The Overflow of Study

I am in a series of messages on worship this month, titled a Glimpse of the Holy. Like last week, I find myself with more information than I can put in a sermon. So here are a few more thoughts on the preference of worship that I will not cover in Sunday's message;

These thoughts come from Jack Reese, dean of the College of Biblical Studies at Abilene Christian University.

• Worship is not about our preferences. It is about the God who has acted in history on our behalf—and who is active still. It is about his saving Israel from bondage, telling her his will, and giving her his heart. It is about his holiness and his grace. Worship begins with God’s loving kindness and culminates in Christ’s sacrifice.
• At its core, worship is an encounter between a holy God and an unholy people. Which means, the essence of worship is surrender. This is the true worship war — not our disagreements over how to worship, but whether we will surrender our will to his.
• Worship should force us to stop caring so much about ourselves. It should push us to our knees in a posture of submission. And it should lift our eyes toward others whose needs and desires, not our own, should be the compelling motivation for our thoughts and actions.

Other thoughts on worship…

• Worship is not just a weekly event, but rather a way of living in dependence upon and gratitude towards our gracious Lord. While corporate worship is an important expression of that walk of worship, it must be fueled by lives of personal and private devotion and faithfulness. (John 4:21-24;)
• Worship is the expression of the totality of our being—mind, emotions, will, actions: “all that we are responding to all that God is.” (Psalm 135:5; 100:3-4; Hebrews 13:15-16)
• Worship is a verb; it is something we do, not something we watch. An important expression of the priesthood of all believers is that every individual has a vital role to play in the corporate worship of the church. (Psalm 107:32; Romans 15:5-6)
• Jesus Christ is the Leader of our worship. We come in Him and by His worthiness into God’s presence, and He gathers up our modest worship into His own perfect offering. (Hebrews 8:1-2; 10:19-22)

These are just a few thoughts that are coming out of the overflow of my study. I hope you will join me Sunday as we continue this study on worship.

Can you Run with Horses?

In Jeremiah 12, the prophet Jeremiah is pouring out a complaint to God. Jeremiah is frustrated at the results of his ministry - he is not seeing any results of his labor, the wicked are prospering and worst of all God seems distant. It is at this point God responds...

"If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5

God is basically saying it is not going to get much better, in fact, it is going to become more difficult. He tells Jeremiah up until now you have been dealing with the difficulties of life and they are causing you stress what are you going to do when you have to run with the horses. In other words, Jeremiah what are you going to do when it really gets tough?

Ministry is rewarding, and I am thankful I serve in a ministry that has seen plenty of rewards. For the last 5 years, I have been blessed with new friendships, watched lives change and watch God move in some very amazing ways. However, ministry is also difficult, recently I have heard of a few difficulties fellow ministers have faced and I am sure they are worn out. However ministers are not the only ones who get worn out from time to time - life can be difficult whatever your calling may be. When life gets a little troubling let me challenge you to meditate on these verses...

• Malachi 4:2 NKJ – But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings. LORD, you are Jehovah Rapha – The LORD who heals me.
  
  
• Luke 10:19 NKJ – Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
  
  
• 2 Corinthians 12:9 MSG – God said: “My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness…I just let Christ take over!”
  
  
• Ephesians 1:13,14 NKJ – In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. LORD thank you for the free gift of Your Holy Spirit.

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!