Evangelical Bible Church > Ministries > Praise Team

Author:	Mark Loyd	Created:	Sunday, January 23, 2011
As we come before God in weekly worship, we settle our hearts and minds and focus our attention on Him. This is a record of our weekly call to worship at EBC.

Time for a Tune-Up

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, September 04, 2011

John 13:6-9

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Tuned Out

I recently put new guitar strings on my guitar. When strings are new, they have a tendency to drop out of tune frequently as they are stretched over time. To tune, I have to have a note from an external source to compare the strings to, like orchestras tuning to “concert A”. To be affective, one must tune out all other sounds or distractions and focus intently on the precise sound of the source.

Without this external constant, there is no way to know if the guitar is truly in tune with anyone else. Left un-tuned, the instrument will eventually...

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Obstacles to Worship

By Mark Loyd on Wednesday, August 31, 2011

I Samual 15:22

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Road Block

My four-year-old Benjamin was playing in the garage the other day as I was at the work bench. He finished riding his bike and wanted to play with the wagon. He decided to park his bike in middle of the only path in and out of the garage. He grabbed the wagon handle and pulled for the opening to get his wagon outside, but the wagon ran into the bike and he could not get past.

He began screaming in frustration. I said, "Benjamin, you need to move your bike." He immediately and emotionally responded, "no I don't!" and continued trying to get his wagon through. After he angrily pulled for a few more seconds, banging metal on metal, I calmly but firmly said, "Ben, you have to move your bike, it's in the way." His reponse escalated, his voice hitting the upper register, "NO IT'S NOT!".

I turned...

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Mother's Day, the Lord's Day

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, May 08, 2011

I Samuel 15:22

Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Mother's Day

Recently one evening I was saying goodnight to Naomi, my 6-year old daughter. She informed me, "Dad, when I grow up, I'm going to be nothing...just like Mom." I laughed a little and asked her to clarify. She said that if she had a family, she would be nothing, but that if she didn't have a family, then she would be a missionary.

There are 2 ways to approach Mother's Day. One is to feel obligated. Buy the card and flowers because that's what is expected. The other is to honestly desire to honor and give thanks to one's mother for the years of giving and care she presumably has done.

The Lord's Day

Sunday morning worship is a lot like Mother's Day. Though it occures one hour every week rather than one day every year, our attitudes can be similary to that of Mother's Day. We either...

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Missing Something?

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, April 10, 2011

Matthew 13: 22

The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

I've Fallen and Can't Get Up!

Recently I was downstairs in the basement playing the Wii gaming system with Jeremiah (8) and Benjamin (3). Ben had a turn, then Jeremiah, and it was time to be done and go upstairs. Ben was heartbroken at the news that we were finished and fell to the ground screaming and asking me to hold him. Seeing no blood or other obvious sign of injury, I told him he could hold my hand and walk with me upstairs, or just come up by himself. He screamed "Nooooo!". As such, Jeremiah and I walked upstairs without him.

Jael, my youngest at age 1, has not learned to maneuver the stairs. So, we keep the door shut to the basement. As I reached the top of the stairs, I looked back to see Ben army crawl around the corner, looking up the stairs screaming. In keeping with current household...

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Seeing Through the Noise

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, April 03, 2011

Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Perception Barrier

Earlier this week, I took the family swimming to the local indoor pool. They've recently replaced all the innertubes they have for floating the lazy river with clear platic tubes. I was floating down the river with my daughter Naomi and noticed how clearly I could see through the tube and into the water. Being the analytical type, I wanted to know why it was clearer to look through the tube into the water than directly through the surface. I decided the tube pushed through the reflective and bumpy surface of the water and allows a clear view. Reflecting light from the outside world and the surface of the water prevent an accurate perception of what lies beneath.

Getting Past the Noise

A clear vision of God requires that we get past the noise and distraction of the world and its wisdom. We too many times don't quiet our hearts and...

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Calibration Required

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, March 20, 2011

Jeremiah 17:9-10a

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

10a “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind,

Gyro Drift

My father and I unexpectedly found ourselves flying through the clouds in a small Cessna several years ago. The weather was getting poor and visibility degrading. Piloting the airplane myself, my eyes stayed glued to the instrument stack which provided me the feedback I required to safely maneuver without having an external reference point.

The heading indicator gets direction information from an internal gyroscope, a device designed to stay pointed north even as the plane bounces around. I was relying on the heading indicator (as I could not see landmarks), as the heading indicator relied on the internal gyroscope. The heading indicator could give me a false reading, however, as the gyroscopes are susceptible to a phenomenon called "gyro drift", resulting in the "north" indicator within the gyroscope...

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It's a Meltdown

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, March 13, 2011

Romans 5:12

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

Chain Reaction

As I followed this week's news of Japan's tsunami and nuclear disaster, I did some brief reading on what actually causes a nuclear meltdown, and discovered that it is a relatively simple concept. Nuclear fuel creates energy through a reaction changing the molecular structure of the fuel. If the reaction is "critical", the energy it releases causes more reaction, and it will not stop until all the fuel is spent. It will heat up to a very high temperate and destroy itself.

Reactors have a control rods which are inserted into the fuel to slow and eventually stop the reaction. Without the presence of the rods, meltdown is inevitable.

Criticality

Death is a result of sin, a chain reaction started in our race through one man. Sin perpetuates itself and ultimate will end in death, every time. There...

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Two Masters

By Mark Loyd on Monday, March 07, 2011

Matthew 6:24

24 No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Home is Where the Heart Is

My current place of employment is between my house and the church, so we drive past it often as we travel back and forth. My three-year-old son Benjamin knows this place and often points it out. Last week, we passed work on our way home from a church activity. When Benjamin saw the building, he said, "That's where Daddy lives." I chuckled and corrected him, telling him, "no, that's where Daddy works." My wife turned to me and shrugged, "I don't know, maybe he's on to something."

Choose This Day...

If I were to ask you your priorities, you could probably give me a well thought-out answer. God being number one, with family, health, career, etc., coming next. But the question is, how do you really live your life? How you spend your time reflects your devotion. ...

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We're Toast

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, January 30, 2011

I Corinthians 5:17-18a

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ....

Changing State

We had several different types of bread on our counter when my 8-year old son walked over to make toast the other morning. He put a slice of bread in the toaster and was patiently waiting. From the table I looked across the room and ask him what kind of bread he was having. He blinked and looked at the toaster then back to me, "What?" I repeated myself, wondering what bread out of the 3 choices he would want to eat.

Again a bit confused Jeremiah looked back to the toaster, the toast now popped up. He looked back to me and said as a guess, "burnt?"

We're Toast

We are born again, a new creation, if we are in Christ. "The old has gone, the new is here." We are no longer fallen, our former state; we are reconciled! But why do we live our lives as if we reconcile...

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Sin's Deceitfulness

By Mark Loyd on Sunday, January 23, 2011

Hebrew 3:12-15

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Hardened Hearts

Last week I was in Phoenix for work where it was 75 degrees...and no snow. During the same week in Dickinson, it snowed another 4 inches, drifting up to about a foot in my driveway. As northerners know, snow in the driveway is best removed right after it falls. If vehicles drive over the snow, it will pack into a hard, icy layer below the surface of the snow which requires hard labor, including an ice scaper, to remove.

Needless to say, after I got back from Phoenix, I had...

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