"The Place of Scripture in the Worship Service" Video Transcript

The Place of Scripture in the Worship Service

We're going to talk in the next three sessions about three elements of worship. This course is really about music and worship music. But I thought we should at least touch on these major elements. The first one that we're going to deal with in this session is the place of scripture in the worship service, Isaiah 55:10-11, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth, making it flourish. So that yield see the sower and bread for the eater. So as my word that goes out of my mouth, it will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 

Were in the service? Does that scripture fit? It's a powerful thing. God sends it for a purpose. We certainly use it in our evangelism, but we use it in a worship service to in the first place that you might use scripture is the call to worship. Psalm 118:24, might be a good example. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Why not start off a service with something from the Word of God and why not something that that promotes joy. People have had a hard week. they've struggled at work, they're struggling perhaps in their families or trying to make it financially and then they come to church and they hear someone a worship leader, a call to them, that this is the day This day has been made by God, it's a gift for you or there are other scriptures. I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord.

Deuteronomy six these commandments that I give you today are appeared or to be upon your hearts and press them on Your children talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road. And when you come to church. That's what we've come here to do. You can almost use any scripture, any positive scripture to begin a worship service. We're in the service does scripture fit, prayer? Ephesians three, there are a lot of prayers in Scripture. Here's one of them. Paul says to the Ephesians I pray that out his his glory is riches, he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. And then Paul ends with this blessing, now on to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we asked her imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.

I know this, this verse is a favorite of many. In my present church. We're going through the book of Ephesians. I just did a sermon on this a couple of weeks ago. And just want to make a little side comment on this that when Paul says, now on to Him was able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. A lot of people look at that. And they say, well, that means that we have to imagine great things for God. We have to dream, you know, huge, big dreams but i i entitled, the message that I gave a couple of weeks on this passage I entitled it dare to dream small. Does this passage doesn't say that you need to dream big or that you have to imagine great things for God. What it says is that God is able to do immeasurably more with whatever you dream. So you dream some small thing, you're going to help somebody. If God wants to turn that into a ministry he can. He can do immeasurably more than whatever it is you decide to do. What we need to do is just love people. We just need to respond to the needs around us, and how big that becomes. That's up to God. But anyway, there's a lot of prayers in the scripture and while you're praying, you can throw those scriptures in. 

Here's another one, Psalm 102:1-2, Hear my prayer, Lord, let my cry for help come from you. Do not hide your face for me. When I'm in distress, turn your ear to me. When I call answer me quickly. Certainly the sermon, where does this serve? Where in the service does the scripture fit it fits in the sermon, Jesus himself when he went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And on one of the Sabbath days, he went into the synagogue and as his custom, he stood up and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, it was handed to him. On rolling it, he found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down and that's when his sermon began. So certainly, in a sermon, that's a very appropriate place to use scripture. When the service does the scripture fits between songs, maybe you're singing a a whole list of songs. And sometimes one song can just lead right into the other. 

Sometimes the keys match up and we'll talk about that in another session, how you can flow from one song to the next. But sometimes the keys don't match up and there's a break between songs and it's good for someone to say something. And why not, quote from Scripture, shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, worship the Lord with gladness and come before him with joyful songs. sometimes I'll use that I, I see people are not singing you know, we sing the first song and it's it's the first thing in the morning and people have rushed to get to church and their kids getting their clothes together and and sometimes it's a hassle to get the whole family together and people sit down and they're just not ready to praise God and we start off with a song and and half the people are just mumbling along and I'll stop holding shout for joy to the Lord. Let's let's get the right praise attitude and in a scripture like this can help do that. Psalm 105:1-3, give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name, make known among the nations what he has done, sing to him sing praise to him, tell of his wonderful axe glory in His holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Okay, so let's rejoice on this next song.

Where the service does the scripture fit, a blessing, a lot of blessings. In the Bible, one of my favorite is from Jude, just a small little book in the New Testament. It ends this way to Him, who is able to keep you from stumbling, to present you before his glorious presence, without fault and with great job. To the only God our Savior be glory, Majesty Power Authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all ages now and forevermore, amen.

