After being out of town three of the last four Sundays, it was really good to be home at Life Church in Kirksville, MO, today. Our pastor, Tom Bedford, and others have been out to Scandanavia, the Philippines, and other places in the last few weeks, and nearly everyone was back in the house today. We had some visitors from other churches this morning - the Day's were in from Omaha, and the Angeles family from Pittsburg, KS, were all here for a Spanish-language Christmas play our school kids, led by Gemma Ciesemier and Kristin Flannigan, put on last night for the community.
Roger, Tony, Trey, and I led the meeting together. As the worship team played, I opened with a welcome and an exhortation from Psalm 50 and 51 to bring sacrifices of praise and thanks. Jon Shipman picked up where I left off, and really helped focus everybody together on the Lord before the worship team took off.
Jon led worship this morning, and did a great job. Here's the song list --
1. You, You Are God (Walker Beach, Gateway Publishing, CCLI #4389918). People got out in the aisles and came up front to praise God with this song.
2. In The Secret (Andy Park, Vineyard/Mercy Publishing, CCLI #1810119). We haven't done this one in a long time, but it really went well today. 
The team went with a skinnied-down drum kit (kick, snare, floor tom, ride and crash cymbals, and high hat, with a djembe) and no plexi screen today - partly because we're wanting to try different things, and partly because that was easier than setting everything back up after the play last night, tearing it all down again today because of a dance recital this Weds. evening, putting it back up, etc. The result was great, though. Jeff started this song using just kick and djembe, then came in with the kit on the chorus. It was really sweet.
3. Worshiping You (Jonathan Stockstill, Integrity, CCLI #5097319). We always love this song, and we came to a real sincere place of giving honor to God when singing it today. Sandy Floyd had a word in the middle of it, back to Psalm 50 and 51, and Isaiah 60, about God coming to us with robes of righteousness, and our putting on garments of praise. Later, her son Jared brought that word back with an illustration about David having to change clothes, to discard everything but the priestly garments to worship the Lord when they were carrying the ark back into Jerusalem.
4. No Sacrifice (Jason Upton, EMI Publishing, CCLI #3556986). Jon and the team seamlessly transitioned from Worshiping You to the chorus of this one, which intensified the sense of our consecrating ourselves to the Lord.
Tom brought us a word about the 3 Kingdoms that modern Christianity tries to live in - the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of darkness, and then the murky "middle ground" kingdom of man, which doesn't really exist. He spoke from Acts 9, where Saul met the Lord. Saul thought he was serving God, but soon found out he was actually against Him. In retelling his story to King Agrippa in chapter 26, Paul talks about how there are only two kingdoms, which he describes as light and dark, God and satan.
We ended with the whole church at the altar for around an hour, as we sought God together to help us live in the one true Kingdom of God, and not give way to the middle ground of a life that's not all that evil in appearance, yet does not accomplish the purposes of God.
Hope you had a good day as well. Check out what was happening all over the place at Fred McKinnon's Sunday Setlist blog carnival.
