Sunday Night Reflections

A Few Thoughts From an Amazing Day...

• Today was “one of those messages” in which I really felt led to challenge the church to step up and embrace who God has called us to be and what HE has called us to do in the area of worship.
• Jose did a great job presenting the work of CFR this morning.
• After talking with Jose, I am thankful for the sacrifices of many of the people at PBCC - many of you are understanding what it means to be generous with your wealth.
• I have been blogging for 3 months, but it was not until I blogged on worship did I receive comments on my blog.
• Robby's interview really revealed the heart of what we are trying to accomplish through worship.
• We had several students from PBCC graduate this weekend - Congratulations - now the real education begins!
• Yes, I did say we drift into mediocrity, but we do not drift into worship.
• Remember worship is where we relate to God and God to us.
• Preparing for worship is making space for God.
• King David said in Psalm 122:1, I was glad with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." – Gladness happens when we are prepared to worship.
• I believe ever person should wrestle with the question; am I prepared for the divine visitation next Sunday?
• VBS is just a few weeks away - if you have not registered yet you need to it is going to be a great week!
• Our preschool will be holding their 6th graduation this Thursday evening. I love attending graduation; I see more video cameras on that night than when I visit BEST BUY!
• John Ortberg's "Box" study is still messin' with me!
• Next Sunday I am speaking on the preference of worship - PBCC family you need to hear this message.

Why we worship - A Few thoughts on Good Worship

One of the favorite worship bands at PBCC is Hillsong. Their song "For Who You Are" gives us a fresh perspective for why we worship; The Lyrics follow...

Standing here, in Your presence; thinking of the good things You have done

Waiting here, patiently; just to hear Your still small voice again

Holy, righteous, faithful to the end; Savior, healer, redeemer and friend

CHORUS

I will worship You for who You are

I will worship You for who You are

I will worship You for who You are Jesus

BRIDGE

My soul secure, Your promise sure; Your love endures always

My soul secure, Your promise sure; Your love endures always

My soul secure, Your promise sure; Your love endures always

One of the criticisms of the new worship songs is the focus on "ME" not on "GOD" in the lyrics - However Hillsong always seems to draw the focus back to God. I believe Hillsong understands worship is not an “add on” for a Christian. It is the foundation of our identity; expressing our highest purpose. Worship reveals what we truly believe and how we view ourselves in relationship to God. How the Church worships is a witness to the truth of what the church professes.

Good worship becomes a means of drawing the us into the fullness of life in Jesus Christ within His Body, the Church. It attracts and is an invitation into the very presence of God. Worship informs and transforms both the person and the faith community which participates in it.

Good worship is not about my preferences, my likes and dislikes or styles, good worship is about moving the worshiper from the self focused life to the God centered life.

Those who participate in good worship understand the worship leader is the prompter, we are the participants and God is the audience.

I hope you are ready to meet the audience of one this weekend as you worship.

Preparing for Worship

Here are the elements for this weekend's worship...

• Music
  1. Your Grace is Enough
  2. Our God
  3. Forever
  4. Lead Me To The Cross
  5. The Stand
  6. Take My Life

• Christian Financial Rresources Presentation during Worship
• Communion Meditation by Steve Goodnight
• Message by Alan Tison
• Prepare for the message, "The Preparation of Worship" by studying Revelation 7:9-17

⁹After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." ¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²saying:

"Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen!"

¹³Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?" ¹⁴I answered, "Sir, you know."And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. ¹⁶Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Music & Worship

When we think about worship often times our thoughts go toward the music and singing part of our assembly. However worship is much more than singing a few songs; we can worship through our giving, through our remembering and yes we can worship as we hear a message. Worship is giving God honor for what he has done in our life, thus we give honor to God for his provision, his sacrifice and giving us his word. Each element of our assembly should be given over to the Lord in the form of worship. Since we associate worship with our music I thought I would list a few worship songs that draw me close to God during our assembly.

• Holy, Holy, Holy - Traditional Hymn. This hymn strikes a chord with me every time we sing it. I cannot get over the second verse it truly is a description of worshiping God;

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea; Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

• Joyful Joyful, We adore thee - Another classic that calls me to worship
• O' Holy Night - Yeah it is about Christmas Eve - but it truly drives me to worship!
• How can I keep from Singing - Chris Tomlin
• The Stand - Michael W. Smith
• In Christ Alone - Richland Hills Church of Christ
• King of Glory - Third Day
• Agnus Dei - Michael W. Smith

These are just a few of the songs that inspire me to worship God. Are there other songs that draw you in to worship - Leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

Thoughts on Worship

I begin a new series this weekend titled "A Glimpse of the Holy". The focus of the messages is on the topic of worship. This week we are going to look at the idea of preparing for worship. For the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about this topic of preparation. Here are some thoughts that came from my study that will not be in the message, but come from the overflow of my study...

"The challenge for most mainline Christians is not following Jesus. We've been taught pretty well about that. The challenge for us is recognizing Jesus' voice. We have not been taught very well how to listen and how to recognize the voice of Jesus. We have not been taught very well how to have a relationship with Jesus in which we feel secure, protected and personally known."

Many of us think our worship on Sunday prepares us for the week ahead, which it does. But I think we would get a lot more out of our group worship if we changed our mindset and thought of the other six days as preparation for our worship on Sunday. After all, the primary focus of worship is God.

Our preparation for worship sets the tone for what happens when we come into the presence of God.

We must prepare ourselves to enter into God’s presence and to commune with Him. Any time we enter the house of God or come into God’s presence it is a climb up to a higher plane. God has some steps that will incrementally prepare us for this lofty place.

These are just a few of the things I found interesting regarding worship. Sunday I will be sharing more thoughts about what I believe is essential if we are going to worship God in Spirit and in Truth!

Insights from "The Good and Beautiful Life"

I am in the process of reading the book "The Good and Beautiful Life; putting on the character of Christ" by James Bryan Smith. I am about 1/3 of the way through the book and already I am enjoying it immensely. Smith has taken a familiar subject, "The Sermon on the Mount" and brings out some new insights about the world's greatest message. Here are just a few nuggets I have gleaned so far...

• Most people think repent means to shape up, thus they think Jesus proclamation is a threat, but it is an invitation, pg. 37
• I have moments when I strive and even succeed in living obediently to God and actually practice the principles of the kingdom but I have just as many moments when I run the "kingdom of Jim" pg. 41 - We can all relate to that statement
• In the Kingdom we find comfort because God is in control, God gets the last word, which is heaven. pg. 58
• Anger is a result of our need to control (unmet expectations) and fear, and the sabbath teaches us to trust in God's strength. pg. 81

That is all for now, but if you are looking for a good book to read, I would recommend the "The Good and Beautiful Life".

Sunday Night Reflections

A Few Thoughts From an Amazing Day...

• We had a focus on families in worship this morning - it was very appropriate with it being Mother's Day
• Wrapped up the Ripples Series today - next week a new series on worship
• Yes we did play scrabble this morning in worship.
• We had Lots of Triple Word Scores!
• Matthew 12:36 is a sobering passage; remember every time we offer a praise, a criticism, a compliment, a complaint or an idle comment, it will be weighted.
• Would you consider your prayer life a "devoted" prayer life?
• I pray your conversation is always "full of grace" I hope you will pray that for me as well.
• I am afraid the church uses a "shotgun" approach to praying when God wants us to be a "sharp-shooter" when praying to Him.
• I hope you are praying for open doors in the proclamation of the gospel.
• My prayer is every time we present the gospel at PBCC we present it CLEARLY!
• Yes I did say, We must be sensitive to how we talk about our church with unbelievers; for our testimony is often the first exposure the unbeliever has about Christ and his church. If we are overly critical about our church, unbelievers will notice the inconsistency of our faith.
• I am amazed how well the Orlando Magic are playing.
• A big thank you to Saul G. for the gift this morning; you are very thoughtful!
• Tip of the hat to the tech team today, lots of elements and you did not miss a beat!
• Next Sunday we are going to talk about preparing for worship - PBCC family you need to hear this teaching.