Songs for Sunday, July 14, 2024 @ Christ Community Church

Sunday’s coming!

Have you ever heard someone ask: Do you want the good news or the bad news? Most of us have.

Sometimes people ask this question because there is simply just some good news and some bad news, and they want to offer folks the opportunity to choose which one they hear first. Most of the time, it offers the view that the good news could potentially cover up the bad news, almost like the perspective from the good news can lift us up from the bad news.

The news that “Sunday’s coming!” is kind of like that. We know that at the very least we are announcing that the day of the week when Jesus’s church gathers to celebrate His resurrection and worship Him, but part of that day of worship, part of meeting and worshiping together is to acknowledge that “the Day [of Jesus’s return is] drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25)! So, “Sunday’s coming!” for Christians is really an announcement that JESUS is COMING!

So, do you want the good news or the bad news?

This question has jogged my memory all the way back to when I was in third grade (an undisclosed amount of time ago). I, being the quirky and nerdy, geeky sort of guy that I am was of a similar sort back then, and it got me a certain amount of attention from larger stronger folks who thought that was weird. There was a certain amount of glasses-breaking beat-down sort of attention that happened fairly regularly, especially on the school bus. This garnered the attention of my principal at the time.

I remember one particular day after a rough and painful bus ride to school where I got called to the principal’s office. Naive as I was, I thought I was being called in to be given some relief — either to make the guys chill out on the beat downs for a while or to maybe at least put some distance between us for a beat down vacation. This wasn’t that. He wanted to know what I was doing to make these guys beat me down and wasn’t buying the story that my mere existence made them angry or that they found it entertaining to beat up on the littler guy.

He gave me a classic good news/bad news situation. He told me that he had called my daddy and that he was coming. It came as bad news that day because Daddy was working night shift and was not to be woken during the day. Waking him would surely mean trouble, especially since, as the principal told me, he had been called because he was sure I was stirring up trouble.

I remember being so scared that Daddy was currently on his way to the school. As the principal kept pressing for what he felt was the real untold story, he kept saying, “Your daddy is coming.” I was reminded of all of Daddy’s promises that getting in trouble at school would mean getting the same or worse trouble at home. I was reminded of all of the lessons on how to act and how to carry myself at school. My daddy loved me, and I had just about been convinced that his showing up at school that day was about the worst news I had heard at that point in my life.

Eventually, there was a knock on the office door, and the secretary ushered Daddy in. His facial expression was perturbed to say the least. He sat in the chair next to mine and the principal began his presentation of the facts as had been presented to me up to a point. Then, something unexpected happened. Daddy held up his hand, motioning for the principal to pause his tirade, and leaned over to me telling me, “Son, you can go back to class.”

That was unexpected. This wasn’t Daddy’s meeting. He had nearly absolute authority over me, but how would that work at school? Rather than waiting to find out, I swallowed the lump in my throat from fear and anxiety and walked out of the office into the hall and back toward class.

What happened next is seared into my memory — a core memory, if you will.

I heard my daddy’s characteristic whistle to get my attention. He was standing at the office door. He winked at me and waved.

You see, a wink was our thing. That wink came to mean many things over the years. It could be as simple as I-see-you or kind of an endearing look or, as it was in this case, everything’s going to be fine because daddy’s got you.

The bad news came untrue because “Your daddy’s coming!” (with the connotation of he’s going to get you) had turned to Daddy is here and he’s got you.

For some, JESUS is COMING could produce fear because they do not know Him. For those who are opposed to Him, the image is that of Revelation 19:11-21 — the rider on the white horse with a sword in His mouth ready to “tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation 19:15). He is coming in the full authority of “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16) and in power and judgment will defeat those who “gathered to make war against Him who was sitting on the horse and against His army” (Revelation 19:19). Those enemies are to be “slain by the sword that came from the mouth of Him who was sitting on the horse” (Revelation 19:21), or as Martin Luther put it in the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, felled with one “little word”.

That’s bad news.

It’s bad news unless you belong to Him, unless you are saved and given eternal life in Him (Romans 10:9-13, John 3:16, Ephesians 2:4-5). To face down the Lamb, Jesus Christ, the rider on the white horse — King of kings and Lord of lords — is a fearful thing. No one in His army will have to fight, Himself included. When He says, “It is done!” (Revelation 21:6), it is simply that — done. None can stay His hand. None can war against Him. None can flaunt His authority.

That’s good news.

It’s good news if you are with Him.

So, do you want the good news or the bad news?

The good news is that Jesus has made a way for us (John 14:6). The King of kings has left His throne and come to earth — to dwell among us (John 1:14), living the life we cannot live while dying the death we deserve (2 Corinthians 5:21). He left the glory of heaven to come to earth and deliver “us from the domain of darkness” and transfer us to His Kingdom by redeeming us and forgiving our sins (Colossians 1:13-14). For those who see Him as King, confess Him as Lord, believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead shall be saved (Romans 10:9-10). Again, that’s good news!

For those whom He has saved, “Sunday’s coming!” means that He has come and is coming again! It is a celebration because not even death could stop Him, that when He promises everlasting life He can give it because He is the Life (John 14:6).

For those whom He has saved, it is better than a wink and a wave telling us everything will be okay — Jesus lives tells us that we can “take heart” because He has already “overcome the world” — everything is already okay because He has already won (John 16:33)!

And that’s what we will be singing about Sunday at Christ Community — that’s WHO we will be singing TO: Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords! The songs we sing and Scriptures we will read will be pointing us to Him and praising Him for who He is and all He has done, is doing, and will do. John will preach to us from God’s Word and preach Jesus!

Sunday’s coming! JESUS is coming!

Won’t you gather with us and worship Jesus?

Here are our Scriptures and songs:

Scripture | Colossians 1:13-20 —

¹³He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Song | King of Kings —
Scripture Inspiration: Proverbs 4:19, John 3:19-21, Ephesians 2:1, Philippians 2:5-11, Matthew 5:17, Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:31, Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 2:7, Psalm 3:3, Psalm 8:1, John 1:14, Psalm 136:3, Matthew 28:18, Revelation 19:16, Matthew 13:24-52, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Isaiah 53, John 3:16, Romans 5:6-10, Galatians 3:13, Colossians 2:14, Titus 2:14, Acts 4:33, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Matthew 27:52-53, Luke 15:7, Acts 2:1-4, Matthew 24:35, Ephesians 1:7, Galatians 5:1, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11

Song | The Son of God Came Down —
Scripture Inspiration: Luke 2:7, John 1:1-5, John 1:14, John 1:34, Ephesians 2:14-16, Philippians 2:5-8

Scripture | 1 Peter 1:3-5 —

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.