Just, oh, this is just a great conversation to you all, and it is a joy to be together.
! It is a joy to be together.
As I have attended various conferences and gatherings at different churches,
! I have noticed that sometimes a church can be saying the right things, doing the right things, studying the right things.
But it's all the stuff in between those things that's not so thought through.
The transitions, the pieces that tie things together.
So I remember one time having a conference where this powerful message was preached on God's holiness,
and someone came up right after work and said, okay, lunch is going to be over there, and we're going to sit down there.
You could have heard a pain drop at the end of that message.
And there just seemed to be no awareness of what we had just done.
Sometimes on a Sunday morning, you know, it's all at the end of ten seconds of just awkward silence,
as no one's part of what's going on, and everybody's just kind of like,
maybe it's the charplay, they just kind of get their cake rolling.
Or it could be a reflective prayer, so follow me.
We do all the steps to the end of the name of Jesus.
One, two, three, five, six, five!
You could probably follow up on that just a little more carefully.
Or sometimes, you know, it's the leader just trying to feel that awkwardness and just kind of gushing a prayer filled with a lot of fish and cliches and not really thinking about it.
Just kind of saying things that don't really serve anybody except to fill that space.
And there's sometimes transitions take so long and you're thinking this isn't a transition, this is a sermon.
Maybe we move the sermon up to, you know, we didn't.
No, it is a transition.
It's just a 10-minute transition.
So they're hard.
Transitions are hard.
And, you know, I know we serve in different roles in the churches.
So if you're a pastor or aspiring pastor, this would definitely be something you should be thinking about.
If you are a musician or a member of the congregation, this will be a topic that will award you the fact that things should be making sense.
When we gather, things should be making sense.
And the way they make sense is by giving attention to transitions.
Or what I've entitled this message is Minding the Gap.
Which is from the UK.
You know, that's what we're hearing.
We're supposed to talk about the two.
That's not here anymore.
Minding the Gap.
And of course I'm hearing that.
Gap, okay.
This is the gap between the two of the platform.
Just like, be careful.
Watch.
Watch out what you're doing right there.
So this is Minding the Gap.
Making the most of transitions.
So we're going to get to very practical things.
But I hope at the end it will serve you as you think about how our meetings are put together.
If you Google transitions in worship services, by far the primary focus is on musical transitions.
In fact, I gave a message to this talk about 18 years ago.
And did Google exist?
I think it did.
But there wasn't anything in terms of spoken transitions.
It was all musical.
How to keep the emotional momentum of the being gone.
How to keep from doing anything in charge of worship atmosphere.
Which I always think is funny.
Worship atmosphere.
What are we looking for?
How to create a cohesive musical experience in our church.
Last night, if you weren't here, we looked at an overview of things that God values in our gatherings.
And in this session, we want to develop our thoughts on how to connect those different desires.
How to connect those different parts of our being.
Here's the question we're going to take the answer.
How can we connect the elements of our gatherings in ways that serve God's people and edify the church?
How can we connect the elements of our gatherings in ways that serve God's people, purpose, sorry, and edify the church?
How can we connect the church?
How can we connect the transitions important?
We'll give you three reasons.
First, God prioritizes understanding and edification in our gatherings.
Understanding and edification.
So in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says,
So with yourselves, since you are eating for manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.
And he says that, remember, after he uses the illustration of a trumpet making a sound that's not clear.
And no one getting ready for battle because they don't understand it.
So we want people to understand what's taking place in our meetings.
We're not responsible simply to see that things happen.
That's one part of it.
You want to pay attention to that part.
But we're also responsible to make sure that those things build up the church.
And for that to take place, they need to be understood.
And sometimes we assume people know more than we do.
We assume they're taking in more than they know they say they're getting why we do what we do.
And this especially applies to unbelief to guests, but they can apply to members of your church.
They just come week after week and they just do it.
Why?
Well, because you're leading it that way.
You just do it.
But they're not really understanding why you're doing it.
And worse than that, sometimes you don't understand why you're doing it.
You know, you've inherited this church and you've moved a church.
And again, we've just always done it that way.
That's just a horrible way to do things.
But that's the only reason.
We've just done it.
We've been doing that work for like, God, two years now.
Two years.
Like, the church is like 2,000 years old.
And so it's okay.
Like, we've been doing it.
We've been doing it.
Sometimes we put things together.
But we just don't give a lot of thought to it.
And God wants people to understand it.
We have fun.
Another reason transitions are important is intentional transitions increase people's participation and engagement.
You could just say they increase people's engagement.
We don't gather the church to watch a show or to watch a concert.
We're God's people gathering in God's presence to receive God's word, to revel in the gospel of Christ, and to respond in the power of the Spirit.
