180 – Celebration – John 12:12-19

     The crowds in Bethany greeted Jesus by waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna”. During the next few days, Jesus challenged the religious leaders and drove crooks out of the temple. In just a few days the people made a complete 180⁰. Jesus didn’t live up to their immediate expectations so they shouted, “Crucify Him!” They killed Him because He wasn’t the One they had bargained for. And like people today and people in all times who want Jesus, they want a Jesus of their own invention. They want the Jesus who walks in and says, “I’m going to solve all your problems. I’m going to deliver you from all your enemies and make life wonderful for you.” They don’t want a Jesus who is going to come into the city and immediately clean up a dirty house. .
     How many times do you proclaim the greatness of God or celebrate His goodness and then when things don’t go right shake your fist at Him? We would never admit that we’ve done that. We might instead turn to quiet resentment. Which crowd do you identify with? Is it those who sang “Hosanna” or those who said, “Crucify Him?” Do you want the Jesus you’ve invented or do you want the new life that following this rebel king Jesus will bring? Is this where you need to make a 180⁰?

Set List for April 1

Hosanna (Praise is Rising)  YouTube
Hallelujah (Your Love is Amazing) YouTube
Amazing Love (You Are My King) YouTube
Hosanna (I See the King of Glory) YouTube

180 – Extravagant – John 12:1-11

After dinner, Mary demonstrated her devotion to Jesus and her understanding of what was ahead for Him. She took a large amount of expensive perfume, perhaps worth about $25,000 in today’s economy, and poured it out over Jesus’ feet. She began to wipe His feet with her hair. All that she considered most valuable was devoted to Jesus and she demonstrated that by pouring out that perfume. She had experienced an abundance of life change and all that was her abundance was given to Him.
Judas, in contrast, had a scarcity mentality. The perfume was being wasted, in his view. His life had not experienced the same life change as Mary’s had – and all he could see were dollar signs. In the end, Mary is commended by Jesus and Judas is rebuked. The perfume was not the most valuable entity in that room. Jesus and the lives He had changed were most valuable – they were the abundance. Mary knew where her abundance really was – Judas thought abundance was in a valuable item. Mary gave evidence of her abundant life change in her devotion to Jesus. How can you and I give evidence of the abundance of joy, grace, significance and meaning that Jesus has brought to us as we live out our lives for Him this week?

Set List for March 25, 2012

O Praise Him - YouTube
How Great is Our God - YouTube
Forever Reign - YouTube
Jesus Paid it All  -  YouTube

March 18, 2012

This is a guest post from Calvary Church. Since our children's church has recently studied Zacchaeus I thought this would be a great post to start. This is also a series on 180 (you'll get it)

180 – Initiation – Luke 19:1-10

Hearing that Jesus was coming to town, Zacchaeus climbed up a tree to get a better view. As Jesus passed by, He stopped, looked up, and said, “Come down Zacchaeus, I want to hang out at your place today.” That got the crowd talking, especially the religious leaders in the community. This was contemptible in their minds, and they spoke their minds.You see, Zacchaeus was a tax collector and the Jewish people opposed the Roman empire’s taxes because they supported a government that worshiped pagan gods. But that night something transformational happened to Zacchaeus. His life took a 180⁰ and he became a changed man. Why else would a rich swindler give half his wealth to the poor and offer to pay back anybody he’d cheated four times over what he took?What caused Zacchaeus to do a 180⁰ and head off in a new direction? He encountered the man whose mission was to seek and save the lost. I’m sure Zacchaeus expected the same kind of attitude from Jesus that he got from all the other religious leaders – rejection, disdain, and judgment. But instead of looking past him, Jesus looked into his eyes and said, “If you want to go up, you’ve got to come down.”

Worship Set for March 18
- You Are Good
- Sing to the King
- Our God
- You're the God of this City
- How Great is Our God
- How Great Thou Art