This past week we introduced a new song to the good folks at Shoreline. There were a number of requests for the chord sheet and so I figured I’d post it here, along with an mp3 and the story behind the song.

I have been listening to the Psalms on my commute to and from work and have been struck by a few key things.

Psalms are songs
Psalms are the word of God (in other words, inspired by the Holy Spirit)
Psalms are a spectrum of expression and emotional response to God

Simply, these songs in scripture teach us about God and what it means to offer our hearts to him. They instruct us in responding to God. They inform us of who God is and what He desires.

Who ever thought a song could do all of that?

So, listening to the Psalms has inspired a lot of ideas for me, and this song came out of that inspiration. Particularly it is a song of praise, highlighting the unwarranted and seeming impossibility of a holy and perfect God loving unholy and imperfect people. That salvation isn’t something I can achieve through merit, but something that God in his kindness provides in Jesus.

My hope with this song is that it may be a great reminder of God’s love in salvation. That He elected you, loved you, called you & saved you; that you would be reminded of the depths of His love and compelled to sing it back to Him; that you would be full of His love to give it freely to your families, coworkers and neighbors.

Over the few weeks after I wrote the song I found myself singing the last line over and over again as I went about my day. And I think if there’s one line you should walk away singing, it’s that line:

“the gift you give is love”

Listen on in the inline player below or click here to listen in a new page.

I was talking with a parent the other day about a conversation they had with their child regarding Jesus’ return and what life in our resurrection bodies would be like. Their child, who is 6, became really excited at the possibility of going up to meet Jesus in the clouds.

The conversation went something like this: “Daddy, I think Christians are going to get to fly up to be with Jesus in the clouds.” The dad replied, “Wow, buddy! That’s right! The Bible actually tells us that we will be caught up with Jesus as He comes down to earth when He returns one day (1 Thes 4:16-18).” “Really!” shouted the child, “We get to fly!” “Uh huh,” said dad. “What if I’m in the house and I fly up? Will I bonk my head on the ceiling?” Dad responded, “I don’t think so bud, I think God will make it so our bodies can go through the ceiling.” “Whoa! I want to see Jesus! I can’t wait to see Jesus! When I see Him I’m going to hug Him all day! Can I hug Him all the way through breakfast and all the way through lunch?” shouted the boy. “Yeah, I’m sure you can,” said the dad. Wanting to gauge his child’s heart he asked, “Why do you want to hug Jesus so much? What do you love about Him?” “I love Him because He died for my sins so I could go be with Him in Heaven!” answered the boy.

If you’re a parent, does your child want to see Jesus? Do they know and understand what Jesus has done for them on the cross? Are they being taught unmerited favor (grace) or to earn favor by being a “good” little boy or girl? Does your child know what it means to be a Christian? Do you know what your child believes?

Obviously, to know the above you’ve got to spend time with your child in the Bible and conversation that drills deeper than how they did on their test or how to develop their soccer skills. How often do you spend time with your child in prayer, the Bible, and Christ-centered conversation? Let me back up. Do you really have a heart to see your children raised as true, heartfelt disciples of Jesus? How high of value do you place on the condition and eternal destination of their soul verses your comfort and lifestyle?

Deuteronomy 6 calls us to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength; AND to impress that love for God and His commandments upon our children’s hearts. It calls us to speak of God and His commandments, including (with a Christ-centered/NT twist) our inability to meet those commandments and His grace, as you “walk by the way” or in modern day context—when you’re in the car, when you’re kicking the soccer ball around, when you’re tucking them into bed at night, or when you’re getting beat by them on their favorite video game system.

The Bible calls us to do everything to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). Could you explain to your child how to eat a jelly bean to the glory of God? How about raking up leaves to the glory of God?  Jelly beans taste good. God gave us taste buds to enjoy food. What a good God we serve. Or raking up leaves takes work. God created man to work and till the earth and it was fun, but man rebelled against God. Thus God made the earth rebel against man so that his work is hard in order to show us how sad God is when we rebel against Him. The good news is we’re saved from our rebellion through Jesus. These could be a just a few ways to turn something seemingly normal into a God-glorifying event.

Parents, I challenge you to always be thinking about how you can turn a simple moment with your child into an engagement for Christ. I challenge you to spend time with your children in the Word and Christ-centered conversation. I implore you to know where your child is at in their relationship with God and to pray that God gives you the grace and wisdom to direct them towards Him.

Mars Hill provides many resources to do so. We’ve developed a set of family devotional questions to accompany the Luke Series. You can find these HERE and could discuss them at breakfast, dinner, or before bed. The Mars Hill Shoreline Children’s Ministry is handing out take home papers titled “By the Way” (Deut. 6) to reinforce what your child learned in class at home all week. We in children’s ministry have just a few hours with your child a week. We’re here to support parents—who have dozens of hours with their kids—in raising children on mission for Jesus. These take home papers are one way we’re doing so. There are other great devotional resources outside of Mars Hill. Bruce Ware offers this great family devotional resource for starters.

Children are a blessing from God. Parents have been tasked with training their children’s hearts and equipping their minds for Jesus (Ephesians 6:4; Deuteronomy 6). Jesus came to turn the hearts of the fathers towards their children in order to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Malachi 4:6; Luke 1:17). It is my prayer that by the grace of Jesus and the love of God you as parents will do just that!

Romans 12:1: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, a to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Greetings brothers & sisters of Mars Hill Shoreline.

I’m writing to you today because over the last few weeks every single ministry lead at our campus has approached me to report a desperate need for more volunteers on each of their teams. EVERY SINGLE LEAD! Almost every serving team at our campus is on an every week or every other week rotation with their volunteers despite the fact that we have 600-700 people in attendance on a typical Sunday. This means that many of us are not only missing out on the blessing it is to join with our brothers and sisters in worshipful service to the body of Christ, but we are also leaving the burden on a faithful few to put on our services which will undoubtedly result in their eventual burnout.

• Members only are needed to serve on our Communion, Bookstore, and Financial Steward teams and may teach Children’s Ministry or become a Children’s Ministry Service Lead.
• Both Members and those who are not yet members are needed to serve on our Greeter, Refreshments, Facilities, Parking, Production, and Children’s Ministry teams.

EVERY ONE of the these teams is in desperate need for volunteers. However, I don’t want any of you to serve because they are desperate, I want you to serve out of cheerful, sacrificial worship to our Lord who is worthy of your time and your gifts. Please consider giving at least every other week or once a month to serve your church family and the visitors who come in our door each Sunday.

Click Here to fill out our SERVE form to get connected to a serve team immediately! Click Here if you’d like to view a list of brief descriptions of our serving teams first.

Thank you and may God richly bless our campus with His mercy as we participate in service to one another and to those He draws into our services!

“Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:6-11

Praise Jesus for humbling Himself, coming to earth as the God-man, and dying on the cross for our wretched sins. Praise Jesus for rising from the grave in triumphant victory over Satan, sin, and death. Praise Jesus that through Him we are brought back into relationship with God. Praise Jesus that He is transforming His people into His likeness, so that Christians together may worship God and live out the gospel as salt and light in a dark, brutal world.

It is with great humility that I report to you that Jesus was lifted up high and exalted as King at Upward Bound VBS 2009.  The gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed to over 90 children each day at the Lakeside Apartments in Mountlake Terrace.  Monday through Friday the children entered into a camp-hike-trail setting where they learned about Jesus’ journey from heaven to earth and back again for His glory and our salvation. The munchkins were visited each day at Base Camp by a hiker who used his journey on the trail to share the gospel with the kids.

Moreover, the children were taught to use their Trail Guide (the Bible) and Trail Journal (homework booklets) to aid them in what is hopefully their upward bound (vs. earthly bound) journey towards heaven. A handful of characters ranging from Simon of Cyrene to Mary Magdalene visited the children each day to share their personal encounters with Jesus! The children together donated over $200 towards Living Water International and worked hard to learn scripture memory and more about what it looks like to follow Jesus. They enjoyed music, crafts, games, and snacks every day.

Close to 15 kids joined us during the week from the Lakeside Apartments—many of whom don’t regularly attend church, but were able to hear the gospel of Jesus. Some of the kids from the apartments had memorized scripture on their first day and were excited to hear more. We were also able to give away about 20 Jesus Storybook Bibles to kids without Bibles. The Storybook Bibles had been donated to MH for this very purpose. That’s about 20 kids who are now able to read about God’s redemptive plan through Jesus in a way that is concrete and reaches them at their age level.

One of the greatest blessings surrounding VBS was the volunteers. MH Shoreline has the greatest Children’s Ministry volunteers. They endured three 2 hour VBS planning meetings and sacrificed so much to study, plan, prepare, and execute VBS. Many volunteers showed up at 7:15am to help with set up and stayed until 1pm to make sure everything was stored in our VBS truck.

Even though the volunteers had Honey Buckets for bathrooms, goose poop on the ground, and it was cloudy and wet—every volunteer always had a big smile on their face. The joy in their hearts from serving and sharing Jesus with the kids was manifested in their great attitudes, big smiles, and loving kindness. One of our leads sprained her ankle mid-week and wasn’t able to make the last two days. The other volunteers stepped up to fill the gaps and came unannounced on days they weren’t scheduled to serve—all for Jesus’ glory and the children’s joy! It gave me so much joy to see their hearts for Jesus and the kids!

The kids were treated to pizza and a bouncy house on the last day. Parents from the apartments were able to attend this event and fellowship with the teachers, volunteers, and families.

Overall, Jesus was lifted up high and exalted at VBS. Many kids from the apartments were invited to MH Shoreline. We are working on taking them to/from the Shoreline Campus on Sundays. I’m so grateful to Jesus that we were able to be used by Him for His glory and children and families’ joy through VBS. What a huge blessing it is to serve in His name.

Below is some parental feedback on the impact VBS had on their children and families. Enjoy!

• “My 4 year old has been talking about Jesus a lot more, it seems like she is more aware that He connects to everything in her life.”

• “My son still recites the verses he learned and seems to be much more Christ focused during the day. Normally any spiritual discussion is prompted from us, the parents, but ever since VBS he’s been asking more questions and talking about Jesus a lot more.”

• “My daughter was very eager to be more helpful (and has continued to be so) and is still out of the blue telling me her bible verses.”

• “My son isn’t old enough to know much about Jesus, but the 1st 2 days he did NOT want me 2 leave him there and by the 3rd he was excited and ready 2 get going every morning. I used this opportunity to get some Bible stories to read to him at night instead of regular stories.”

• “Both of my kids are talking about Jesus between themselves more; we always have Bible time and pray together, but the impact of learning about Jesus from other believers (their teachers and guides) was a huge impact for them! Yeah!!!”

• “When memorizing the verses, it was a great teaching opportunity and my son was asking a lot of questions.”

If you have put your faith in Jesus, but have yet to make the public declaration of Baptism, I would implore you to join us on Wednesday August 12th at Richmond Beach Saltwater Park for our Baptism Beach Party. Click Here to register to be baptized

I thought I’d chime in here on the Ol’ Shoreline blog because I just read something disappointing about our last 3 blood drives at the Shoreline Campus. On an email from the blood drive coordinator, she mentioned that our givers had gone from 38 to 31 to 20 over the last three blood drives. This past Sunday we had 760 people at our campus listening to a wonderfully convicting sermon about the hope we have in heaven and God’s gracious patience that allows us to repent. Out of the 550 adults who came last week, can we seriously not find 40 suitable givers, willing to sacrifice 30min of their time to possibly save a life!

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). How shall we live in response to such a love?!  Shall we hoard our blood and our time to our selves? OR shall we live in generous wild freedom and joy, giving liberally of our time and not counting any of our possession (including our own blood) our own, but gifts from God meant to be stewarded as a picture of His grace, pointing to Him and His glory in everything? (that was a LONG sentence/ question)

Mars Hill Shoreline! I do NOT want to guilt any of you into giving blood this Sunday. I want to INSPIRE you to give blood this Sunday! Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus’ sake will gain it. Lose your life for Jesus. Pour out your blood for others.

CLICK HERE to make an appointment to give this Sunday or walk-in anytime between 10:30am-4:30pm.

by Matt Grant

To be honest, things are really tight in the Children’s Ministry right now. We’ve burned out volunteers and are on the verge of maxing out more. A child was turned away a few weeks ago and we’ve been very close to turning more families away on Sundays. We’re blessed with the greatest volunteers and families at MH Shoreline. I love them so much and hate to see them overburdened, potentially burnt out, or turned away.

It’s simple. In order to effectively support families in building children on mission for Jesus we need more Sunday volunteers. We need more people to comfort and pray for infants. We need more people to help toddlers share and sacrifice like Jesus. We need more people to take an interest in preschoolers’ lives and new walk with Christ. We need more people to help 7 year olds memorize scripture and show their friends Jesus.

If every parent using the Children’s Ministry served once every six weeks-that’s twice per quarter…that’s it-then a huge burden would be relieved, volunteers could be more productive, families with younger kids would get 90 minutes to hear the sermon in peace, and the body of Christ would be further strengthened together and built up in Christ (I Cor 12).

Please prayerfully consider serving once every six weeks in the Children’s Ministry. You do not need to prepare in advance. Merely show up 30 minutes early on the Sunday you’re slated to serve; and help love on the munchkins for 90-110 minutes-twice every 3 months. I don’t think that’s asking too much and it would be a huge blessing to the entire body of Christ and families at Shoreline.

All services need help. If you’re interested, click HERE for a Children’s Ministry application. If you have more questions, email shorelinekids@marshillchurch.org.

RG BLOG by Pastor Kerry Michaelis

I began to doubt: was I a Christian, or not? Was God listening and just not answering, or what?

I had grown up in Christian home and had professed a faith in Christ. Professed faith, yes; actually trusted, well, not so much. God didn’t seem to be stepping up and answering my prayers. In fact, I seemed to sin and struggle more and more. The more I prayed and asked God to free me from temptation and to give me willpower to say ‘no’ to sin, the more I found myself asking for forgiveness, because I sinned. Was I a Christian? Was God refusing to help?

Over time, I began to realize that I had been viewing God as someone who was there for me, ready to answer my prayers, and to meet my needs as I saw them. You know, like Psalm 46:1 says, “a very present help in trouble.” Or as others have said, a sky fairy awaiting my next wish, a vending machine ready to dispense at my request – you get the idea.

Turns out I had quite a low view of God. God is eternal and preceded me, preceded creation, and will remain long after my body has returned to the dust. His word tells me that before the foundations of the earth, I was chosen (Eph 1:4), that my days were numbered (Job 14:5), and that he knows me better than I know myself (Matthew 10:30).

My story began at my birth and will end at my death; God’s story is one of creation to new creation. He invites me to be a part of the story of redemption that he is working out for purposes I can barely fathom, but which include glory for him and joy for me.

When I take a step back from the chaos in my life and see that I’m a part of God’s bigger story, that it encompasses my life, that like the grass I am here today and gone tomorrow, I can rest assured because his story and his word remain forever.

In Philippians 3:7-11, Paul says it this way, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

The Apostle Paul wrote that the church is to be “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Immediately preceding that charge, Paul wrote of qualifications for church leadership and of proper roles within the church. The implication: a rightly functioning church community upholds, proclaims, and defends the truth. What truth? Consider the immediately following passage: “[Jesus] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

Paul is saying that a rightly functioning church community proves the incarnation of God in Jesus. The question is, how? For that answer, we look to John.

In his gospel account, John records Jesus praying to the Father on behalf of the church “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:20-23, emphasis added).

So how does the church prove that Jesus was God incarnate? By extending that incarnation, by displaying the same oneness and unity of purpose with God that Jesus did. Just as Jesus proved God by his life, so the church now is called to prove God by its life. Just as through Jesus, the world met God, had dinner with God, interacted with God, so now through the church, the world is invited to do the same. In this strictly defined sense, we are the new Jesus—the body of Christ, indeed.

Here, then, is a dangerous question: Does our community, our oneness, our means of being Christ to the world, look anything different than the brotherhood and unity of say the average frat house on Greek row? I would venture to say that most fraternities at the U-dub or other universities throughout the country have tighter unity and single-mindedness than most local churches. For us to be different, we can’t just out-unity them. We must out-community them. Fraternities are false communities because everyone in them is the same. Fraternities represent the world’s proclivity to make out with mirrors, to love only those that look or speak or act just like us.

The rightly functioning church, a community of gospel-ed people from every ethnic, socioeconomic, and educational background, forms a multi-colored, multi-textured mosaic that is unexplainable apart from the unifying power of grace. Only when the great equalizer of grace is preeminent does the lure of cultural affinity become subservient. In this kind of true community, we love one another not because we are the same, but because we share the same story—sinners, saved by grace. And therein, the incarnation of God in flesh continues. We prove Him to a watching world.