This is a great weekend to invite a friend to church, and we’re going to help make doing so easy for you.

On Friday Evening we will hold our annual Good Friday service at 6:30 PM. Then, on Sunday morning we will hold our Easter service at three times, 7:30, 9:00, and 10:45 AM.

The image is the top of a new invitation page for this weekend’s Good Friday and Easter Services. This is something like a digital version of the invitation cards we have made available for years. Those cards are especially useful for the people we meet in the course of our day around town. But for the people we socialize with on a regular basis, this should come in especially handy. The digital space is where so much of our communication takes place already.

So, use it. Use it to invite friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors to catch a glimpse of heaven in the singing, celebration, and preaching of Christ’s resurrection this weekend. Link to it in an email, or use the little buttons at the bottom of the page to share it on Facebook, Twitter, or Google +.

Finally, with our visitors in mind, if it is an option for you, please come to the 7:30 AM service on Easter Sunday. Each year we cooperate as a church to make sure that there is room in each service for anyone who comes to church. It would be a real bummer for a visitor to come close to the start of a service only to be routed to an overflow room. We don’t have childcare at 7:30 AM, so if you don’t have kids and can manage, consider joining us at the early service to free up a seat for a visitor at one of our other services.

Expository preaching is what we do at DSC. We mean to expose and expound the meaning of the Bible according to its own shape and agenda. That’s why, when Ryan designs a sermon series, he works through one side of a book of the Bible to the other.

Here’s a helpful video from Kevin DeYoung reflecting on the nature of expository preaching. Enjoy!

[RSS and email readers, click here to view this video]

On Saturday we will spend three hours together considering the topic of homosexual marriage and numerous related issues. It’s from 9:00 AM-12:00 PM. Click here to register if you haven’t already.

To give you a running start on the topic, here’s an immensely helpful one-hour lecture by Sam Williams from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, titled, “A Christian Psychology of and Response to Homosexuality.” This is a thoughtful reflection and analysis of the personal and historical dynamics involved in same-sex attraction, its causes, the nature of change, and how the gospel intersects with these issues.

[RSS and email readers, click here to view this video]

For a summary paper of the social-science research by Mark Yarhouse, whom Sam cites several times, read Yarhouse’s paper, “At the Intersection of Religious and Sexual Identities: A Christian Perspective on Homosexuality.”

At Saturday’s seminar we will explore these issues across the morning and with particular focus in the third hour.

Psalm 84:4 says, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!”

We were blessed at Clarus ’14 by the people of God gathered to sing, pray, and hear God’s Word preached to His glory and our good! Below is a list of the songs used at this year’s conference. Included are chord charts with lyrics and mp3’s. May God use these songs to tune your hearts to sing His praise!

Friday Night:

• “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (pdf, mp3)
• “And Can It Be” (pdf, mp3)
• “Doxology” (pdf, mp3)
• “Jesus I Come” (pdf, mp3)
• “My Father Planned it All” (pdf,mp3)
• “Lord, We Come to Hear Your Word” (pdf, mp3)
• “Come and Dine” (pdf, mp3)

Saturday Morning: 

• “Rock of Ages” (pdf, mp3)
• “Come Thou Fount” (pdf, mp3)
  
• “My Father Planned it All” (pdf, mp3)
• “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” (pdf, mp3)
• “Be Thou My Vision” (pdf, mp3)
• “Take My Life” (pdf, mp3)

Saturday Afternoon:

• “All Creatures of Our God and King” (pdf, mp3)
• “Solid Rock” (pdf, mp3)
• “Psalm 62” (pdf, mp3)
• “Lord, We Come to Hear Your Word” (pdf, mp3)
• “Oh Heart Bereaved and Lonely” (pdf, mp3)
• “How Wise and Good” (pdf, mp3)
• “My Father Planned it All” (pdf, mp3)

Sunday Morning: 

• “Clap Your Hands” (pdf, mp3)
• “Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy)” (pdf, mp3)
• “I Stand Amazed” (pdf, mp3)
• “We Give Thanks” (pdf, mp3)
• “Lord, We Come to Hear Your Word” (pdf, mp3)
• “He Hideth My Soul” (pdf, mp3)

There’s a song we’ve been singing lately at DSC called “My Father Planned it All.” The lyrics are true and the tune, written by Drew Hodge, sinks it into our hearts.

The words are below and a new live recording is available for download here. This live recording is from Clarus ’14, a regional conference of The Gospel Coalition hosted at our church earlier this month.

My Father Planned it All

1. What though the way be lonely, and dark the shadows fall;
I know, where’er it leadeth, my Father planned it all.

The sun may shine tomorrow, the shadows break and flee;
‘Twill be the way He chooses, my Father’s plan for me.

Chorus
I sing through shade and sunshine, and trust what-e’er befall;
I sing, I can’t be silent; my Father planned it all.

2. He guides my faltering footsteps along the weary way,
for well He knows the pathway will lead to endless day.

3. A day of light and gladness on which no shade will fall,
‘Tis this at last awaits me, my Father planned it all.

Words by H.H. Pierson
Music by Drew Hodge