That's something we're all doing together.
Everyone's involved.
At least everyone's supposed to be involved.
And Paul is often making references to that.
You know, he writes to the leaders as well as the churches.
He's aware that everybody has a part to play.
So when he's talking about the church in Ephesians 4, verse 15, he says,
And then three, our services aren't actually random events, but a retelling of the story of God and what he's done for us in Christ Jesus.
There is a story that we gather to hear.
And for centuries, liturgies have helped God's people understand the story of God's glory, the fall, the redemption in Christ that we've received,
how to live in response to that, and our future hope.
Now, whatever liturgy you choose to do, how to be formal or informal, strict, loose, historically good in the modern,
we're responsible to help people understand how the different parts fit together.
It's kind of the difference between focusing on the containers in our meeting and the content of those containers.
So our pantry has new plastic containers sitting next to each other on the shelves.
And we arrange them not so much by order of what they contain as size and do they fit together.
And, you know, that's, that's, so we can move them around and make things fit.
But if I am making something and following a recipe, it would be really important what's in those containers.
And it would be really important what order I use them in.
Well, in a similar way, when we gather as God's people, you don't just stick a bunch of containers next to each other.
Here's a prayer.
Here's a song.
Now, sometimes we use templates for reading them.
Here's a prayer.
Here's a call to worship.
Who's due in the call to worship?
And we use that prayer to help.
Who's due in that call to worship?
Do you know what a call to worship is?
Like, do we, do we help people occasionally understand?
Like, this isn't just, well, this is what we've been doing.
This is what this church does to start a program.
It's, it's the eternal God calling these people gathered in these presence to glory in Christ,
to be here from them, to be experienced the gifts of the Spirit in all the beauty and diversity,
to be strengthened, edified, built into each other, built into Christ.
That's what we're calling people to.
You don't just do the call to worship.
You call people to gather worship.
That's what you're doing.
That's a different way of looking at it.
Well, that's throwing attention to the content and not just putting a continuum out there.
So our liturgies aren't so much a performance for God and each other as a witness to God's Word
and the grace they've shown us in Christ.
And when we think about what we do and say between parts of the meeting,
it can help people grasp the meaning of the story.
It can help them understand.
This stuff really fits together.
It's not just a prayer.
What's a prayer?
We did the prayer.
Who did the prayer?
Who did the singing?
Well, that helps a little bit, but it really doesn't communicate what we're actually doing.
And these transitions, wisely met, they're an opportunity to shepherd people theologically
through the elements of our government.
Even if it was.
It's the difference between saying, let's sing this next song together.
Or let's sing hymn number 123.
Okay, that's a transition.
Not a great transition.
But it is a transition.
Versus something like this.
You know, as we prepare to sing this song, let's rejoice in reality.
At the end of the day, no political party, no amount of money, no educational degree,
no technological marvel can sustain our hope like Jesus Christ can.
Because only he has died for our sins, risen from the dead,
and is one day returning for those redeemed to live with them.
What is our hope in life and death?
I should have asked, do you know what song I'm introducing?
Christ alone.
Like, when, and not for every song, but when I introduce a song,
when we introduce a song, we want to get people ready to sing that song.
We want to give them a springboard from which they can launch in that song
and not expect the song to do all the work.
I mean, we can, and that's fine, and the most great thing is that.
But are we missing out on something?
Is there something we could do better?
I think there is.
And I see the effect of this as I visit churches,
as we've grown in this in our own church.
Wow.
When there's a helpful transition,
it really makes what we're about to do so much more meaningful,
so much more helpful.
Now, transitions won't make or break your meetings for going in
and won't keep the Holy Spirit from moving.
I mean, the Holy Spirit's been working in your church already,
hopefully, for years.
God doesn't need our explanations.
He doesn't need our musical transitions
to get his work done.
But they can provide another means
by which the Holy Spirit can open our hearts
to the story and the meaning of the gospel.
In other words, minding the gaps
can lead to a greater awareness
of who God is and how he's at work
and the lives of those people.
So that's where it is important.
So who's responsible?
Well, anyone who stands in front of a church
and says something, they're responsible.
They're doing a transition.
They could do a transition.
The pastor, the individual leading the music,
someone who stands up to say something,
some churches have an emissary or a host
who runs like a thing,
some churches are little,
but we have eight elder pastors,
and different ones of us will handle those traditions.
I'll plan the liturgy with some other guys,
and we will try to use, you know,
at least three or four of those pastors in every meeting.
And we've talked about being aware
of what comes before us and what comes after us.
So here's the thing.
Here's one of the drawbacks of not getting attention to this.
When you're not aware that you're a transition
and not like the main thing,
you'd be tempted to think,
well, I've got to say anything.
