Established In Love

What is the deepest love you’ve ever felt in this life.

Beyond a doubt, I love my wife of 8+ years more than I could ever express in a lifetime of words. As do many couples, our love journeys through pain and pleasure, need and plenty, valleys and summits…but through it all, we continue to love more deeply and stronger than we did the day before.

I also love my children with all of my being. This past week, my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy! This being our third child, it seems as though some of the wonder and mystery has worn off of the birthing experience. That date was calculated and known well in advance. Instead of a fever-pitched drive to the emergency room in the middle of the night, we got up, showered, drove leisurely to the hospital, calmly filled out our paper work, and proceeded to put on the blue paper clothes that leave one a bit exposed to the elements. Even the tone in the operating room was casual and jovial. The staff of 10 that was attending to my wife were engrossed in a hilarious game of “name that child,” as we had informed them that nobody yet new the coming baby’s name.

And then in came. “30 seconds,” one of the doctors exclaimed, as the tone in the room grew more focused and intentional. Silence erupted as from no where as we waited for our boy to arrive. The, over the clanging of metal utensils and the gurgle of suction came the sound every expectant parent longs to hear… “Whah! Whah! Whah!” bellowed something angrily from the other side of the green cloth shroud. As I peeked over, I saw my son for the first time…pink, sticky, smooshed, and beautiful!

How deep a love I have for my son, even though these first few nights at home have been sleep deprived and testing of the senses. As I look into his dependent face, I see peace, trust, mystery, and wholeness. I wonder now it is possible that I love something so deeply as I do this baby. I contemplate a lifetime yet to be lived with him at my side, both learning and teaching me more about God.

Can we possibly fathom how much love Jesus has for us? Certainly, we can look to our own relationships for glimpses of what is must be like, but can we truly grasp – as the Apostle Paul says – how wide and how deep Christ’s love is for us, His church? Indeed, fellowship with the Creator of the universe is an amazing place to be, and as we experience it in community with one another, we get an even greater peek into the reality that Christ would have us experience in fellowship with him!

In you worship this week, praise God daily for the great blessing your church family is to you and in your life. Meditate on the fullness and wideness of Christ’s love for the Church, and what he would have her to be in the world. Imagine Highland Oaks Church of Christ on the other side of the coming changes…resplendent and welcoming. Picture what a city on a hill truly looks like in the kingdom, and how Highland Oaks could carry that mission out in Dallas.

Resounding Themes:

Fellowship in the Midst of God
Being Rooted In Love
The Lost as Our Inheritance

Getting READY to Worship

Ready, Set, READ

Ephesians 3:16-19

Ready, Set, MEDITATE

- As Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, what is the tone of what he has to say? Is it evident in the way he writes what feelings he has for them? What type of relationship is characterized here? Do you have that kind of relationship with anyone? How do you speak to them?

- Paul’s prayer from the Ephesians begins with what blessing? Why would the Spirit be most valuable in the life of this young church? Paul refers to God’s riches as “glorious.” Would you agree? How has God bestowed those riches on you?

- The idea of love seems to be the glue by which Paul anticipates the Ephesian church will survive and thrive. How powerful is love in connection with community? Can you relate a time when the church’s love for you was expressed in such a way as to make a huge impact? What does it mean to be filled with the fullness of God?

- As we approach the precipice of great change at our church, why is Paul’s prayer incredibly relevant for us today? Is it possible for us to accomplish our goals without the fullness of God and the love of Christ within our hearts? Why is it so incredibly important that we now, at this juncture, rise with one voice and one purpose before the world?

Ready, Set, PRAY

We cry “holy” in your presence, O God! For You are majestic and exalted above the nations. There is none like You – for who on earth could love us in the manner You do? As a parents love their child, so too, You love us beyond measure.

Father, we know that it is Your desire that the Church serve as an extension of Your love and faithfulness here on earth. To that end, O Lord, fill us with Your Spirit in our inner beings, so that we too would be rooted in love as we enter a world desperately in need. Fix us for the task by implanting Christ in our hearts and His nature in our hands and feet. God, take this great church to even greater levels of greatness!

This we pray humbly, for Your glory alone. Amen.

Ready, Set, WORSHIP!

The Power of Place

Can you think of specific rooms in your life where powerful, memorable things happened?

