o praise the name offertory prayer offertory

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I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. (Psalm 69:30) There are two kinds of magnifying: microscope magnifying and telescope magnifying. The one makes a small thing look bigger than it is. The other makes a big thing begin to look as big as it really is. When David says, “I will magnify God with thanksgiving,” he does not mean: “I will make a small God look bigger than he is.” He means: “I will make a big God begin to look as big as he really is.” We are not called to be microscopes, but telescopes. Christians are not called to be conmen who magnify their product out of all proportion to reality, when they know the competitor’s product is far superior. There is nothing and nobody superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is.

O PRAISE THE NAME SOVEREIGN GRACE MUSIC

I cast my mind to Calvary Where Jesus bled and died for me. I see His wounds,His hands, His feet. My Saviour on that cursed tree His body bound and drenched in tears They laid Him down in Joseph’s tomb. The entrance sealed by heavy stone Messiah still and all alone O praise the name of the Lord our God O praise His name forever more For endless days we will sing Your praise Oh Lord, oh Lord our God Then on the third at break of dawn, The Son of heaven rose again. O trampled death where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the King He shall return in robes of white, The blazing Son shall pierce the night. And I will rise among the saints, My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ face

OFFERTORY PRAYER OFFERTORY

I SING THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD • ECBC CHOIR I sing the greatness of our God, That made the mountains rise; That spread the flowing seas abroad And built the lofty skies. I sing of the Wisdom That ordained the sun to rule the day; The moon shines full at His command, And all the stars obey. I sing the greatness of our God That filled the earth with food; He formed all creatures with His Word, And then pronounced them good!

The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is.

Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, Where-e’er I turn my eye; If I survey the ground I walk Or look up to the sky! There is no plant or flower below, But make Thy glories known; The clouds arise, and tempests blow, By order from Thy throne;

Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God. This is what it means for a Christian to magnify God. But you can’t magnify what you haven’t seen or what you quickly forget. Therefore, our first task is to see and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So we pray to God, “Open the eyes of my heart,” and we preach to our souls, “Soul, forget not all his benefits!” -- John Piper

While all that borrows life from Thee Is ever in Thy care, And every where that man can be, Lord, Thou are present there!

HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR SUNDAY WORSHIP? JORDAN KAUFLIN [EXCERPTS]

A couple weeks ago, my wife and I went out to eat on a date. On a whim, we decided to go see a movie as well. Just like that. No preparation, we just decided and went. The lack of preparation had absolutely no bearing on how much we enjoyed the movie. After all, we just wanted to be entertained. Unfortunately, we can often approach the Sunday meeting in a similar way. How do you prepare to gather with your church family? Is your preparation limited to the frenetic collecting of your children, snacks, and diapers? Do you spend your time trying to convince yourself that going is better than sleeping in? Or maybe you don’t even think to prepare, because it’s just another routine that you’ve developed? How we prepare for our Sunday gatherings is directly related to how much we benefit from our time together. Here are two common errors we can make. At times, we can prepare as spectators. We come mainly to watch, not participate. It’s like how I prepare to go see a sporting event. Besides making sure I’m not wearing the opposing teams colors, I don’t prepare much. I anticipate it, but my general attitude in going to a sporting event is, “Entertain me! Move me! Show me something amazing!” Or if you’re a loyal fan of a lousy team like I am, “Make me suffer!” We can have the same attitude as we come to our Sunday gatherings. We come with the expectation, spoken or assumed, that everyone else needs to make sure we have a good time. I need my kids to be taken care of. I need people to seek me out. I need the music to sound a certain way. I need the preacher to stop speaking on time so that I can get on with my life. As for Jesus? Hopefully he shows up by his Spirit so I can have a spiritual, emotional experience that carries me through my week. We come as spectators, expecting to be served. For some of us, we prepare for our Sunday gathering as workers. This is what I typically face as a vocational pastor. But it’s not limited to being a pastor. You might serve in your church as a children’s ministry worker, usher, setup team person, greeter, or hospitality person. We prepare much like we prepare for work (and for some, it really is work). We make a list of all the things we need to do. We make sure we leave on time. Our mind is filled with logistics and details. We remind ourselves how important our role is. Preparing to meet with our church becomes an assessment of what we need to do rather than an excitement for how God might meet us. Maybe our gatherings even become a place where we derive our significance and self worth because of all the ways we serve, rather than a privileged opportunity to be with our family. Ever been there? I have. So how should we prepare? Prepare to Receive: Every time we gather as a church, God will speak to us as his word is preached, sung, read, and studied. Hearing from God is a weighty and glorious thing. Prepare by asking God to help you receive his revelation with gratefulness and humility. Prepare to Respond: When God reveals himself to us, things happen. Experiencing God leads us to respond (Isaiah 6:8). Rather than being a spectator or a passive participant, our hearts are moved to worship because we have once again seen the beauty, greatness, holiness, mercy, and love of our God. We sing to him, confess our sins, receive his word preached, take communion, and give our finances, all in grateful response to seeing who God is and what he has done for us in Jesus. Prepare for Sunday by asking that God would help you rightly respond to him. Prepare to Edify Others: Our worship doesn’t stop when the singing ends, or the preacher says, “Amen.” It continues as we greet, encourage, serve, pray for, exhort, and care for one another. God chooses to use people to edify his body (1 Corinthians 14:26). Prepare for gathering with your church family by asking God how he might use you to edify his church.

