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Keywords: Online Christian Worship Service Christian Online Worship Service Internet Church Of Christ Music Prayers Teachings Scriptures MIDI Music Poetry Readings MP3's Draw Close To God And He Will Draw Close To You "Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind" John Greenleaf Whittier Bible-based Spirit-filled Public Domain Jesus Christ Free For All Without Restriction
Featuring "Draw Close To God, And He Will Draw Close To You," plus the poem "Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind," by John Greenleaf Whittier
To see see previous worship services, please click => http://www.loveallpeople.org/recentworshipservices.html
Everything here is in the Public Domain, free for all people to use without restriction, except verses from the Revised Standard Version Bible (RSV), which are copyrighted and used by permission.
Hello Beloved,ORDER OF WORSHIP: Welcome Opening Hymn - "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" - words and MIDI music Invocation The Lord's Prayer - with MP3 reading Declaration Of Faith: The Apostles' Creed Scriptures and Teachings - "Draw Close To God, And He Will Draw Close To You" Worship Poem - "Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind" - by John Greenleaf Whittier, with MP3 Readings Exhortation - "Follow The Lord, As He Leads" Prayer For You - "Go Ahead And Give Yourself To Christ" Holy Communion How To Find A Real, Live Church Closing Hymn - "Do You Know Jesus?" - words and MIDI music Benediction
If you have the Holy Spirit of Jesus abiding within you, then you are
able to endure all trials, blessed with the peace which surpasses all
understanding. If not, you remain deprived of the many blessings the
Lord
has waiting for you.
If you have not yet accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and
Saviour, you have the opportunity to do that right now by
clicking => HERE! - http://www.internetchurchofchrist.org/jesusdirect.html
Words are by Martin Luther, translated. Music (EIN' FESTE BURG) is by Martin Luther, arranged by J. S. Bach, with MIDI sequence by Rev. Bill McGinnis from a published Bach arrangement. Everything here is Public Domain, free for all to use without restriction.
HTML page at http://www.loveallpeople.org/amightyfortress.html
A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD - by Martin Luther (1529), Translated by
Frederick H. Hedge (1853).
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow'r are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim -
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly pow'rs -
No thanks to them - abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him Who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill;
God's truth abideth still,
His kingdom is for ever.
Amen.
More like this at our website Christmusic.ws
O Lord, we come together in Your name,If you are a new Christian, we invite you to visit our page at http://www.internetchurchofchrist.org/newchristian.html
And as You promised, we know You are here.AND SO WE WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS,
AND PRAY THAT YOU FIND PLEASURE HERE WITH US,
AS WE, YOUR LOVING CHILDREN WORSHIP YOU.We now invite You to reveal Yourself,
And share with us Your presence, openly,FOR YOU ARE EVERYTHING THAT WE DESIRE,
AND EVERYTHING WE HAVE, WE GIVE TO YOU.In Jesus' holy name we pray, Amen.
The Lord, Himself, taught us to pray like this . . .
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Source: Book Of Common Prayer, based on
Matthew 6:9-13
You can hear the Lord's Prayer on an MP3 file by clicking on
internetchurchofchrist.org/lordsprayer.mp3. This MP3 file, and
the text on which it is based, are in the
Public Domain, free for all people to use without restriction.
As always, permission is granted to link to any of my files. bmcgin
The Apostles' Creed
This historic affirmation of faith comes to us from the early
centuries of the Christian church.
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost;
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven
And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy catholic church; *
The communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sins;
The resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting.
Amen.
* Note: "catholic church" here means the entire body of
believers in Christ, not just one particular church.
"Draw near to God and he will draw near to you."
(James 4:8a RSV)
And He has also provided us with the means to draw close to Him, which
is,
Our
Mystical Union With Christ.
This refers to the actual spiritual presence of Christ inside us, as
well as our actual spiritual presence inside Him. This mutual indwelling
of His Spirit in us and our spirit in Him occurs when we freely choose
to accept Him, inviting Him into our lives as our personal Lord and
Saviour.
For more about this, please click HERE => http://www.loveallpeople.org/pearl-ourmysticalunionwithchrist.html.