I can think of being in my grandmother Berry’s kitchen in Oklahoma. Growing up, all of our families assembled at my grandparent’s house for major holidays. I have incredibly fond memories of being there with dozens of my cousins, aunts and uncles, playing canasta in the breakfast area, eating chocolate chip ice cream at the bar, or smelling the pungent aroma of hand-made cornbread stuffing on Thanksgiving.

When I think of rooms, I look back fondly to the front sitting room at my in-laws. The room was, at that time, equipped with a baby grand piano to accommodate my mother-in-law’s piano teaching business. I remember on December 27th, 1997, at 11:27pm, how I lead my girlfriend into that room after everyone went to bed, sat down at the piano, sang her a song I had written about my love, and asked her to marry me. After the incredible shock set in…she said yes!

One room that I will not soon forget is a waiting room at Children’s hospital in February 2005. Early that Friday morning, my wife and I released our beautiful 2 year-old baby girl into the hands of a neurosurgical team to have brainstem surgery. As we drug ourselves back to the waiting room for what might have been an eternity, we were greeted by over hundred people off and on who had come to show their love and support for us. That room, which was otherwise a place of great pain and anxiousness was transformed into God’ place…the place where He was in our time of need.

Indeed, God has been using rooms and buildings throughout history to reveal His majesty and glory to humankind. Not the least of these places, I think we would all agree, is His houses of worship. From the vestal Temple to the wilderness tabernacle to the prayerful synagogue to the modern church, God has always been in the habit of making his presence known more vividly and tangibly in rooms where His people are gathered to worship.

The same could easily said of our fine church, as, over the past 151 years, God has done some amazing things at the various facilities Highland Oaks has resided in. And now, as we size up our aging structure and count the cost necessary to bring it to full effectiveness, we both remember what God has done as long as this building has stood, and we look forward to the continued great things He will do as we transform brick and mortar into something everlasting – a place with power!

In your personal worship this week, focus in on a memory(ies) you have of being in the Highland Oaks Church of Christ building for worship. Give God the praise and glory for the moments He’s revealed Himself more fully to you in worship. Meditate on what it would be to have an updated facility, full of the sounds of worship, able to do more and be more for those who are earnestly seeking Him.

Resounding Themes:

God’s Presence
He Is Able to Do More
Elevating Christ
The Power of Community

Getting READY to Worship

Ready, Set, READ

The Book of Haggai

Ready, Set, MEDITATE

- As the scene unfolds, what two characters are introduced? What is the Word of the Lord that comes to Haggai? What are the people guilty of? Why specifically has this behavior caught the attention of God? What does God mean when he accuses them of putting their wages in a purse with holes? Have you ever been guilty of such a sin?

- What then does God tell the people to do? Why did He demand it of them? Because of the people’s unfaithfulness, what did God cause to happen? How did the people respond?

- As the people began to build in earnest, what promises does God make to the people? What promises does God have in store for us today? Even though the purpose of a Temple has changed, why is it equally important to do well with and maintain the excellence of where we assemble as God’s people? How could having a similar vision increase the blessing as we restructure our campus?

Ready, Set, PRAY

Lord, You are good, and Your love endures today! With the presence of Your promised Spirit, we have, as sons and daughters of the promise, received a new anointing to go into our world and proclaim the majesty of Your Name!

God, we know that You have forever been in the business of doing mighty works in rooms and buildings. What would only be brick and mortar in our hands becomes a mercy seat for Your promised presence! Father, we believe this to be no more obvious than in church buildings across the world, for as each Sunday morning, we assemble in like mind and purpose to uplift Your righteous name – the name that is above all names. Truly our house is Your house, and that house is doubly special. Lord, as we endeavor to refurbish and revitalize this facility for the purpose of further glorifying You, would You cause us once again to revive our imagination, to see our purpose more clearly, and to earnestly look toward You as our reason, vision, and mission.

God, You have seen fit that this extension of Your Son’s body has stood in Dallas for 151 years. If it be Your will, O Lord, may our efforts to reinvent ourselves for the sake of saving many continue this great church until the day of Christ. We seek Your profound blessing as we accomplish this goal. That Christ might be lifted up and in His name we pray, Amen.

Ready, Set, WORSHIP!