OUR WORSHIP

The goal of our worship at the Church of Christ in Santa Maria, CA is to glorify God as we search the scriptures to find God's will for our lives. Our services are not entertainment for ourselves, but reverent, heartfelt worship to God.

Prior to worship at the church of Christ, announcements of interest to the congregation will be made. These announcements often include mention of members who are sick as well as activities of the congregation for the bonding and edification of the Santa Maria Church of Christ. We ask that visitors fill out a visitor's card which is located next to the song books. This card can be placed in the collection plate later in the service.

The worship service of the church will start with a prayer followed by a Bible reading. As believers, we are confident that God hears our prayers and should be worshiped in prayer. Just as we take time for speaking to God through prayer, it is equally important to read from His Word and receive His answers for our life left for us in the Bible. At the church of Christ we look to His word to be the authority in all that we do.

Unique to New Testament Christian worship is a cappella singing (we use only our voices in worship, Ephesians 5:19-29). Singing is a very important part of collective worship in the church. We invite you to join with us as we praise God and encourage one another in song.

Each first day of the week (Acts 20:7), the church gathers to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 11:24-25). The communion service is for believers wishing to remember the gift of God's Son and the willingness of Jesus to die for us. The bread is representative of the body of Christ, and the fruit of the vine is representative of His blood that was given to cleanse us of our sins (1 Corinthians 10:16).

Because of the love that we have for God and His church, members give back to Him a portion of their earnings (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). We do not expect visitors to give.

When Christians gathered in the New Testament, preaching followed. In a worship assembly of the church of Christ, you will hear the principles, precepts, teachings, commandments, laws, statutes, doctrines, and words of God being taught, upheld, and advocated. This means that there is likely to be admonitions to grow, repent, learn, practice, live, love, follow, understand, emulate, and observe the teachings and principles of God, thus being edified.

Our prayer is for you to be able to say that truly this is how God is to be worshiped and that God is among these believers who worship at the church of Christ in Santa Maria, California.

1.     I WANT TO START OVER; I WANT TO BEGIN AGAIN.

I want to be a strong Christian.

I want to have the strength to stand for righteousness as Daniel, Dorcas, and David.

I want to stop playing church. I want to be the most active worker in the congregation. I know that it will be best for me and the congregation as a body.

 
2.     HOW DID I GET SO FAR AWAY FROM THE LORD?

Persecution – Matthew 24:9-10. It is hard to keep getting up just to be knocked down again. Jesus told the church at Smyrna "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer" and then said, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). I suspect that Paul would say that the persecution which really saps our strength is not that which comes from without, but that which comes from our own brethren.

Temptation – Luke 8:13; Hebrews 3:13. In interpreting the meaning of the seed which fell on the rocky ground Jesus said, "these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away."

3. FIRST STEPS TO BEGINNING AGAIN.

Cultivate an intense desire to quit your old ways. Socrates told a young man, whose head he had held under water, that when he wanted knowledge as badly as he wanted air, he would become a learned man. There must be an intense desire to want to quit.

Cultivate an abhorrence of the practice of sin (Hebrews 1:9; Amos 5:15; Romans 12:9; Psalm 119:163). Until you have licked the problem, become fanatical about it. Coming to hate a practice will cause us to avoid it.

KJV Hebrews 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

KJV Amos 5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

KJV Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

KJV Psalm 119:163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.

When Jesus is passing through Jericho, Zacchaeus, out of curiosity and being short in stature, runs ahead and climbs a sycamore tree for to see Jesus. When Jesus came to the place, "he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house."

We are not given any details as to what Jesus said to Zacchaeus, the record being silent. We do have, however, Zacchaeus’ response to the Lord: "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give ("will give"- futuristic present used in pledges) to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore (will restore) him fourfold." ["The futuristic present startles and arrests attention. It affirms and not merely predicts. It gives a sense of certainty," Robertson, p.870.]

We find in this account that Jesus does not call Zacchaeus out of his occupation, but calls him to righteousness within his occupation. We do not have to be like the world around us. We can come out from among them and be separate. We can begin again.

Saul’s change was so remarkable, it was hard to believe it was the same man. Acts 9:20-21 (KJV) "And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. 21 But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?"

1 Timothy 1:13 – Before he was a blasphemer, persecutor, and injurious; but, Acts 23:1 tells us he did it with a good conscience.

1 Tim 1:13 (KJV) "Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief."

Acts 23:1 (KJV) "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day."

Acts 8:3 – Entered homes and took Christians (men and women) to prison. Acts 8:3 (KJV) "As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison."

Acts 9:1-2 – He "asked" to be able to go and persecute Christ’s followers. "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem."

Acts 22:3-12 – He was traveling in the heat of mid-day (26:13). He wanted to take Christians in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

Acts 26:9-23 – He shut many Christians up in prison. He gave his vote of consent when they were put to death. He was not satisfied until he had heard them blaspheme Christ. He had to have the satisfaction of their renunciation, and then he killed them.

1 Corinthians 15:9 – He again says he was guilty of persecuting the church. 1 Cor 15:9 (KJV) "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

Galatians 1:13 – "Beyond measure" – exceedingly. "Made havoc of it" – he tried to destroy the church. Gal 1:13 (KJV) "For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:"

The woman caught in adultery is a remarkable example of one beginning again – John 8. In this account an unnamed woman is caught in the "very act" of adultery. How can anyone return their life to any degree of normalcy after being publicly humiliated?

Sometimes this kind of treatment is worst than death itself, but as sure as there is a final resurrection at the great day, we can be resurrected from this humiliation. The key comes in Jesus’ words: "go, and sin no more."

Though we might at first think that this is the worst thing that can happen to a person, let me suggest that in a way, for her, it was the best thing that could happen.

Many in this world are devastated by their past. While in high school many young men and women lose their virginity. On our jobs we have such a reputation that it seems almost impossible that others would look at us in a different way even if we were really trying to change. I am convinced that there are many burdened hearts who deep down inside wish that they could have the opportunity to erase the past and start again. What many do not realize, is that in a very real sense they can.

We have all fallen in the past, but our character is not judged by the sins we have committed, but by how we respond to those sins. If our past holds ugly sins we may feel burdened today, but we CAN START AGAIN, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

In Colossians 3, Paul is teaching that since we have been risen with Christ, we are to "put off the old man with his deeds." He goes on to say that we "have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." The word "renewed" is translated from the word ANAKAINO (ana, back or again, kainos, new, not recent but different). The idea, then, is being back different.

Help me change.

Start a positive course of action. (Stop/start)

Say, "I am not like that anymore," and mean it.

Let people know where you stand.

Do not be ashamed.