I'm going to include the hot, you know,
the entire story of creation for all the things you can do.
And, you know, I've got to apply,
I've got to do applications,
do applications for it.
And if there's an announcement that I might need to make in that,
I need to do that too.
It just becomes out of proportion to what it should be.
So it's just giving thought to, you know,
what is it just to be doing?
And what are we about to do?
So we're going to talk about this in two sections.
The first is spoken transitions.
And then for, how many musicians do we have?
Okay, good.
Then we're going to talk about musical transitions.
When people talk about the flow of the meeting,
again, not disrupting the flow, the seamless flow.
In most cases, people are talking about the meeting.
They're saying, you know,
we've just got to make sure that everything's okay.
We've got to be used and clean.
We've got to pass.
We've got to sing.
You know, whatever it is.
It's time to get it.
We'll get to some of that.
Right now, I want to make the case
that the flow of our words,
is more important than the flow of our music.
It is more important.
The flow of our words is more important
than the flow of our music.
Rather than creating a sense of the flow,
words actually bring clarity.
They actually bring definition and cohesiveness
to what we're doing and hearing.
They connect the containers
in a way that we're to see the country.
So I want to give just a few guidelines
that have been helpful to me over the years
that I've learned from others,
seeing others,
and just experienced through my own failures.
So the first is that God spoke first,
and his words outlast us.
So if we're going to do a transition,
just remember,
God spoke first,
his words outlast us.
Hebrews 4.12,
for the word of God is living in the back
of the shelf,
as it is through a sword,
piercing to the division of soul
and of spirit,
of joints and of marrow,
and discerning the thoughts
and intentions of the heart.
God's word gets its word done.
So start your planning with God's word
rather than just elements.
Whether that be the message
that's going to be preached,
or as we do,
we start with the call to worship
built on the message from previous one.
That's how we begin our meeting.
Just think,
what was spoken last week
that we want to respond to
in some way
with this call to worship?
I, for years,
planned the meeting
just by planning five songs.
Just pick the songs.
I think I shared this last night.
Just five songs.
It wasn't until 13 years ago
when we started having
the call to worship
where I thought,
you know what,
we're going to get the word of God first,
then we're going to get the song.
Because we don't even know
what we want to sing
until we hear that call to worship.
God's calling us to worship
for a specific reason.
Well, let's sing about that reason.
And I'm conscious now
of including the word of God
as we sing.
That it's not just,
you know,
something to find,
well,
we can sing these songs.
Can we find a scripture
to go in there somewhere?
These things,
they mean something.
They're meant to feed off each other.
It's scripture
that anchors our affections,
that provides doctrinal fuel
for our emotional fire.
It's not just singing
a bunch of songs in a row.
It's asking,
why are we singing this again?
Oh yeah,
because God has said this.
One of the things
that I've sought to,
one of the ways
to start to communicate
the authority of God's word
and the importance
of God's word
is just whenever
I'm leading,
I want to have a Bible
on my piano.
So whether I actually
use it or not,
I just want people
to know,
this is not like,
we're not making this up.
We're sitting under
the authority
of God's word.
And if you have opportunity
to read a scripture,
read it from a Bible.
I'm looking for you
to read it from a Bible,
not from a phone.
Not a sin.
It's not immoral.
It's just,
I didn't know,
a pastor one time
in the church
where the senior pastor
had fallen,
he descended,
he became a pastor
and he said,
he started reading
the Bible
from a real Bible
because he thought
it provided a sense
of security
and confidence
and trust in people.
Because for years,
the pastor and he
had read the Bible
from the phone.
And I said to him,
why, like,
why do you have to wait
for a crisis
to do that?
Like, don't we want
always to build
people's confidence
in the word of God?
In the truth of God?
In, you know,
this, this does
a lot of things.
This does one thing.
You know,
it's,
God speaks to us.
All kinds of things
speak to us here.
So it's just
a little thing,
but over time
it can have
a big impact.
Don't read
a scripture
casually
or quickly.
It's okay.
We have time.
We can read
slowly,
purposefully.
If you're going
to make a point
in what you're saying,
make God's word
the point
and not what you're saying.
Sometimes people
read a scripture
and they'll say something
that's like totally
underlayed
and do what they just read.
Or they won't refer
to what they just read.
Repeat some of
what you just read
because I guarantee you,
first time you read
the scripture,
half the people
weren't ready.
So just remind them.
We just read this.
We're just so dull.
Do you realize
how dull we are?
When I'm sitting
on that side,
I realize how dull I am.
Like a scripture
we read
and then it's over.
Oh my gosh.
It's done.
So I really appreciate
what someone said.
As we just read.
Yes, okay.
Yes, what was it again?
That's right.
Amen.
I'm with you.
Just trying to help people.
Okay.
Remember Aristotle's
rules.
Point number two.
Remember Aristotle's
rules of record.
You probably didn't
expect to hear that.
Years ago,
I learned that
when Aristotle
was communicating,
how can we be
an effective speaker?
Many of you
would know that.
Three things are needed.
Logos, ethos,
and pathos.
That's what we're talking about.
Logos, ethos,
what happened.
Logos is the truth
of what you're saying.
You're saying,
what I'm saying is true.
That's the first part.
Make sure
what you're saying
is true.
It's based
in God's word.
It's not your opinion.
It's not your feelings.
It's not your perspective
and your longings
or irritations,
your concerns.
It's God's
eternal,
inerrant,
sufficient word.
It's the truth.
John 8,
31 and 32,
Jesus said,
if you abide
in my word,
you are truly
my death.
And you will
know the truth
and the truth
will set you free.
We're called
to be stewards
of God's word.
We're not innovators,
we're not comedians,
we're not philosophers,
we're not influencers,
we're stewards.
As Paul says
in the first
Corinthians 4,
this is how
one should be regarded
not as amazing
influencers,
as servants of Christ
and stewards
of the mysteries
of God,
which is the gospel.
So that's log off.
What I'm saying
is true.
Second,
ethos,
the character
of the speaker,
and this is saying
you should believe me.
What I'm saying
is true.
You should believe me.
Look at what Paul says
in 1 Thessalonians 2,
starting to verse 5,
he says,
we never came
with words of flattery,
as you know,
or with a pretext
to greed.
God is wicked,
nor did we seek
glory from people.
Oh, man,
does that speak
to our age?
We didn't seek
glory from people,
whether from you
or from others,
though we could have
made demands
as apostles of Christ,
but we were
gentle in the morning,
like a nursing mother
taking care of our
women's children.
What a beautiful picture.
He just calls it in.
You should believe this.
We're trustworthy.
The qualities that
can communicate
that believability
are naturalness,
sincerity,
a history,
a relationship
with who you're
speaking with,
transparency,
and see,
just looking out
at people,
all that communicates
that is,
yeah,
you should believe me.
Looking at people
versus your notes.
So if I'm giving you
this message like this,
for we never came
with words of flattery,
qualities that can
affect ethos
are sincerity,
naturalness,
history of relationship,
transparency,
engagement,
looking at people
versus your notes,
varying at people
versus fine to me,
relaxed versus stiff.
It's just not
unbelievable.
You know,
it's all the same words,
but I want you
to believe me.
So that's ethos.
And then,
that's just a
thing about my ethos.
Sometimes we get
a lot of thinking
to reading us
because we want
to say it's true.
Right?
So you write out
in advance,
I'm sure this is true.
But then you read it
in a way that
it's hard to believe
that it's true.
Because you just
don't sound
very sincere about it.
So,
what I'm saying
is true,
you should believe me,
and then that's
pathos,
the effect
on the listener.
What I'm saying
matters.
That's pathos.
Acts 17,
verses 2 and 3.
Paul didn't
decide the truth.
He didn't just
say it
the way
it was believable.
He sought
to impress
the relevance
on his listeners.
Acts 17,
2.
And Paul went in,
it was his custom,
and on three
Saturdays.
He reasoned
with them
from the scripture,
explaining and
proving that it
was necessary
for the Christ
to suffer and
rise from the
dead.
And saying,
this Jesus,
whom I proclaim
to you,
is the Christ.
He's not just
reading from
the document.
He wanted
them to believe
it.
When you
stand up
in front of
people,
in the gathering
of the church,
you want them
to believe it,
and believe
that it matters.
D.A. Carson
said,
it's not
arrogant
to represent
as forcefully
as we can
God's gospel.
It is simply
faithful stewardship.
To present
as forcefully
as we can.
Now,
obviously,
some of these
are going to
require more
attention to this
than others.
If you're just
making the announcement
about the chili
cook-off next Sunday,
it may not be
the time to kick in.
It doesn't matter!
You must be
at the chili
cook-off!
Okay,
hold it back
a while.
If it's
something more
important,
you want to
say it in a
way,
the Greek
is to be
better.
This really
does matter
for your
life.
It really
does.
All right,
number three.
Behold the
beauty of
brevity.
Number four.
Paul,
that was
David
Powell
in his book
called
Good and
Anger.
I didn't
read that.
Good and
Anger.
Oh,
it's so
great.
Chapter
two.
Do you
have a
serious
problem
with
anger?
Yes.
Chapter
three.
It's
one page
and it
comes
in front
of the
back.
I thought
that
it's
brevity.
