September 16, 2018

This is week two of Ephesians at Park Church. As our society continues its trend toward self-centered and superficial worldviews, many have adopted a watered-down view of God that that leads us away from the glory we were made to enjoy. Ephesians shatters this diluted view of God by putting the weight of His glory in our faces in a way that is overwhelming and life-transforming.

Here’s how you can prepare for this Sunday:

1. Read through our text, Ephesians 1:3–14.

What does it mean to be blessed? Is it merely good circumstances? Material provision? Paul begins his letter with a beautiful poetic expression of praise to God for all that God has done to bless those who are “in Christ” He outlines these blessings in one of the most powerful and elaborate sentences ever written. In love, God predestined people from all nations to be adopted into His family as sons and daughters through the work of Jesus. Jesus has redeemed us from slavery to sin, forgiven us by His blood, and lavished His grace upon us to unite us to Himself as sons and daughters of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. He did all of this in order that the whole world might know and treasure His glorious grace.

2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 103:1–5, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

10,000 Reasons (Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman)
Doxology (Amen) (Louis Bourgeois, Thomas Ken, Phil Wickham)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, to You all hearts are open, all desires known, and from You no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You, and worthily magnify Your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord I Need You (Carson, Maher, Nockels, Reeves, Stanfill)

Come Thou Fount (Above All Else) (Shane Barnard, Robert Robinson, John Wyeth)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: John 1:12–13

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Ever Be (Strand, Greely, Wilson, Heiligenthal)
O Praise The Name (Anástasis) (Benjamin Hastings, Marty Sampson, Dean Ussher)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

Ephesians Artwork

Person: Benjamin Rogers

We commissioned Benjamin Rogers to create an original art piece for our series in Ephesians. Benjamin is a full-time instructor of art at Red Rocks Community College. He has an MFA in painting from Arizona State University and his work has been exhibited across the country. He based his work for this piece on several arguments from the text. Here’s how he describes it…

Piece & Process

In creating this piece, I tried to visually connect some of the themes present in Ephesians. Many of these themes are somewhat unrelated in subject matter, so I had to develop a way to allude to them in a tangential manner. This essay isn’t intended to explain 100% of the meaning within this piece, but simply to give you some insight into my thought process.

Ephesians 2:19–21 talks about people in the church as “…no longer being aliens and strangers but members of the household of God”. This led me to use vastly different imagery within the same piece in a way that felt cohesive. The resultant image is almost collage-like, but the overall feeling, if nothing else, emphasizes the colorful top layer over top of the monochromatic(ish) layers underneath. This visually communicates a theme of blossoming, new life, as if waking from a dream.

The bottom visual layer is a pattern made from the life cycle of the cicada. I used the cicada’s life cycle because they remain under the ground for 17 years as nymphs, then emerge and molt their shell and live in the light of day for a couple of weeks and die. This process of climbing out of the ground and living in the light reminded me of Ephesians 4:22–24. This was the inspiration for painting moths and butterflies, as well as the life cycles of a frog and monarch butterfly. The bottom and top layers act as conceptual bookends illustrating the same concept. However, one is generally thought of as beautiful while the other is generally thought of as gross. I really like this dichotomy and think that it is pretty illustrative of human institutions.

Ephesians 4:1–16 immediately alludes to a physical body, which only functions properly when all organs work together in unity. This illustration of the workings of the church body is a beautiful analogy, because it demonstrates that there is a lot of unappealing, unappreciated work that is necessary for the Church to flourish. My goal was to illustrate anatomical renderings of some essential human organs, some whose function is obvious and well known and others which aren’t as recognizable or well-understood. I used the implied line to demonstrate the working relationship between them.

Perhaps the least recognizable theme illustrated in the painting is that of submission, which arises in Ephesians 5:22 and 6:1–9. My thinking on the theme of submission is that items are to be placed in their proper order. To depict this, I used a spiral staircase, because if the stairs aren’t laid in the correct order then the structural integrity is compromised. If people aren’t willing to submit themselves to the appropriate authority, whatever or whomever that is, then the system is compromised and may fall apart. The staircase also acts as a static visual anchor for the rest of the imagery on the painting. It provides a structure through which the rest of the visual elements can interact.

in Artwork • Blog • Music and Liturgy

September 9, 2018

This week at Park Church, we begin 13 weeks in the book of Ephesians. As our society continues its trend toward self-centered and superficial worldviews, many have adopted a watered-down view of God that that leads us away from the glory we were made to enjoy. Ephesians shatters this diluted view of God by putting the weight of His glory in our faces in a way that is overwhelming and life-transforming.

1. Read through our text, Ephesians 1:1–2.

In Ephesians, we come face to face with the God whose glory is unsearchable, whose power is absolute, whose plan is indestructible, whose love is unconditional, whose mercy is expansive, and whose church is a breathtaking trophy of His grace. Paul’s letter is no stale exposition of abstract ideas. It is a passionate plea for his friends to see the reality of who God is, and to allow God’s Spirit to reshape every aspect of their lives in the light of His glory.

2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Ephesians 1:3–6, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

Doxology (Amen) (Louis Bourgeois, Thomas Ken, Phil Wickham)
Grace Alone (Dustin Kensrue)

CONFESSION OF SIN:

Father of all blessing, forgive us for being so quick to forget the spiritual blessings that are forever ours in Christ. Though You chose us, we are prone to choose lesser things we think will satisfy us more. Though You adopted us, we often live like orphans who have no Father.

