Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources
"When Racial Justice Meets Spiritual Practices" from Following Jesus Together (Spotify | iTunes | Google Play)
Generous Justice by Tim Keller
Social Justice, Critical Theory, and Christianity by Neil Shenvi
Sermon by Michael Bailey for July 26, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 9:1-2
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
Let’s sing of the greatness of our God with thankfulness in our hearts for what He’s done.
Take a minute to sit in silence and reflect on the past week. What can you praise God for in the midst of this season?
After a few moments, if you are participating with others, ask specific people to share what came to mind.
After sharing, have someone pray, or read this aloud:
Father, thank you for how you continue to provide and show up in the mess of this life. Help us always remember your provision and the depth of your love for us. Father you are all we need, you are everything.
Pray: Have someone pray this aloud
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may hear your Word with joy. Amen.
Have someone pray this aloud to close:
Help us, Lord, that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts, and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources
Following Jesus Together the Podcast (iTunes | Spotify | Google Play)
Christ and Culture by Richard Niebuhr
Christ and Culture Revisited by D.A. Carson
Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel by Russell Moore
Sermon by Jake Blair for July 19, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 103:1-5
Praise the Lord, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Let us sing this morning remembering God’s grace and goodness.
Read this aloud:
Hebrews 3 says: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
After this next song we’re going to take a couple of minutes to encourage those with you. How have you seen Jesus working in someone’s life recently? During this next song think of at least one way you can encourage someone in your life.
Now, take some time to text them, and tell them why you’re thankful for them. If you have others in the room with you (physically or virtually), pray for specific ways you can encourage them.
Pray: Father God, you have spoken to us through your Son. Let your written Word now be spoken and heard by each of us. Give us ears to hear and hearts to understand. Amen.
Father God, help us to remember that You are alive today and active wherever we find ourselves. Remind us of the good news and reality of the Gospel. Amen.
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined by Midtown Lexington pastor Brandon Clements as we start our new teaching series.
Questions? Send us an email.
Sermon by Brandon Clements for July 12, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Have someone read this aloud:
Psalm 13:1-4
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,
agony in my mind every day?
How long will my enemy dominate me?
Consider me and answer, Lord my God.
Restore brightness to my eyes;
otherwise, I will sleep in death.
My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”
and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
The world is broken. Things are not the way they should be, and we can talk to God about that. In Psalm 13, David is reckoning with how things are broken in his life, and he brings those things honestly to God. Following in David’s form, let’s take a couple minutes to lament in prayer to God the things that we’re sad, angry, or confused about.
(Take 2 minutes to pray silently)
Have someone pray this to close: Lord, have mercy on us. Lead us through Your word and Spirit to trust you.
Amen
Have someone read this scripture aloud and pray
1 Peter 2:9-12
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. 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.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may hear your Word with joy. Amen.
Psalm 13:5-6
But I have trusted in your faithful love;
my heart will rejoice in your deliverance.
I will sing to the Lord
because he has treated me generously.
Just as David recognized the brokenness in his life and the world around him, he turned in the Psalm to trust God and sing. As we reflect on God’s word and sing, let’s remember that in the midst of all the brokenness, we can trust in God’s faithful love and believe that He will one day make everything right.
Help us, Lord, that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts, and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we say a fond farewell to our church planting candidate, Tim Olson, as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 6.
Questions? Send us an email.
To stay up-to-date with Citizens Church go to their website to subscribe to their newsletter and their social media platforms.
Sermon by Tim Olson for July 5, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 98: 1 - 4
Oh sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made known his salvation;
He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Have someone pray aloud, asking for focus, and wisdom as we hear the Word being taught.
Have someone read this aloud:
Psalm 98: 6 - 9
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
before the Lord, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
Amen
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by Pastor Michael Bailey as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 6.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources:
The Century of Self (documentary)
Sermon by Michael Bailey for June 28, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
1 Peter 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Let us sing together, remembering and believing the good news of what God has done for us.
Have someone read this aloud:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
As the family of God, we have so many things to thank God for, even in the midst of the hardest and darkest times in life. Let’s take 30 seconds to pause, then share aloud the things we’re thankful for with each other.
Have someone pray this to close:
God, You are faithful to provide us with everything that we need, and in Your presence is the fullness of joy and life. Teach us to trust you with all that we have. Spirit be near to us as we seek to follow you. Amen
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by Pastor Jon Ludovina as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 5.
Questions? Send us an email.
Sermon by Jon Ludovina for June 21, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 96:1-6
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
Corporate confession is a way for us to lay down our individualism and join with other believers confessing the same thing, as one body in Christ.
Read this confession, from John 1, aloud with everyone present:
If we walk in the light, as he is in the light
We have fellowship with one another
And the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
To forgive us our sins
And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Amen
Have someone read this to close:
Acts 2:24–28 God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:
“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
Amen
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined by Pastor Jon Ludovina as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 5.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources:
When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert
“We’re Not Wired to Be This Alone” by Frank Brunhi, The New York Times
Sermon by Jon Ludovina for June 14, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 9:1-2
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Read this aloud:
Hebrews 3:12-13
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
Take 30 seconds to pray for a way you can encourage someone. How have you seen Jesus working in someone’s life recently? Now, take some time to text them, and tell them why you’re thankful for them. If you have others in the room with you (physically or virtually), pray for specific ways you can encourage them.
Have someone pray this aloud:
Pray: Father God, you have spoken to us through your Son. Let your written Word now be spoken and heard by each of us. Give us ears to hear and hearts to understand. Amen.
Have someone read this to close:
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by church planter Tim Olson as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 4.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources/Quotes mentioned in this episode:
Check out FollowingJesusTogether.com for resources on how to walk with Jesus.
Also, check out Donald Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.
Sermon by Tim Olson for June 7, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 139 1-6
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
Take a moment to lament the brokenness of the world. Think on the injustices you’ve seen this past week. Acknowledge to God that this world is broken and in need of redemption.
Read aloud this lamentation, inspired out of Psalm 13:
How long, O Lord, will you forget your people who are oppressed?
How long will you allow these injustices to happen?
How long will we have this sorrow in our hearts and city?
Our hearts are shaken over the brokenness of this world.
Consider and answer us Lord, and light up our eyes.
We trust you and your steadfast love.
But we need your help to trust
We choose to rejoice in your salvation and hope in your promise of deliverance.
But we need your help to believe.
We sing to you Lord, because we know you deal with us in love and mercy.
But we need your help to sing.
Amen.
Have someone read this scripture aloud:
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:9-10
Have someone read this to close:
Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Psalm 33:18-22
Amen.
Welcome to the Midtown Midweek, a resource to equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined once again by Midtown Lexington Pastor Michael Bailey as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 4.
Questions? Send us an email.
Resources/Quotes mentioned in this episode:
Go-to Verses for Gospel Fluency
Confession and Repentance from FollowingJesusTogether.com
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
-The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
-The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
“Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for.”
-John Piper
“Whoever tells the best story wins.”
-Anette Simmons
Lastly, for a primer on “Elohim” check out the Bible Project’s video on the topic. The book we referenced in the podcast on this topic is The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser.
Sermon by Michael Bailey for May 31, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script, and, if possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or, sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together in worshipping the Lord.
We invite you to stand as you sing, to help position yourself to be engaged and focused as you participate in the gathering of God’s people.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
God is faithful through every season and every circumstance. Let us sing and remember His steadfast love and faithfulness to us.
Take a minute to sit in silence and reflect on the past week. What can you praise God for in the midst of this season?
After a few moments, if you are participating with others, ask specific people to share what came to mind.
After sharing, have someone pray, or read this aloud:
Father, thank you for how you continue to provide and show up in the mess of this life. Help us always remember your provision and the depth of your love for us. Father you are all we need, you are everything.
Pray:
Have someone pray this aloud before the sermon video:
Let’s pray. Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may hear your Word with joy. Amen.
Have someone read this to close:
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, remain with us always. Amen.
Welcome to The Midtown Midweek, a resource to further equip you to be with Jesus and become more like Him as we continue the conversation from Sunday’s teaching.
This week we’re joined by Midtown Downtown pastor Allen Tipping as he unpacks more of 1 Timothy 3.
Questions? Shoot us an email.
For resources to explore this passage on your own, make sure to check out our 1 Timothy series page (Downtown, Lexington, Two Notch)
Sermon by Allen Tipping for May 24, 2020.
Here is this week's sermon along with a digital worship guide that will include songs to sing, prayers, and scripture to read. Also, for those with children, please use our Kidtown guide as a resource to teach and lead your children each week.
Use this guide as a script. If possible, ask for a volunteer, roommate, or virtual participant to read the parts aloud. There are links to the songs to play and sing along with or sing them a cappella. We want this to be a helpful guide for you and your community to participate together, worshipping the Lord.
Have someone read this scripture aloud to begin:
Matthew 6:26-33
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Father God, you know our weaknesses. You know how often we fail to trust your provision and goodness. Forgive us, and help us trust that you are for our good. Let Your spirit comfort us, and remind us of Your love and care for us. Give us faith, Lord. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
In verse 13 Paul says, “For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”
“Good standing” refers to respect and appreciation from the church. Those who are leading in our church are worthy of honor so I would exhort you to encourage your leaders today and throughout this week.
Pray for leaders. Pray for their spiritual health, for their endurance in ministry, to continue to faithful serve.
Next, take time to think about how you have you seen Jesus work through your LGL, Coach or Pastor. Then take a minute to send them an encouraging text or potentially write them a letter. Let them know you prayed for them and appreciate the way they serve our church family.
Read this aloud together:
Jude 24-25
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.