 This is Scott annual, and this is a video on planning gospel shaped worship I'm making this primarily for my students In my worship class, but I've had a number of people over the years ask me about how to practically implement some of the things that I teach about thinking through the order of our worship and how that both portrays our theology of worship and Shapes our congregation and so hopefully this video will be helpful toward that end Although there's there's no prescribed liturgy in scripture. I don't believe And I believe that we really should in terms of what we include in worship Constrain ourselves to what scripture prescribes for us in terms of the elements We do have commands in the Bibles, but particularly in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 that our worship should be done decently and in order and that specifically is referring to the corporate worship structure of our services and Even more than that since we are shaped by doing the same thing over and over again Each week in our Sunday services our weekly corporate gatherings for worship are Formative in shaping the worship of the rest of our lives and so How we order our worship does matter corporate worship is not Primarily about authentic worship expression Rather it is a time in which our our daily worship is cultivated prepared and shaped and I've addressed these issues Many times in my classes and articles and and even in by the waters of Babylon But this this this video is an attempt to just walk through Practically how to apply these ideas in planning the corporate worship of a service I've actually I've been asked to you know many times about how I do this I plan weekly for my service and so this is just an example here Since worship and I define worship as drawing near to communion with God through Christ in the spirit by faith Since that is what worship is it's essentially a tide to the gospel I believe that the order of our corporate worship should reflect that Because we gather for worship because of the gospel and we are shaped by the gospel and therefore if we order our worship by the gospel That that's the best way to do it Corporate worship that's shaped by the gospel will remind us weekly of how and why we draw near in communion with God despite our sin And it shapes our lives for the rest of the week based on that truth And so I think that at the order of our worship should follow the flow of the gospel And this is how Christians have structured their worship for hundreds of years Historic liturgy although there are certainly our differences between for instance the the liturgy that developed during the Middle Ages and Luther's liturgy Calvin the Westminster assembly the Anglican church There are differences and there are problems from from my perspective as a Baptist with with many of those liturgies However the overarching shape of each of these liturgies followed the gospel now that that has changed in recent years For a number of factors that that I won't won't get into But I believe a recovery of this is is what will help us as we seek to live out the gospel shape people by the gospel and Our worship then becomes very evangelistic because in every service the gospel is acted out and portrayed So when I plan corporate worship, there are really four primary Considerations that I'm I'm thinking about each week as I plan and the first is Is this gospel shape? One of the ways that this has been articulated more recently is some people call this the Isaiah 6 model basing this They see this basic structure in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah enters the throne room I think you see this basic structure in many places in scripture and in historic liturgy and and this is one of the primary Skeletal Considerations that I give when when planning corporate worship. So there are there are then Every week in the services that that I plan in our church. There's a common skeleton a common outline It begins with revelation acts by which God reveals himself worship is Initiated by God and that's what's communicated by beginning the service with revelation of God with God's word God calling us to worship God revealing himself We respond then with acts of praise and adoration when we see God high and lifted up as Isaiah did our Responses holy, holy, holy our responses praise and adoration Then God calls us to confession when we see God and all of his holiness and glory we can't help but recognize our own Fallibility our own sin like Isaiah did he said what was me for I am undone for I'm a man of unclean lips And I dwell among the people of unclean lips because my eyes have seen the king He recognizes unworthiness and he confessed that to God and that's important even for Christians that we recognize that we are not Coming to worship because we somehow have earned the right Not of any merit of our own we are coming as sinners who really don't deserve to be there We don't deserve to be in the presence of God viewing him and and communing with him in his glory But then of course for Christians, we have forgiveness We have assurance of pardon by which God forgives us of our sins through the sacrificial atonement of Christ And so that's the next essential element of corporate worship that leads us to praise and glorify God for Forgiving us and and that in the historic liturgy was where they would sing glory to God in the highest Now as believers who have drawn near to God through the sacrifice of Christ We are ready to hear from him and this is where the word of God is proclaimed is preached is Exposited and is applied to the lives of the people God's word is declared to us and then we respond by dedication by committing that we will Obey the Lord we will follow what he has told us in his word And then we reach a point at which really is is the climax of worship but if worship is communion with God and we and we commune with God by drawing near to him through Christ by Hearing his word and responding with dedication Now at this point of the service is where we are able to commune with him and and often in historic liturgy Is this was expressed through the table and so depending upon a given church and how often they celebrate the table That would happen at this point. I I think it's it's great the more frequently We celebrate the table the better because it really is one of the most beautiful pictures God has given us of Communing with God because of the sacrifice of Christ But also the privilege we have of drawing near to the throne of grace in supplication in prayers Communicates this sort of communion in God's presence because of Christ as well And so in a given week when one communion is not celebrated in our church That we would we would have this time of supplication And then we end with acts of commission and once again Just like the