I'm not
good at that.
Behold the
beauty of
brevity.
It's a good
name.
I couldn't
recommend that
book highly
long.
It's
everything
is weird.
All right,
say what you
need to say.
And here's what's
helped me over
the years and
seen it in
others.
One thought,
one contrast,
one scripture,
one application.
One thought,
one contrast,
one scripture,
one application.
this is the
way the writer of
Hebrews makes
his case.
Hebrews 4,
14 through
16.
It's just,
it's so
instructive.
Since then,
we have a
great high
priest who
has passed
from the
heavens.
Now he's
saying since
then,
because at
the end of
chapter two,
he was talking
about Jesus
being a high
priest.
And then in
chapter three,
and the beginning
of chapter four,
he goes with a
little bit of
an explanation
of that.
Can we get
it over there?
Yep.
Excellent.
So he talks
about the
oath that God
has made,
the final
salvation,
Jesus being
greater than
Moses,
how God's
people have
a rest,
have a rest
in Christ,
and then he's
continuing the
thought.
Since then,
we have a
great high
priest who's
passed through
the heavens,
Jesus the
son of God,
so that's the
thought.
That's the
thought.
We know,
we have a
great high
priest.
We just
talked about
it.
He's just
saying that's
the fault.
He's sealing
the line
to what he
has said.
Now then he
says,
let us hold
fast our
confession,
which he's
making an
application right
here,
but we're
going to
skip over
that for
now.
What he
does next
is the
highlight,
the contrast,
for we do
great high
priest who
is unable
to sympathize
with our
God.
Now
isn't that
helpful?
So if
he just
left it
at,
we have a
great high
priest who
has passed
through the
heavens,
so let us
draw near to
the throne
of grace.
He could have
said that,
but he
did it.
He inserted
what we
might be
tempted to
think about
our great
high priest.
How could
this great
high priest,
one who's
unstate,
innocent,
undefined,
how could
he know
that?
This is
under
reminding me.
We do
not have a
high priest
who's unable
to sympathize
with our
weaknesses,
but one
who in
every respect
has been
tempted as
we are,
yet without
sin.
That's the
scripture part,
and it is
scripture,
so he
can't refer
to scripture,
he's writing
scripture,
so that's
where scripture
comes in.
Then the
application.
Let us
then,
with confidence,
draw near to
the throne of
grace,
and we will
receive mercy
and find grace
to help in
time of need.
Oh,
we can't
come.
So we have
this truth,
you repeat
it,
you hide
it in
contrast with
it,
then you
tell the
scripture,
it confirms
what's really
true,
and then
you say,
this is what
we should
do in
response.
So,
in our
context,
it could be
after singing
a song like,
all
who's
our God
and
King,
let all
things that
create
are blessed,
and worship
him in
humbleness.
We're
finishing the
song,
and you
want to make
transition to
the next
song,
which is,
he who
is mighty,
oh,
the mercy
of God
is strong,
or could
be his
mercy is
more,
his mercy
is more,
let's do that.
So you go,
we just say,
love the things
that create a
blessed,
and worship
in a
humbleness.
You know,
so often,
we worship
that not in
humbleness,
but in
time,
thinking we're
somehow earning
points for our
devotion,
or our
passion,
or even
our
attendance,
hey,
we showed
up.
You know,
but because
we sinned
against the
holy God
and need
mercy,
the only way
that we
really approach
God is
humbling.
That's the
only way we
can come to
heaven.
Listen to
how Paul
reminds Titus
and us
of that fact
in Titus 3,
verse 4.
When the
goodness and
loving kindness
of God our
Savior appeared,
he saved us,
not because of
works done by
us in
righteousness,
but according
to his
own
mercy.
Isn't that
amazing?
Isn't that
really easy?
Doesn't that
lift the
burden of
all of us?
Let's rejoice
in the abundance
of mercy that
God has provided
for us in
Christ as we
sing it
in that song.
Praise the
Lord,
his mercy
is more.
So I'm just
tying those
things together
so it's not
just like,
here's a song,
hey,
here's something
I'm talking
about,
hey,
here's another
song.
I just
want to
bring those
together,
but I want
to do it
briefly.
So behold
the beauty
of liberty.
If I don't
think about
that in
advance,
I'm going to
take five
sentences for
the first
part,
ten sentences
for the last
part,
look for the
scripture somewhere,
and then ten
sentences for the
advocate.
It's just going
to get really
wrong,
but that just
helps me
just say,
ah,
here's what
went.
Get it.
number four,
don't
underestimate
the value
of
preparation.
Yeah,
kind of
just what
else we're
thinking.
It can
take,
for two
minutes of
speaking,
it can
take an
hour of
preparations.
I forget
what the
question it
was,
but they
said,
how long
do you need
to prepare
to speak
on this
topic?
And he
said,
well,
if you
want me
to give
a ten
minute song
read,
it'll tell
you about
a week.
If you
want me
to,
I think
it was
two
minutes,
ten minutes
somewhere
you got
in a
couple
day.
If you
want to
give me
an hour,
I can
start
talking
right now.
And that's
how he
can do it.
Just let
me go.
I'll just
say everything
I know
about this
topic.
It's
hard to
say something
that is
true,
that is
believable,
and that
matters in
a brief
amount of
time without
thinking
having to
say it.
You should
appreciate the
fact that I've
reviewed these
notes.
And we're not
just talking
off the
cup.
I do go
off the
cup at
times,
but I prepare
the message in
such a way
that it's
not like a
whole message
plus the
extra stuff
that I put
in there.
It can be
helpful right
now when you
play this
thing.
say, for
years, I've
worked with
C.J.
Mahaney, and
he's taught
me more than
anyone about
what I do,
about how to
do what I
do, and
that is a
way that
pleases the
Lord and
encourages God's
people.
But he said
to me years
ago, and
then he said
to me just a
few years ago,
I can tell the
difference between
when you plan to
say something
and when you
don't.
I didn't
ask him for
clarification.
I knew it.
Because I knew
it.
I knew it.
When I thought,
oh, I'm going
to make that
transition here.
Don't do this
anymore.
I'm going to
make that
transition.
I knew it.
And you get
there, and you
just start
talking.
And either
it's confusing,
or it's wrong,
or it's boring,
or it doesn't
make sense, or
you say the
same thing
four times.
There's all
kinds of ways
you could go
wrong.
So what I
found helpful is
to do this on
a page, you
know, 24-point
aerial, how to
fit on that
page.
Now I use
word count,
because I use
everything.
And it's
generally about
100 words a
minute.
That's what I
do.
But I know
that it's
up.
So testimony,
100-word
testimony, it's
going to take
five minutes.
So we, yeah,
we're trying to
end up according
to that.
So yeah, just
know how long
it takes your
six-step, and
what you're
trying to go
for.
Because we
can so often
give ourselves
slack on this,
and then the
meetings just
expand to this
unwieldy amount
of time, because
we just haven't
given the
thought to a
good dance.
But don't
read it.
If you write
it, don't
read it.
I found it
helpful just
to use
sentences,
separate it,
rather than
paragraphs.
If you use a
paragraph to
read something,
a paragraph,
you're trying to
find where you
are going to be
better.
Sentences you
can just go
from one to
the other.
It makes
your nose
longer, but
it's, I'm
not, I'm
not a lot
of that.
It doesn't, I'm
not killing
any trees.
It helps me
look up and
look down,
because I'm
not going to
find myself,
find my
perfect page.
don't assume
the value of
preparation.
Number five,
don't assume
every space
must be
built.
While there's
no rule that
says you can't
say something
between everything,
it's really not
a good idea.
You only need
a road sign
on your turn.
You only need
signs saying
it's not like
Bucky's sign.
Do you have
Bucky's up here?
Is Bucky's
really up here?
No.
Some sort.
When you get
south,
they put signs
every few miles.
Hey, Bucky's
90 miles away,
80 miles away,
7 miles away.
It's just
unbelievable
the money
they put into
that.
It's just
a glorified
gas station
stop.
But it is,
it's huge.
It is an
experience in
itself.
That's one of
those awful
walls.
I should have
included.
You only need
a road sign
when you
turn.
Don't assume
everything needs
an introduction
or transition,
especially if
someone else
has spoken.
So, for instance,
after a message,
generally what
I'll say is,
let's stand
together.
And then we'll
see this one.
Occasionally
they'll have a
reason to say
something,
but if
he's just
talking for
four or five
minutes,
we should
have an idea
of why we're
going to sing
a song.
So, if it's
the right song,
we're just
singing the
song.
Plans, you
don't have to
sing too
much.
You can
think about
the ending
and beginning
of songs
and prayers
and scriptures.
It's not
always definitively
helpful.
So, if
you're saying,
how long
time is my
savior's love
for me,
here is love
that dies
the head.
The end of
one song
just goes
beautifully
in the beginning
of the next
song.
Okay,
number six,
don't assume
you have to
play your
instrument while
you're speaking.
you have to
read the
one instrument
don't assume
you just
have to
noodle
aimlessly
behind,
you know,
as you're
talking to
people
and just
kind of
keep playing
stuff
because
I don't
know,
actually,
because it's
just,
you have to
play stuff
under your
speaking.
but it's
just kind
of annoying
actually.
When you're
just kind
of
noodle
and it's
just,
I see
people do it
again and
again,
so that's
why I'm
saying that.
Don't feel
like you
have to
play the
minute.
Number seven,
consider the
beginning and
end to
believe in
these
transitions.
From daily
life,
from encounter
God together,
that's the
call of
worship.
You do
this life
out there,
and now
you're
worshiping
God,
scatter,
now we're
worshiping
God together.
So let's
take that
into account
at the
beginning,
and then
as a
benediction
at the
end,
we're
going
from
the
gathering
worship
of the
church
to the
scattered
worship
of the
church.
Let's
talk about
what we're
sending
people out.
So I
just want
to take a
few minutes
here to,
let's
go for
transitions,
music
transitions,
talk about
what should
we say,
what should
we play,
you don't
want to spend
a lot of
time on
this.
Let me
just say
that they
can be
helpful,
they're not
crucial.
Here's some
of the
benefits.
They can
minimize
distractions
between
elements,
they can
set the
emotional tone
of what
you've just
done,
what was
just said,
at the end
of our
meeting,
I'll
definitely
play
whatever
song
we
just
finish
with,
just
kind
of
like
it's
a
buffer
before
you
put
music
over
the
speakers.
It just
keeps people
remembering
what we
just did.
It can
kind of
reflect
like a
sail-off.
It can
complement
the emotional
tone of
what's
being
spoken.
so if
we're,
you know,
if we're,
if it's
something
reverent,
you're
praying,
you play
something
that's
reverent,
not
listening.
It can
amplify
or complement
the tone
of what's
being
done.
It can
be
changing
speakers
without
being
left
awkward.
So when
someone's
walking up
to the
platform,
I,
no,
I just
want to
finish the
song.
I,
rather than
just
echo
space,
someone's
coming up
to pray.
I'm not
creating a
song,
I'm not
making a
melody,
I mean,
I'm not
creating
ongoing
things,
it's just,
we're just
here,
we're just
waiting,
going to
do it.
So that's
how musical
transitions
can be
helpful.
They can
be done
with a
synth pad,
most commonly
done.
You can
play the
intro,
the
outro,
a song
you've just
done.
You can
play just
a harmonic
progression
that's
unrelated
to what
you've
done,
so
just
a
one
or
four,
just a
D,
and a
D sub,
just a
D,
and a
D sub,
and you're
not,
you're not
going on
a,
It could be dross.
That will sometimes start.
Sometimes will start a song with dross.
Yeah, key or temporal saying, you don't need transition.
Back in the 70s, we do all these songs.
What am I to God we serve?
Our Lord God, God was made by heaven.
And He provided by great power.
No hope and joy of God.
I am higher.
Grace is a picture for me.
I am.
It's really.
I'm not heard of that.
It's a very good.
It's really good.
It wasn't like we were really getting ready to sing songs.
It was just, hey, we can do all these songs together.
So we'll just say, that could be really overrated.
Hey, it's the same tempestate, you're keen.
Sometimes we'll say, well, are the songs the same key?
It could be great if they're in the same key, but they don't have to be the same key.
You know what?
You can just finish a song and then start another song.
Just start the song and then finish.
It's really hard.
Draw back a musical tribute.
So, yeah, just don't give so much time to do rehearsal where you're practicing these transitions and thinking, oh, we've got to make this, you know, beautiful transition.
That people are more conscious of the transition.
And everybody in the congregation, you know, they're in this cool transition.
No, I'm saying not Jesus.
No, I'm saying not what we're saying about.
It's just this transition.
It's so cool.
You know, just stop the song, you know, and then the drawbacks of music transitions.
They convince people to think that music is the same thing as the Holy Spirit.
We're involved with years ago, folks.
Why?
A synthesizer isn't the Holy Spirit.
It was the most read ballpost I ever heard.
Not because everyone's just jumping on the bandwagon and encouraging.
Yeah.
Because there's a lot of pushback on that.
That was true from my point.
It can lead people to think that God needs music to act or to speak or to show up.
I know this quote from the whole best, music to the other day.
Christian musicians must be particularly cautious.
They can create impressions of God as more precious than you can be made and when it is not.
It works as more possible with the music for the God.
Let God not possibly depend on the standards.
We need to be cautious about that.
It can create distractions.
You know, when someone's playing a song behind the speaker, you think about the song when you're listening to the speaker.
Okay, sometimes it's too loud or too busy.
Those good things.
So guidelines.
If you're in charge of a musical transition, be willing to evaluate what you do.
Encourage your musicians to pay attention to what's being said.
We, every Sunday morning, we'll take our musicians after we've gathered and we'll talk through the whole meeting.
We do that here.
Talk through the whole meeting.
This is what we're saying.
