Why We Show Gratitude
By Cory Paskins
Showing gratitude towards one another is one of the most positive things we can do as human beings and as children of God. Many times we become so busy in our daily lives that we can overlook opportunities to show our gratitude. Often we forget to slow down and take the time to reflect on what the people around us are doing for us and what God is doing for us. That's why in this blog I want to cover the following four questions:
- Why do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
- How do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
- Why do we show our gratitude towards God?
- How do we show our gratitude towards God?
Why do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
At NCC we show our gratitude towards each other, not only because it's the polite and proper thing to do, but because we love each other! We understand the wonderful feeling of being appreciated, so we seek to find ways to acknowledge and appreciate others in the same way.
See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:15-18)
How do we show our gratitude towards the people around us?
There are many different ways we can show our gratitude towards the people around us. We can do things like offer to take them out to eat, buy them a gift, write them a thank you letter, or even give them a call to tell them our appreciation. A simple thank you or hug could change the outcome of someone's entire day in a huge way! Showing the people around us our gratitude towards them is a powerful way to share the love of Christ that is in us.
Why do we show our gratitude towards God?
Praise the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all His praise? (Psalms 106:1-2)
We thank God because He is so good to us, and is constantly looking out for our best interests. We thank Him for the unconditional love that He freely gives us. When we think about the fact that God gave His only Son to die for us, how can we not help but to overflow with gratitude towards Him? He created us, cares for us, protects us, and adopted us into His family. He deserves all the gratitude we could possibly give Him and more.
How do we show our gratitude towards God?
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. (Psalms 141:2)
Through Jesus Christ we have direct communication to the Father by prayer, so we can personally thank Him for anything and everything at any time! We can show Him our gratitude by praising Him throughout the week with beautiful songs of Thanksgiving. We can also show God our gratefulness by obeying His commands, following His Spirit and living our lives in accordance to His will.
As you take time to reflect on your own life, can you think of someone who deserves your gratitude? Maybe a parent, friend, or coworker who constantly shows you acts of kindness Looking back on your life can you think of things that God has done for you that you never took time to acknowledged? If so, it is never too late to show your gratitude today!
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Why We Do What We Do: The Church
By Evan Johnson
These past seven weeks, we’ve dived into the reasons why we do specific things in our liturgy at New Circle. We’ve approached questions regarding why we do communion a certain way, why we have a public reading of the Bible, and why we have coffee and doughnuts available for people who walk in our rented doors.
One question remains, though: Why does the Church exist period?
God gave us the Holy Spirit to empower us to do “greater things” than Jesus (John 14:12). Those greater things are to bring renewal and life into the world through two mutually inclusive methods: sharing the Gospel through word and sharing the Gospel through deed.
Sharing the Gospel through Word
“Preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words.” The quote attributed to Francis of Assisi can be easily misconstrued. The heart behind the quote is that what we do will ultimately matter more than what we say. However, if we live our lives waiting for people to ask us why we live a certain way, we’re going to be waiting for a very, very long time.
God created the world through speaking (Genesis 1). God made his promise to Abraham through speaking (Genesis 1:3). God gave his law by speaking through Moses (Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Numbers). God spoke through the prophets (1 Sam 3:4, 12:1-7, Isaiah 1). God spoke as Jesus (John 10:30). Jesus will win the Battle of Armageddon in Revelation by speaking (Rev. 19:15).
The point is that God speaks. He clearly has a high value of conveying his message through word of mouth. That’s why he made the mouth (Exodus 4:11). That’s how we communicate thoughts, ideas, philosophies, sympathies, emotions, bearings, everything. By speaking the truth that there is new life in Jesus Christ into someone else’s life, he is comforting their soul with our words.
Sharing the Gospel through Deed
While sharing the Gospel through Word is necessary, God’s mercy and justice cannot be overlooked. The church is to be an extension of God’s heart for our broken world. If we are to be the body of Christ, then as a body we must act as Jesus acted. If there are destitute, the church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Psalm 82:3). If there are widows, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 7:12-13). If there are orphans, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Mark 10:13). If there sickly, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 5:17-26). If there are racists, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 9:51-56). If there are marginalized, the Church should go to them because Jesus went to them (Luke 4:1-45).