service began with God speaking with God Beginning the service God ends the service with the benediction We end the service with his word with his blessing upon us as he sends us out to obey what he has Commanded us in in the word as it was preached in that service and to spread the good news of Jesus Christ In our community and and to the ends of the earth. So this is always the first outline and structure of Of the service as I as I plan and so where I plan I use a spreadsheet Where we've got the you know the dates of the service I I Lay this out by the quarter three months And we have various people in our church who read scripture who pray who lead in various aspects of the service Play play musical offerings and those sorts of things and I schedule those out in a three month Schedule and then you can see here on the left We've got the the sections of that Isaiah 6 gospel shape Beginning with the scriptures the revelation then adoration section of adoration and confession and assurance of pardon And then we have the proclamation dedication supplication and commission So that's all laid out here And then the beauty of this structure is that week to week even though that structure is always the same The the songs that we sing the scriptures that we read that change that changes from week to week But I choose the scriptures and the hymns for each week Based upon that general outline of revelation adoration, etc So that always remains the same what hymns and what? Scriptures are read varies from week to week and is dependent upon that structure So this gospel shape Isaiah model is always the first primary Elements the consideration that that I give to the corporate worship. Secondly, I do consider the church year Particularly obviously in in in some of the more significant seasons like Christmas and Easter But other other times as well the four weeks leading up to Christmas is a time in which we We we look at the coming of Christ and all the prophecies about his first and second coming during that period of advent And then Christmas December 25th, of course, and the next 12 days the 12 days of Christmas. We celebrate the incarnation of Christ Near January 6th epiphany we celebrate the the the Magi Visiting Christ and really the revelation of Christ as the Son of God as the King And then various other elements of Christ's life that are celebrated in January and February And then and then a period of preparation for the cross and Easter in which we remember Christ's 40 days in the wilderness and his his suffering on our behalf And then of course what's considered holy week Palm Sunday his triumphal entry and then we have a cross service and and of course Easter Sunday celebrating the resurrection of Christ and then 50 days later Pentecost well ascension first the ascension of Christ and then Pentecost so these are ways to remember Christ's coming his life To focus on those aspects of the of the year and so I do look at the lectionary the revised common lectionary never do I Allow the lectionary to control me But I do consult it and if I find texts in the lectionary that correspond to the church year and fit with other considerations that I have in the service I do often choose those so I use the revised common lectionary which you can find for free online of Man if you just Google it you can find it easily, but it'll tell you what the texts are for that week And I always look at them and see is is is there a text that will fit the Revelation part of the service or the confession or the assurance of pardon and if there's something that fits those areas and Also fits in the church here, then great. I'll use it if not. I don't again I don't allow this to constrain me, but I do use it as a resource and Then third the sermon text to be preached for the week is always a consideration So I'm I'm privileged to work with with a pastor who gives me his texts well in advance And so I have a good idea of at least know the text that's going to be preached and he he gives me his Title and he also chooses the hymn of dedication following the sermon and I usually get that around Thursday But even before that I typically will take some time We'll look at the text that he's preaching I'll I use Logos Bible software or you can use any commentaries and I'll actually read some commentaries on the text and try To discern for myself what the central themes of the passage Likely are and then I will also Integrate that into into the service so again not losing the the Isaiah 6 gospel shape I'll try to choose scripture texts and hymn texts that Correspond to the gospel shape that also fit in the church here if possible again I don't let that constrain me But then that also tie in with the sermon text and it's really it's it's enjoyable to Put that puzzle together to find the texts and the hymns that will best correspond to all three of these Considerations and then there's a fourth and that is the dialogue of worship Christ said in John 4 we worship in spirit and truth We hear God's truth. That's where God speaks to us and then we respond with our spirits That's the nature of this communion that worship is it's it's it's God speaking to us and we speaking back to him And so within this gospel shape structure There is this dialogue God speaks we speak God speaks we speak God speaks we speak so that's always a consideration as I plan as well And you can see that in the in the outline here of the service the any and all of these blue categories are scripture So by definition that's God speaking These red categories are prayers Or scripture reading Assignments these yellow categories are the hymns and so it it it alternates back and forth between God speaking we speaking God speaking We speaking all throughout the context of the service So what I will do with those four considerations in mind And I'm going to show you I planned this Sunday service. So I've got the sermon text. I I already have his the pastor's title and he has chose a hymn text and then the rest of this I planned with the Isaiah 6 structure in mind We're in a we're not in a particular high season of the church year But I do still look at the lectionary texts and I was able to find some that fit with Everything else we're doing in the service The the dialogue and all of that going together. So I tried to fit everything together And I put it in this basic order tools that I use I Mentioned the revised common lectionary. So that tells me the text. I actually have this in Logos Bible software. So I usually use that Himnery.org is a significant tool that I often use what's what's really helpful is that They have a lectionary page already set up They also have some suggested hymns that fit with the lectionary text So I happen to be using a text which this week I did use Psalm 98 I can search hymnery has about every