LIFE
• REJOICE

12 December: Tuesday Refocus

‘Peace does not dwell in the outward things, but in a heart prepared to wait.’ – Elisabeth Eliot

Advent reminds us that we have always been people who wait.

Scripture is full of stories of those who await their liberation from captivity, freedom from slavery, and return from exile.

Even within our own stories, as children we wait to open our gifts on Christmas. 

As adults we wait for time off from university, work and responsibility.

We wait as God’s people for the return of our Saviour and King – the One who reigns with righteousness, rules will peace, our Hiding Place, our Lord and our God (Is 32:1-2, Jn 20:28).

But did you know, even God waits?

‘Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore exalts Himself to show mercy on you.  For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.’ (Is 30:18)

We are not alone in our waiting – and we are blessed in our waiting.  He is gracious to us as we wait for Him (Is 33:2).

Wait well,

AB