This is this scripture we're saying we're going through.
This is why we're doing what we're doing.
That's so that we're more mindful of the content that we're using.
Think creatively.
Rather than creating the simple, rather than creating the complex for transitions.
Vary transitions.
You know, like I said, you don't have to have the musical transition.
And then some other transitions that we can consider congregational.
We've done this here where the transition from one song to another is he does.
It's just people singing.
Isn't that a glorious thing?
Again, not just because of the sound, but because of who sings.
We, the Holy Spirit, is producing these sounds from our hearts that are magnifying hearts and encouraging each other.
That could be a way of getting one place to another.
Clapping.
Although you guys saw the gross stuff in that and you are.
We're not clapping.
We don't clap in a meeting because, man, everything's just been so great up here.
Clapping is a biblical form of expression.
It's a form of celebration.
It's a form of joy.
It's also a form of trying.
Or just being an enemy.
So all those reasons, that time, when you sung, you know, here in the power of Christ I stand.
You know, no power of hell, no scheme of man can never pluck me from his hand.
Till he returns and calls me home.
Here in the power of Christ I stand.
Yes, I do.
Yes, we do stand in the power of Christ.
Yes, we are happy about that.
We are so glad.
And we give up clapping to things that are so worthless.
So time-borne, so irrelevant and unimportant.
So I'm a big proponent of, at the appropriate time, a congregation being so amazed by the things we're singing.
Sometimes, after the scripture reading, I'm just like, I love it.
You don't want to be like, hey, what are you doing?
No, no affection, no, just show reverence, okay?
You know, what's the verse that you hear?
I thought I was consuming fine.
I want to consume you.
Can you hold the reverence?
It is, there can be a reverence.
Rejoice for a friend.
So that's the time to that point.
All right.
Spontaneous.
You can do spontaneous transitions.
We've done some of those here.
C.J. said to the event, the Holy Spirit helps us plan, but our plans are not the Holy Spirit.
Just good to remember that.
When we think the Holy Spirit helps us plan, but doesn't actually help us during the meeting,
we're disregarding scriptural testimony found in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.
We're not only that we're missing pastoral opportunities and potentially developing a liturgical part, which is, we are so proud that we're doing everything right.
We're not.
We don't want to turn into a liturgical part.
None of the dishes are racist.
We don't want to do these racist.
It's good to have a good energy.
It's good to have a strong energy.
But we don't want that to ever get in the way.
You know, we might change things here
because it seems that something's different.
Silence can be a transition.
Just letting things,
I read when your teacher said that
complete silence can be jarring
to the atmosphere of worship.
I said, what's on the back of 220?
The Lord is in his holy temple
that all the earth keeps silence before him.
I'm just going to draw a worship atmosphere.
Well, maybe.
But I'm going to think so.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
It's just a time of reflection.
And then prayer can serve as a transition.
Let me just say this.
Don't let prayer become a filler.
And use longer prayers can use an introduction.
Can benefit from an introduction.
Something like this.
You know, so we've just sung the song with the line
about all the enemies were fighting
those without it and those within them.
It's a word that you feel the world's broken.
So we just say this song.
You feel the world's broken.
You know, it is broken.
We know what's coming.
But it's broken.
So in the meantime, God has invited us to pray
to bring a request to this song.
So we're going to do that.
So just tie it together in a similar way.
Root your prayers in God's promises,
not simply our responses.
So that's about it.
Each Sunday we have these opportunities
to help people understand
how all this is fitting together.
So it's one thing to determine what we're going to do,
but we can't really create that
until we understand why it's fitting together.
So if you're the one who's planning,
let's get attention to that.
And if you're the one who's following,
let's, the following is a message,
let's try and figure out how all these things fit together.
It will so encourage other people.
It will so edify them.
And it will bring glory to God.
Father, we're going to go to lunch from here.
And we'll see what we want.
Is this to make any sense?
Yeah.
This is an area,
there's just not a lot out there on,
but it's so,
it can be so hot.
So Father, we pray,
we ask that you would help us,
as planners,
give thought to how we put things together
and why we put things together
and how we explain that they're together,
the word that they are.
And we pray that you'd help us to do that
with humility,
with diligence,
with skill,
in a way that truly encourages the churches who serve.
Lord Mayor, churches see a difference.
They start to realize,
not that we're just saying a lot more,
but that things make a lot more sense.
That's our prayer,
that Jesus might be glorified,
that we might be drawn to know Him better,
love Him more,
and pray Him,
and follow us.
And we thank you,
we thank you for this food
that we're about to receive.
It is a gift from you,
as is everything,
every good and perfect gift.
So we thank you for it,
and we enjoy it for your glory.
And we've got our fine patients,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.