New Resource for 2024: Sunday Matters
At the beginning of 2024, we gathered at the Swartz’ home to celebrate each other and the ministry we’ve shared together last year…what a great time too! That night, I also mentioned that I will be sharing a resource with you that I hope will help us stay unified and strengthen our purpose as a worship team in 2024. THIS SUNDAY, I will be giving all of you who serve on our band and tech teams a FREE COPY of a book entitled Sunday Matters by Paul David Tripp.
Here’s the link if you want to view it ahead of time - Sunday Matters by Paul David Tripp
Here's why I think this resource will be a blessing to you:
If you serve at Four Oaks on Sunday, then you probably already know how important the Lord’s Day gathering is for believers. I believe our team is very committed and serves faithfully each Sunday. However, sometimes we can easily lose sight of the purpose or just get distracted with the daily demands of our lives. We sometimes forget the way in which gathered worship intersects with our home, work, families, routines. The scripture actually teaches us that the weekly gathering is essential for the church. In fact, the word church in scripture actually means “the assembly”. We can’t be the church if we don’t assemble. So, yes, Sunday matters for the church. It’s not the only thing we do, but it is certainly essential and it is accomplishing something significant each Lord’s Day.
So for those of us who “lead” in portions of our gathered worship time, I would like for us to go into each Sunday with a renewed vision and gravity of where we are leading our own hearts (first) and others in our church family.
3 WAYS I WANT TO ENCOURAGE US TO USE THIS RESOURCE:
1. Worship Moment: I want to encourage us not only to prepare musically, but also to prepare our minds and hearts spiritually as worshipers ourselves. So, Saturday night (or whatever time before Sunday that works for you), take just a moment to read the brief devotional thought for that week (it’s only a couple pages!). If you want, you can grab your Bible and read the verses listed in the Scripture section too. Reflect on your thoughts and pray for God to move our hearts toward him as worshipers. (It doesn’t need to be long and you don’t need to worry if you miss a week. That’s NOT the focus at all.)
*My prayer is that it’s NOT just another thing to add to your already busy schedules, but that you can pause for just a moment before you go to bed on Saturday night to engage in this material at whatever level of time you have. So, if you miss a week (or even a few!), only have time to read the cliff notes version here online, or if you just simply read the 3 page devotional from the book, I pray it serves to give our hearts purpose, preparation, and gospel motivation for how we approach the Lord’s Day.
2. Worship Thought: Each week in my team emails, I will begin using an excerpt of that particular week’s devotinal in my Worship Thought section. (If this is all you have time to read, that’s fine too).
3. Worship Prayer: We will use the main thought as our Green Room Prayer focus before we walk out on stage. This will help us to pray in focused unity together for the things that God already wants us to experience in worship each week.
-Extra: If you want, there is a Family Discussion prompt that you can use to prepare for Sundays together with your husband/wife/children too!
Where do I get my copy?
You can pick up your copy on the book shelf in the Green Room beginning THIS SUNDAY. I would love for us all to track together each week on the same chapters. So we will officially begin tracking on the first devotional, SUNDAY 1, on the first Sunday in March (3rd). So go ahead, grab your book over the next couple Sundays, and begin by reading the introduction before March 3.
My heart for you as your Worship Pastor…
is that this will NOT be something to check off, but that it will truly be a small way to align our hearts as a team and bring a greater clarity toward the ministry we share in together. May this ultimately just bring us to Jesus and help us celebrate the gospel at work in our church body. I pray that Sunday isn’t just an ordinary day for us as believers. Let’s be in awe of just how much Sunday Matters!
I love the team that God continues to build in our Worship Ministry! Let’s continue to grow deep and wide together this year.
-Pastor Joe
