Brandon DiBianca leads.A band playing worship choruses kicked off the 10:00 a.m., April 1, 2012, service at the new “Grace Church at Seven Lakes,” located in Seven Lakes, N.C.
Brandon DiBianca, a guitarist and singer, led choruses. Victoria Kentner sang with him. Jared Guden played lead guitar; Jacob Guden manned the drums, and Brit Kentner played bass guitar.
Victoria Kentner“Hosanna, Hosanna … Hosanna in the highest,” Victoria Kentner sang. “I see a generation, rising up to take their place … with selfless faith, with selfless faith.”
Band members appeared to be young. Audience members of all ages stood or sat as they read projected-onto-screen lyrics and joined in spirited singing. Some people lifted their hands in worship. Total attendance numbered 97. The church has 150 chairs and room for more. Parking is no problem outside the church on Sunday mornings.
DiBiana next led “Be Lifted High,” a slow, meditation-friendly chorus written for singing to God. Minor and major chords provided a reverent backdrop for the song’s message.
“Be lifted high; be lifted high; for your glory, be lighted high,” DiBianca sang. “We will be the generation calling down the reign of heaven … Be lifted high; be lifted high; for your glory, be lifted high.”
Grace Church at Seven Lakes meets at 145 West Plaza Drive Suite A and B, located in Seven Lakes Plaza, a few doors down from the area’s Peking Wok.
Jimmy Coxe, who has served as an elder for 21 years at Grace Church in Southern Pines, N.C., is the church’s campus pastor. He and his wife live in Pinehurst, N.C. She serves as children’s director for both locations: Grace Church at Southern Pines (GCSPines) and Grace Church at Seven Lakes (GCSLakes). GCSLakes is part of a multi-site church network sponsored by GCSPines. GCSLakes services feature a live band, a children’s program and a streamed-in message from GCSPines.
Jimmy and Joanna Coxe
Jimmy Coxe, Campus PastorAfter DiBianca led worship, Jimmy Coxe welcomed visitors and readied the audience for a video-streamed sermon delivered live at that same time from the GCSPines worship center.
A “live” image of Pastor Randy Thornton, senior pastor at GCSPines, appeared on a huge screen in the mini-auditorium located in the Seven Lakes Plaza.
Randy Thornton Thornton gave a “shout out” to the audience at GCSLakes before beginning his sermon called “A Tale of Two Failures.”
He contrasted the failures of two of Jesus’ disciples: Judas and Peter.
Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver but “repented.” Thornton said Judas felt sorry he betrayed Jesus but didn’t truly repent to God and find release from his sin. Judas “hanged himself.”
Peter told Jesus he’d never deny being his follower, but Jesus predicted that before a rooster crowed twice that night, Peter would deny him three times.
From Mark 14 NIV:
“'You will all fall away,' Jesus told them [his disciples], 'for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.'
“Peter declared, ‘Even if all fall away, I will not.’
“‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘today—yes, tonight—before the rooster crows twice you yourself will disown me three times.’
“But Peter insisted emphatically, ‘Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’”
Judas betrayed Jesus who was arrested and led to the courtyard of the Jewish high priest.
“While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. ‘You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,’ she said.
“But he denied it. ‘I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,’ he said, and went out into the entryway.
“When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, ‘This fellow is one of them.’ Again he denied it.
“After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, ‘Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.’
“He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know this man you’re talking about.’
“Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: ‘Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.”
“Scripture is full of people who once failed,” Pastor Thornton said. “Judas failed; Peter failed. They responded differently. Judas committed suicide. He ‘repented,’ but he didn’t turn to God for forgiveness. Judas could no longer live in the lie of what he was on the inside.”
Thornton said many people commit “spiritual suicide,” caused by situations they allow in their lives.
“When we allow those sins, we cover them up … whenever we don’t deal with our sins, it’s only a matter of time …,” he said. “Judas had sorrow but not repentance. Peter responded differently.”
Thornton noted that an angel, located at the empty tomb where Jesus had been laid after his crucifixion, specifically mentioned Peter to three women visiting that tomb, “very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise.”
“Don’t be alarmed,” he [the angel] said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you’” (Mark 16:6-7).
The mention of Peter by the angel gave Peter encouragement about his reconciliation and forgiveness, Thornton indicated.
“He [Jesus] didn’t rub their [the disciples] failures in their faces,” Thornton said.
After contrasting paths taken by Judas and Peter, Thornton asked, “How do you respond to failure?”
The sermon ended, and Campus Pastor Jimmy Coxe addressed the Grace Church at Seven Lakes audience.
“Is Jesus knocking on the door of your heart, today?” he asked.
After a song and special prayer for those desiring it, Coxe closed the service by praying, “Lord, our identity is totally wrapped up in you … We pray a blessing on what you are going to do in this community.”
For more information about Grace Church at Seven Lakes in Seven Lakes, N.C., call (910) 692-6711.
Photographs of some attendees at Grace Church at Seven Lakes:
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