Second Thessalonians two, may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope that he encourage your hearts strengthen you in every good deed and word. People come to church and sometimes they come on empty. their, their cup has no water in it. And if you can leave them with a blessing, a blessing from God, it could fill those cups. Were in the service does the scripture fit confession? Nehemiah made this confession. When I heard these things, I sat down and wept for some days. I'm more than fasted. and prayed before the God of heaven. And then I said, Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer. Your servant is praying before you day and night for your servant, the people of Israel, our church, I confess the sins we Israelites, or we church members, including myself, and my father's family have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands and decrees and your laws that you gave your servant Moses. It's a very beautiful prayer of confession. And and we don't always have to come up with our own words we can use the words of Scripture assurance apart We confess. But we also want to remind people that that God forgives Romans 8:31-39. What then, shall we say in response to all these things, if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all? How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those who God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Who then is the one who condemns no one Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life is that the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or the sower. No. And all these things we are more than conquerors through him. Love this. For I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, neither the angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither high air in the depths, nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God. That is in Christ Jesus our Lord. powerful, powerful word. Where the service does the scripture fit. Some churches have a habit of doing an Old Testament lessons, they read something from the Old Testament. And then maybe later they read some from the New Testament lesson so people get a sort of a balanced diet of both testaments. Okay, there's some major problems with reading the Bible in a worship service. I mean, it's the Word of God is powerful, but what I'm talking about Is our delivery of the Word of God. As sometimes when we read the Bible, we sort of read it in a in predictable pattern. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. It's sort of this it's kind of a sing songy thing.

And part of it is because the words are on the paper, and a lot of times we never take our eyes off the words as I, as I was trying to read the the passages here that I quoted earlier, I'm reading off off a cue card, and I can barely see the cue card. And so I don't want to lead my eyes off of it. And so I'm, you know, like, The Lord is my shepherd I shall not on he makes me like, you know, I don't dare look away. But whenever we talk to people, we always look away. If I'm talking to someone, I look at them for a while and I think and I sit down and then I look back at them, it's more natural. But when we read, we tend to look, and they just keep going, we don't pause because there's the next word. We don't have to think about the next word. It's right there. And then we find these predictable patterns. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, He makes me lie down in green pastures, and we get this sing songy thing. And it doesn't matter what passage we're reading. It sounds exactly the same. So the emotion a lot of times is not there. And, you know, quite frankly, as a pastor, I'm working on my sermon, my sermon is what I don't know. Okay, that's the new thing this week.

The passage that I'm going to read is there, it's all the words are figured out for me already. So I don't spend a lot of time figuring out how to read it. I just read it. And we tend to find our own little predictable patterns. And after a while, people get used to those predictable patterns. And and the emotion of it just you know, even if our predictable pattern is very emotional, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down. I mean, we can be real emotional, but it's the same little Up, down, up, down, we end down or we end up or whatever your pattern is. And in the end, it just sort of lacks any real emotion.

Or we do it too fast. You know, because the words are right there we just, you know, our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth is it isn't evident. It's like, you know, we're not in a hurry and get through it. Because, you know, everyone knows this. And I want to get to what I want to say. So you get to slow things down. And in the end, we end up D edifying the Scripture. We work hard at our music, we work hard at our prayers. We work hard at our sermons. But the reading of the Bible, well, you know, the words are there. It's just you know, and in the end, it's like, we want to quickly get through the Word of God so we can get to the thing that we really want to say. So how do you read the Bible in a worship service? How do you combat some of these struggles? First thing you need to do is study the passage that you're going to read.

What is it trying to say? You know, Jesus told a parable about a sower. Okay, the sower goes out into the field. But what's this about? sowing the seed sowing the Word of God. Visualize the passage. So Jesus is out on a field. Okay, where's the field? It's the field over here. Is the field over here? Is it over here? am I standing in the middle of the field? Where's the field? If you don't know where the field is, as you're reading this passage, than the people in the congregation, they will know where the field is either. And if you're not seeing it, they're not seeing it. So you got to figure it out. Well, okay, the field is over here.

So sore went out into the field. See, I look over there because there's the seller, I see him he's right over here. And if I see this sower, over here, Then everyone in the congregation can see him too. And he's there's the field, and he sold some of the seed. And then the weeds grew up and choked out, you know, so you can see what's going on. I find the drama in the passage, there's something going on here. Jesus tells a parable of, of, of two sons, the parable of the prodigal sons. But in the beginning of that chapter, it says that the the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, were complaining that Jesus was eating and spending time with the sinners. 

So Jesus tells the story, and he has an audience. He has two audiences, he has the sinners. And he's got these self righteous people are two different people. And so he tells one story, but it's a one story for both of them. It tells the story of the younger son runs off and then comes back and the father welcomes him with open Arms. And that's the centers that he's eating with. He's saying you know what God's love is for you. But then he tells the story of the older son, the older son has done everything right. At least in his mind. He's, he didn't run off, he didn't take his father's money, and he refuses to come to the party. So the Father has to come out to him. That's what Jesus is doing. He's coming out to the, the Pharisees in the self righteous people. He's coming out to them. The father explains look your brother was lost and now he's found we have to celebrate. He's He's a found so Okay, can you see this is the love of God. And then in some ways, what Jesus is doing is saying to the older brother Are you gonna come?

Are you are you gonna stay out here because because the same love is for you. Everything that I have is yours. and then the parable ends Did the older son come to the party? Or didn't he? I don't know. Jesus ends it. because he because he's really putting the question to the self righteous people look you're invited to are you going to come and then that's the end of thing. That's, that's kind of the dramatic moment. Well, if you know that ahead of time, as you're reading this story, you can lead to that dramatic moment. Number four, communicate the emotion of the passage. So here's the psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I like nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters he refreshes my soul. He guides me along in the right path for his namesake. Even though I walked through the darkest Valley. I will fear no evil for you are with your rod and your staff. they comfort me, You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil my cup overflows? Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, okay? That's how I would read it. If I just read it. And I just kind of go through it, then, you know when I, okay, I'm just going to read it, but I'm not going to practice it. And I'm just going to be trying to be more dramatic. So then I go, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the paths of righteousness for his name's you know, all I'm doing is saying it louder. And, you know, I'm trying to be more dramatic. But every sentence is exactly the same as the sentence that came before. I'm not like, okay, what's going on in this passage? Because if you look at it, The Lord is my shepherd. I like nothing. He makes me lie down. He leads because he refreshes. He guides Okay, so it's the third person. It's, it's like someone is telling someone about God, this is what God does. He does this, he does this, he does this, he does this, he does this. And then all of a sudden, he gets to this part, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

He goes, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. So who is he talking to? Now? Obviously, he was talking to others, hey, the Lord does this for me. He is my shepherd he, then all of a sudden when he gets to this valley of the shadow of death, he switches it, all of a sudden His focus is now on God. You are with me never you prepare a table before me you do that you you all of a sudden, it's to you and then back at the end. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. So something happens at that point. So, as you're reading it, there should be a difference. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores myself. He guides me along the right paths of righteousness for his name sake. Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil You are with your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me and in the presence of my enemies You anoint my head with oil my my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I have the house of the Lord forever. Notice I slipped into some King James there because that's probably the version that I know. But see the more you know the verses that you're going to use, the more you can, you know, what do they mean? How do I say this like I mean it and not just, you know, trying to get through it. Now I know that takes a lot of work. You know, you work on your sermon, you work on the songs and so on, and not a work on something that's already written there. It seems like well, we got to remember it's the Word of God and God's word, you know accomplishes the purpose for which he sent it. So let's speak it likely meaning, the importance of Scripture memory, in the worship service. 

Some key verses Romans 12:5, when I came to my present church about 10 years ago, it was a church that that did really well and then it sort of went downhill and they lost a bunch of people and and things were things were not good. So I came to this church I came part time I was working for the Bible and get the same time and, and they gave me two slots and the service. They gave me the sermon slot and they gave me the Good morning. Welcome to pathway slot. So on my first Sunday, they're on my Good morning. Welcome to pathway Church slot. I said Good morning. Welcome to pathway church. And then I said, Do you think we could memorize a verse of scripture every month? I just asked right in the middle of the service. Do you think we could memorize you think that's too much? You think it's too much to ask people to try to memorize together one verse of scripture a month. And what's it what are people gonna say? 

No. So there are a few people shook their head. Yes, I took that as an endorsement. So I said, Okay, how about this one? Romans 12, verse five, it's from the Living Bible version. We belong to each other. And each of us needs all the others. Then I said, Okay, let's try. Well, they have no trouble. We belong to each other. And each of us needs all the others it was not a hard one. So the next Sunday, good morning, welcome to pathway church. We're trying to memorize scripture together. And remember Verse for this month is Romans 12:5. Let's say together we belong to each other. And each of us needs all the others. Great. Next week, same thing. Hey, welcome to pathway church. We're trying to memorize scripture passage and our scripture passages. Romans 12:5, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others. Next month, new verse, said, Okay, well, it's a new month, we need a new verse. How about James 1:2-4, whatever trouble comes your way. Make it an opportunity for joy for when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed, you'll be strong and character and ready for anything.

said, Okay, let's do it. And they all just looked at me like that's a lot harder. I said, Yeah, I know it's a lot harder. Guess what you're gonna have to do the other verse. You didn't have to do any work. You just come on Sunday. And you know, but this one, guess what you're going to have You're going to have to go home enough to write it down, you're going to have to recite it at the table, you're gonna have to see if you can get your five year old to learn it your 10 year old, your 15 year old. In other words, there's some work to do in your own home. We're going to really memorize scripture, we're going to have to work at this. So here's I'm just going to give you a list of ones if you don't know where to begin, I'm just going to give you a list of really good ones. 

Here's this one from Jude again to him who is able to keep you from stumbling into present you before his glorious presence without fault, and with great joy to the only God our Savior the glory, Majesty, power and authority through Christ Jesus our Lord before all ages now and forevermore. Amen. That's a good one. Deuteronomy 31:8, the Lord Himself goes before you and He will be with you and He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. This verse just a little on the side. This verse was given to me when I got ordained some 30 some years ago, I got ordained, it was a service. And then at the end of the service, an elder got up and he said, Pastor Steve, I want to give you a verse. And he said, this is the verse Deuteronomy 31:8, the Lord Himself goes before you and He will be with you. He will never leave you or forsake you do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. And I thought, well, that's a good verse. It was a great verse, I didn't know that I would need it over the next four years. So then, after four years, I went out to Vancouver to plant a church and we planted a church, it went really well. And after a few years, we, we got this minister associate and he daughtered a church out of our church. And when he did that, he had to have an ordination service. So he asked me to do it. And I thought I should give him a verse And I thought, well, what verse Should I give him? 

Well, how about Deuteronomy 31:8, so that's what I did. Lord Himself goes before you, and He will be with you and He will never leave you or forsake you do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. Three years later, we had another daughter church and another guy had to get ordained. So we had an ordination service and that was what verse should I picked for him. Well, why not Deuteronomy 31:8, the Lord Himself goes before you and He will be with you and He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. See, you see what's happening is that verses getting heavier for me, I have my own ordination, my own experience than the next guy and the next guy. And then I came back to Grand Rapids and I got another guy to be our Associate Minister, he needed an ordination service.

And guess what verse I chose Deuteronomy 31:8, the law himself goes before you and He will be with you. They will never leave you forsake you do not be afraid, do not be discouraged. But five years ago, that elder that gave me that verse got cancer and my wife and I went to visit him and it was like, I knew it was gonna be the last time that I would see him on this side of heaven. And we talked and we laughed about some of the good old days and what it was time to go. I looked at him and I said, You know what, I have a gift for you. 25 - 30 years ago, whatever it was, you gave me a verse. And I had, I told him how I use that verse where that verse had gone and what it had accomplished. And I said, you know what I want to do I want to give that verse back to you.

Because the Lord Himself was before you. And he will be with you. And he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. That's what scripture memory can do. You'll learn it and it's just something you're learning your kids. They Learn these verses and they don't apply them to their lives. They just learn. They may not even want to learn them. But they do. And then the next thing happens for that verse. And then the next thing happens with that first. And 30 years later that verse is loaded with memory and meaning and history, and God's goodness and his grace. And you don't get to that part when the verse is heavy, unless someone first helps someone learn it. So my own church I just keep encouraging people, teach it, learn it. You don't see anyone excited about it doesn't matter. Versus the scripture grows in people's hearts over time. Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your strength. these commandments that I give you today are to be found your heart's finally going to Get there, press them, or your children talk about them. You sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down when you get up, tie them as symbols on your hands, find them on your foreheads. 

Write them on the doorframes of your houses, and on your gates, surround yourself, surround your family with the Word of God. That's what this these verses are talking about. It's talking about what I've been talking about. Create a culture of the Word of God around your family. Psalm 139 23-24, search me O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, see if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. It's interesting, after we started memorizing scripture, in a sing a little song here, when we started memorizing scripture, I had a guy come up to me after a service the guy didn't know new to our church. And he he came up and he said, You know you're memorizing these verses every, every month. I can put them to music. I was a little skeptical. I thought, Okay, what kind of music is he going to put this to? But I said, Okay, so he started writing song scripture songs. And so we not only would memorize the Scripture, but we would sing it. So this one. This one is from Psalm 139 and it goes like this.

So we probably have 100 I think more than 100 of these songs, and they're all just directly right from the scripture so that when you learn the song, then you know the scripture as well. A couple more. Jeremiah 29:1 a favorite of many I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you, and not to harm you plans to give you hope and a future Acts 10:24. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the test the Lord Jesus has given me what is the task, the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace, Hebrews 10:24-25. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Hebrews 12:1-3, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance.

The race marked out for us fixing our eyes on Jesus The Pioneer and perfecter of our faith, for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You know this. This verse has a special meaning to be my grandfather lived to be 100 years old. And when he died, I was asked by the family to do the funeral. And I had worked on for many years a planner for schools, and in that planner, there was a verse every single day. So you know, years before I had figured out a verse for every single day, 365 verses, and I had that planner, when my grandfather died, I looked at the day he died. I looked at what the verse was. And the verse was Hebrews 12:1-3, this talks about this great cloud of witnesses. Now my grandfather was 100 years old. He was baptized in the same church that he died in so when he was baptized, and he was baptized with his twin sister, that was 100 years ago. And I started imagining that church being filled with people 100 years earlier, some of them would have been alive during the Civil War.

And all of those people are gone. They might my grandfather was the oldest living member. So all the people that were there at his baptism would have been part of that crowd that Hebrews 12 was talking about. So I wanted the people in the funeral service to imagine that I wanted them to imagine that the crowd that was at his baptism is now in heaven and they're waiting. They were waiting for him all along. And, but, but I have one problem, because like grandfather's church had this retired pastor that did a lot of work with the older people. And I thought maybe he wanted a part in the service. So I went to his house and I said, You know, I don't want to just assume that I'm giving the message and doing you know, I said, Is there something you would like to do in this funeral service? And he said, Yeah, you know, I'm glad you came and asked, because there's one verse that I want to share with with the people. I said, Well, what verses that? He said, it's the last verse of Hebrews chapter 11. In other words, the very verse before the couple of verses that I wanted to talk about, and to me that was God say, I am Here I am part of this.

That's how God works. Second, Thessalonians 2:16-17 May our Lord Jesus himself and God, our Father, who loved us, and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement, and good hope and courage. You're Hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word Colossians, 3:23-24. Whatever you do work at it with all your heart is working for not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward because the Lord Jesus you are serving Philippians 4:8 finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent, or praiseworthy, think about such things First Corinthians 15:50 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters stand firm, but nothing move you always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord. Because you know that your labor in the Lord is not vain. I mean, what a great way to end the services. As you leave this place whatever you do for the Lord no matter what it is, it is not in vain. God will accomplish what he wants. Thank you