Sexual Healing/You Are Mine

Here's a video from our Sunday service last week, during our Guardrails series.  This week was on Sexual Healing.

Easter is coming up!

Here's a clip from our Easter service a few years ago, this year is going to be bigger and better! Hope to see you there!

What Worship Leaders Do Off Stage

We lead worship because it is God’s design for us to join with other believers and express our adoration and love for Jesus.  We lead worship because it encourages the body of Christ (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16).  We lead worship because if we can provide an atmosphere for people to meet with Jesus, they can experience freedom, revelation, and transformation (Acts 16:25-34).  We lead worship because God promises to inhabit the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).  All of these things are good and right, but how often are we leading in worship OFF of the stage?  How much time do we spend praying for the people we are leading and asking God to move in our worship times?
I recently read through Matthew 3: Jesus’ baptism.   Verses 16 and 17 say, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Him.  And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.’”  There is little recorded in the bible about Jesus up until His baptism, yet the Lord announces that He is pleased with His son.  As far as we know, Jesus had not yet preached a sermon, healed a sick person, or raised the dead.  However, the Father was pleased with Him, and He is just as pleased with our private ministry as He is with our public ministry.  If we think for a second, that God is more pleased with us being on a stage leading worship in front of thousands of people than He is with us going into our prayer closet and crying out for the lost people in our church, then we are greatly mistaken.  In fact, the bible says in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”  Our responsibility before anything else is to “remain in Him.”  
I was very encouraged and challenged by Matthew 3.  God sees us in our quiet, hidden times, and those times are equally as important to Him as our time leading worship on the stage.  We must remember who we are seeking and yearning to please.  

- Candis

10,000 Reasons

It was so wonderful to worship with the church this past Sunday.  There is little that is more encouraging than lifting up the name of Jesus with your fellow companions of faith around you doing the same.  So much strength exists in our times of corporate worship.

We sang a song yesterday that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  It is entitled "10,000 Reasons," written by Matt Redman. It isn't necessarily the easiest to sing or the most corporate friendly song, but I definitely feel inspired when I sing it, and I hope the church will feel that way as we continue to incorporate it in our worship sets.

I think my favorite line from the song is "Sing like never before, O my soul."  In a way, the lyrics of this song are used to inspire the singer to do more than just sing, but to really engage in worship and bless the Lord.  It's powerful how the lyrics lead the hearer to action.  I hope our Oaks Worship songs can do the same.

Matt Redman has written many worship songs and modern hymns that we sing in the church today.  One of his most well-known songs that we sing frequently here at The Oaks is "You Never Let Go."  "Oh no, you never let go, through the calm and through the storm.  Oh no, you never let go, in every high and every low.  Oh no, you never let go, Lord, you never let go of me."  For me, this is what corporate worship is all about...using music to remind the body of the Truth and inspire them to live it!

-Clayton

Choosing A Worship Drummer

This can help worship leaders know what to look for in a drummer, as well as help any drummers wanting to grow on the drum kit.  Hope it helps!