Son of God, give us fresh attentive eyes that see You for who You really are and the beauty of all You’ve done for us. May the work of redemption and forgiveness lavished on us never become cold or seemingly distant truths.

Holy Spirit, break through the shallow stony ground of our hearts and remind us of who God is and who we are. May our roots plunge deeper into the soil of Your love and ground us there throughout this coming week.

Come Thou Fount (Above All Else) (Shane Barnard, Robert Robinson, John Wyeth)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Ephesians 1:7–8

In Tenderness (Garvey, Gordon, Walton arr. Brian Eichelberger)

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Jesus What A Savior (Kirby Kaple)
One Thing Remains (Christa Black, Brian Johnson, Jeremy Riddle)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

Brian Gray

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Our guest is Brian Gray. He’s the Chief Operating Officer of Denver Institute for Faith and Work!.

Listen

Listen to the show Subscribe in iTunes

Show Notes

2:55 – Who Brian Gray is and how he got involved at DIFW 13:15 – When you realize you’re a dualist (and what to do about it) 23:50 – How to figure out what you should do with your life 30:30 – How the Denver Institute for Faith & Work started 38:30 – How Park and DIFW partner 42:30 – Rapid Fire Questions

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in James Lepine • Park Church Podcast

September 2, 2018

This is our third and final week of Mission, our annual series on who we are and what we do as a church. Our topic this Sunday will be love for the city. Next week, we’ll begin Ephesians, taking us all the way to Advent. Here’s how you can prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Luke 10:25–37.

God empowers His people to put on display His love for the world. You are God’s gesture of love for your neighbors, and you are called not only to “see” them, but to “feel compassion” and move toward them with sacrificial love. If this sounds familiar, remember Luke 15 and the Father who also “sees” us when we are a long way off, “feels compassion,” and “runs” toward us with sacrificial love. Our response is nothing less than reflecting God’s loving heart to those around us.

2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Ephesians 3:18–19, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

Be Thou My Vision (Mary Elizabeth Byrne, Eleanor Henrietta Hull, arr. Citizens & Saints)
Great Are You Lord (Jason Ingram, Leslie Jordan, David Leonard)

CONFESSION OF SIN: 1 John 4:19–20

All The Poor And Powerless (David Leonard, Leslie Jordan)

I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous) (Charles H. Gabriel)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: John 3:16–17

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

O Come To The Altar (Brock, Brown, Furtick, and Joye)
Take My Life And Let It Be (Frances Ridley Havergal, Henri Abraham Cesar Malan)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

August 26, 2018

We’re in week two of this year’s Mission series, an annual discussion of who we are and what we do as a church. Here’s how you can prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, Philippians 2:1–11.

Loving the Church can be a hard task. Whether your experience with loving the Church has been muddied or simply hasn’t been interesting to you, caring for other people—Church people—is a real challenge. Maybe the question we should ask before trying to think of how we can love the Church is “How did Jesus love His Church?”

2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 96:2–6, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

Beautiful (Phil Wickham)
Steadfast (Leslie Jordan, Sandra McCracken, Joshua Silverberg)

CONFESSION OF SIN: Isaiah 53:4–6

How Deep The Father’s Love For Us (Stuart Townend, arr. The Christian Year)

Jesus We Love You (Kalley Heiligenthal, Hannah McClure, Paul McClure)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 2 Corinthians 5:14–17

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace) (Joel Houston, Jonas Myrin)
Build My Life (Barrett, Kable, Martin, Redman, Younker)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday

August 19, 2018

This Sunday at Park Church, we’re beginning a three-week series called Mission, a discussion of who we are and what we do as a church. Around this time last year, a five-week series by the same name introduced our new mission statement: “We exist to make disciples of Jesus for the glory of God and the joy of all people.” Because we believe that being unified in our mission is critical, we’ll continue to return to this topic around this time each year!

Here’s how you can prepare for this week’s service:

1. Read through our text, 1 John 3:1–3.

“Can you believe the kind of love that the Father has given to us—that we should be called the children of God? And so we are!” This expression from the Apostle John is an emotional outburst from a man who was enraptured by the love of God. Our prayer is that God would give us this same sort of joy as we consider together His love for His children.

In addition to 1 John 3:1–3, we’ll be looking at Luke 15:11–32 where Jesus shows us a picture of a Father who deeply loves His children and runs after them—even when they (we) run from Him in pride and shame. May God awaken our hearts to His breathtaking love.

2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 36:7–9, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):

To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners.
Welcome!

Come Thou Fount (Robert Robinson, John Wyeth)
Rejoice (Dustin Kensrue, Stuart Townend)

CONFESSION OF SIN: From The Worship Sourcebook:

God of love, in the wrong we have done and in the good we have not done,
we have sinned in ignorance;
we have sinned in weakness;
we have sinned through our own deliberate fault. We are truly sorry.
We repent and turn to You.
Forgive us and renew our lives
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Yet Even Now (Joel Limpic)
Good Good Father (Anthony Brown, Pat Barrett)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Romans 8:14–16

GREETING, SERMON, & COMMUNION
RESPONSE: Song & Prayer

How Majestic (Brian Eichelberger)
Reckless Love (Cory Asbury, Caleb Culver, Ran Jackson)

BENEDICTION

in Preparing for Sunday