This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.
This Sunday at Park, we’re in week 19 of The Book of Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses. Here are a couple things you can do to prepare for this week’s service:
1. Read through our text, Acts 9:32–11:18.
The Church Calendar season of Epiphany, our current season, celebrates the marvelous truth that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world, and not Jews only. While that may seem obvious to the modern-day believer, it should be no less baffling to us today than it was to the disciples in Acts 11:18. Throughout history and in all of the Bible up to this point, God had chosen but one people—the Jews—to know Him and be His witnesses. Through the work of Jesus, we still marvel that “to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
2. Read, pray and sing through the service.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 103:1–5
Fall Afresh (Jeremy Riddle)
Rising Sun (All Sons & Daughters)
CONFESSION OF SIN: Matthew 6:9–13
Grace Alone (Dustin Kensrue)
I Love You Lord (Laurie Klien)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Romans 10:9–13
GREETING
SERMON & COMMUNION
Break Every Chain (Will Reagan)
Hallelujah, What A Savior (Philip P. Bliss, arr. Austin Stone)
BENEDICTION & SENDING
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Our guest is Amy (Lepine) Peterson. Amy is my sister. She’s also the author of Dangerous Territory: My Misguided Quest to Save the World
Listen
Listen to the show Subscribe in iTunes
Show Notes
1:45 – The similarities between birthing a baby and birthing a book
3:40 – Who Amy Peterson is and what she does
7:00 – What the “Missionary Myth” is, and what’s unhelpful about it
9:33 – What you probably don’t know about David Brainerd’s story…
13:33 – How things often don’t mean what they seem in other countries
16:20 – Where the word “missionary” came from
17:45 – How “short-term missions trips” become a thing
19:50 – What’s problematic about short-term missions trips (flying in like little gods)
23:05 – What advice she’d give to someone considering going on a short-term missions trip
28:25 – Why she got kicked out of a country she isn’t allowed to name in southeast Asia
32:25 – How to fight for justice without casting ourselves as the heroes of the story
36:08 – How to be faithful in the mundane (when it feels like nothing you’re doing matters)
40:15 – Best movie she’s seen lately
42:15 – Best TV show she’s seen lately
44:20 – Best book she’s read lately (and how it’s helped her marriage)
47:10 – Nerdiest thing she’s into right now
48:55 – Best meal she’s had recently
52:45 – If she could put a billboard anywhere, where would she put it, and what would it say?
Links
Dangerous Territory: My Misguided Quest to Save the World
Short-Term Mission: An Ethnography of Christian Travel Narrative and Experience
Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work
Manchester By The Sea – an Amazon Original Movie
The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery
This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.
This Sunday at Park, we’re in week 18 of The Book of Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses. Here are a couple things you can do to prepare for this week’s service:
1. Read through our text, Acts 9:19b–31.
As we saw with Jesus Himself, Paul the preacher of Jesus’ Gospel speaks boldly to the heart of his hearers, resulting in his persecution. We observe that this model of following Christ—preaching the Gospel and suffering persecution for its sake—is truly what discipleship entails.
2. Read, pray and sing through the service.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm Psalm 19:1–4
Our Great God (Fernando Ortega)
Great Are You Lord (All Sons & Daughters)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook
God of grace,
you have given us Jesus,
the light of the world,
but we choose darkness
and cling to things that hide the brightness of your love.
Immersed in ourselves, we have not risen to new life.
Baptize us with your Spirit,
that, forgiven and renewed,
we may preach your Word to the nations
and tell of your glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and our light forever.
Amen.
His Mercy Is More (Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (John Newton, Chris Tomlin)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 2 Corinthians 5:14–15; 17–21
GREETING
SERMON & COMMUNION
In Tenderness (Brian Eichelberger)
All The Poor And Powerless (All Sons & Daughters)
BENEDICTION & SENDING
This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.
This Sunday at Park, we’re in week 17 of The Book of Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses. Here are a couple things you can do to prepare for this week’s service:
1. Read through our text, Acts 8:26–40.
An angel of the Lord instructs Philip to head south from Jerusalem on the road to Gaza. He does as told and meets an Ethiopian eunuch, sitting in his chariot on the way to Jerusalem, reading Isaiah and struggling to understand who this Suffering Servant must be. Philip tells him about Jesus, and the man immediately believes and desires to be baptized, so it happens. As they come up from the water, Philip is carried away by the Spirit and the Eunuch goes “on his way rejoicing.”
This passage teaches us that the Holy Spirit empowers us to share good news that brings great joy to people—people who need it. As you prepare this week, consider who the people are in your life that need to hear good news and receive joy. Look back through the text; how does the Holy Spirit empower you to do this work?
When Philip meets the eunuch, he’s reading from Isaiah 53. In your preparation this week, consider making use of these Isaiah 53 entries by The Verses Project. Simply put, The Verses Project provides musical and visual art to help people memorize and meditate on scripture. We think this is a great resource for personal and corporate devotion!
2. Read, pray and sing through the service.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 98:1–3
Before The Throne of God (Charitie Lees Bancroft, arr. Modern Post)
Be Thou My Vision (Author Unkown, arr. Ascend The Hill)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook
God of grace,
you have given us Jesus,
the light of the world,
but we choose darkness
and cling to things that hide the brightness of your love.