When we are fully "in Christ," we will naturally desire to do those things which please Him and which draw us ever-closer to God. But if we are not "in Christ," our sinful inborn nature will tend to draw us away from God.
Everything we think or do can be judged by whether it draws us closer to Him or pushes us farther away from Him. We can think of it as a Tug Of War, with one side pulling us closer to God and the other side drawing us away from Him. (If you know any physics, you can think of it as vectors along a horizontal axis.)
Throughout the Bible, there are fundamental dualities: good vs. evil; righteousness vs. sin; pure vs.impure; heaven vs. hell; fruits of the Spirit vs. fruits of the flesh; the sheep vs. the goats; saved vs. unsaved; the Kingdom Of God vs. the lake of fire; submission to God vs. rebellion against God; light vs. darkness; God vs. Satan.
All of these dualities are variations of the one basic duality: close to God vs. not close to God. The spiritual realm is "binary." It has only two moral states: close to God and not close to God.
Once we recognize this binary nature of all things, we can examine our own thoughts and actions to see if they draw us closer to Him or push us farther away. "Sins" are those things which push us away from God. What we see immediately is that some things draw us strongly closer to Him, some things push us strongly away from Him, and some things are quite neutral, exerting no particular force either way.
This is what Paul is talking about when he says that all things are lawful for us Christians, but not all things are helpful.
---------------------------------------------------
"All things are lawful," but not all things are
helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things
build up. (1 Corinthians 10:23 RSV)
---------------------------------------------------
The "helpful things" are the things which draw us closer to God.
We should emphasize and develop these helpful things and turn away from
those things which push us away from Him. Regarding the huge number of
"neutral" things, we are at liberty to do whatever we like.
At this point, we perhaps need to provide some kind of list of "helpful things" vs. "unhelpful things." But I'm not going to give you such a list, because it is better if you go and seek them for yourself. The Bible is filled with things to do and things not to do. Start with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20); then read The Sermon On The Mount (Matthew 5-7) and the other teachings of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke John). Then read the rest of the New Testament. Finally, if the Spirit leads you, you can go back into the Old Testament in Deuteronomy and Leviticus and read the specific laws God gave to the ancient Israelites under The Old Covenant. These no longer apply to us as Law, but they do give an indication of what God likes and does not like us to do.
But always remember this: THE VERY MOST IMPORTANT THING IS LOVE. No matter what else you do, if you are filled with love for all people, you draw close to God. And the way that God has provided for us to upgrade our souls and become more loving toward others and closer to Him is by being "in Christ," in a mystical union with Him.
Galatians 5:14 (RSV)
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, "You shall love your
neighbor as yourself."
Romans 13:8 (RSV)
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves
his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:9 (RSV)
The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not
kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other
commandment, are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your
neighbor as yourself."
Romans 13:10 (RSV)
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the
fulfillingof the law.
James 2:8 (RSV)
If you really fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture,
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.
Proverbs 10:12 (RSV)
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
1 Peter 4:8 (RSV)
Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love
covers a multitude of sins.
<><
Blessings to you in Jesus Christ our Lord.
DEAR LORD AND FATHER OF MANKIND
by John Greenleaf Whittier
Public Domain
Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways!
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow thee.
O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee
The silence of eternity
Interpreted by love !
With that deep hush subduing all
Our words and works that drown
The tender whisper of thy call,
As noiseless let thy blessing fall
As fell thy manna down.
Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!
<><
MP3 Readings Of The Poem (Both are Public Domain)HTML page with MIDI music at http://www.internetchurchofchrist.org/dearlordandfather.html
Follow the Lord As He Leads! Hello xxx,
Thank you for the honor of asking my advice! I really don't know much about xxxxx, but I do know that the Lord will lead you STEP-BY- STEP to where He wants you to go. The secret is you must obey Him in the little things, and then He will give you more and more. Sometimes (usually) it doesn't make sense to you, what He is doing. You won't see the picture until all the pieces are complete. THEN you will say, "Oh! Now I understand why He did THAT!"
So how do you obey Him? How does He communicate to you? Sometimes He does NOT communicate directly to you. In this case, do the best you can to obey His will as you find it expressed in the Bible. At the very least, obey the ten commandments plus the "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thyself" commandment. Then try to cultive the "Fruits of the Spirit." Try to be gentle, humble, slow to anger, quick to forgive, patient, meek, grateful. Ask Him to be with you, tell Him you love Him, tell Him that His love is more important to you than anything else. Pretty soon, He will make Himself known to you personally.
Be sensitive to that, listen for His distinctive voice. Then, do whatever He tells you to do, whether you understand "why" or not. Now, imposters (the evil one, you know) will try to confuse you with false messages. So recognize that the Lord will never tell you to do something that is contrary to scripture. So the Bible is your safeguard in this matter. Also, an imposter spirit will choke on his own tongue before he can utter the words "I know and declare that Jesus Christ is the risen Son of God and Saviour of the world." So if the voice that is speaking to you refuses to declare Jesus as Son of God, then do not listen to it.
One more word. Let HIM lead you, not yourself. Make yourself available to Him in any way He wants, then let Him tell you what to do.
Each of us must submit to something, even if it is only death. So why not go as high as you can go? Give yourself TOTALLY to the Lord, and let Him use you any way He wants. Don't question Him at all, once you are sure it is Him speaking. He is quite loving and reasonable, and He usually treats you better than you could have thought up for yourself!
May God bless you in your walk with Him.
Yours in Christ, Bill McGinnis
NOTE: When you read this prayer, try to imagine hearing my voice as I
speak it to you. In this way, the prayer is reactivated, and it
the same as if I were actually praying for you at that moment.
(Just like television prayers are reactivated when you watch
them, although the videotape may have been shot years before.)
Perhaps you are a Christian even now,
You go to church and try to do your best,
You try to put His teachings in your life,
But still you do not feel that He is yours.
You do not feel the closeness that you crave.
If this is you, then say this prayer with me:
* * *
O Lord, I want you closer in my life,
I want you more to be a part of me.
I want the best relationship with you,
That anyone on earth could ever have.
I know that, "as we give, we shall receive,"
And so I now do give myself to you,
In full completeness, holding nothing back.
I'm yours, so you may use me as you will,
And take whatever things you want from me.
And now that I did give myself to you,
I pray that you will give yourself to me,
As bridegroom gives himself to his new bride.
In Jesus' holy name I pray, Amen.
by William McGinnis
Public Domain
If you are alone, you will needed to be both "Leader" and "Assembly," as described in the ceremony.
MIDI music file available at http://patriot.net/~bmcgin/knowsm.mid
Words, music, arrangement, and MIDI sequence by Bill McGinnis, Public Domain.
More like this at Christmusic.ws, our Christian MIDI website.
DO YOU KNOW JESUS? - Lyrics by Bill McGinnis
- Public Domain
G7 C Am G7 C
Do you know Je-sus?
(C) Em G7 C
Do you know Je-sus?
(C) Am G7 C
Do you know Je-sus,
(C) Am Dm G7
And the won-der of His love?
(G7) C Am G7 C
Yes, I know Je-sus!
(C) Em G7 C
Yes, I know Je-sus!
(C) Am G7 C
Yes, I know Je-sus,
(C) Dm G7 C
And the won-der of His love!
More lyrics and suggestions for use in your worship services.
1. Divide the congregation into two groups, perhaps males and females or youth and adult. Then have one group ask the question, "Do you know Jesus?" and the other group answers, "Yes we know Jesus!" Then reverse the groups and repeat the process.
Do you know Jesus?
Do you know Jesus?
Do you know Jesus,
And the wonder of His love?
Yes, we know Jesus!
Yes, we know Jesus!
Yes, we know Jesus,
And the wonder of His love!
2. Then have everybody ask themselves the question, "Do we know Jesus?"
and answer it, "Yes, we know Jesus!"
Do we know Jesus?
Do we know Jesus?
Do we know Jesus,
And the wonder of His love?
Yes, we know Jesus!
Yes, we know Jesus!
Yes, we know Jesus,
And the wonder of His love!
Blessings to you in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director
LoveAllPeople.org
bmcgin@patriot.net
_____________________________________________________________
"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by
all means. The Lord be with you all." (2 Thessalonians 3:16 KJV)
_____________________________________________________________
Blessings to you in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director - LoveAllPeople.org
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