Understand that this is not a matter of simply copying down an evangelical formula. If we are the body of Christ, then we should have the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5). In our likemindedness to Christ, we want to see the world rejuvenated. We want to see the broken and dirty and painful world that we live in find and exist in hope. We want the homeless person on the corner of that street on the way to work to find a home. We want the drug addict that lives next door to find euphoria in something far less damaging that cocaine. We want our coworker to seek reconciliation with her mother or father.
God wants to see tangible change in the community that he created because he created a tangible community. The good news that Jesus is making all things new is not an ethereal idea that permeates the human psyche into the minds of high thinkers and philosophers only to remain there and be thought upon. The good news that Jesus is making all things new is a real idea that shakes apart the human experience like an earthquake and brings forth new life. God’s method of delivering that good news is by word and deed through us, his church.
Why We Do What We Do: Benediction
By Barry Rager
Endings are important. If you disagree with this, simply read a book or watch a movie with a poor conclusion. It is no different in our Sunday Gathering. Yes, we want to thank people for coming and invite them back. Yes, we want to inform people about ways they can take their next step into our family. But we want to do more, and a benediction gives us that opportunity.
A benediction is essentially a blessing. The reason we close each week with a benediction is because we want to speak a blessing over everyone who attended. Here are four reasons why we do a benediction at New Circle Church:
1. We simply desire God to bless them.
As the family of Christ, we want the best for one another. We know that God is the provider of all things. Thus we ask our Father to bless his children. We see a benediction like this in Numbers 6:24-26, “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
2. We want people to see God as the source of hope.
The blessing of the benediction may come from asking God to provide for us what we see we need in our lives. An example of this would be the benediction Paul wrote to the Romans, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13) I used this benediction from Paul to speak a blessing over the folks of New Circle this summer when I preached on peace.
3. We want people to see the Sunday Gathering in connection with their lives.
Some people struggle with the integration of their faith in Christ throughout all of their lives. The benediction blesses people by allowing them to go out the door by giving them a parting thought to integrate their faith and life. Jude wrote a benediction to his readers that in Jude 24-25 to show them of their ever present need for God and his integration into their lives. “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
4. We want people to know they are sent.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he left his people with a blessing and a reminder. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Jesus reminded them that they were to live their lives with a purpose of seeing more people coming to know Him. And hand-in-hand with this commission is the two-fold blessing that he would send his Spirit to help them and that he would be with them until the end.
The benediction comes with power, sending us with power from being believers who are gathered to believers who are scattered. Yet even when we are scattered, the benediction reminds us that our lives continue to be lived in worship of Jesus.
Why We Do What We Do: Communion
By Amy Rager
During my time of coordinating the logistics for NCC’s worship gatherings I spent more time clarifying what communion was, how we did it, and why than any other component.
There are several likely reasons for the confusion:
- Jesus instructed us to observe the practice of communion in remembrance of him but few details are given as to how Jesus served ‘The Last Supper’ to his disciples.
- Some of our builders have had exposure to a denomination that requires participation in communion for salvation, leaving them with an intense need to ‘get it right.’
- Every denomination (and even most churches) celebrate communion differently.
So, I’m excited about this post in our series ‘Why We Do What We Do.’ Because communion is beautiful and the leadership of NCC’s intentionality and prayerfulness in laying out a ‘protocol’ for how we partake in communion each Sunday has resulted in a deep and touching section of our gathering. I hope reading about ‘the why’ of each aspect of NCC’s communion ‘process’ will solidify our understanding and help us approach the cup and the loaf with primed hearts each week.
So, without further ado, here are a few of the most frequently asked questions about communion.
Why do we leave our seats and approach the communion station instead of passing the elements around? For a couple reasons: this allows for each individual to take as much time as needed in prayer and contemplation instead of potentially being cut short when the elements reach their seat, and it facilitates community care (which leads us to our next section).
Why does the person holding the bread say ‘Body of Christ, broken for you’ and the person holding the cup say ‘Blood of Christ shed for you?’ to each individual? 1 Peter 2:9 says ‘You are a... royal priesthood… that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into marvelous light.’ Each believer has the capability and calling to minister to his/her brothers and sisters in Christ on behalf of their Father. Communion is a way that we can minister to each other every week. There is something utterly wonderful and incredibly powerful about looking at each person and saying to them ‘(this is the) Body of Christ, broken for you.’ A unique intimacy develops in that moment as we look each other in the eye and convey assurance that God’s grace is real and received. The cumulative effect of these brief interchanges is a body of believers who care deeply for one another and are accustomed to speaking words of truth and love.
Why grape juice instead of wine? It’s cheaper. Just kidding! Again, there are several reasons. First, we have recovering alcoholics in our body and some who have decided to never ingest alcohol for matters of conscience. While we could have two separate cups- one for wine and one for juice- at this time the pastors don’t believe the benefits of serving wine are greater than the potential for confusion, offense, awkwardness in dispersion, or the increased time required.
Why do we partake of communion every week? At the end of each worship gathering there is an opportunity for response. Maybe we need to repent. Maybe we need to spend time praising God. Maybe we need to reflect on all the God has done for us or on what he is calling us to do. Communion provides an appropriate outlet for all of the above and while it’s not a required response, it’s certainly a beneficial one.
Communion may be a weekly event but let's never let it be a mundane one, New Circle. Jesus gave us a gift when he instituted this tradition, and, like all good gifts, it's meant to be enjoyed.
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Why We Do What We Do: Preaching of the Word
By Barry Rager
When I was young, I loved to watch wrestling. Occasionally, my parents would let me rent a pay-per-view. That was a really big deal for me. This was when all of the biggest stars battled one another leading up to the main event for the evening. Every match and chair shot made you desire the main event matchup even more.
This is what a lot of people think of when they think of the preaching of the Word of God each week, but the preaching of the Word of God is not the main event. It is not even the primary focus of the Gathering. All of the components of the Gathering — from the Call to Worship, to prayer, to the songs and hymns we sing — all play an important role.
This does not mean that the preaching of the Word is unimportant. It is, but what makes preaching important isn’t the person delivering the message. What makes preaching important is what’s is being communicated — the Word of God.
So why do we preach the Word of God each week?
We preach because God’s Word is truth.
Psalm 119:160 says, “The entirety of Your word is truth…” In a world full of falsehood and relativism we can hold to the truth of God’s word. The proclamation of truth is powerful.
We preach because God’s Word saves.
One way the power of God’s Word is made evident is in the salvation of individuals. Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” The Word of Christ is essential for a person to have faith, believe in Christ, and be saved.
We preach because God’s Word transforms.
Another way that we can see the power of the Word of God is in the transformation that it brings. In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul wrote, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Scripture shows us our wrongdoing, guides us in correcting our wrong behaviors or actions, and shows us the way that we should go.
The Word of God is the power of preaching. I have often told people, “You do not need to know what a pastor thinks or his opinions. What you need to hear is the Word of God.” The Word of God provides the importance and basis for the public preaching of the Word.
Why We Do What We Do: Public Reading of Scripture
By Stephen Purpura
With many things in our daily lives, routine encourages repetition. The familiar can numb our senses to the point where we are no longer aware of the things around us; we just go through the motions. This is the mechanical side of the coin.
However, the other side of the coin represents the repetition of knowledge. Hearing, studying, soaking, repeating, asking questions and getting answers. This is the human side of the coin. This type of repetition that needs to be our approach to scripture—welcoming it into our lives to guide and influence us.
In this blog I hope to give practical and encouraging outlooks for why we publicly read scripture at our worship gatherings—that it would no longer simply be another part of church, but rather it would be a blessing we weekly receive.
1. We publically agree with God
The Bible is a collection of different historical events that describes the story of human beings and the pursuit of our Creator to bring us back into right relationship with Him. It outlines the fierce love of God and the beautifully woven tapestry that points everything towards Jesus Christ being the hope for all mankind, in whom all things were created for Him and by Him (Col. 1:16). All scripture is given life by God (2 Tim. 3:16) and is useful for communicating to and teaching us how to live our lives to the fullest riches intended for us by Christ (John 10:10).
Scripture is without error.
When it says that we are worthy of love, we publically agree that we are worthy of love.
When we read that God is faithful, we can trust in that promise! When we read that Jesus wept with those in mourning, we can rest that our God cares deeply about the hurts in our lives.
There is no hurt too small or too silly that He does not sympathize with. The public reading of scripture is an outlet for us to communally agree that the Word of God is true and we believe that it is a gift to benefit us beyond our understanding.
2. It is an Opportunity for Thanksgiving
We see Ezra reading publically from the Law of Moses, which would have been the only access certain people had to the law in those days (Nehemiah 8). We also see Paul’s letters being read out loud so that everyone could benefit from the Holy Spirit inspirited message (1 Thess. 5:27). We have the ability, the access, and the freedom to read and speak scripture where ever we want!
Jon Bloom states that, “the bible is a mine, not a museum. Don’t just come to look and see, but dig, explore and take home some treasure.”
The written word of God is a compass that points us to Christ.
When we read together from God’s Word, it is an opportunity to have our eyes opened to the vastness of blessings in our lives and to give thanksgiving to the giver of every good and perfect gift.
3. It is an Opportunity for Healing
Hebrews 4:12 states that, “…the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing the soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” When scripture is read aloud, we are actually allowing God to use our physical voice as a vessel for His truth to be heard. The Holy Spirit partners with us to actively minister to the hearts of everyone listening. There has never been a worship gathering where the Holy Spirit was a guest and was not actively moving. He is our great counselor!
When there is a reference to the word of God being like a sword, I think many of us suddenly have images of Braveheart and a giant sword that crushes enemies with a mighty blow. On the contrary, the sword described here in Hebrews would have been a machair, a small, 18 inch knife used by the Roman army. This small knife would have been used for self-surgeries on the battle field—much like a how a scalpel is used to cut into flesh but only for the sake that healing would result! It’s a tool with a function to bring life, not death.
The word of God serves us in the exact same way. We get injured by the battles of life every week. The poisonous arrows of our enemy are shot into our flesh, bringing a slow destruction. Bitterness, anxiety, shame, fear, comparison, lust; the quiver of Satan is well supplied. God’s word is the power that removes those arrows in our lives, declaring freedom and healing over the areas we were injured in. He is our great physician—we can trust in His loving dissection and spotless experience.
4. Empowerment of the Body
The fear of public speaking is always close to the top of the most common fears. For some, reading scripture before an audience brings insecurities to their mind (I promise you are in good company if you have ever completely butchered a pronunciation while reading out loud!).
God is love and the Bible is inspirited by Him, which means when you read scripture you are giving a voice to love. 1 John 4:18 says that there is no fear in love and the perfect love of the Father exterminates fear. So when you boldly stand before the congregation and speak the word of the Lord, you are actually winning a battle against fear!
The public reading of scripture was strongly encouraged by Paul (1 Tim. 4:13). It is a privilege to hear different people, regardless of gender, race, age, or experience, stand before friends and family at New Circle and declare the powerful truth of scripture. Your voice is powerful and we all need to hear it! You are a valuable part of the body of Christ and this small act of service brings great joy to your heavenly Father. He loves hearing His children agree with His promises. There are no small roles in the body of Christ.
I pray that the often perceived redundancy of scripture reading would be replaced by a holy wonder and thirst for the ceaseless riches it has to offer us!
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Why We Do What We Do: Call to Worship
By Amy Rager
You know that feeling when you walk determinedly into a room, stop short, look around and think: ‘Now why did I come here?’ Of course. We all do. If you’re like me, you've had about 15 unrelated thoughts on that walk from the kitchen to the bedroom so it’s no surprise that it’s difficult to swim through the miscellaneous and arrive back at what’s important.
Wouldn’t it be nice if in those situations there were someone in the room that could say ‘You came for your sweater, silly’?
Often, when we walk into the theatre on Sundays we’re in autopilot mode: We’ve come out of habit, we’re there for our friends, or it’s our week to serve in Kid’s Ministry. The music starts and like Pavlov’s dogs we finish making our coffee and walk to the Main Stage. On a good day we may look around and think ‘Now, why did I come here?’ but most days we are so deeply distracted or so efficiently engrained in routine that we don’t even consider our purpose in gathering together. We’re not excited to see, savor or sing of the goodness of God.