hymnal Imaginable in their index a very helpful resource and what's nice is you can sign up for a free account You can tell it which hymnal your church uses and then it will Show you which of the texts that it's suggesting based on Psalm 98 for example are In your hymnal, which is just a really really nice nice resource and you can even You can open them up and you can actually look at the page the scanned page and It's copyrighted you they'll tell you and in this case They won't show you the music because the music is copyrighted, but it's really a valuable resource So I often use this to find hymns that fit with the lectionary or you can search by scripture So I often use this one of the first things I usually do is choose the scripture texts to be read for the week The call to worship the scripture text and by in which we're called to confess our sins the scripture text in which We are assured of pardon in Christ I'll choose those texts and then I'll come here and put the text in and find Regardless of what the passage is I'll find what hymns that they've indexed that will fit there And this is just a great a great source. You can search by topic You can even expand this and search full text sometimes I'll do that if I can't find something that that that that fits just by searching text or topic I'll just look for some key words that I'm looking for and use that To find to find the hymn. So I'll then come back here. I'll plug in the text. I'll plug in the hymns to be sung for the week and I've got everything. I've got everything in order Then I have it set up. So where I have a Well, let me show you this first so I have it populated to where all of the individuals and the scripture text and the hymns are Automatically added to this import page Here I've just got some things set up in excel for that and then I have a Template set up in word. I mean this is maybe a little more specific than what some people want to do But it's it's nice for me Where I've got fields for the date the church calendar each of the scripture readings the readers, you know everything in the service As as form fields that are then connected to these fields in the service plan And then I can export it to a new document and I've got everything filled in so here you can see here's here's our Order of worship that we print out each week You can see the Isaiah 6 order is clearly identified revelation adoration confession, etc That's clear so that each week again. We're acting out the gospel and then within those categories We've got the scripture readings. We've got the hymns. We've got the prayers All of that is here. Sometimes I'll choose a hymn That's not in our hymnal and we'll print the text in the bulletin with it with a familiar tune All of that's here in in the order of worship. We all always have some sort of prayer of confession in this case I just chose to use Some of Psalm 51 This week, but one resource I often use particularly for the prayer of confession is the worship source book This is a book that you can buy in hard copy, but they also give you a CD with a PDF which makes it really great So I'll usually come here to their confession section I'll use the search field and if there's a particular theme running through the service with the sermon or with the church here I'll search for you know a particular Word and then it'll give me you know in their recommended Prayers of confession which some are scriptural some are some are not I can usually find something that both confesses our sins and ties into other elements of the service And this is a great resource all around that's got various Scripture texts and prayers and and various things to help in in planning the service so then I plug that into here and We've got the the whole service prepared And so we have a service now that again from week to week. What is always the same is the gospel shape But what varies from week to week are the particular passages and particular hymns and particular prayers within the service And those are based not only on their function within the Isaiah 6 structure But also possibly the church here the sermon text and theme and then the dialogical nature And so then I I plan this out and then I prepare a service notebook Which I give to our organist as well as we have this up on the pulpit for those who are reading scripture And I'll just plug in all I'll copy and paste all the scripture readings I can I use log us Bible software, but you could use a there are many different Websites in which you can put in a Bible text and easily copy and paste ESV Bible or Bible Gateway a lot of different resources, and then I actually paste in I've got scans of our entire hymnal I'll paste those in for the organist and for me as I lead from the pulpit I have that all there in the in the service notebook ready to go all the scripture texts are printed out all Those are all ready, and so that's available to then on Friday I email this to all of the service leaders of the week We've got in order to emphasize the fact that that worship is the people's work This is not clergy doing the worship while the people watch. No, this is all of us Worshiping together. We really place an emphasis on having as many different people as possible reading scripture praying in the service And so I email them the service on Friday. Those who are reading scripture will know the passage those who are praying What the value of this is they can look okay? What's the hymn that sung right before I pray? What's the scripture reading right before and then they can think through ahead of time their prayer And really give some thought to the function that their prayer is serving within the service and our people do a wonderful job Thinking about that and really planning What they're gonna what they're gonna say in their prayer that that corresponds to the other themes that are going on in the service So again, I don't believe that there's a prescribed liturgy in scripture But I do think that this is a wonderful way to Re-enact the gospel every week such that we as christians are Shaped by the gospel as we worship because worship is formative And unbelievers that attend our service even if the sermon is not Specifically focused on the gospel sometimes it is sometimes it's not depending on the text We typically preach through books of the bible. So the text might not be explicitly gospel But whether or not the sermon is the gospel Is on the gospel the service is evangelistic every week Anybody who is attending our church christians and non-christians alike hear the gospel Because they hear us confess our sins and they hear the gospel proclaimed forgiveness in christ proclaimed For those who put their faith and trust in him So it's a powerful way to both shape christians and to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers