Point of Grace Online Worship - April 13, 2025

 “Jesus Shows Up! Welcoming the Presence of Jesus in Our Lives of Worship”

Message Notes         Palm Sunday 2025               Rev. Mike Coppersmith

Psalm 24:6-7 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. 7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.” - John Piper

Luke 19:37-40 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’”40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

JESUS CHRIST IS OUR ALL-PRESENT GOD!

verse 38 “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm 139:7-10 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

GOD COMES TO BE PRESENT AND TO BRING TRANSFORMATION AND RESTORATION

TO THE MOST DIFFICULT OF PLACES!

Isaiah 53:4-5 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us have turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the sins of us all.

There is no pit so deep, that Jesus Christ is not deeper still!

Isaiah 43:1-3 But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

HIS PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR WORSHIP

CAN MAKE US PEOPLE OF PRAYER AND PEOPLE OF PRAISE

THE PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRIST IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR WORSHIP

CAN MAKE US PEOPLE OF PRAYER

Verses 39-40 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’”

He who is a stranger to prayer is a stranger to power!

THE PRESENCE OF JESUS CHRST IN OUR LIVES AND IN OUR WORSHIP

CAN MAKE US PEOPLE OF PRAISE

verse 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.

verse 40 “I tell you,” He replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Psalm 24:6-7 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. 7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in!

Point of Grace Online Worship - April 6, 2025

Worship Broken - What HE Likes

He is God. I am not. 

What does HE LIKE?

It was said of redeemed Israel that they "turned back in their hears unto Egypt" (Acts 7:39). Someone has put it thus: "It was one thing to get the people out of Egypt, but quite another to get Egypt out of the people." Said the prophet, "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help ..; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord" (Isa. 31:1). This tendency of going back for assistance into the land from which we have come out, of borrowing from the world and its ways, is as evident today as ever. There are still too many who have more confidence in the working of the foot to produce results than in the bowing of the knee.  

– Authur Wallis (In the Day of Thy Power.)

1 Peter 2:4-5 English Standard Version

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

Psalm 51:16-17

English Standard Version

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

Nothing can more effectively bring a soul to that state of heart that God can revive than a vision of the cross. It is in such an experience of God that the heart is broken over its sin, its unbelief, its coldness and brought to repentance. The channel that God uses in revival is the channel of a broken heart.  

– Authur Wallis (In the Day of Thy Power.)  

1 Peter 2: 9-10 English Standard Version

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

SO THAT WE MIGHT PROCLAIM! 

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  

The Center of Worship for the first 300yrs of the Church was the Table.

Point of Grace Online Worship - March 30, 2025

Worship Real                  Sermon Notes                                   3.31.25

"What if there was a place so safe that the worst of me could be known, and I would discover that I would not be loved less, but more in the telling of it?" 

“We say we believe in grace, but confession is how we actually trust what we already believe in. The very parts of our stories we most want to edit, or erase altogether, become the very parts of our stories we’d never take back and never stop telling. That’s the kind of author God is.”

Calibrate & Claim

“Confession is two parts: searching and naming. Searching is God’s part; naming is ours.”

1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Let God initiate Emotional Calibration through Holy Spirit revelation.

We are not confessing for God We are confessing with God

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

“The Greek word translated in the NIV as “empathize” is the compound word sympatheo. It is a combination of the Greek word pascho, meaning “to suffer” and the prefix sun (“with”), much like we used the prefix co- in English.”

Claim

 “If we disown responsibility for our behavior, we are out of control, or powerless [to change].”

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 

Our intuitive assumption is that we are closest to God when things are going well. Jesus is by my side, present and helping, when I’m living wisely and virtuously, keeping in step with his mission in me and in the world. The author of Hebrews says the exact opposite. Jesus is nearest to us in “our weaknesses,” not our strengths. 

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.

16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Real, authentic worship through confession reveals our true selves to be transformed by His glory

Calibrate

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You know me better than I know myself. You love me more than I can comprehend.

Jesus, you are my high priest. You sit at the right hand of the throne of God and you have made your dwelling place in this sinner's heart.

I ask that you join me in my sufferings. You have been tempted in every way as I have been and yet you are without sin.

Jesus I do not want to do life without you. Abide in me and lead me to abide in you.

In light of your mercy towards me, I bring myself to you.

Search me, God, and know my heart; know my every thought. Reveal to me every hidden and offensive way in me.

I want to see my life through your eyes.

Claim

Pause. Wait for Jesus to search and pay attention to what may come up. As things come to mind, name them and bring them to the light them.

Jesus, I claim my inheritance found in you. I claim my righteousness given by you.

I am your child. Return me to your heart and lead me in the way everlasting.

Point of Grace Online Worship - March 23, 2025

 “Worship with Wonder – Worshiping God in Spirit – Given Wonder”

Message Notes March 23, 2025

Rev. Mike Coppersmith

WORSHIP WITH WONDER Worshiping God in Spirit-Given Wonder

John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship in Spirit and in truth.

“You're God, I'm not!”

GOD IS A GOD OF WONDER

Isaiah 29:13-14 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. 14 Therefore, once more will I astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

Luke 2:47-48 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished.

Mark 9:15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

GOD WANTS US TO BE PEOPLE OF WONDER

Luke 11:33-36 (The Message) No one lights a lamp, then hides it in a drawer. It is put on a lamp stand, so those entering the room have light to see where they’re going. 34 Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. 35 Keep your eyes open, your lamp burning, so you don’t get musty and murky. 36 Keep your life as well-lighted as your best-lighted room.

Mark 9:15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

THE NEED FOR WONDER IN OUR WORSHIP

Matt Redman “You can’t have worship without wonder. Otherwise, it’s something lesser, like appreciation. When it comes to true worship, there has to be that element of wonder. There are many elements about our worship expressions that I think we do really well, but when it comes to wonder, reverence, mystery and awe—I don’t think we excel at that. Perhaps we don’t excel at that because we live in a culture that doesn’t always lend itself to wonder.”

THE BLESSINGS OF WORSHIPING WITH SPIRIT-GIVEN WONDER

1. DRAWS YOU INTO A DEEPER LOVE AND INTIMACY WITH GOD

"I love you, Jesus!"

2. INSPIRES JOY, PRAISE AND GRATITUDE

Psalm 65:8 The whole earth is filled with awe at Your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, You call forth songs of joy!

3. CREATES EXPECTANCY

Exodus 15:22 Who among the gods is like You, Lord? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

4. FACILITATES FREEDOM

Acts 3:8 He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God.

5. CULTIVATES HUMILITY AND SURRENDER

Isaiah 6:8 “Here am I, Send me!”

6. LEADS TO PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

SIX PRACTICAL THINGS TO DO WITH THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO RE-AWAKEN WONDER IN YOUR LIFE AND WORSHIP

1. Pray Every Day for God to Re-Awaken Your Wonder

2. Spend time Daily in Scripture

3. Intentionally Set Aside Time for Personal Worship

4. Anticipate and Focus on God's Presence in Your Life and Worship

5. Commit to Be "Present" in His Presence

6. Recall Not Only Who Jesus Is, But What Jesus Does

Point of Grace Online Worship - March 16, 2025

Point of Grace Worship 3.16.25 Sermon Notes – Lent Series on Worship – “He is God, i am Not”

“Gentlemen, This is a football.” – Vince Lombardi

Fundamentals of Worship

“He is God – I am not!”

“Come Hungry!”

Psalm 42 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

Psalm 63 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 8 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 84 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. 10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

This soul-deep “desire” for God, to be with Him, fuels the worshiping heart. The Psalmist’s reveal the depth of this desire with powerful words and metaphors like hunger, thirst, wanting, needing, seeking, longing, clinging, yearning, panting…!” This is fuel for worship!

Worshiping God out of “duty” without “desire” grows cold … as God lamented to Isaiah, “they worship me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Worshiping God out of “desire” will do its “duty” with ever increasing joy!

Uncovering Desire

John 4

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I AM he.”

Down deep every human being “desires” God – His Presence … but this true desire is often buried under layers of “debris and deception”.

Into this reality Jesus enters with His invitation, “If anyone is thirsty let Him come to Me and drink ..(John7)”

This invitation is to let the “desire” rise to the surface… and then by faith we turn toward Jesus bringing our desire, our hunger, our thirst with us to … the one who said “for I am gentle and humble in heart”…

“Come Hungry…”

God knows how much we need rhythms of worship weekly, daily and as a lifestyle. Our soul needs to be able to count on us to bring it to worship. Our soul desperately needs a safe place to “Come Hungry”… don’t eat before you get there!

Have you eaten?

Jesus,

Jesus I love You!

Jesus I need You!

Jesus I want You! I bring my heart’s desires to You!

I love You! I long for You!

I worship You and You alone! You are Life!

I come to You….. Help me come hungry!

Point of Grace Online Worship - March 9, 2025

Point of Grace Worship 3.9.25 Sermon Notes – Lent Series on Worship – “He is God, i am Not”

“Gentlemen, This is a football.” – Vince Lombardi

The fundamental truth – the foundation of true worship centers around God and not around us. It is not human centered it is God centered. It is a space, place and human experience where we are declaring and intentionally living like “HE is God and i am not!” Notice the “i” is not capitalized in that sentence. My keyboard didn’t like me writing the pronoun “I” without capitalizing it. Our psyche does not like it either…. Our broken sinful nature is a powerful force constantly working to make us the “center” of our existence. “Other” centeredness is not natural for sinful human beings. True worship is “other – centered” …. And not just any ole “other”….. True worship is centered on the one true God who has revealed Himself is Jesus and is now Present by His Spirit.

Eden to Jesus

Life in God’s Presence – The Tree – Worship “You are God, I am not!” - Sin – Presence lost

The Story of God graciously “represencing” Himself and calling His people to worship Him at the center.

His Presence in pillars of cloud and fire, Ark, Tabernacle, Temple, ….. then ….. Jesus

John 4 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in Truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in Truth.”

25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I AM he.”

John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in Truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in Truth.”

Jesus is the new location for the Presence of God.

Since this new true worship is centered around Jesus, empowered by the Spirit offered to the Father then what He wants, what He loves, what He desires shapes everything.

“You are God, I am not” is the fundamental cry of the worshiper. And what a rescue that is.

The Obstacles are Powerful

Consumerism with its glorification of the “self” and self’s “preferences” subtly destroys the worshiper’s capacity for worship.

Discipleship to the Internet (excerpt from “Experiencing Jesus. Really.” By John Eldredge)

“You are God, i am Not” Worship is such a Rescue and Refuge

In His Presence –

We are not in charge – He is!

We and our needs are not in the center – He is!

Our preferences don’t prevail – His do!

He comes how He wants according to every promise He has ever made.

In this seemingly powerless place – called worship – we discover Him, we discover life in all its fulness.