Immersed in ourselves, we have not risen to new life.
Baptize us with your Spirit,
that, forgiven and renewed,
we may preach your Word to the nations
and tell of your glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and our light forever.
Amen.
Christ Or Else I Die (William Hammond, arr. Red Mountain Church)
Jesus Paid It All (Elvina Hall, Kristian Stanfill)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 1 John 1:5–7
GREETING
SERMON & COMMUNION
How Marvelous (I Stand Amazed) (Charles H. Gabriel)
All I Have Is Christ (Jordan Kauflin)
BENEDICTION & SENDING
Around 300 of us gathered at Moss Denver on November 30 to celebrate our fourth annual Bread & Wine event.
Why do we return to this celebration year after year?
Our tagline for Bread & Wine is as follows: An evening to taste and see the glory of God through his good creation. Let’s unpack this a bit.
Think back to the last meal Jesus shared with his group of disciples before his crucifixion. There in the upper room, God incarnate grabbed two of the most basic elements of mealtime – bread and wine. And with a couple sentences he breathed new meaning into them: “Take and eat; this is my body… Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus selected common elements to represent the drastically uncommon – God’s reconciliation of His people to Himself through the labor of His Son.
But wait. Could there be another layer of import woven into Jesus’ actions that night?
It’s fascinating that Jesus chose elements that required human activity and involvement in order to create. Truth be told, he could have used barley instead of bread, grapes instead of a Grenache. His selected symbols for his sacrifice on the cross could have been items that exist within untouched creation, apart from the work of people.
But they weren’t. He chose bread and wine – elements that necessarily require the work of human minds and hands – to represent his reconciling work, work that actually created the family of God.
This demonstrates the value God places upon the activity to which he has called us. Certainly, the sovereign Lord of the cosmos is Himself working salvation for his namesake through the narrative of human history. And yet, he knits our individual and localized stories into this grand narrative, ushering us to play our part in restoring all things through our daily actions.
In short, God’s redemptive and unifying grace is communicated and established through human interaction with one another and the created order. And it is in these places that we see the very glory of God. But only if we’re looking for it.
That’s why we host Bread & Wine each year. We need regular reminders to experience our dynamic world as one that is “charged with the grandeur of God.” These reminders need be more than verbal; oftentimes we need embodied practices to teach our souls what our intellect may already grasp.
This particular evening we highlighted the role and reality of hospitality in the renewed Christian family. You see, this “bread” was broken for us, and this “wine” was poured out for our sins, that we may be brought near to our Father. Like the prodigal son from Luke 15, we have run away from the Author of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness in order to glut ourselves on cheap substitutes. But through the meal of Jesus’ body and blood, we are recreated into the family of God.
Now, compelled by this infinite hospitality shown to us, may we step into our daily lives portraying this same gracious welcome, making use of the material things at our disposal to sacrificially love those around us.
What a beautiful, merciful, and creative God we serve!
Photos of the event taken by Melanie Fenwick.
This is a weekly blog post with one purpose: to help those coming to Park’s Sunday gathering engage with the teaching and liturgy in a more meaningful way. We use this space to share in advance our Sunday’s liturgy: the scripture we’ll be studying, the songs we’ll be singing, and the prayers we’ll be praying together. We also share a handful of thoughts each week to help you use these things to prepare for the service.
This Sunday at Park, we return to The Book of Acts: You Will Be My Witnesses. This will be our 16th week in the series. If you’d like to listen through a previous Book of Acts sermon to refresh yourself, you can do so at parkchurchdenver.org/sermons, where every past Park Church sermon is always available for streaming. Additionally, here are a couple things you can do to prepare for this week’s service:
1. Read through our text, Acts 9:1–19.
Paul’s mission—or so he thought—was to end Christianity. His goal was to bring down the the Church and yet, as we see in this passage, God redirected his heart. His new mission is to see the gospel further saturate the entire world as the water covers the sea. Paul goes from inflicting persecution to receiving the persecution because of his desire to lift up the name of Jesus.
As you prepare for Sunday, reflect on what Paul’s conversion can tell us about our own. What does it mean that we, too, have met Jesus and been converted?
2. Read, pray and sing through the service.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Isaiah 60:1–3 NIV
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing (Charles Wesley)
Holy Spirit (Bryan and Katie Torwalt, arr. Jesus Culture)
CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook
Almighty and merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned
against you and one another
in both our actions and our inactions.
We recognize that in Jesus Christ our light has come,
yet often we choose to walk in shadows and ignore the light.
Gracious God, forgive our sins and remove from us
the veil of darkness that shrouds our lives.
Illumined by your Word and sacrament,
may we rise to the radiance of Christ’s glory.
Amen.
His Mercy Is More (Matt Boswell, Matt Papa)
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: John 1:9–12
No Longer Slaves (Jonathan & Melissa Helser)
GREETING
SERMON & COMMUNION
How Majestic (Citizens & Saints)
All The Poor And Powerless (All Sons & Daughters)
BENEDICTION & SENDING
