Today, a smaller Chapel Team 2 led our elementary chapel service. As our Grade 7-8 Senior Band was away performing at the Kiwanis Festival, there were fewer students in the gym as well. After leading the audience through O Canada, The Lord’s Prayer and the Land Acknowledgement, Chapel Team 2 led the singing of “Cry of My Heart” – a song about one’s desire to follow and be close to God all the days of their life.
Next, Mrs. V, dressed as “Lady Loves-to-Learn”, graced us with a grand entry to the sound of trumpets. She led a review of our theme verse and all the “Armour Up” sub-themes. Then, she asked various grades to read specific Bible verses that supported our Armour of Salvation sub-theme and included verses that revealed all have sinned and need the gift of salvation. Everyone then said a prayer together, thanking God for sending His Son and asking Him to help us choose to live lives that make it obvious that we are His children.
Chapel Team 2 then led the singing of “Consuming Fire” – a song asking God to ignite a passion for Him.
Our guest speaker this morning was Pastor Jeremiah. His message was about salvation. He began by asking students for a one-word term that is used when a lifeguard saves a drowning person. The word “RESCUE” was the answer he sought. He explained that being rescued is to be saved from danger that we cannot get away from by ourselves. He then shared that we are drowning in sin but the good news is that God did not leave us to drown. He sent Jesus to save us. Jesus paid the price of our sin by dying on the cross in our place and rising again from the dead. He rescued us because we cannot save ourselves. If we try to save ourselves by “being good all the time”, two things can result. We can either develop an attitude that we are better than others or we can be crushed by the fact that we cannot do it. Both still point to our need for Jesus. He is the only one that can save us. When we accept Him into our lives, repent and make Him King of our hearts (in place of idols such as our iPads, video games, running shoe collection, etc.), we will be given a new heart, peace with God and hope that death cannot take away. Next, Pastor Jeremiah spent some time talking about why we wear a “helmet of Salvation”. A helmet protects our head, where we have our mind and our thoughts, and allows us to focus on Jesus. He explained that salvation is a message of humility. We don’t deserve Jesus’s act of love, yet He did it and saved us nevertheless. When we share the message of salvation with others, we need to be patient, gentle, loving, a good listener and one who shows grace. To wrap up, Pastor Jeremiah shared three points to help us “armour up”:
- Remember WHO saved you – You cannot rescue yourself. Jesus saved you.
- Preach the Gospel to YOURSELF – Remember Jesus died for YOUR sins. You deserved to die but He paid the price instead.
- Live like someone rescued you – with GRATITUDE.
Pastor Jeremiah then explained that sharing the message of salvation to others does not require a big complicated script. Simple words like “Jesus loves you” can be all someone needs to hear to start a conversation. Pastor Jeremiah concluded in prayer, thanking God for His great gift of salvation and asking God to help us walk on this earth with gratitude – like people that have been rescued by Him.
To respond to the message, Chapel Team 2 led the singing of “Enough” – a song that shares how God’s love is sufficient for us.
Students and teachers then recited the benediction together to close the service and depart the gym to start their academic day.