Enter the ‘Call to Worship,’ when one of your brothers or sisters in Christ comes forward and shares a Scripture, a prayer, or a way that the LORD has spoken to him/her this week for the sole purpose of stirring your heart to worship God. In love they say: ‘You came here for your God, silly.’
This practice is nothing new. The book of Psalms - ancient hymns of God’s chosen people - contains numerous calls to worship:
‘O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.’ - Psalm 95:1
'Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary,’ - Psalm 150:1a
‘Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!’ Psalm 100:1
Isn’t it good to know believers have always needed admonition to still their minds (or wake them up!) and see the glory of the LORD? And isn’t it lovely that our God has graciously provided a way to fix our eyes on him so that we don’t miss out on adoring him in community?
Christ is first - in our hearts, in our vision statement, and in our worship - so we make the call to worship Him the first thing in our gatherings.
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Why We Do What We Do: Gospel Flow
By Scott Moran
Liturgy: a fixed set of ceremonies, words, etc., that are used during public worship
You may have never noticed this aspect in our Sunday Gathering, which is exactly why we wanted to write about it in the blog. Instead of liturgy, I like to refer to it is a "gospel flow". We desire for each person that joins us on Sunday to experience the full spectrum of the gospel--God is Holy, we are sinners, Jesus saves us from our sins.
Of course, each week we have a different set of songs, different scripture reading, different message, but we are ultimately holding up the beauty of the Gospel every Sunday. It may seem like overkill to plan every service around the gospel, but it makes sense when we think about the human heart. Our default setting is to forget. It's not something we can change about us. If we do not constantly remind ourselves of the gospel, we will forget it. This is not something new to humans; we have been forgetting God's promises and God's workings in our life since the beginning. Pull up the Bible App on your phone right now and search the word "forgot." You will lose all hope in humanity. I will highlight one of the verses for you:
"They forgot his works and the wonders that He had shown them" Psalm 78:11
Forgetfulness leads to doubt. When we do not remind ourselves of the goodness of God and His gospel, we will doubt. Just look at the disciples after Jesus rose from the dead recorded Matthew 28. Jesus meets them on a mountain in Galilee and it says "when they saw Him they worshipped him, but some doubted." If some of the disciples can physically see Jesus and doubt, what does that say about our situation? We are so prone to forget the Jesus that saves us.
So at New Circle, we recognize this. We understand following God is not an easy task, and there are a lot of bumps in the road, a lot of distractions on the way of faith. And this is why we do what we do. We aim to share the beauty of the gospel every week in our Sunday Gathering.
We start each week off with a song to welcome into the worship space, and then we have a time labeled "A Call to Worship". We invite all people to put away the distractions of the world and set their gaze upon God. We then have a song that sings of the greatness, goodness, holiness, power, and wonder of our God. We attempt to focus the beginning of each Sunday Gathering upon the absolute beauty of God. Some may call this "adoration".
We then move into a more reflective state of worship. After recognizing the holiness of God, we look to ourselves, our world, our community, our neighborhood and see the misery of sin. We sing about how we have fallen short and we have once again not lived out the life of holiness God commands us to live. This is corporate lament. We struggle together, we recognize our sin together, and we cry out to God together. This can also be called a time of "confession".
Finally, we sing of Jesus' death and resurrection. After confessing our sin together, and humbling ourselves before God and each other, we celebrate the new life we have in Jesus. We are no longer considered slaves, but sons and daughters! We are new creations in Christ! Jesus has forgiven us, and has remained faithful to us. This hopeful time of worship an also be called "assurance".
Each week, my goal is to lead us through a time of corporate adoration, confession and assurance. The beauty of the gospel can only be told when walk through each chapter. We do not realize how ugly our sin is, until we reflect upon the absolute beauty of God. And we cannot truly celebrate the resurrection of Christ without seeing the total depravity we faced in our sin.
My hope is that you will see this "gospel flow" this week and be changed. You will see the story of God being told every week and remember who you are in Christ.
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