CONGREGATIONAL GREETINGS CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF MINISTRY STEVE TUCK, CHILDREN AND FAMILY PASTOR

THE MORNING SERMON

CONRAD “BUSTER” BROWN, SENIOR PASTOR

PASTORAL PRAYER POSTLUDE

361 Egypt Road Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464 843.856.3222 Equipping people to pursue Jesus Christ passionately as they impact the culture. eastcooperbaptist.com

WORSHIPGUIDE

I SING THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD!



PHILIPPIANS 2: 5-11

The Church in Corporate Worship

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

Please use the following prayer to prepare your hearts for worship:

We gather for worship this day asking the Lord to show us His presence and power as we exalt His glorious name! Alleluia!

O Lord our God, let this be our prayer, that we, the people of the risen King, may delight to bring You praise

The flowers in the Sanctuary today are placed to the Glory of God in honor of Steve and Lori Tuck and Family, in celebration of 20 years of ministry to our children and families. Thank you! To God be the glory!

Please tune our hearts to sing of the grace, mercy and power of Your great name.

REFLECTION

THOUGHTS FOR WORSHIP PREPARATION

From the shifting shadows of the earth help us lift our eyes to You, where Your steady arms of mercy reach to gather us in.

Worship is communion with God in which believers, by grace, center their minds’ attention and hearts’ affection on the Lord, humbly glorifying God in response to His greatness and His Word. Let us Rejoice! -- Bruce Leafblad

Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice; oh, church of Christ, rejoice!

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor Amen. with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. -- Annie Dillard

The imagery of the quote [from Annie Dillard above] has been bouncing around in my head for several days. It’s from a book by Annie Dillard entitled, Teaching a Stone to Talk. She asks the penetrating question about our worship, “Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke?” In other words, do we approach worship with a ho-hum attitude and no expectation of God actually showing up? Her response is that if we really took seriously what we say we believe, we should all be wearing crash helmets—and ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares and lash us to the pews.



I’m not advocating chaos and disorder, for Paul writes in 1 Cor. 14:40 that all should be done properly and in an orderly manner.



And yet, I can’t help wondering what a difference it would make if we entered into worship in a spirit of expectancy, anticipating that God would meet us in all of His power and majesty. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits or is enthroned upon the praises of His people.

COVER PHOTO Our cover image today reflects the joy of our children learning about and worshiping Jesus through the ministry of Pastor Steve Tuck.

As we praise Him in spirit and in truth, we can anticipate His power and presence to be displayed among us. May it be so this and every week as we gather to worship Him! -- Gary Snowden

Our morning hymn of praise ‘All Praise to Thee” is a paraphrase of Philippians 2:5-11, often known as the Kenosis Hymn (or Hymn of Self-Emptying). You can see the close parallals as you read the King James version of this passage below and sing the text of this wonderful hymn of praise. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

MORNING WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS VIDEO

MUSIC FOR WORSHIP PREPARATION IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE

CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE

Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise!

ALL PRAISE TO THEE ENGELBERG

ALL HAIL THE POWER... We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with.

ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME CORONATION

But we are ‘harmless’, and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are ‘sideliner’---coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous! All hail the POWER of Jesus’ Name! -- Jim Elliot

And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM The Heidelberg Catechism was composed in Heidelberg in 1563 by Zacharius Ursinus to teach Reformed Christianity in Germany. For close to four centuries it has remained one of the most widely used and loved catechism of the Reformation. It has been praised for its warmth and personal nature.

HEIDELBERG CATECHISM Q. #21

LEADER: What is true faith?



CONGREGATION: True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in His Word is true; it is also a deep-rooted assurance, created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel, that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ, not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation.