15-5

2012-01-25T17:06:00.003-05:00

The Next Reformation

How much do you know about Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King Jr, Martin Luther). He was a monk that started the Protestant Reformation. In Luther's day salvation was for sale. You would buy things called indulgences, and the more you paid out, the less time you had to spend in purgatory. Martin Luther, although the unlikely hero, started a revolution (or reformation) when he penned his 95 thesis. The rallying cry was 'By faith alone.' He wanted to break this mold of buying salvation. You can't buy salvation, it is a free gift from God!

Maybe it is time for a new reformation. Maybe it is time that we stop playing games with our faith and started living authentic lives as disciples of Jesus Christ. Hear this, "reformations are not born out of new discoveries. Those are often called cults. Reformations are born out of rediscovering something ancient, something primal. They are born out of primal truths rediscovered, re-imagined, and radically reapplied to our lives." So what is this truth that we need to rediscover? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." We have to be great at this. "We must not be great at things that do not matter." To be clear, nothing else really matters at the end of the day except loving God and following His commands. To be great at something other than loving God is a waste of your time. The call of the next reformation should be, "Love God!"

Everything we do, everything that we are should be an expression of our love for God. The way we do our taxes, the way we study for exams, the way we treat each other, the way we love our spouses should be because of our love for God! This doesn't mean that we will all look the same though. It doesn't mean we will all express our love for God the same way. "Every relationship with God begins the same way: at the foot of the cross. But then our lives become unique expressions of compassion, wonder, curiosity, and energy. And no one else can take your place." No one loves God exactly the same way you do, that is why He wants your love!

Each of us has a spiritual love language. The way we express our love for God looks different based on what comes most naturally to us. Some of us show our love for God because compassion pours out of us every second of the day, it is just natural. Others show their love for God by their curiosity, they can't wait to find out more about His creation and praise Him for it. We should do the things that come natural to us! But "sometimes the greatest act of love isn't the one that comes most easily. It's the one that is most difficult or requires the greatest sacrifice." We are called to love God with our heart, soul, mind, AND strength. It isn't an either/or scenario. God wants it all. When we come to a place where we love God with everything we have, a radical transformation will take place within us, our church, our city, and this world. We will start a reformation, and the rallying cry will simply be, "Love God."

Enjoy the Journey

2012-01-18T10:23:00.002-05:00

The Hammer of a Higher God

God is powerful. Now that's the understatement of the century isn't it? His power is incomparable. "His power isn't just incomparable. His power isn't just great. It is incomparably great. In other words, there is no comparison point. None of us can imagine what God is capable of. Which means none of us can imagine what we're capable of if we give God control of our lives." Doing it on our own was never the plan. Yes we should do things for God, but the weird thing is that we need to do those things we do for God THROUGH His strength. Many of us never make that connection. We all received the power of God when we became Christians, but we settle for living without it! "And without His power, we become nothing more than theological Christians. Our testimony is reduced to words. Our impact is reduced to our abilities. And not only is that less than exciting, it's wrong. Without His power at work within us, we cannot accomplish His purposes."

Again, the problem is that we have a small view of who God is. God is bigger than your biggest problem, and He is bigger than the best idea you ever had...infinitely bigger. "It's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God can do in you and through you. The moment you put your faith in Christ, the best thing you can do is no longer the best YOU can do. The best thing you can do is the best GOD can do."

Would you agree that loving God with everything is hard? I certainly think so. "In and of ourselves, we're not capable of loving God. We cannot manufacture love for Him. We can only respond to His love for us. And I hope that sets you free. Religion is all about doing things for God. Christianity is all about receiving what Christ has done for us on the cross. And what we do for God is a reflection of and response to what God has done for us." Sometimes even that is hard. I find myself from time to time in a slump. It is in those times we need to remember the words of Revelation 2:5, "Do the things you did at first." Fall in love with God all over again by going back to the things you did when you fell in love with Him the first time.

Again, we cannot manufacture love. Our love for God is simply a reflection of His love for us. Check this out: "Albedo is the measurement of how much light a celestial body reflects. Our night-light, the moon, has an albedo of 0.07. In other words, 7% of the light that strikes the moon's surface is reflected. Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has the highest albedo of any celestial body in our solar system. It reflects 99% of the light that hits its surface. In a similar sense, we are called to reflect God-His compassion, His wonder, His creativity, and His energy. You cannot manufacture those things. You can only reflect them."

In the beginning, God spoke the world into existence. Seems a little far fetched, but think about it for a second. Do you know what ultrasonic sound is? It is anything over 20,000 hertz, which is inaudible to us, but "has the power to kill insects, track submarines, break glass, perform noninvasive surgery, topple buildings, clean jewelry, catalyze chemical reactions, heal damaged tissue, pasteurize milk, break up kidney stones, drill through hard materials, and of course give you the first glimpse of your unborn son or daughter via sonogram." Sound is powerful huh? The sound of God's voice isn't limited to our ability to hear. His vocal range is unlimited, and His words are powerful. So maybe you've never heard the audible voice of God, but I'm betting you've SEEN His voice (that's a weird thought huh?)! "Everything you see was once a sound wave in the vocal cords of God. When you look at creation, you are hearing with your eyes an echo of the Creator's voice." So I pose this question to you now: "If God can create billions of galaxies with four words (Let there be light), what can't He do?"

We need to remember that "most of what God accomplishes through our lives isn't because of us. It's in spit of us. God never calls us to do something we're capable of. God calls us to do things that are beyond our ability so He gets all the credit. That's how we learn to rely on Him. And that's how we learn to love Him." God puts things in our hearts that He wants us to do, and that we don't have the ability to do on our own. But when we accomplish those things with His help we have to answer a very serious question. When God gives us our dream we have to decide, "Which do you love more: your dream or God?" "In its purest, most primal form, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is loving God for God. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else."

The ultimate goal of life isn't accomplishing your dreams and goals. It's loving God. It isn't getting your dream job, it isn't getting your song published, it isn't retiring at 40. It's loving God. "You can put yourself on the throne of your life. You can try to get everyone to bow down and worship you. But you will run out of stuff to worship real quick and your universe will become smaller and smaller until the only thing that fits inside your tiny universe is you. But if you put God on the throne, you universe will get larger and larger. It will expand chronologically into eternity. It will expand experientially into heaven." It's your choice. Who do you love most?

Enjoy the Journey

2012-01-11T16:56:00.002-05:00

Sweat Equity

God loves it when we tell Him we love Him. It is something that we should do all the time. But you know what I think He loves even more? When we show Him that we love Him. And He loves it when we get sweaty doing it. We are supposed to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and STRENGTH. "So what does it mean to love God with all your strength? It means expending tremendous amounts of energy for kingdom causes. It means servanthood and sacrifice. It means good old-fashioned work." Let's be honest, you can tell what we love by what we do. Gentlemen, that is why taking out the garbage is romantic, because love isn't measured by words. Love is measured by action.

"Talk is cheap, and we have cheapened the gospel long enough. At the end of they day, God isn't going to say, 'Well said, good and faithful servant.' There is only one commendation when everything is said and done: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.' God doesn't reward what we know. He doesn't reward what we say. He rewards the expenditure of energy."

One of the saddest things we can do is make plans and not follow through on them. So many of us spend so much time "preparing" that we never actually get whatever it is we are "preparing" for off the ground. That never happens because we never feel like we are quite ready to launch. "Listen, you'll never have enough education or enough experience. And you'll never have enough time or enough money." You will never be ready for what God has planned for you, get over it. That is why God promised to be with us! I'm not saying we shouldn't prepare, but most of us go way overboard on this and use it as an excuse not to act. Don't give up on your God ideas just because you don't feel ready.

Last week we talked about creativity. Creativity is hard work. Thomas Edison said that it is "10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration." Can you relate? Nolan Bushnell said, "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it who makes a difference." What God idea of yours never made it out of the shower?

We have work to do. But here is something amazing that I know you will find to be true. "If you love someone or something enough, the expenditure of energy isn't seen as a chore. It's a privilege. It's not something you have to do, it's something you get to do. Love turns work into worship." At Mark Batterson's church, they have a saying that I think we should adopt: "Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you." We need to bathe everything in prayer, but at some point we have to put some work in ourselves!

The truth is "faith is not faith until it is acted upon. That is the litmus test. Faith without works is dead. So is love without energy." When it comes to our God ideas, too often we are guilty of sins of omission. That is when you don't do what you know you should do. Too many of us "falsely view righteousness as doing nothing wrong." The problem is that "you can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Goodness is not the absence of badness." "Love doesn't play it safe; it takes risks. Love doesn't make excuses; it takes responsibility. Love doesn't see problems; it seizes opportunities to step up and step in. The Greek word for 'strength' means 'the antithesis of apathy.' And Jesus is the ultimate example."

Jesus was anything but apathetic, He was the most passionate man who ever lived. We are called to be just like Him, so that means we should be the most passionate people on the planet! "I love the way Dorothy Sayers described the wild side of His personality. 'To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because He was a bore. Quite the contrary; He was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the Lion of Judah and made Him a house cat for pale priests and pious old ladies." Wow!

"So don't just point out the problems; be the solution. Don't just criticize what's wrong; do something right. Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention." Break a sweat."

Enjoy the Journey

2012-01-04T17:37:00.002-05:00

One God Idea

Everything that exists today started off as somebody's idea. The computer that I am typing on right now was just an idea someone had that was acted upon. "You were once an idea in the imagination of God. And for the record, God doesn't have bad ideas." Creativity stems from our imaginations. Our God is infinitely creative, and we are called to be just like Him, so that means He wants us to be creative too! "To become more like God is to become more creative." Don't believe me? Than why do the Psalms tell us more than half a dozen times to sing a new song to God? He wants us to write songs for Him! He wants us to be creative! Batterson writes, "Evidently God gets tired of old songs. He doesn't just want you to worship Him with your memory; He wants you to worship Him with your imagination. If you tell your wife that you love her the same way over and over again, she may stop believing you. Why? Because your words are an expression of memory instead of an expression of imagination. It's half-hearted because it's half-minded." God wants us to use our creativity for His glory.

"The quest for the lost soul of Christianity is about rediscovering our creative birthright. It's about reimagining everything from the Great Commandment to the Great Commission. It's about challenging old assumptions by asking the why questions. It's about challenging the perceived limits of our God-given potential by asking the why not questions. And it's driven by a holy curiosity that won't take yes for an answer. If we are going to have an eternal impact on our culture, we can't just criticize it or copy it. We've got to create it."

"The church ought to be the most creative place on the planet. And there are certainly pockets of ingenuity and imagination, but we're nowhere near our creative potential. I wonder if our lack of creativity stems from a false definition of faithfulness. Faithfulness is not doing it the way it's always been done. Faithfulness is not holding the fort. Faithfulness is not defending the status quo. Faithfulness is the courage to incarnate the gospel in creative ways. Faithfulness is experimenting with new ways of doing discipleship. Faithfulness is playing offense for the kingdom even if some Pharisees find it offensive."

Part of being creative is just being who you are. "Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Don't settle for the status quo. Challenge it. Nonconformity invites criticism, but that is the only option if you're following in the footsteps of the quintessential nonconformist, Jesus. God doesn't just give us permission to give expression to our uniqueness; He demands it. And the future of the kingdom may depend upon it."

One God idea is worth infinitely more than a thousand good ideas. How do you know which ideas are God ideas and which ideas are just good ideas? Prayer and experimentation. As creatives, we have to be willing to experiment, which means we have to be willing to fail. But if we are unwilling to fail then we will never follow through on the new ideas that God is planting within us all the time. Why are we afraid to fail anyway? Are we afraid that people won't like us? It isn't about us anyway is it? It is about God. And if it is about God, then it isn't about us, so it doesn't matter if people don't like us! God has called us to be creative, so create.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-12-28T17:06:00.002-05:00

Holy Curiosity

We learn new things everyday. Or at least we should learn new things everyday! Learning new things is part of loving God. "Loving God with all your mind means making the most of your mind by learning as much as you can about as much as you can. But the true litmus test of spiritual maturity isn't how much you know. It's knowing how much you don't know." We should be curious enough to want to keep learning, but humble enough to realize that we will never know everything. If you get to the point where you feel like you know all there is to know about God, then you will cease to be filled with wonder. "When you stop learning, you stop loving? Why? Because loving is learning more and more about the one you love. True love is never satisfied. It always wants to know more about the object of its affection." Just the other day on our way to Orlando, Abi says this to me: 'tell me something I don't already know about your childhood.' I stumbled around for awhile, but it began a conversation in which we learned things about each other we never knew before! We've been married for 5 years, and we know each other really well, but there is always something new to learn about the one you love. The more you love someone, the more you want to know about them. "The more you love God, the more curious you become. When it comes to loving God with all your mind, curiosity is both the cause and effect."

We don't often think about learning as a form of worship. But God wants us to love Him with all of our minds! That means "loving God with half your mind isn't good enough. Being half-minded is no better than being half-hearted. God wants to sanctify every part of your mind for His purposes: sanctified logic, sanctified intuition, sanctified imagination, even a sanctified sense of humor." That means that we need to love God "logically and creatively, seriously and humorously, intuitively and thoughtfully." In order to do that, we have to exercise our minds. You've heard the phrase, 'use it or lose it,' and it applies not only to your muscles but to your intellect as well! Did you know that the average college graduate reads two books a year? If you put a book in the bathroom you can read one a month! Come on man! Albert Einstein said this, "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity." Sometimes I think we are afraid to ask questions. But let me just say this: God is not intimidated by your questions. "God would much rather entertain a genuine question born out of humility than a disingenuous prayer born out of pride." We shouldn't be satisfied with easy answers! We should feel free to ask dangerous questions that require complex answers!

Albert Einstein also said this: "Science without religion is lame," and conversely, "religion without science is blind." I love that. Too often we try to separate the two and pretend that they don't get along. But if we believe that God is the God of creation, wouldn't we want to know everything we could about His creation? Don't put a limit on your studies, because the more you learn, the more you will see. "What the eye sees is determined by what the brain has learned." Let me explain it this way. As a musician, you hear music differently. You can separate all the parts and hear each instrument as it plays together to create a symphony of sound. People who aren't musicians don't hear music the same way. Why? Because they don't know about it. They don't know how it works. "Simply put: the more you know, the more you appreciate." So we could say, "how much you know may have more to do with how much you love God than you think." It is not enough to worship God, He wants to you to know why you are doing it. We need to be able to answer that question. Why do we sing the songs we sing? You see, "great is love is born out of great knowledge." "Simply put: learn more, worship more." "You cannot truly love what you do not really know. That is called ignorance. So stop and think about the implications. The less you know God, the less you love Him. And the more you know God, the more you love Him. Why? Because to know Him is to love Him. And if you don't love Him, it's because you don't really know Him."

All of that being said, we need to have a dose of critical realism within us. All that means is we have to be able to admit that we don't know everything there is to know. If we would do that, we would have a lot less arguing over things that don't really matter. Stand up for the non-negotiables. Jesus is the Son of God. He lived a sinless life. He died for our sins on the cross and was raised to life on the third day. It is time we learned to let some others things go without losing our minds arguing over things that aren't really that important. "Maybe it's time to admit that we don't know all the answers. But we know the One who does."

We are called to be disciples of Jesus. That literally means "learner." So by definition, we should never stop learning! We are always to be asking and seeking and knocking. "And the quest is never over because the questions never end." "I believe that learning glorifies God when ti's done for the right reasons. And that reason is to know Him ore so that you can love Him more. So go ahead and live as if you'll die tomorrow. But keep learning as if you'll live forever. After all, you will."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-12-21T11:25:00.002-05:00

Seventy Faces

Have you ever played with a kaleidoscope? They are so cool aren't they? They are great because when you look through them, you never see the same thing twice. It is the same way with God's Word isn't it? You can read a passage 100 different times on 100 different days and it will speak to you in a different way each time. That's because the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writer is speaking to you today, helping you to understand the Bible. He knows everything about us and He knows what we need to hear, that is why the Bible speaks to us differently each time we read it! The Bible is the place where you get to know God. "The Bible is the place where God bears His soul."

"The quest for the lost soul of Christianity always leads us back to the Bible. But rediscovering the wonders of Scripture requires more than reading. That's where the quest begins, but that's not where it ends. Not if you want to get it into your soul. You have to meditate on it. Then you have to live it out. Meditating on it turns one-dimensional knowledge into two-dimensional understanding. Living it out turns two-dimensional understanding into three-dimensional obedience."

A musical trainer was hired to work with a group of opera singers who couldn't hit a certain pitch, even though it fell within their range. He tried everything, but then on a whim he tested their hearing. What he discovered was that they couldn't sing that pitch because they couldn't hear that pitch. The problem wasn't their voice, it was their hearing. "Until you hear the voice of God, you won't be able to sing His song. Why? Because you're out of tune. That's how we get stuck in sinful habits and negative cycles and destructive patterns. But when you open the Bible and really hear the voice of God-His loving voice, His graceful voice, His powerful voice, His convicting voice, His affirming voice, His authoritative voice-you life begins to echo God's. Your live becomes a joyful noise. Your life begins to harmonize with the Holy Spirit." Here is what it comes down to: to love God is to love the Bible.

Mark Batterson talks about a time in his life when he was reading the Bible for little more than sermon prep. As a result, he wasn't reading very much of the Bible, just little sections at a time. It's good to know that other people have the same struggles we do isn't it? The problem with that is we end up reading the Bible for what God wants to say through us rather than reading it to find out what He wants to say to us. Then he read this quote by J.I. Packer that changed him, "Any Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible from cover-to-cover every year." He says he was convicted by it, and couldn't argue with it, so he set out to do it. As a result, he fell in love with the Bible again. I agree, how can we say we love God but don't spend time reading His word? You can read through the Bible in a year spending 20 minutes a day reading it. If you don't have 20 minutes a day for Bible reading, then your priorities are messed up.

I know it is hard. It was something that I struggled with for a long time. That's because spiritual disciplines are just like physical disciplines. I didn't like going to the gym at 7am every morning when I first started doing it. It was hard! Even though I felt better physically afterward, getting out of bed was so hard! But 6 months later, and Abi can attest to this, I complain more if I don't get to go to the gym than I do if I make it there (even at 7am!)! Why? Because what starts as discipline ends up as desire. The same is true of God's word. The more you read the Bible the more you'll discover that you crave it. "It's an acquired taste."

Do not put the responsibility of getting to know the scriptures on your Pastor. That is your job. Many people across the world leave churches because they say, "I'm not being fed." It is a Pastor's job to prepare the best he can to share the Word of God each week, but let me say this: kids learn to feed themselves when they are toddlers. "If you're not being fed, that's your fault." I love what Mark Batterson says when he says, "Here's a news flash: the Bible was unchained from the pulpit nearly 500 years ago during an era of history called the Middle Ages." "If you are relying on preacher to be fed, I fear for you. Listening to a sermon is acquiring second-hand knowledge."

"We are what we read. But let me take it one step further. Reading without meditating is like eating without digesting. If you want to absorb the nutrients, you can't just read it; you've got to chew on it. Meditation is the way we metabolize scripture. That's how we get it into our soul." I know meditation brings all kinds of images to our minds. But what we are talking about here is filling the mind with the Word of God. "If the goal of reading is to get through the Bible, the goal of meditating is to get the Bible through us."

But reading and meditating aren't enough...we have to obey it too! "Dynamic properties are not revealed in a static state." "Too many of us try to understand truth in the static state. We want to understand it without doing anything about it, but it doesn't work that way. You want to understand it? Then obey it. The way you master a text isn't by studying it. The way you master a text is by submitting to it. You have to let it master you." Too often we judge spiritual maturity by how much of the Bible we know. But that has never been and never will be the litmus test. Most of us know way more of the Bible than we obey. The judge of spiritual maturity isn't how much of the Bible you know, it is how much you obey.

Have you ever audited a class? It's great! You get to hear all the information, but you don't have to do any of the homework or take any of the tests! One problem though, you don't get any credit for the class either. It's the same way with the Bible. "You don't get credit for auditing Scripture. You've got to put it into practice." You don't get credit for knowing what the Bible says about caring for poor people if you don't care for the poor! Oh how our churches would change if we simply put into practice what we say we believe. You say you believe the Bible? Prove it. Put your money...and your time where your mouth is. It will change your life and it will change your church.

Here is what we are called to do regarding the Bible: Read it. Meditate on it. Then live it out.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-12-14T15:42:00.002-05:00

The Island of the Colorblind

When was the last time you just sat in awe of God? Odds are it has been awhile. Leonardo da Vinci said that the average person "looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, inhales without awareness of odor or fragrance, and talks without thinking." It sounds like a sad existence doesn't it? You have to feel bad for people who are in such a hurry that they can't appreciate what is going on right in front of their eyes. Do you think that is how God feels about us?

"Is it possible that we've given God a passing glance instead of truly hallowing His name? Is it possible we've settled for a god who fits into the constraints of our logical left brains instead of the God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can imagine with our right brains? Is it possible we've studied the God of logic without truly worshiping the God of wonders?"

Last week we said that loving God with our heart means having a heart that breaks for the things that break the heart of God. Well, loving God with our soul means having "a soul full of wonder, a soul flooded with the glory of God, a soul awed by beauty and mystery, a soul that hallows God above all else."

We have a tendency to come at God from a logical perspective. We want the facts. But the truth is that facts don't awe us. Don't get me wrong, God is factual. But God is more than factual. "He is wonderful. The mind is educated with facts, but the soul is educated with beauty and mystery. And the curriculum is creation."

"In its most primal form, worship is wonder. It is standing in awe of the Creator and His creation. It is giving credit where credit is due; the Creator." When was the last time you marveled at a thunderstorm or went down and applauded as the sun set over the skyline? Elizabeth Barret Browning put it this way: "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common brush afire with God: But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it, and pluck blackberries."

In other words, open your eyes and look at what God is doing! So many of us are like the people Oliver Sacks writes about in 'The Island of the Colorblind.' He writes of a group of people who live on an island in the South Pacific. After a typhoon came through and ravaged the island, only about 20 people survived, and in the coming years, a peculiar thing started happening. In most places in the world, colorblindness is hardly epidemic, in fact only 1 in 30,000 people are colorblind. But on this island, 1 in 12 was born with this condition. That means that even though they lived on a tropical island, they could not appreciate its true beauty because they could not see any of the lush colors that surrounded them on every side. It's sad, isn't it? But many of us live in the presence of God and don't realize it or give it a second thought. We are surrounded by God's glory, but we can't see it. Why is that?

We are sleepwalking through life. "Our eyes are open, but the vacant look reveals an empty soul. At best we're half awake. And just like the physical condition, we're unaware of our spiritual condition until someone or something wakes us up. We're unaware of the miracles happening all around us all the time. We're unaware of the spiritual warfare that is being waged all around us all the time. We're unaware of what the Spirit of God is doing all around us all the time."

It is time to wake up sleepers. It is time to regain our sense of wonder at who God is and what He is doing. Only then can we be spiritually mature. "Spiritual maturity has nothing to do with circumstances. It has everything to do with consciousness. A relationship with Christ doesn't always change our circumstances, but it does change the way we see ourselves, see others, and see God. Why? Because we see with our souls."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-12-07T16:41:00.003-05:00

A Drop in the Bucket

Let me begin by saying that I am about as analytical as they come. Especially when it comes to money. In Dave Ramsey's terms, I am the 'nerd.' I know where every penny we make ends up and on what day it gets where it is going. I am a nerd. So what I am about to share with you hit me pretty hard, and I hope it does you as well. "Sometimes our minds interfere with our hearts. Logical objections get in the way of compassionate acts. It's not my responsibility. I'm not ready. I can't make much of a difference anyway." When it comes to giving, "I'm not saying that you shouldn't count the cost. You should. But if God is speaking to your heart, don't let your mind get in the way of what God wants you to do. Sometimes loving god with all your heart simply means listening to your heart instead of your head."

We've all heard it, 'where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' "The more abstract, the less convicting truth is. So let me get concrete. Faith equals God-ordained risks in the face of fear. Obedience equals God-honoring decision in the face of temptation. And compassion equals Spirit-prompted generosity in the face of greed." I am not saying that we shouldn't be generous with our time and our energies, we should! "But sometimes love is measured in dollars." The truth is this, "you can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving." God wants to bless you, but He doesn't want to bless you so you can buy more stuff. "The blessings of God are always a means to an end. And the end is blessing others." Our author put it this way, "making money is the way you make a living and giving it away is the way you make a life."

Money has a tendency to master us. But there is a way that we can master it. It is amazingly simple and amazingly difficult at the same time. Create an income ceiling. I have heard this from several places lately and I think it is pretty great. You see, "enough will never be enough unless you determine how much is enough." Create an income ceiling and give everything you make above that away. "What would happen if every Christ follower gave away everything above and beyond their predetermined income ceiling?"

Here are some questions to think about: "Are you focused on what you have or what you don't have? That is the difference between gratitude and greed. Are you focused on this life or the next? That is the difference between stinginess and generosity. Are you focused on your wants or other's needs? That is the difference between selfishness and compassion. It's also the difference between unhappiness and joy."

Pre-decisions are the best decisions. Pre-decisions are decisions you make before a circumstance presents itself in which you have to make a decision. They help because they make it easy for you to make difficult decisions. If you don't make pre-decisions, you'll end up caving into whatever circumstances you are in and make bad decisions over and over. A pre-decision that our family has made it to tithe. That is 10%. That comes off the top before we do the bills, before we figure out anything else, tithes and offerings (things above 10%) come off, and we do everything else with what we have left. I don't say that to brag about how much we give. "The tithe isn't the goal. It's the starting place. It begins with a pre-decision to live off 90%, but it doesn't stop there. The more we grow up spiritually, the more we'll give back to God financially. It's that simple. Why? Because you aren't giving Him your money. You're giving Him your heart."

You can choose not to tithe. You can choose not to give at all. God doesn't need your money. In fact if you are giving it and holding a grudge, God doesn't even want your money! But hear this, "If you hang on to what you have, your heart will become smaller and smaller. And you'll lose your soul in the process. But if you give what you've got, your heart will grow larger and larger for the things of God."

I know Mike has said it a hundred times. God says we should test Him, if we give to Him, He will give us more than we can imagine. You can't outgive God. I believe that. I also believe that if your motivation for giving to God is to get more in return, He won't bless you. God is not a mutual fund. But if you give with the right heart, I can tell you from personal experience that God will bless you with more than you had to start with. That is what happens when you give God control of your finances.

Let's talk about worship for a second. As musicians, we are tasked with leading this congregation in worship. Now to most people that means singing, and singing is definitely part of worship. But for those of you who have been around here for any time at all you know that worship is much more than that. "What if, instead of sound quality or lyrical creativity, our litmus test for worship was a heart that breaks for the things that break the heart of God? What if we saw compassion as a form of worship? Worship without words. Worship beyond words." May we be a team of people whose compassion is contagious and spreads throughout our congregation in such a way that will shake this city to its core.

"Don't let what you cannot do keep you from doing what you can. Put your money where your heart is. It's not a drop in the bucket. Every act of generosity creates a righteous ripple effect that can change the course of history. It will also change your heart."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-11-30T16:30:00.002-05:00

The Tribe of the Transplanted

Did you know that studies show that the heart secretes its own brainlike hormones and has cellular memory? That means that when people receive a heart transplant, they literally receive new sensory responses, cravings, and habits. Crazy right? When you give your heart to Christ, He gives His heart to you. That is why you feel different. You now feel what Christ feels. One of the biggest things that should be growing in you is compassion. "Your heart begins to break for the things that break the heart of God. And that is the heart of what it means to love God with all your heart." Isn't it interesting that Christians are often viewed by the outside world as heartless? It is true, we are not as compassionate as we should be. The good news is we can change that. But it will take a change of heart.

There are countless tragedies in the world, but we overlook most of them because we have never connected a name or a face to them. They are simply numbers. Like this one: "There are a hundred thirty thousand children up for adoption at any given time in the United States, and millions more children worldwide are without families." Millions sounds big, but it rarely hits home. But you put a name or a face with that statistic, and it changes everything doesn't it? Here is the thing: "God knows each of those names. God knows each of those faces. And it breaks His heart. So let me ask you this question: Are you ok with this?"

"If you are in Christ and Christ is in you, you cannot be okay with suffering or injustice or starvation. Why? Because His heart is in you. And His heart beats for the suffering, the victim, the poor, and the needy. If you are a Christ follower, then you have been drafted into an army of compassion that knows o enemy but those things that break the heart of God. And it's not okay to not do something about them."

Having the heart of Christ changes everything. It changes the way we act, and it changes the way we react. "In my experience, it's much easier to act like a Christian than it is to react like one. Anyone can put on an act. But your reactions reveal what is really in your heart. And if you love God with all your heart, you won't just act like it. You'll react like it."

Empathy is feeling what another person feels. As our relationship with God grows, we become more and more empathetic with Him. This is when we become sympathetic and compassionate towards others.

Compassion can change the world. Just ask Joseph. Joseph was a bratty teenager whose big mouth and bigger ego got him thrown into a well and sold into slavery by his own brothers. He eventually landed in a dungeon where he had some time to learn the lessons of compassion and empathy. Evidently he did, because when the Pharaoh's cupbearer was put into the dungeon, Joseph noticed that he was upset and asked him about it. This was a big departure from the self-absorption that lead him to be sold into slavery in the first place. To make a long story short, he interpreted the dream of the cupbearer, who was released shortly after. After some time passed, Pharaoh himself had a dream that no one else could interpret, but the cupbearer remembered Joseph. So Joseph met Pharaoh, interpreted the dream, saved Egypt and ultimately his family (which would grow into the nation of Israel) from famine! Years later, a descendent of Joseph's brother Judah was born in Bethlehem, and we will be celebrating His birth here shortly. We celebrate His birth because Jesus' act of compassion lead Him to Calvary and resulted in salvation for us! Wow. So what would have happened if Joseph hadn't noticed that the cupbearer was upset? What would have happened if he didn't have compassion? Never underestimate an act of compassion.

Each of us has something inside of us that causes us to have compassion. We are passionate people. I don't know what makes you sad or glad or mad. But I know that we are called by God to do something about it. "There is something that breaks your heart because it breaks the heart of God." This is because you have the heart of Christ beating within you right now. "The only question that remains is this: what are you going to do about it?"

Enjoy the Journey

2011-11-22T14:39:00.002-05:00

Two-Thousand Stairs (from 'Primal' by Mark Batterson)

In Rome, they build new things on top of old things. The new emperor would tear down the palace of his predecessor and build his new palace in the same spot. This is also true of the churches there. There is a church that is standing today that was built in the 11th century, that was built on top of a church that stood in the 4th century, that is built on top of catacombs that were used by Christians in the 2nd century before it was legal to be a Christian. We begin our journey with our author (Mark Batterson) standing in these catacombs. He says that as he stood there, he couldn't help but wonder if our generation hasn't forgotten how inconvenient it is to follow Christ. He says, "I couldn't help but wonder if we have accepted a form of Christianity that is more educated but less powerful, more civilized but less compassionate, more acceptable but less authentic than that which our spiritual ancestors practiced." I mean, we have come a long way from the catacombs haven't we? We now have 'pews and pulpits, songs, committees, liturgies, creeds and cannons' that our ancestors didn't have. I mean come on, we get upset when the air conditioning stops working! I'm not saying that any of these things are bad or that we shouldn't have them. But I, along with Mark Batterson, wonder 'when all of the superficialities are stripped away, what is the primal essence of Christianity?'

We could discuss that all night, but let me make a suggestion. Let's start with what Jesus said was the greatest commandment. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Simple right? Well, simple to remember maybe. But much more difficult to implement in your life. Jesus made knowing what to do simple, but there is a difference between simple and easy. Many people want Christianity to be simple AND easy. That is why when things get tough in their lives or when they come across something they don't understand, their faith fades quickly. This is not the Christianity we are talking about. Christianity is simple, but it is also difficult.

How do you love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength? It takes everything you have all of the time. There isn't a day off coming. Mark Batterson says, "The heart of Christianity is primal compassion. The soul of Christianity is primal wonder. The mind of Christianity is primal curiosity. And the strength of Christianity is primal energy." Our goal is to have a love for God that is worth living and dying for.

As we go through this book together, I hope we can come back to the place where our faith began. A place where we know that God loves us and we love Him, and nothing else matters. Do you have a 'personal catacomb' in your life? A place where it all started. Do you remember that time? Do you remember that place? Maybe it was a sermon or a mission trip or a retreat or a dream or a vow. Whatever it was, I hope that our study will bring you all the way back to that place. "The place where loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all that matters." The quest for the lost soul of Christianity begins there."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-11-16T11:45:00.002-05:00

The God Who Exalts God

As Christians, we should be selfless followers of a self-centered God. God exalts God. "If this rubs us wrong in any way, we should ask, 'Who else would we have Him exalt?' For at the very moment God exalts anyone or anything else, He is no longer the God who is worthy of all exaltation." The problem is that we get this backwards sometimes. We tend to be self-centered followers of a selfless God. "We organize our churches as if God exists to meet our needs, cater to our comforts, and appeal to our preferences."

The problem is that we have the wrong vision of what the church should be. People walk in to our churches, we hand them a latte, send their kids to our programs, and tell them to make themselves comfortable. But this is not Christ's mission for the church. Christ's mission for the church is simple, and it should be His mission that drives our vision. Our mission is to make the glory of God known to all nations. "This preferred future or visual destination must drive us because this is what drives God." "What happens when our primary aim is not to make the crowds feel comfortable but to exalt God in all His glory? Suddenly our priorities begin to change. More than you and I want people to be impressed by the stuff we can manufacture, we want them to be amazed by the God they cannot fathom. More than we want to dazzle them with our production, we want to direct them to His praise." Our goal is to "raise up people who are so awed, so captivated, so mesmerized by the glory of God that they will gladly lose their lattes-and their lives-to make His greatness known in the world."

But how will we accomplish all of this? The simple answer is that WE won't, God will. Only through the power of God will all the nations of the world be reached. And the way that we as followers tap into the power of God is through prayer. "Prayer is one of the primary demonstrations of our selflessness and God's self-centeredness." Think about it, we are praying that God will accomplish things that we cannot do on our own. "So we express our dependence upon God in prayer, and He delights in showing His glory by giving us everything we need for the accomplishment of His purpose. Through prayer, God gives grace to us in such a way that He receives glory for Himself. Prayer is a nonnegotiable priority for selfless followers of a self-centered God." As you look through the book of Acts, prayer was central, not supplemental, to the church. In fact, every major breakthrough that the church had came as a direct result of the prayers that they prayed. Why do we think we are different? They knew that in order for God's plan to come to fruition, prayer was essential.

Truthfully, we don't need prayer to "do church." The point of prayer isn't to carry on business as usual. We can do what we've always done, and carry on all by ourselves. But if we want to make disciples of all nations, there is going to be a battle. And if there is going to be a battle, we need prayer. I echo David Platt when he says, "I want to be part of a people who are giving God no rest from our praying and seeking after Him. I want to be part of a people who are calling on the Lord day and night, refusing to leave God alone because we hunger for God's Word in our lives and God's power in His church and God's glory in all nations. I want to give God no rest until we experience the power and the presence of God that we see in the church in Acts."

"Do you and I want to see the power of God raining down on His church in inexplicable ways? Do you and I want to see the justice of God restored in His church so that we stop ignoring the poverty, disease, starvation, and sickness that are rampant around us? Do you and I want to see the love of God rescuing sinners from all walks of life and redeeming His children from very nation, tribe, tongue, and people? Then let us give God no rest from our praising, confessing, and interceding, and let us watch Him unleash His people in His church for His purpose in the world."

Our goal is the same as God's goal: to take the gospel to all nations. So let's join together as selfless followers of a self-centered God, we've got work to do.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-11-09T16:23:00.002-05:00

Our Unmistakeable Task

Could it be that we have missed the point? Could it be that we have gone to church our whole lives in giant buildings built for the glory of God and never really understood the mission He has called us to? "Is it really possible to have all the trappings of the church and yet miss the heart of Christ? Is it possible for church people to be so focused on personal comforts and so fearful of the potential cost that they virtually forget the purpose of God among all the peoples of the world?" To seriously engage the people of the world with the gospel will be uncomfortable and costly. But what if we were willing to take risks? What if we were willing to change our lifestyles in order to make it happen? What if our church was willing to sacrifice its resources to make the gospel accessible to those who had never heard it? What do you think would happen?

Jesus would come back. Don't believe me? Check out Matthew 24:14. It says, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Seems pretty clear to me. We can debate about the meaning of 'all nations' if we want to, but the truth remains. Christ is not coming back until all the people of the world have heard the gospel. We have to understand that Jesus didn't just command us to go to our friends (although most of us aren't even doing that!). He commanded us to make disciples of all nations!

Mission leaders around the world say that a people group is unreached if less than 2 percent of the population is made up of Christians. If that is true, it is very likely that you will be born, live, and die without ever hearing the gospel. Out of more than 11,000 people groups in the world, more than 6,000 are still unreached! What are we doing with our time? Just to be clear, Jesus might define 'reached' people differently than we do, and He could come back at any moment. No one knows when He will come back. But consider what George Ladd has to say:

"God alone knows the definition of terms. I cannot precisely define who 'all the nations' are. Only God knows exactly the
meaning of 'evangelize.' He alone...will know when that objective has been accomplished. But I do not need to know. I know
only one thing: Christ has not yet returned; therefore the task is not yet done. When it is done, Christ will come. Our
responsibility is not to insist on defining the terms of our task; our responsibility is to complete it. So long as Christ does not
return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission."

So the question we have to answer is do we want Jesus to come back? Do we want the end to come? Make no mistake about it, this is going to be hard work! People groups aren't unreached because we don't have the resources. "They are unreached because they are hard to reach and we haven't had the resolve to get them the gospel. Any Christian and any church desiring to obey the command of Christ in the world and longing to see the coming of Christ at the end of the world must possess a God-centered, gospel-driven tenacity that is ready to endure an intense spiritual battle." The stakes are high. God wants to see everyone come to Christ. Satan wants to see everyone go to hell.

Satan will use anything he can to distract us from our mission to reach the world for Christ. Even our own churches. Is it possible that we are ignoring the nations in order to build up our church in Clearwater? If we only focus on engaging people in our community we can easily become blinded to those around the world who are dying without Jesus. When that happens, we are not fulfilling our mission to reach all nations are we? When this changes, and we as a church make it our mission to bring Christ to the nations, we can expect a full on attack from Satan. But we need not fear, for we will overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.

So am I saying that we shouldn't witness to people in Clearwater? No! Not even a little bit! However, "If our goal is all nations, then our strategy cannot be defined by what will best reach people within ten miles of our church building. If our goal is all nations, then our strategy must always revolve around what will best reach people who are ten thousand miles from our building." That doesn't mean that we don't witness to people here in Clearwater. It is vitally important that we reach our friends, neighbors, families, and coworkers for Christ. As we reach them, we must be teaching and training them to not only reach their friends, but to go to all nations to spread the gospel! It is not an either/or thing. It is a both/and thing.

We do not have to choose between local impact and global impact. The two should go hand in hand. "If we are faithful to Jesus' command in the Great Commission, we will always be living and longing for the spread of the gospel to all people groups." True disciple making will have an impact on all nations with the gospel. That is why I am becoming more and more a proponent of short term mission trips. Now I am not talking about the trips where you spend 6 days sight seeing and drinking lemonade and 1 day handing out water bottles so you can feel good about yourself. Disciple making is a long-term and difficult thing, so I love mission trips where we partner with missionaries who are intentionally making disciples where they are, and where our service can help move along their disciple making process exponentially! When this happens, we aren't just helping them, but we grow together in Christ. If you have been on a trip like this you can testify that what I am about to say is true: Your time overseas will transform your time across the street. You will come back a different person, with different ideas about what is and what is not important.

It is time to get on board with the plan of God-"penetrating every nation with the gospel-and He has promised to bless it!" We have been blessed to live in a place where we have heard the gospel. God "has called, commissioned, and commanded each of us as Christians to give ourselves to the spread of His gospel in every part of the earth." You want Jesus to come back? Prove it.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-11-02T14:07:00.003-05:00

The Genius of Wrong

So many of us have a wrong view of what the church is and should be. We see it as "a performance at a place filled with programs run by professionals. The problem, though, is the one p we have left out of the equation: the people of God." The church was never intended to be a place where you brought people so that they could be taught by professionals about God and be saved. "What if the church itself-the people of God gathered in one place-is intended to be the attraction, regardless of who is teaching or singing that day? This is enough for our brothers and sisters around the world. But is it enough for us?"

I have found myself recently doing more and more of my ministry outside of the walls of our building. I have been having church all over the city! This is not surprising because "when the church is fundamentally a gathering of committed people, the place where the church gathers hardly matters." Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with having a building, but it is worth noting that "there's nothing in the New Testament that says we should construct church buildings. So whenever we plant a church or whenever a church starts to grow, why is the first thing we think, 'we need to spend masses of our resources on a building?' Why would we spend an inordinate amount of our resources on something that is never prescribed or even encouraged in the New Testament?" Just a thought. When Jesus died, He made it possible for us to come before the throne of God anywhere. So where should the house of worship be? Inside you! You are now the temple of God!

This has massive implications on how we live our lives and how we do ministry. What would happen if we took the time we spend inside this building doing ministry related things and allowed that ministry to happen outside this building, in the streets and homes of our neighbors and unchristian friends? "Who can fathom the potential of the church when we stop programming ministry for people and start propelling people into ministry?"

You see the ministry of making disciples was not just intended for professional 'pastors' and leaders. It was intended for everyone who calls themselves Christians. "All men and women who have placed their faith in Christ have the Spirit in them so they might be witnesses for Christ to the ends of the earth."

"Let us not, then, be so foolish as to confine the work of the Spirit to one professional, speaking in one place, at one time of the week. Let us not be so unwise as to bank the spread of the gospel on a certain person at a certain place when all week long the Spirit of God is living in every single man and woman of God, empowering each of us to advance the kingdom of God for His glory." Yes God has called leaders to lead the church. But the job of leaders within the church is not to save your friends. The job of leaders in the church is to prepare God's people for ministry and works of service in the Kingdom! "If we want to multiply the gospel from our faith family to all the families of the earth, it will require not just a pastor or church staff but the entire body of Christ built up in love 'as each part does its work.'"

Before Jesus went to heaven, He gave a simple command. Make disciples. "Do with others what I have done with you, Jesus had said. Don't sit in a classroom; share your lives. This is the simple command that was to drive the church. And this is the simple command that is to drive each of our lives."

"Regardless of your place in the church, remember that you are not intended to be sidelined in the Kingdom of God. You may at times feel like the wrong person, thinking you are not gifted enough, smart enough, talented enough, or qualified enough to engage in effective ministry. This is simply not true. You have the Word of God before you, the Spirit of God in you, and the command of God to you: make disciples of all nations. So whether you are a businessman or a businesswoman, a lawyer or a doctor, on-the-go professional or an on-the-go stay-at-home mom, I implore you to ask God to make your life count where you live for the spread of the gospel and the declaration of His glory to the ends of the earth."

"We will never have enough resources, staff, buildings, events, or activities to reach all the people in our community, much less all the peoples in the world. But we will always have enough people. Even if they seem like the wrong people." The plan of God is not meant for a select few professionals. "The plan of God is for every person among the people of God to count for the advancement of the Kingdom of God."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-10-26T15:57:00.002-05:00

God is Saying Something

Most of us have thought at some point in our lives that we wish God would just say something. We wish that He would just tell us what He wants. We wish He would give us a word. So we rack our brains and try to come up with an "inspired idea" that will give us some direction in our lives or in the life of our church. But "we don't have to work to come up with a word from God; we simply have to trust the Word He has already given us. When we do, the Word of God will accomplish the work of God among the people of God." We have to remember that our life and leadership in the church is not dependent on our experience or intelligence. It is dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit and our trust in the truth of God's word. We cannot save the church in our own power, it was never our job to do so. Instead we need to pray this prayer, "Lord, let me make a difference for You that is utterly disproportionate to who I am."

In many of our lives and in many of our churches, we rely on human words of wisdom to set our direction. When mere humans set the course, we won't get anywhere. "When we unchain the power of God's Word in the church, it will unleash the potential of God's people in the world." So God's word must be central in our lives and in our church if we want to make His glory known to the world.

We need to understand that "God has given us everything we need in the Word we have" and we need to stop looking everywhere else for answers! I am aware God didn't address a time limit for how long you should watch tv or play computer games in the Bible. I am also aware that He didn't specify how much you should be setting aside for your 401k. The purpose of the Bible was not give us specific guidelines on how to live our lives in the 21st Century United States. "The purpose of God's word is to transform people in every country and every century into the image of Jesus. The Bible is sufficient to accomplish this task, and God knows this is what people need most." When our lives look like Christ's, the rest will fall into place.

"The Bible is in our hands to transform people into the image of Christ and to get people in touch with the Holy Spirit of God, who will not only give them counsel for every situation they face but will also walk with them through those situations." That should take the pressure off of us as followers of Christ. We don't have to have all the answers!

Everything we do in our lives and in our church we should do for the glory of God. But we must understand something: just because we do it for His glory doesn't mean that He will bless it. That doesn't mean that He won't, but we can't be offended if He does not. "There is only one thing God has promised to bless, and that is His plan. He has given us His plan in His word, and if we want the blessing of God, then we don't need to come up with something else. Instead, we need to align with the plan He has already promised to bless." The question we must ask before we begin a task is this: "Is this the BEST way to align with the plan Jesus has laid before us?"

If what we are doing does align with His plan, we can rest assured that He will bless it. That being said, "the blessing of God does not mean acceptance by the world." It also doesn't mean instant success and sweeping revival in our churches. "The challenge for church members and leaders alike is to faithfully hold fast to God's Word, trusting that ultimately God will use it to accomplish His intended, eternal, global purpose."

The Bible is perfect and all sufficient. "You and I can trust this Word. It forms and fulfills, motivates and mobilizes, equips and empowers, leads and directs the people of God in the church for the plan of God in the world. This won't automatically make everything easy in the church. But as long as Christians together are prayerfully and humbly asking what the plan of God is in His word for His people and are abandoning our lives to it, we will be unleashing a radical people."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-10-19T15:29:00.002-05:00

The Gospel Misunderstood

Some people think that work has everything to do with salvation, others think it has nothing to do with it. "Both are confused. Both are wrong. And until they get a right understanding of the gospel, they will never be a part of accomplishing the purpose of God." Some are prone to think, "I need to do more for God. I need to sell this possession and make this pledge in order to be right before God. Guilt will motivate their obedience, and action will be their obligation." If this is you, please hear this: You will never be radical enough. There is nothing you can DO to be accepted by God, and that is the good news of the gospel, it doesn't matter. Because God loves us so much, He sent Jesus to live a perfect life and give that life for us so that we can be made right with God. "The starting point of your radical life is your radical death-death to yourself and death to your every attempt to do enough before God."

I believe that with all my heart. My problem comes when so many of us use that as an excuse to not live out the faith we claim to have in Jesus. Scripture says that faith without works is dead. But I think we need to take a minute and figure out what 'works' we are talking about here. Over and over again throughout the scripture people are condemned for trying to earn their salvation through works. This is not what we are talking about, and that is not what James is talking about in his book of the Bible either. He (and we) are talking about "actions fueled by faith that bring great glory to God. Things such as "love for the needy, mercy for the poor, and care for the suffering that flow from faith in Christ." The truth of the matter is that "so-called faith without acts prompted by faith is a farce. Real faith always creates fruit."

The difference between the two kinds of works is that one is fueled by flesh in an attempt to earn a good standing with God, while the other is fueled by faith in order to bring glory to God. We should want to bring glory to God at every opportunity, after all He saved us even though there was nothing we could do to earn it! Therefore we do not work for God out of a sense of guilt, we have been declared not guilty before Him! We work for God out of a sense of gratitude and love. "We live sacrificially, not because we feel guilty, but because we have been loved greatly and now find satisfaction in sacrificial love for others. We live radically, not because we have to, but because we want to."

So we must avoid becoming a church of people who are constantly trying to earn their salvation through works motivated by guilt. We must also avoid becoming a church of people who defend the gospel but don't demonstrate it.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-10-12T15:39:00.002-05:00

Tyranny of the Good (from Radical Together by David Platt)

"I spend so much time in church doing good church things that I don't have time to spread the gospel?" Can you relate? When I say good church things I'm not being sarcastic at all. We can easily fill up our schedules with things that are good in and of themselves. The problem arises when we realize that we don't have time to do what we are called to do (bring people to Jesus) because we are spending too much time at picnics, worship team rehearsals, and youth group parties! Are any of those things bad? I certainly hope not! But "the last thing you and I want to do is waste our lives on religious activity that is devoid of spiritual productivity-being active in the church but not advancing the kingdom of God." That is why as David Platt says in his book 'Radical Together,' "one of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in church." We can very easily trick ourselves into thinking that just because we are in the church building we are advancing the kingdom of God. However dedication to church programs does not equal devotion to God's kingdom.

That is why we have to take a good long look at our lives and answer this question: "Am I willing to put everything that I am doing on the table and figure out if these are the best ways I can use my life for God?" Are you willing to say to God, "I will do whatever You want, I will drop whatever You command, I will eliminate whatever is not best, and I will add whatever is necessary in order to make your glory known in the world around me, no matter what it costs me?" This is a hard process. It is hard because we can justify anything. I am really good at it. Knowing this, we have to avoid questions like, 'what is wrong with doing this?' We have to avoid this question because we've already established that the things we are doing in and of themselves are good things! The question we must ask is "Are these programs and activities the best way to spend our time, money, and energy for the spread of the gospel in our neighborhood and in all nations?"

I know this is hard. It is hard because it will require us to take an honest look at our lives and make some changes that we don't really want to make. Changes that will impact our lifestyle. The things that we are involved in (for the most part) are good things! They may even be things that we have been doing for many years now. That is why it is hard to let go of them. But if we are honest, we know that "if we want to unleash the people of God in the church for the glory of God in the world, we need to let go of some good things." God is calling us to what is best so that people can come to know Him. Are you ready to let go?

Enjoy the Journey

2011-08-17T15:36:00.003-05:00

The Sound of Sheer Silence

Silence is not something we are good at. We sleep with the TV on, the radio is always on in the car, and iTunes is constantly at work. Have you ever walked into a store and noticed that there is no music playing in the background? It is really uncomfortable! Why is that? It is because we are not good at silence. It is a rare moment in our lives when we let silence completely envelop us, but I'm guessing you remember those moments. It is often in those moments when we feel closest to God. For one thing we can hear Him more clearly when there are not 100 other things to drown Him out. Bill Hybels asks this question: "Is the ambient noise level of my life low enough for me to hear the whispers of the Lord?"

But some of us just can't keep quiet for anything. Maybe it is because we aren't spending enough time in the presence of God. Andrew Murray says, "The very thought of God in His majesty and holiness should silence us."

I know it is easier said than done. "There is so much to see and hear in this busy and media-flooded world of satellite television, home cinema and the internet. We need seasons of the soul in which we somehow find space away from the noises of everyday life and still our heart to perceive the intimate whispers of God." Why do you think people go on retreats into the woods or to a remote beach house? Is it because they hate indoor plumbing? I suppose some might. But for most people it is because they need to get away to 'clear their heads.' They will scale a mountain just to see the view. From the top they see things clearly, things they have never seen before. There is a reason they say it is breathtaking. It is because words won't do it justice, so the appropriate thing to do is keep quiet. They need time to sit in the silence and hear what God is saying to them. Many times people come back from retreats like that passionate about the calling God is placing in their lives. Why? Because they have taken the time to listen!

We need "to find moments and places where we may rise above the noise of twenty-first-century life and give ourselves space for reflection. As a general rule, too much time spend watching television or playing video games will not help us climb higher. If we want to scale greater heights and see further into God, we must find moments when we ascend above every distraction and find an unobstructed view of Him."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-08-03T15:35:00.002-05:00

Worship with a Price

When we see Christ for who He is, it demands a response from us. This response is so much more than just, 'hey that guys is pretty great!' It demands sacrifice on our part. When we see Christ, we gladly give Him all we have. We see this picture in Genesis when Abraham goes to sacrifice Isaac on the alter. Most of us have thought about how hard it must have been and how much faith it took for Abraham to take his only son, his son that God promised him, and sacrifice him. But when was the last time you took a look at Isaac's question when they got to the top of the mountain? He says, "The fire and the wood are here...but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" "In other words, 'Everything seems like it's in place, but where's the sacrifice?' That is always a key question when it comes to real and meaningful worship."

Worship always comes with a price. It requires us to give up ourselves and give all we have to God, otherwise we aren't really worshipping. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that we should be miserable during worship, in fact giving glory to God should be a joyous time! But I am saying that "there must be times in our worship services when we cease to say, 'Please give me more' and we start to say, 'It's time I gave You more.'"

Worship should propel us to action. We have a mission to accomplish! "The call on all of our lives is to journey beyond melodies and harmonies, beyond lyrics and poetry." While these are great tools of worship, we can't let our worship stop there. Worship is much more than the strumming of a guitar, the playing of an organ, or the singing of a choir. In 2 Samuel 24:24 David says that he will not sacrifice that which costs him nothing, and neither should we!

Christ's call on our lives is to "live a radical life of love and service-a life that leads to many costly acts of devotion, a life of intimacy with guts, passion with perseverance." William Barclay writes of the brothers James and John: "So then, both of the brothers drank the cup of Christ. Let us see what that cup was. John went to Ephesus; he lived for almost a hundred years; and died in peace full of years and honor. James's life was short, and came to an end swiftly and suddenly through martyrdom by the sword-and yet both drank the cup of Christ. There is a Roman coin, which has as its inscription the picture of an ox facing an altar and a plough, with the words: 'Ready for either.' The ox must be ready for the dramatic sacrifice of the altar or the long routine of the plough. The Christian who dies in one heroic moment, and the Christian who lives a long life of fidelity to Christ both drink the cup of Christ. The Christian...must be ready for either."

My question for you is are you ready for either? What is your worship costing you? Are you living a radical life of love and service? Abi and I just got back from Honduras where the Christians there live a radical life of love and service. They don't even have running water because the Catholic Church shut it off because they don't like the mission of the church in Honduras! You want to talk about what worship costs? It may cost you running water! It may put you in the path of people dealing with death, and it may put you in the lives of your neighbors that you don't really like. Our mission is to spread the love of Christ in every arena, and we can't do that without it costing us something.

"The most meaningful and powerful worship always comes at a price-the whole of our lives placed on His altar." What does worship cost? Everything.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-07-27T14:53:00.002-05:00

The Whole Christ

Many of us get stuck on one aspect of Christ, and that limits our worship of Him. Some like to focus on the mighty king, some on the gentle shepherd. Some focus on the conquering hero, some on the sacrificial lamb. To focus on only one aspect of who Jesus is makes our worship of Him too small. "Christian worship must contain both the cross and the crown." If we take a look at what the Bible says He is like we will find that our idea of who Christ is begins to expand rapidly.

"He is the light, the way, the truth and the life. He is the Word made flesh, Immanuel...God with us. He is the hope of glory, the Good Shepherd of our soul. When we start paying more attention to some of the names of Jesus, the eyes of our hearts are opened to an even deeper realization of His wonders."

We could do this all day. Words cannot express all that is Jesus. Many times we think that Jesus is just in the New Testament, but don't forget to look for Him in the Old Testament too!

"In Genesis Jesus is the Ram at Abraham's altar. In Exodus He's the Passover Lamb. In Leviticus He's the High Priest...In Job He's our Redeemer that ever lives. In Psalms He is my Shepherd and I shall not want...In Isaiah He's the Suffering Servant...And in Daniel He is the Fourth Man in the midst of a fiery furnace...In Zechariah He is our fountain. And in Malachi He is the Sun of Righteousness with Healing in His wings...In 1st Corinthians our Resurrection. In 2nd Corinthians our Sin Bearer...In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians He is our Soon Coming King...In Titus He is our Blessed Hope...and in Revelation, lift up your eyes, church for your redemption draws near, He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords."

We worship a Savior King, a Sacrificial Lamb who will reign on high for all eternity. We would do well to never forget it.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-07-06T15:06:00.002-05:00

Mysteries So Bright

"The God we worship is clothed in mystery. He reveals and He conceals. He invites and He hides. He confounds and He confides. The God who rests but never sleeps. Who thunders and whispers, terrifies and befriends. Whose anger lasts only a moment, but whose favor lasts a lifetime. Who is all-consuming yet kind, all-knowing yet capable for forgetting the sins He forgives. The God who wounds and binds up, who injures and who heals. The King whose footstool is the Earth, yet humbly washed the earth from the feet of those He discipled. Who reigns in righteousness yet carried our shamefulness. Who walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day, yet sweated drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane one agonizing night. The God of the smallest detail and the grandest design, who issued ornate designs for an extravagant temple yet found pleasure in the humblest offering of a widow's two tiny coins there. The suffering servant who commands the universe. The sinless friend of sinners. The Savior who hung in agony on beams of wood He Himself had called into being. He is fearsome yet welcoming, unfathomable yet knowable. The God of kings and beggars, presidents and paupers. Who fathers the fatherless and works through our weakness. Burning with holiness, yet refreshingly graceful. He who is worshipped by the multitudes of heaven yet rejoices over a single returning heart. Perfect in every way yet able to help those who are being tempted. He who is faithful even to the faithless, for He cannot disown Himself. This is the God we worship-the God of all mystery."

A.W. Tozer says, "No one who knows Him intimately can ever be flippant in His presence." Are you in awe?

Enjoy the Journey

2011-06-29T15:30:00.004-05:00

The Otherness of God

God is not like anyone or anything else in the universe. He is matchless, unique, and nothing or no one even comes close. It can become easy for us to lose sight of this today. Even in our churches we do roughly the same thing every week (give or take a few songs). We can easily lose sight of Who we are here for. We can take an extraordinary God and manage to make Him sound completely ordinary! That must be really frustrating for God! God defends His awesomeness throughout the scripture. He will "not be diluted, dumbed down or patronized. He rebukes worshippers in Psalm 50: 'You thought I was altogether like you.' But He is not like one of us. He is utterly incomparable-beyond the furthest horizon of our imaginations."

Sometimes our view of God vs the reality of God can be like a goldfish in a bowl vs the creatures of the deep. A goldfish can swim around and say hi to Scuba Steve before it whacks its face on the side of the bowl (again). A wild fish in the deep is untamed, mesmerizing in beauty. Sometimes we portray God as domesticated, but He is far from that! We will never be able to fully declare how awesome our God is, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try!

When it comes down to it, God knows that He is awesome. He doesn't need you or me to tell Him. What do we have to offer God anyway? "We cannot even offer a simple song of praise without using the breath God first gave to us." Talk about dependence. God does not depend on us, we are totally dependent on God. That being said, "one of the biggest mistakes a person can make in life is to think that God owes him or her something. It destroys faith and insults the sovereignty of God." God doesn't owe us anything, we owe Him everything. But the beauty of our relationship with God is that even though He doesn't need our worship, He loves it! He loves it so much that He paid the ultimate price for it, He gave up His Son's life so that we could be in His presence to worship Him! Is it arrogant for God to love worship? J.I. Packer puts it this way: "If it is right for man to have the glory of God as his goal, can it be wrong for God to have the same goal? If man can have no higher purpose than God's glory, how can God? The reason it cannot be right for man to live for himself, as if he were God, is because he is not God. However, it cannot be wrong for God to seek His own glory, simply because He is God." Did you catch that? Basically we have the same goal God does, to give God glory! It isn't arrogant for the greatest ever to be acknowledged as the greatest ever. He isn't like a boxer who will eventually get old and have someone else take His place. No, "He will never give up His title or yield His supremacy. He is untouchable, invincible and eternally glorious."

We need to step up our reverence for God. It needs to find its way into the tiniest details of our lives. How are you showing reverence for God in your life? How can you show more? He deserves it. He expects it.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-06-22T14:20:00.003-05:00

Facedown

It seems like I've been having many conversations about postures in worship lately. What is appropriate and what isn't? I think it can be summed up pretty simply by just saying that "when it comes to expressing our worship, what we do on the outside is a key reflection of what is taking place on the inside." I don't think that there are a set of "moves" that we need to learn to worship God. We should react in the way that we feel lead to react. If that means raising your hands or falling facedown, follow the Spirit's lead. We do see many more people raise their hands then fall facedown don't we? Maybe it is just because of the way we set up the rooms we "worship" in, but maybe it is because we really don't comprehend that we are coming into the presence of God. Throughout scripture when people come into the presence of God, they fall on their face! Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, James, John, the elders in Revelation, this list goes on and on. Why the reaction? Because they understand one thing, "when it comes to worship, the throne sets the tone." When you fully grasp that you are in the presence of the Almighty God of the universe, there is only one response.

Falling facedown isn't just something that people who love God do. When the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines, they put it in the temple of their false god Dagon. The next morning when they came in, the statue of Dagon was lying facedown before the Ark! They didn't get the message, so they put the statue back in it's place. The next morning they came in and it was facedown before the Ark again, but this time it had it's head and hands broken off! Seriously, if you find that your god is bowed down to God, you might want to rethink who you worship!

The presence of God is both exciting and terrifying. In Leviticus the glory of the Lord appeared and fire came out from His presence. The people responded with shouts of joy and they fell facedown! Again I can't help but notice that we have the shouting down but we really don't spend a lot of tine facedown these days. Sometimes it can be pretty wise to humble yourself this way before God. The truth of the matter is that one day everyone will find themselves facedown before God. When Christ returns no one will have a choice! We should choose to lie down before it becomes impossible to stand up! On that day everyone will confess that Jesus is Lord and it will be impossible to stand before Him.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-05-04T15:40:00.002-05:00

Skilled and Authentic

I've seen amazing performances of "religious" songs in which the musicians couldn't care less about God. It was just another song to sing or play. But they were amazing, it gives me chills. I've also seen well intentioned people sing or play things that made my skin crawl, but they were genuine and their love for God was evident. As worship leaders, we need to strive to be a mix of these two kinds of people. God wants us to play skillfully, but He wants our hearts as well! An addiction to skill can quickly become an idol. It is easy to worship at the alter of rehearsal. Reggie Kidd wrote this: "In some churches the quest for 'excellence' is an idol, regardless of whether 'excellence' is defined by standards of so-called 'classical' culture or of 'pop' culture. Such 'excellentism' needs to be replaced with the quest to purse the likeness of Christ crucified and Him alone. As good as it gets this side of Christ's return, we're never going to get it completely right. There will always be a flat tenor, a broken guitar string, an overly loud organ, or a poorly placed hymn. But it's okay. The cross means we're covered."

All of that being said, God commends musical excellence. He wants us to use that excellence to focus people's attention on Him and His wondrous acts. Our goal should be to play in such a way as to add to, not distract from the worship we are leading. Sometimes that means that we won't play as many notes, sometimes it means that we won't play at all. "Musical excellence, understood correctly, is a worthy pursuit. But like all idols, it makes a terrible god."

Some people think that you can't lead and worship at the same time. It has been said that we should 'sacrifice our worship' for the sake of those we lead. I don't believe this. Congregational worship involves everyone, including those who lead it! That is where the skill comes in, we should be skilled enough to be able to direct people and still worship God ourselves. "Effective leadership and worshiping God are two sides of the same coin."

Clearly in worship, especially in our situation, we don't all play or sing the same amount of songs. The important thing to remember is that we need to play the songs we play to the very best of our abilities because they are part of our worship to God. We need to understand that our "gifts are from God, that gifts are different, and that they're all for God's glory." When we do, we will have an easier time understand why we don't all play or sing as often as someone else. "As we encourage and help people serve with 'the measure of faith God has assigned,' they'll be able to do so with joy, no matter what, where, or how."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-04-27T13:50:00.005-05:00

Rooted and Relevant

What does it mean to be rooted? In short, it means to know where you came from. We are not the first generation of people who have worshiped God through music, and we won't be the last either. We are at a unique time in history, where change is extremely rapid, but all of our technology doesn't change the gospel or our need to be humble. Some of us didn't grow up singing the classic hymns, in fact some of us are quite new to the faith. The hymns are full of rich theology and those of us who know them should be willing to gracisouly teach them to those that do not. They cover a broad range of topics that some of the songs written in the last twenty years just don't address, and that is not surprising given the fact that the hymns have been written over hundreds of years and the best of the best are still sung today! The reason we still use traditions such as hymns is that it shows that we follow in a long line of worshipers who have desired to bring glory to God just as we do. "That doesn't mean that hymn melodies are sacred, are the best they could ever be, or should never be altered. Most hymns were written as text without music. They were joined to various tunes until one became more popular than all the others. But we're just plain arrogant when we think that all the great melodies have been written in the last twenty years."

All of that being said, "too much emphasis in traditions and roots can cause us to depend on them. Many traditions began as an earnest attempt to to protect the faith, but over tine they became separated from faith, resulting in dead orthodoxy. They now practice a form of godliness but lack true spiritual power. There will never be a perfect liturgy or tradition that ensures the continued faith of future generations."

The greatest traditions in the world don't mean anything unless they help to effectively communicate the gospel to those we are trying to reach. That means that we have to evaluate everything that we do and see if the people are actually getting it. This is a constant within every organization, including the church. "We want to proclaim the unchanging gospel in ways our culture can comprehend, ways that will make it easy for people to perceive who Jesus Christ is and how he has changed us." That doesn't mean that we should expect everyone who walks in our doors on Sunday to understand everything that is going on, but we do have to make sure they don't feel like they are hearing a totally foreign language either.

That is why the church must have a healthy tension of relevance to balance out the roots that we hold so dear. That looks different in every church! For some churches that may mean adding a jazz band and webcasting, for others it may mean a banjo and a bulletin. "Every church should make sure that the story of God's redemption can be clearly understood and experienced by those they are seeking to reach with the gospel.

Just as with roots, clinging to relevance can be a bad thing. We can easily find ourselves looking for the latest gimmick and the message of the gospel can become lost in how 'cool and creative' we become. That is where staying rooted can help us. It reminds us that above all we are to remain faithful to the message, not the the culture around us.

The most important thing to remember is that "when it cones to forms of worship, any form that facilitates and encourages worship in spirit and truth by a particular gathering of people, at a particular tine in history, in the context of a particular culture is pleasing to God. That implies that no one form can fully express the vastness of God. No given time, culture, or generation can give God the honor He deserves. This understanding keeps first things first. Cultures change, styles change, traditions change, times change. God remains the same. Through wise leadership and a faithful example, let's draw upon the rich heritage of the past, while at the same time seeking to communicate the eternal gospel in ways our culture can understand."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-04-20T13:27:00.002-05:00

Planned and Spontaneous

Most churches lean one way or the other. Things are planned out months in advance or they aren't planned out at all. I've worked with churches that you had to submit a request to have coffee after service 6 weeks in advance and I've been at a church on Sunday morning and been asked to lead the songs 10 minutes before service started because the worship minister didn't show up! Planning and spontenaity both have their strengths, but the best case scenario is when they are used with a healthy tension. You see, there are things that planning offers that spontenaity cannot, and the opposite is also true.

Planning can never replace dependence on the Holy Spirit. I don't know how many times we have had a great plan for worship and something happens mid-week or even Sunday morning that changes everything! Continuing with a celebratory service when a tragedy has just occurred may not make sense, and the opposite is true as well.

Planning also doesn't mean that everything will go right. Just because we plan something doesn't mean that everyone will follow it, that the sound system won't blow up, or keep some other disaster from happening in the middle of the sevice! What we need to realize is that having plans is a good thing, but there is nothing sacred about them. They are mean to serve us, not to rule us.

Planning does help us to utilize our time effectively. We have an hour and fifteen minutes to convince people who are hurting, confused, and empty that Jesus is bigger than all or the problems that are going on in their lives and that He loves them and came to earth to save them, and that is hard to communicate without a plan! Planning also helps us to use different ways of expressing the gospel each week, whether through different musical styles, preaching, testimony, or a variety of other ways.

Spontenaity is hard for me. I like the plan. God likes to step in and change the plan, sometimes it seems like every week He does...or maybe that is the pastor :) This gives us the freedom to address the needs that need to be addressed right then and there, such as last week when we took time to pray for the Kamara family. Spontenaity may look like that, or it may be as simple as repeating a chorus so that we can dwell on the truth we just sang a little longer. Either way, we must be open to following the Spirit whereve He leads.

The biggest takeaway is this: The Holh Spirit often guides us in spontaneous ways. "Of course, the Spirit can also use us in powerful ways as we play notes we've practiced for hours during months of rehearsals. But isn't it helpful to be able to do both?"

Enjoy the Journey

2011-04-13T16:20:00.002-05:00

Vertical and Horizontal

When we come together and worship God, we need to engage in two different types of worship: Vertical and Horizontal. Vertical worship is direct praise of God. After all, He is worthy of all praise. He created us so that we might know Him and love Him and give Him praise. When we give God glory, we are joining an activity that has been happening and will continue to happen for all eternity! You would think that we wouldn't need to be reminded that worship begins and ends with God, but sometimes we do. Sometimes we get so caught up in what we are doing or in what we like or don't like that we forget the entire reason we are doing what we are doing is to bring glory to God!

God's value doesn't increase or decrease because of anything that anyone does or says about Him. It's not like a public opinion poll of a politician. God is as glorious today as He has ever been and that will never diminish or fade. He doesn't command us to worship Him so that He can gain more status. He commands us to worship Him because we need to worship Him. As we've said before we are always worshiping something in our lives, and to worship something other than God is idolatrous, so we need to worship Him!

Worship is also not a 'means to an end.' Worship isn't something we do to help church growth, evangelism, or some other ministry. Worship, as many have said, is 'heaven practice,' we are getting ready to do what we will do forever in heaven! God's glory is the end of our worship, not the means to some other end.

But there is also a horizontal element to worship. Our worship builds our brothers and sisters up. Ephesians 5:19 says that we are to "admonish one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs," while at the same time "singing and making melody to the Lord." Yes the entire point is to bring God glory, but we also reap the benefits of worshiping with a group of people! "We aren't having our own little worship experiences independent of each other."

"David Peterson (who wrote 'The Message') has helpfully pointed out that 'edification and worship are different sides of the same coin.' Then he adds, 'This does not mean that prayer or praise is a means to an end, namely edification. We worship God because of who He is and because of His grace towards us.'" The great thing is that when we worship God together, we are built up. He gets the glory, and we also get benefit out of it. There is a healthy tension that needs to be maintained: let us build each other up for the glory of God.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-04-06T12:57:00.002-05:00

Internal and External

Usually when someone is describing someone else as a "real worshiper," what they mean is that they are very expressive when they sing. But truthfully that person may just be outgoing, they may be trying to draw attention to themselves, or they could be worshiping God biblically. We can't really tell if a person is worshiping just by looking at them from the outside, we have to know whets going on in their heart. We learn in 2 Samuel that God looks at the heart. God isn't looking for outward expression and inward coldness. God wants our hearts, and if He doesn't have them, then He isn't really interested in whether or not you raise your hands during the singing.

The heart is the most important thing. That being said, what we do with the rest of our body isn't irrelevant. Just saying, 'I'm worshiping God on the inside' isn't going to cut it! I can tell Abi that I love her all day long, but if I never do anything to show that love what good is it? She won't be too impressed if all I ever do is tell her I love her, but I never even give her a hug!

"Our bodies naturally respond to what affects our souls." In other words, there are not a set few things that you must physically do in order to have worshiped. I jump up and down when UK hits the winning shot as time expires, I spread my arms when my nieces and nephews come running in to greet us, I cry when someone we love has a major tragedy in their lives. No one has to teach us how to react to things, it comes naturally. When we are physically expressive in worship, it should be a natural response to what God is speaking into our lives during that time! That means that we won't be physically expressive all the time, and it means that sometimes we will react differently than other times. Like we've said many times, people can tell when you are putting on a show and when you are genuinely worshiping. Don't start trying to be physically expressive in worship just because others are doing it, it needs to be a response that is personal.

Some people are not physically responsive because they are afraid of what others will think of them. If that is you, remember that the only opinion that counts is God's. We are not worshiping to impress anyone, but to bring glory to God. Some people are not physically responsive because their view of worship is that it should be done with 'reverence and awe.' If that is you, remember that while those things are appropriate in worship, don't forget the numerous commands in scripture to celebrate, lift your hands, raise your voice, and dance! Still others are not physically responsive in worship because they do not want to distract others from worshiping God. This is a noble thing, and we never want to draw attention away from God and put it on us, so please be expressive, but do so with consideration of others in mind.

When we gather together to sing, we have to pursue "theological depth and passionate expression." God did not intend these to be separate! We want to worship with both our minds and our hearts. God is worthy of our deepest affection, and our bodies should show it.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-03-30T10:38:00.002-05:00

Head and Heart

When we lead others in worship, there is so much more than singing going on. There is a battle for truth that is raging. That is why we must be careful in choosing the songs that we sing. There needs to be a healthy tension between our minds and our emotions as we worship. God calls us in Colossians 3:2 to 'set our minds on things above.' We are doing so much more than helping people escape from their lives for an hour, therefore the things that we say and sing about God must be intelligent and informed. This is the reason that we select songs based on lyrical content, not style. However, as we do this, we also must be careful that we do not worship God in a way that makes Him appear dull, because He is anything but dull! It is not our creativity that that brings excitement about the Father, it is helping people understand the truth of who He is that will do that. The danger in focusing too much on our minds is that we can end up leading a theologically sound but emotionally dead church. That does not bring glory to God.

We do want to stir the emotions of those we lead in worship. However we aren't trying to get them excited just for the sake of getting them excited. We aren't aiming for emotions that are shallow and fading. We are trying to stir in them deep affection for God that will last a lifetime. These emotions come from focusing on who God is and what He has done and is doing in our lives. When we really see God, it moves our hearts. We feel awe, sorrow for sin, gratefulness for mercy, and peace knowing that He is in control. When we fail to show that we delight in God, we are disobeying Him! We have more reason to celebrate than anyone on the planet!

That being said, emotional engagement can be misplaced. Our goal is to have people's emotions moving as a result of God's power in their lives, not just because they like the song we sang. Experience alone is not the goal, experiencing God is the goal.

This is much more than a debate on hymns vs. choruses. Each group has songs that fall into both of these categories. It is our job as worship leaders to make sure that we keep a healthy tension between our heads and our hearts, to anything less would not be glorifying to God. "We have to remember that neither biblical truth or deep emotion is out of place when we worship God; they're meant to go together. Let's keep the healthy tension strong."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-03-23T10:15:00.003-05:00

Transcendent and Immanent

Our God is both transcendent and immanent. Wow, now those are words we use everyday! "Transcendence means that God is independent from and superior to His creation." In other words, God is God, and we are not. It is helpful for us to remember that when we come together to worship. It takes our focus off of ourselves and places it where it belongs, on God. So how do we respond to a God that is independent from and superior to us? We should respond with reverence, honor, and respect. You see this throughout scripture, when people encounter God, they are stunned, they fall on their faces, some even pass out! Respect and awe are definitely part of the experience. That is why Cathedrals are built the way they are, the object is to inspire awe of our Creator. If you've visited one of these massive Cathedrals, you understand exactly what I am talking about. Hymns like Holy, Holy, Holy teach us about God's transcendence. "All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth, in sky, in sea." Sometimes we come into worship too casually and we lose sight of this truth. Our goal is to make God approachable, which He is, but we must not forget that He is altogether unlike us. He is Holy, and He is to be respected. He says in Isaiah 46:9, "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me."

God is transcendent, but He is also immanent. That means that He is near to us. Although He is superior to us, He doesn't leave us alone. Acts teaches us that 'in Him we live and move and have our being.' Jesus came to earth to dwell among us, how much more immanent can you get? I'll tell you, when Jesus left, He sent the Holy Spirit to come and dwell WITHIN us! Many praise choruses emphasize God's immanence. They help us to sing not just about God, but to Him.

So how do we maintain a healthy tension? We have to remember that different services will focus on different aspects of God. One may lean more towards His transcendence, while another to His immanence. As leaders, we have to learn when to be somber and when to be warm. The best way to maintain this healthy tension is to keep our focus on the gospel. God's transcendence demanded the death of His own Son for our sins! Yet through His immanence and Christ's death we are now adopted children of God!

Isaiah 57:15 says, "For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"

Charles Surgeon said, "I can admire the solemn and stately language of worship that recognizes the greatness of God, but it will not warm my heart or express my soul until it has also blended therewith the joyful nearness of that perfect love that casts out fear and ventures to speak with our Father in heaven as a child speaks with its father on earth. My brother, no veil remains."

Our God is a consuming fire. The Lord of all creation. But praise God, no veil remains, and we can approach the throne with confidence, as a child of God.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-03-16T15:50:00.003-05:00

Healthy Tensions: Guiding Principles

Every church has a liturgy. All that means is 'a public way of doing things.' The question often arises, 'how are we supposed to do church?' We have to ask ourselves if what we are doing is biblical or just a preference, just the way we've always done it? This is not a new question. John Calvin, when he separated himself from the Catholic Church, started following what became known as the 'regulative principle.' In a nutshell, that means that if scripture doesn't clearly command that we do it, it is forbidden in worship. Some churches who follow this do not use instruments or songs other than Psalms in worship. Martin Luther on the other hand, followed the thought that whatever scripture doesn't forbid is allowed. Over the years, the two schools of thought have produced split after split, denomination after denomination. So why is it so hard to figure out what God wants us to do?

One reason is that God hasn't been extremely specific in this area. There is no service order that we are to follow anywhere in the pages of scripture. In the Old Testament we see choirs, musicians, processions, priests, robes, annual celebrations, and instrumental praise. However the New Testament rarely mentions those things. Should we praise God with singing, dancing, and instruments (Psalm 149) or with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28)? That depends on who you ask.

Another reason is that we tend to read the Bible through the lens of what we like to do! Charismatics focus on singing and dancing, Presbyterians focus on doing everything 'decently and in order.' Various churches emphasize 'holistic worship, cultural relevance, and ministry to the poor.' "Whether a tradition is three hundred, thirty, or three years old, the danger is the same. We start with Scripture but eventually invest ultimate authority in our own traditions and views."

Still another reason is that some people claim God hasn't said anything about how we should worship Him, so anything goes! The fact of the matter is that is false. Scripture teaches us to pray together, to have pastors preach and explain God's Word, sing praises, and how to participate in the Lord's Supper! God hasn't given us a detailed outline, but He certainly hasn't left us in the dark either.

So how do we decide what we do in worship? We try to follow three rules: 1. Do what God clearly commands. 2. Don't do what god clearly forbids. 3. Use scriptural wisdom for everything else. Just because God didn't give us a service order doesn't mean that we don't filter everything we do through the lens of the Bible.

There are things that are not negotiable. "God alone determines how we approach Him, what we call Him, and how we relate to Him. Jesus is the only Savior, who died and rose for all who would ever turn from their sins and rust in His atoning sacrifice for forgiveness. Worshiping god is impossible without the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. These are nonnegotiable truths that aren't open to discussion." Just about everything else on the other hand...is open for discussion.

We should always be seeking to learn from other in this area of worship. We can't afford to become locked in to thinking that our way is the only way to worship. We have much to learn from each other. It is like setting up a volleyball net. The net can only be set up when there is a healthy tension between the two poles, if one pole is not providing tension, the whole thing will collapse. Rather than viewing those who have different opinions about how worship "should be" as opponents, we need to learn to appreciate other perspectives. As long as it is not unbiblical, we should think of other perspectives as both/and rather than either/or.

Over the next several weeks we will be taking a look at healthy tensions. By default, we will lean one way or the other on pretty much all of these subjects. Our challenge is to remain humbly obedient to the scripture, and not rely solely on our opinions. In this way we will help to ensure that both poles remain standing. The danger here is examining these tensions may reveal to us changes that we need to make both in our church and in our lives. We have all undergone some pretty drastic changes recently, and we have to remember that our church won't change overnight. Truth must be patiently and humbly taught, retaught, and modeled, and I thank all of you for the role that you are playing in accomplishing this.

As we work together to glorify God, "may our meetings and churches be places where God is truly worshiped in spirit and truth, where people exalt God without having to choose sides, and where the glory of Jesus Christ is clearly seen in all we do."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-03-09T16:42:00.002-05:00

To Live for God's Glory

If we are truly worshiping God, we are in a constant state of change. We are constantly becoming more and more like Him! Encountering God changes people, and it changes them every time they encounter Him. Worshiping God should make us more humble. "If we see even a glimpse of the glory and splendor of God, it will produce a genuine humility in our hearts. There is nothing about encountering God that should exalt us." It is impossible to be prideful and worship God at the same time? Why? Because when we worship God we come face to face with the fact that God Himself paid the price for our rebellion against Him! How backwards is that? "I am a worshiper of God because Jesus died and rose to make me one, not because I earned the right to be one."

Worshiping God should make us secure. So many of us rely on ourselves for our security. We rely on our homes, our families, our jobs, you name it, it all comes back to us. But our ultimate security comes from the unchanging love of God, which we see most clearly at Calvary. When Calvary isn't at the center of our focus, we start to drift back to the same things we used to rely on before we came to know Christ. Calvary is the reminder that nothing will ever 'separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

Worshiping God should make us grateful. On his radio show, Dave Ramsey almost always responds to the question, 'How are you doing?' with 'Better than I deserve!' I used to think that was kind of weird. I mean the guy has worked hard his whole life and is now a multi-millionaire who helps people get control of their finances using the teachings of the Bible. I thought, he does deserve to be doing that well! But "the truth is, we're all doing better than we deserve! Because of our sin, we deserve hell!" Maybe we should all start saying 'better than I deserve.' When I think of it in those terms, it is hard to not be grateful for every breath I take that isn't in hell. "When we gaze on the cross of Christ and truly recognize that we should be hanging there instead, what response can there be but overflowing gratefulness?"

Worshiping God should make us holy. Being holy means to be 'set apart.' God asks us to be holy because He is holy. He is fiercely opposed to all evil and sin. If He wasn't, He wouldn't be good, and He wouldn't be who He is. Although few of us really talk about holiness and many in our culture either mock or don't understand it, we have to remember that it is precious in God's eyes. We as worship leaders need to remind the church of this when we gather to worship Him.

Worshiping God should make us loving. 1 John 4:20 says, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." Wow. Now that is a hard teaching. Because let's face it, there are some people who we just don't get along with at all. But God calls us to love those people. In fact, He says that if we don't love them, then we can't love Him! "It's inconsistent to profess that we love God while withholding love from those He came to save." We need to be reminded, and we need to remind others that if we are not displaying love to others, we cannot display love to God.

Worshiping God should make us mission minded. Jesus had one mission when He came to earth. To seek and to save the lost. When He left He gave His disciples one mission: to go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything that He commanded them! God desires that all people come to know Him, and we are the instruments that He has chosen to fulfill that mission!

"If worshipers leave a service with no thought of becoming more godly in their lives, then the purpose of worship has not been achieved." Do you believe that? Do you come to worship each week seeking ways to become more godly? When you do, worship will be a joy. "The joy is ours. The glory is His."

Enjoy the Journey

2011-03-02T14:43:00.002-05:00

Cherishing the Presence of God

Have you ever experienced the presence of God? Are you experiencing it on a daily basis? Psalm 139 tells us that there is nowhere we can go to flee from His presence, and that is both thrilling and terrifying isn't it? While God is present all the time, I think that sometimes He displays His presence more powerfully than other times (example: Moses and the burning bush). God promised us that He would be with us when we gather together with just 2 or 3 people. He is present when we sing, and He reveals Himself through the Word when it is preached. No doubt we have had experiences in worship when we have thought, 'no doubt about it, God is here.' Sometimes God reveals His presence in a powerful way when we are all alone. He does it through that unexplainable wave of peace or joy at just the moment we need it most.

We need to realize that God's presence is with us all the time. We need to realize this because it is easy to assume that since we often feel God's presence during music and worship, that it is those things that bring us into His presence. But this is not the case. The truth is, only the death and resurrection of Jesus has made it possible for us to come into God's presence! His presence is something that we can experience on a daily basis, not just for the 20 minutes or so that we sing together on a Sunday morning.

As we've said before, worship is something that we do every second of every day. We worship Him and thank Him for His awesome presence in our lives. How much time do you spend thinking about the fact that you are in the presence of the Creator of the universe? It's a pretty awesome thought. Everything we do as we worship Him with our lives is preparing us for the day when we get to be with Him in heaven. God is present with us now, in this room, but when we get there we will experience His presence as never before!

"Very soon you and I will be standing before the majesty and glory of God. We'll take our place among the throngs of heaven, made up of people from every tribe, language, people, and tongue who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb. We'll understand that our lives on earth were on the cover and title page to what lies ahead. We'll begin, 'Chapter One of the great story,' as C.S. Lewis writes, 'which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before.' We don't know when that day will come. It might be tomorrow. It might be decades from now. But it will come. We'll close our eyes momentarily-then open them up again, and we'll be home!"

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-02-23T14:38:00.002-05:00

To Proclaim the Gospel

To proclaim means to declare what is true. What are you proclaiming with your life? What are we proclaiming in our church? "People come into our churches proclaiming all sorts of things with their words and actions. Through close-fisted giving, some are asserting how much their own personal wealth matters. Others, by their complaining, are declaring that personal comfort matters. Teens in the latest fashions may be proclaiming that being cool matters. Others confirm through their smiles or frowns that their musical preferences matter. But we want each of them to leave proclaiming this: the gospel of Jesus Christ matters."

The gospel is relevant to every area of our lives. It addresses the problem of sin in that Christ came and died so that our sin would be taken away! It addresses our suffering in that while we may suffer temporarily here on earth, our ultimate suffering has already been endured on the cross by Christ. The wrath of God no longer rests on us, we have been forgiven!

While we have been forgiven of our sin, sin still remains a part of our lives. Over the past few weeks we have been talking about relationships, and how to repair them when they break down. Sometimes a broken relationship can consume our thoughts, and we can't figure out how to forgive the one who has offended us. But "worshiping God together provides us with the opportunity to remember the One whom we ALL have offended." "We, the guilty ones, now stand forgiven through Christ's blood. How can we not forgive those who have sinned against us?"

Regardless of what is going on in our lives, when we come together on Sunday "we gather to declare-to ourselves, to each other, and to God-what we know to be eternal reality. There is one God, who is sovereign over the universe and every detail of our lives. We have rebelled against him. He sent His Son to die in our place for our sins. And through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness and peace with God."

As worship leaders, we need to remind ourselves daily of the beauty of the gospel. If we don't, we can forget, and how then can we expect to lead others in worship of the central figure of the gospel? "Nothing should ever displace or obscure the centrality of the gospel in our worship." What are you proclaiming?

Enjoy the Journey

2011-02-16T11:02:00.002-05:00

Motivating the Gathered Church

Most of us have been leading worship for some time now, and I'm sure that we can remember a time when we were leading and people just weren't responding. They are sitting or standing there with a blank look on their face and it seems no matter what we try we just can't get them to join us in worship. So we start coming up with things for them to do: 'Lift your hands, sing louder!' The funny thing is, God never asks us to do those things without giving us a reason to do so. Psalm 117 says, "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol Him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" The writer gives us reasons to praise God, not just instructions to do so.

"When we're leading doctrinally rich, passionate songs, and people don't seem to be getting it, we need to hep them understand how these truths relate to their lives."

We need to do that by the example we set. People can tell by looking at you whether you are worshiping or thinking about where you are going for lunch. They can tell if you are too focused on the instrumental break coming up to catch the words of the song. It is obvious when we are looking to ourselves and not to Jesus. This doesn't just apply to those who are up front singing. It applies to everyone involved, from the choir to the instrumentalists to the vocal leaders. That is why I encourage all of you to sing as much as you can, even if you are not holding a microphone to your mouth. It allows you to be fully engaged in worship and it serves as an encouragement to the congregation. It helps them remember who we're focusing on. Again, please don't do this because you think it is what you are supposed to do, because people can tell if you're faking it. Our goal is to become a group of transparent worshipers, we need to be genuine examples of authentic worship.

When we are leading and people aren't responding, we have to remember that there are many things going on in the lives of the people in our church. Some were up until 3am, some had a fight with their spouse that morning, and others may have just found out that they are going to be losing their job. Our role is to remind them that God has saved them through Jesus, and that He is big enough to handle whatever situation they are facing right now. That kind of God inspires worship! Thank goodness this task doesn't only depend on you and me, but the Holy Spirit is already working on people!

Everything we do in worship has to be centered on God, that is the only way to inspire others to worship. We need to remind people that God is actively involved in their lives. What has He done in your life this week? The more we remind people that God is the center of our lives and He is active, the more apt they will be to worship Him.

"On Sundays God wants us to do more than sing songs together and have wonderful worship experiences. He wants to knit the fabric of our lives together. For many, church as become all about me-what I'm learning, what I'm seeking, what I'm desperate for, what I need, how I've been affected, what I can do. We see ourselves as isolated individuals all seeking personal encounters with God, wherever we can find them. Sadly, this reflects our individualistic, me-obsessed culture. Rather than seeing ourselves as part of a worship community, we become worship consumers. We want worship on demand, served up in our way, at our own time, and with our own music. How do we counter that?"

"David Peterson tells us: Vitality and meaning will not be restored to Christian gatherings until those who lead and those who participate can recover a biblical perspective on their meetings, seeing them in relation to God's total plan and purpose for His people."

Our goal here at FCC is not to attract an audience, but to build a worshiping community. "A worshiping community is made up of individuals whose lives are centered around the Savior they worship each week. A worshiping community expects to encounter God's presence not only on Sunday morning but every day. A worshiping community recognizes that passionate times of singing God's praise flow from and lead to passionate lives lived for the glory of Jesus Christ."

So as we interact with those in our church who lead in worship each week, let us impress on them the need we have to become a worshiping community.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-02-02T14:32:00.002-05:00

What Kind of Music?

"Being emotionally effected by music and actually worshipping God aren't the same thing, and no one should know this better than worship leaders. All by itself, music-even instrumental music-can make us cry, motivate us to cheer for our team, provoke us to protest, or fill us with joy."

Christians have a sad history of arguing about music and musical styles. Martin Luther said some pretty nasty things about people who didn't like the kind of music that he liked, and even 100 years after Isaac Watts died people would get up and walk out of a service if one of his songs were played. This was because back then the only thing that 'was fitting for church' was to sing Psalms set to music. This history continues and we see new chapters opening all the time, for various reasons and by various groups. But the Bible is clear that we should use music to praise God. Psalm 150 tells us to praise Him with music, and with all kinds of instruments! So we should use music to praise Him, "but if we don't understand God's purpose for music in worship, we can misuse it. Even worse, it can rob God of the glory we want to give Him."

Music accomplishes several things in worship.
Music stirs up and expresses God-glorifying emotions. There are two extremes when it comes to emotions in worship. There are those who seem to repress any emotion and think that feeling anything too strongly is a sign of immaturity. Then there are those who are over the top emotional and can miss the point because they are so overcome by their feelings. The latter is called emotionalism. People who embrace emotionalism see emotions as an end in themselves. It's all about that feeling, and sometimes God gets left out. However, music is meant to stir the emotions. Our goal is to combine a knowledge of God with a passion for Him. We want to engage both the mind and the heart.

Music helps us reflect the glory and activity of the triune God. Did you know that God sings? Zephaniah 3:17 says that God rejoices over us with singing. Jesus sang with His disciples before they went to the Mount of Olives. The Holy Spirit is with us now, inspiring the songs we sing. God sings, so how can we not sing?

Music helps us remember truth about God. There is no way around it. You will remember things that you sing far longer than things that you hear. Songs we sing stick with us longer (and more completely) than sermons. Not to say that sermons aren't important. But it is to say that what we sing must be chosen carefully, because that is what we will remember for years to come.

Music helps us express our unity in the gospel. Let's face it, there aren't too many things that a group of 400 people can actually do together. But singing is one of those things. It is a sign of unity. "Churches can potentially undermine this unity by offering different Sunday meetings based on musical preferences and styles. While it may mean numerical growth for the church in the short run, it can also separate families and tends to cultivate a consumer-based mind-set in the long run. There are other options. Diverse music teams can take turns leading on a Sunday morning. Different styles of music can be brought together in one meeting. More importantly, the church can be taught that setting aside their musical preferences for the sake of others is obeying Philippians 2:4 'Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.' Taking this path will probably require patient instruction, but over time the congregation will begin to see that the determining factor in our unity is not our musical styles-it's the gospel."

So what kind of music should we use? We have to use music that says something. It has been said: "Show me a churches songs and I'll show you their theology." "The words to our songs should be as strong and memorable as the tunes we put to them or the arrangements we put behind them." There are three basic types of lyrics to songs. Objective, Subjective, and Reflective. Objective lyrics tell us something about God. Subjective lyrics talk about our response to God. Reflective lyrics describe what we do as we worship God.

How we use instrumentation is also important. Dynamics are key. A reflective song is no longer reflective when there are 20 people playing as loudly as they can. By the same token a joyful song can lose its impact if it is too quiet. As we've said so many times, we are not here to put on a concert on Sunday, so must be sure that the way we play the songs we play engages the congregation in the way we want to engage them.

Musical diversity is a great tool. We serve a God who is infinitely creative, a God who created the sun and the ant. Take one look around and you can see His creative diversity. "How can anyone think that a single kind of music could adequately express the fulness of God's glory?" "Hymns are especially suited for innovated treatments that help us hear the words from a new perspective. Moving beyond traditional tunes and arrangements shouldn't bother us too much since most hymns were written without music, and a favorite tune only emerged over time. In the same way, sometimes old is new, sometimes old is better."

"Musical variety communicates God's heart for all generations, cultures, and races. We don't use different music because we want to keep everyone happy or because we're aiming for a 'blended' service. It's the gospel that blends us together, not music."

Ultimately, music should edify the church. No two churches will do the exact same things, because no two churches have the exact same people in them! A mix of traditions and innovation will always be needed within the church to bring people of all ages and cultures together in worship of God. "Artists will always be searching for new and fresh ways to express their gifts, but congregations must be able to hear the message without being distracted by the medium." We must always remember that we are here to glorify the Creator, not creativity.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-01-26T11:39:00.003-05:00

Skillfully combining God's Word

Good music is important in a church, but it means nothing unless it is combined with God's word. You see our churches can't be led by the Holy Spirit unless they are grounded in the Word of God. When we are committed to the Bible we will study, proclaim, and apply God's truth both in our Sunday morning services and in our Monday-Saturday lives. Many people will go to one church because they like the music, and another because they like the teaching. They have separated 'Spirit-led worship' from 'Word-fed' preaching. But "The Word and the Spirit were never meant to be separated. In fact, God's Spirit is the one who inspired God's Word."

2 Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness."

Without God's word we can't know if what we are doing is inspired by God or if it is just something that makes us feel good about ourselves. Think about it, without the Bible, "we wouldn't know who to thank, who to obey, or who to serve. We wouldn't know how to worship Him. But God does reveal His character, nature, and promisees to us, and we respond with gratefulness and obedience. We respond with worship. At least that's the way it's supposed to work."

Throughout the Bible, worship is centered around God's word. So it is worth asking why worship today can be focused on "sensory experiences, inward feelings, and subjective encounters. True worship is always a response to God's Word."

So how can we makes sure that the Bible is central as we lead this church in worship?

By treasuring the Bible. Bible reading should be a highlight not just of our services, but of our everyday lives. Psalm 119:97 says, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." "When we treasure God's Word, others will know it. Visitors to our church won't have the impression that the Bible is an optional extra or simply a handy reference book. They'll hear in your voice and see in your eyes that God's Word is your joy."

By singing the Bible. It has been said that 'we are what we sing,' so we need to make sure that we sing God's word. One way of doing that is singing songs that directly quote the scripture. We did that just last week when we introduced the song, 'Your Love Oh Lord.' It also means that the songs that we sing that don't directly quote the scripture are in line with what the Bible has to say. They need to be 'substantive, theologically rich, and biblically faithful.' "A constant diet of shallow, subjective worship songs tends to produce shallow, subjective Christians." All of that being said, that doesn't mean that a simple song can't be profound. Every song we do doesn't need to require a theological degree to understand it, but it must proclaim the truth of the Bible. Another thing we have to be careful of is choosing songs based on the music instead of the lyrics. Great music can make terrible lyrics seem good. On the other hand, terrible music can make great lyrics seem bad. We must choose our songs based on the lyrics and make sure that the music supports it well enough that people will want to sing the truth of the Bible. The songs must be clear, and easily understood by people today.

Nick Page wrote this:
"Worship songs are not solely vehicles for personal expression, they're invitations to corporate worship. If you want to write stuff that only you can understand then keep a diary, otherwise you have to cut the rest of us some slack; you have to help us understand." "The bottom line is this: Sing God's word. Lyrics matter more than music. Truth transcends tune."

Read the Bible. As we plan our services, we have to make sure that God's word is being taught each week. Reading scripture corporately is a great way to reinforce what people are reading during the week, and for some of them, it may be the only scripture they get! It also shows that we are not just making up things and trying to tell them how to live their lives. "People should be aware that the words they are hearing from us aren't ours, but God's."

Show the Bible. We put scripture up on the screens so that people can read along with us as we read the Bible. Other times we ask them to read it out loud in a call and response. Again, this gives people the chance to understand the theme of the day and also realize that "everything we do is under the authority of God's word and is meant to draw attention to His revelation rather than to our creativity or efforts."

Pray the Bible. Spontaneous prayers are great. However praying and calling on promises that God has made to us in the Bible can transform our prayer life. What if we spent time praying through the Psalms rather than merely reading them. Take Psalm 23 and apply it to your life, and pray about it. Over time your prayer life will look much different, it will be much more in tune with the way God thinks. When we pray corporately and we pray using the Bible, it gives our congregation a good example of how to pray.

"A faithful worship leader combines the Word of God with music o magnify the greatness of God in Jesus Christ. We don't need music to hear God's Word. We don't need music to worship God. But the Bible connects music to worship often enough to persuade us that music might be an important aspect of our relationship with God." As we make music together, let's remember to combine it with His word, and let's remember who we are making music for.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-01-19T13:54:00.001-05:00

Through the Holy Spirit

Do we really believe that the Holy Spirit is present every time we gather for worship? Are we actively praying that He will fill this place? How much do you pray about that? What would you say is your ratio of faith in God's Spirit vs. faith in your own ability to lead others in worship? Do you pray prayers like, "God, please bless our time today" or do you pray that the Spirit will reveal Christ to all those who are present? If we are truly honest, we are desperately dependent on the Spirit each time we lead. Knowing this takes a lot of pressure off of us. We aren't in control anyway! We can take our mind off of how the service will flow, if the sound system will work, or how many people will be baptized at the end of service.

For many of us, our immediate response is, 'yes of course I believe the Spirit is with us and I rely fully on Him!' But do our actions back up that statement? Do we honestly expect the Spirit to do amazing things each time we gather? If we do, then that means that we will fulfill "our responsibilities with joy, expectation, and faithfulness. No Sunday is a 'normal' Sunday. No meeting is a 'routine' meeting. Every time we gather, we can expect God to do the miraculous, transforming us into His image as we behold His glory."

As we enter each weekend service, may we be excited knowing that the Holy Spirit is present with us, and may we ask Him to do amazing things in our midst.

Enjoy the Journey

2011-01-12T09:43:00.002-05:00

In Jesus Christ

In 586 B.C. the temple was destroyed and the Israelites carried into captivity. They did come back and rebuild (although it didn't come close to the greatness of the previous temple), and the temple was once again the center of their spiritual lives. It is where the sacrifices for sins were made, it was where God lived! With that in mind imagine what a shock it was for the people to hear Jesus say, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up!' Of course now we realize that He was talking about His body, but have we stopped and really thought about what that means. Jesus was saying that He is the new temple. He is the place where worship is centralized. He confirmed this when He spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well and said that a day is coming when people won't worship on 'this mountain' or in Jerusalem, but in Spirit and in truth. "Jesus was saying that our meeting place with God would no longer be limited to physical structures, geographical locales, or specific times. It would no longer require animal sacrifices, Levitical priests, or holy places. In a sing conversation He relocated the place of worship from the Jerusalem temple to Himself."

D. A. Carson writes: "To worship God 'in spirit and in truth' is first and foremost a way of saying that we must worship God by means of Christ. In Him the reality has dawned and the shadows are being swept away. Christian worship is new-covenant worship; it is gospel-inspired worship; it is Christ-centered worship it is cross focused worship."

Scripture says that Jesus came to be a mediator between God and man. "A mediator is a person who intervenes between opposing parties to help reconcile them. Without a mediator, there's no hope of the two connecting or being restored." Most of us don't spend much time thinking our need for a mediator in our relationship with God. That is because most of us underestimate the severity of sin in our lives! C. J. Mahaney says: "When you tell non-Christians, 'God loves you,' they aren't surprised, they aren't perplexed, they aren't stunned. Regrettably, the same is true among most evangelicals, who simply assume this gracious disposition of God-and therefore presume upon it. And we'll continue to do this until we learn to see our condition more fully from God's perspective."

Sin is a huge deal to God. So huge in fact that it required the death of His Son for forgiveness to even be thought about. You and I sin everyday, are you beginning to get the picture here? The cross is central to our worship. Without it, we would have no access to God. Before Jesus, only the holiest man from the holiest tribe of the holiest people on earth could enter God's presence. Even then only once a year and even then only with the perfect sacrifice. Any other way and it would mean death (Lev 16:2). Jesus has made a way for us to come before God everyday! It is only through Jesus that people can come before God. So before we get too caught up on which style of worship brings us into God's presence, remember that worship itself can't bring us into God's presence, only Jesus Himself can! He did that through His death on the cross!

Without the cross our worship wouldn't even be accepted by God. Why? Because we are full of sin. God condemns worship that is associated with idolatry, unbelief, disobedience, and evil motives. "All our offerings are humbled by the work of Christ because they would be unacceptable without Him. All our offerings are exalted because when they are joined to the atoning sacrifice of the Savior, god accepts them as though His own Son were offering them. Nothing against skill, practice, complexity, nuance, musicianship, or sincerity, but only the finished work of Christ makes our offerings of worship acceptable in God's eyes. That doesn't mean that what we do in corporate worship is unimportant. But when we overemphasize our own actions in worship, we can inadvertently create the impression that our contribution makes our worship acceptable to God. We think God is persuaded to listen to us because of our sophisticated musical arrangements, our polished performance, or even our heartfelt sincerity."

"If we help people focus on what God did 2,000 years ago rather than what happened 20 minutes ago, they'll consistently find their hearts ravished by His amazing love."

Too often in our gatherings is the cross an afterthought. Sure it may get mentioned during the Communion meditation, but not a ton of time is spent on its significance. This is not the case in heaven. Just take a look at Revelation! The worshipers in heaven say that Jesus is worthy to open the scrolls BECAUSE HE WAS SLAIN, and by his blood ransomed people for God. Heaven never 'gets over' the cross. Heaven in both Christ centered and cross centered.

All of that being said, we must be clear as to what the cross means. Sometimes we like to think that the cross is a symbol of how important we are to God. While it is true that we are important to God and that He loved us enough to send His Son to die on the cross for me, the cross ultimately reminds me not of how important I am to God but of the greatness of my sin. "Yes, if I were the only person in the world, Jesus would still have come to die for me. But that's because my sins would require the shedding of His blood unto death."

Our thoughts on Sunday morning should be this: "Will our time together cause people's view of, trust in, and desire for God's glory in Christ and Him crucified to increase?" Nothing is more important.

2010-12-23T10:39:00.002-05:00

Magnifies the Greatness of God

So many times we (and others) come to church with so much on our mind that there is no room for God. "What size does God appear to be when our mind is preoccupied with all the cares, worries, and concerns of life? Very small. But God is not small. He is great. Magnifying and cherishing His greatness is at the heart of biblical worship."

J.I. Packer writes,
"Today, vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal, but this truth is so stated as to leave the impression that God is a person of the same sort as we are-weak, inadequate, ineffective, a little pathetic. But this is not the God of the Bible! Our personal life is a finite thing: it is limited in every direction, in space, in time, in knowledge, in power. But God is not so limited. He is eternal, infinite, and almighty. He has us in His hands; we never have Him in ours. Like us He is personal; but unlike us, He is great."

Our perspective of God changes all the time, depending on what we are focused on. It's like looking at the stars. Sometimes when you walk out at night you hardly notice them. They just look like little dots up on the skyline. One writer says they make the sky look like a back-lit canopy with holes punched in it. But when you look through a high-powered telescope, your entire perspective changes! You will see that they are actually massive balls of fire, millions of times larger than earth! Have the stars changed? Nope. Our vision has. Our job as worship leaders is to help people see God for who He is. Greatness personified.

In order to do that, we have to paint a specific (and accurate) picture of God. A puritan pastor wrote, "We must not allow ourselves to be satisfied with vague ideas of the love of Christ which present nothing of His glory to our minds." Vague ideas about God don't help anyone. "If our songs aren't specific about God's nature, character, and acts, we'll tend to associate worship with a style of music, a heightened emotional state, a type of architecture, a day of the week, a meeting, a reverent mood, a time of singing, or a sound. We'll think of all the things that accompany worship rather than the One we're worshiping. Worse, we'll create our own views of God, portraying Him as we like to think of Him." The problem here is that God has already told us who He is and what He is like. That is not something we get to decide.

So to magnify God's greatness we need to magnify His word, His nature, and His works.

"No matter what we do with lighting, video, sound, or drama, our purpose isn't coming up with the best video images, the hottest musical arrangements, or the most creative props. We want people to leave in awe that God would speak to us-encouraged by His promises, challenged by His commands, fearful of His warnings, and grateful for His blessings. We want them to see God's greatness in His word."

We could talk about the nature of God forever. The list of His amazing characteristics is endless! How can worship of God be boring? There is no limit to His holiness and glory, no end to His riches, wisdom, and righteousness. He holds everything together, He is the source of all goodness. How can we not love and praise Him!?

His works are astounding. The Psalms are full of praises about His works, our songs should be too! The greatest of His works has been sending Jesus to Calvary in our place. It is only through Jesus' blood that we can come near to God at all! "In the cross we find a perfect reconciling of God's blazing holiness, holy justice, incomprehensible wisdom, omnipotent power, and unfathomable love." There truly is no one like our God! That is the picture we need to paint when we are leading others in worship. That is why many of the most helpful books for worship leaders (such as yourselves) are not daily devotionals that bring God "down to our level," but deep theology books that stretch our understanding of who God is.

"Magnifying God's greatness begins with the proclamation of objective, biblical truths about God, but it ends with the expression of deep and holy affections toward God. We aren't simply reciting facts about God, like students reviewing their multiplication tables. God wants us to delight in Him. He is exalted when all our energies are directed to one end-being satisfied in who He is. 'The engagement of the heart in worship is the coming alive of feelings and emotions and affections of the heart,' John Piper writes. 'Where feelings for God are dead, worship is dead.'"

In other words, we need to have two components in our personal worship, and in the worship we lead others in. We need to have an intellectual knowledge and right understanding of God, and we need to have a strong emotional attachment to Him. Many times we lean one way or the other. We are either afraid people will think we are too emotional and so our worship becomes stiff and lifeless, or we want to show others how much we love God and our worship of Him gets lost in our emotional experience. God wants us to show emotions, but He wants our emotional response to come from a right knowledge of who He is and what He has done for us.

"Magnifying God's greatness, then, involves proclamation and passion. Our responsibility as worship leaders is to make sure that in both ways-biblical truth and strong affections-people have every opportunity to magnify and encounter our great and awesome God."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-12-22T16:54:00.002-05:00

A Faithful Worship Leader

Worship has hit the big time. There are several worship projects in the top fifty Christian albums right now. Tomlin, Redman, Crowder, Hillsong, and others have become household names. They can influence the way we think about and the way we lead worship. "But the worship industry isn't the standard God has given us to determine our effectiveness. His Word is. And if we don't understand that distinction we could miss God's unique plan for our lives. We'll be tempted to surrender to discouragement. And we'll fail to see that God hasn't called us to be successful or popular-He's called us to be faithful.

Being faithful means that we allow God to define our ministry. We put His desires above our own and even above the desires of those in our congregation. Having a massive following does not mean that we are doing what we should be doing. The best worship leader I ever worked with, who I believe to be the best in the country, served at a church smaller than the one we are in right now. He never produced a CD, in fact we never (to my knowledge) did any songs he wrote! We need people in our lives to remind us that "leading worship on a best-selling worship project isn't a sure sign one way or the other that God is pleased with what we're doing. It just means a lot of people have bought our CD."

We need to choose who we emulate very carefully. Just because someone is popular doesn't mean that they are worth following, sometimes the opposite is true! We cannot judge our success by the number of people in our church either. "More people doesn't always mean we're pleasing God. It could just mean we're good at marketing." We will use the technology that we have to bring the message of Christ to people in our congregation, but the moment the technology becomes the message, we have lost the plot. Our goal is to "impress upon people the greatness of the Savior whose glory transcends our surroundings and technology."

Romans 12:8 says we should lead 'with zeal' (or diligence). "Leading people to praise God involves energy, intentionality, and thoughtfulness." We have to point everything to the glory of God, and when we do people will come away praising Him, not us, which is the whole point! "n order to do that we must faithfully paint a compelling, attractive, biblical picture of the Savior. God isn't hiding from us, waiting to see if we'll find the right combination to unlock His blessing. He is eager to work through us as we faithfully lead our church into a clearer understanding of His glory."

Another thing we have to remember is that being a faithful leader doesn't always get you commended, applauded or even appreciated. In fact, sometimes we will be criticized for doing what we believe is biblical because it takes people places they either haven't been or don't really want to go. We have to remember that being faithful to God means that we will be rewarded by God. Knowing that we are pleasing Him makes things so much easier (not easy, but easier). Our story, our journey as a church will be completely unique and we will do things that work here that wouldn't work other places. We are not trying to become 'just like' anyone else. "Our goal isn't success, popularity, or personal fulfillment. It's anticipating-by God's grace and for the glory of Jesus Christ-that we'll hear on that last day, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'" I can't wait.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-12-15T16:19:00.002-05:00

So What Does a Worship Leader Do?

As far as terminology goes, the term worship leader really hasn't been around that long. It only came into existence in the early 1970's. Sure there have been people leading singing and doing the things worship leaders do, but they've been called by other terms such as priest (in the Old Testament), music directors, song leaders, and many other titles. A worship leader is under a tremendous amount of pressure. Let's face it, many people pick a church based on whether or not they like the music. "Music in the church is important. But is it more important than solid biblical teaching that helps me grow in knowledge of God and obedience to His Word? In a word, no." I think that sometimes we make the worship leader more important than he/she really should be (and that's saying something considering I am one!).

There are a couple of reasons I think that. The main one is that people expect us to 'lead them into God's presence,' as if He isn't already here. It's like they think that since the music has started, God will show up. 'If you play it, He will come.' We are not 'musical high priests' who bring God near through our amazing abilities. Jesus is the only way to come into God's presence, and if He is in your life, God is always present.

The term worship leader can even be confusing. It can communicate (however unintentionally) that the only time we worship is when a musician is leading us, or that worship = singing. The truth is that anyone who encourages us to praise God is a worship leader. Yes worship can involve music, but it also involves listening to or preaching a sermon, giving, praying, and much more. Some aspects of the modern day worship leader's job are inferred in scripture, but we are by no means commanded to have one (this is getting dangerous huh?)!

"No matter how important we think the worship leader role is or isn't, every week those who lead congregational worship have significant opportunities to teach, train, and encourage God's people in praising Him rightly and living for His glory. In that sense worship leaders follow in the footsteps of Old Testament Levites who taught the Israelites what God required in worship and how they could faithfully follow Him."

So what is a worship leader and what do they do? Kauflin came up with a definition that is the basis for the remainder of the book, and I think it is a pretty good one. Check this out.

"A faithful worship leader magnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by skillfully combining God's Word with music, thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the gospel, to cherish God's presence, and to live for God's glory."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-12-08T16:42:00.002-05:00

My Life: What Do I Model?

When we start talking about the great worship leaders of the Bible, probably the first name we would mention would be David. I'm not sure we would even mention Paul's name. I mean after all just about the only singing he did was a hymn-sing that he lead in prison after getting a beating! So why even bring that up? Because Paul modeled how to be a worship leader with his life. He showed us how to live like a worship leader. "Leading worship starts with the way I live my life, not with what I do in public. It's inconceivable for us to see ourselves as worship leaders if we're not giving attention to what we do every day." You see it doesn't matter what we're doing. Glorifying Jesus should be our goal whether we are in our car or on the platform.

1 Timothy 4:12 says, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in faith, in love, and in purity." We are supposed to be setting examples for people. Make no mistake about it, people are watching you, not only on Sunday but throughout the entire week. Too often as worship leaders we focus so much on how we act on Sunday and completely forget about the rest of the week!

But we have to set an example in our speech. "Every word we say has potential to either confirm our example of genuine worship or take away from it. If our words our foolish, sensual, or sinful during the week, it's hard for people to take us seriously when our mouths are suddenly filled with God's praise on Sunday morning." That doesn't mean that we can never joke around or talk about things that don't have anything to do with church or God. However scripture says that we will be held accountable for "every careless word" we say.

Worldly musicians can play well and live crazy lives and no one thinks twice about it. Worship leaders don't have that option. God wants us to set an example for people in the way we live our lives. We have to understand that it isn't what we sing or play that defines our worship, it is our lives. That being said, God doesn't expect us to live perfect lives. That has only been done once (by Jesus). But we should display a consistent lifestyle of godliness.

We have to set an example in the way we love. "God describes love as being 'patient,' 'kind,' humble, polite, thoughtful, forgiving, hopeful, and enduring. Are those your attitudes after a worship service where the mix was bad and the vocalists were out of tune? When members of the church criticize you, do you respond with blame-shifting and accusations, or do you respond with patience and humility?" God wants our words of love that we preach on Sunday morning to be backed up by our deeds.

Our faith should be an example to others. "Every Sunday morning I'm seeking to point people to God. My role isn't to direct people's eyes to me, but to the God in whom I trust. The primary way I do that is by making sure I'm looking to God myself." What is faith? Faith is confidence in things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. If we are worried all the time and our lives don't show that we trust God, how do expect to lead others to do so?

We have to set an example for the believers in purity. "Purity is the quality of being undefiled, unmixed, and undiluted, free from evil or contamination. The first area this applies to is our motives. God calls us to guard against being 'led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.' Leading worship for financial gain or public recognition dishonors God. God wants our worship to be sincere, not hypocritical; willing, not forced; wholehearted, not distracted. In other words, pure." This idea applies to all areas of our lives. We worship a Savior who died to purify us from our sins, let's worship Him with pure hearts.

We need to understand that worshipping God is an eternal occupation. We won't stop worshipping God when we die here, and as we've said many times everything we do here is worship. "If we aren't exemplifying a genuine yearning to bring glory to God that touches every aspect of our existence, then we have no business leading worship on Sundays." We, like Paul, need to set an example of worship...with our lives.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-11-23T14:07:00.002-05:00

My Hands: What Do I Practice?

We've all been in worship services where those leading were genuine, but if we are honest, were not very skillful. In fact, they were down right distracting. As a musician this is about as bad as it gets because we start having thoughts like, 'well I would have done it this way' or 'that wasn't a very good transition.' While our attitudes are not right, there is something equally wrong with leading worship that way. What is lacking in those moments is skill. "Rightly understood and pursued, skill can mark the difference between ineffectiveness and fruitfulness in our leading." There are some things that we need to remember about skill. First, that it is a gift from God that is to be used for His glory. It is easy to think that because we work hard at our craft, we should get all the credit when we succeed. But we have to remember that it is God who blessed us with the ability to play and sing in the first place! C.J. Mhaney says, "All gifts from God are intended to direct our attention to God and create fresh affection for God."

Skill must be developed. 1 Chronicles 25:7 says that the musicians who worked at the tabernacle were those "who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful." Just because we are 'doing it for God' doesn't mean that we should do it well. In fact, we should be working harder than anyone because we are singing and playing to the God of the universe! Many performance majors are required to practice 3 to 4 hours a day! I'm not suggesting that you have to do that, but if you want to get better at what you do, you have to practice! Even if it is only 15 minutes a day, it will pay off over time. All of that being said, we have to remember that skill doesn't make worship more acceptable before God. "While God values skill, He doesn't accept our worship on the basis of it." So many times we struggle when we miss an intro, forget the words, or play a wrong chord. Other times we think that it was the best service ever when everything goes smoothly. Remember that God isn't judging our worship on the sound of our music, but by the attitudes of our hearts. We will never impress God with our musical abilities, so just get over that now. Psalm 51:17 says that what God is looking for is "a broken and contrite heart" that recognizes our weakness and puts our faith in Jesus.

We should allow our skill to be evaluated by others. Not just by anyone, obviously asking someone who has no clue about music what they thought about the modulation from F to G that occurred in measure 52 will do you absolutely no good! We need the eyes and ears of those on this team to help us. Gracious feedback from each other is invaluable. When you are giving feedback, make sure you do it in a way that encourages people to continue to work on their skill.

Sometimes we value skill too much. When we do this it can become an idol. We should work really hard to make sure that when we play or sing we are doing the best job that we can possibly do. But "God wants us to realize that the point of our practice isn't to receive the praise of others. It's to bring Him glory."

Once we have a right understanding of skill, it can be very helpful. It helps us focus on God. "The more comfortable I am with practical aspects of leading, the more I can think about the One to whom I'm singing. I focus on developing skill so I'll be able to focus more on god. We want to get to the place where, musical, administrative, and leadership issues become second nature as a result of rehearsal, repetition, and careful planning." Again, God can use us even when we are not at our best. However, our lack of skill can be distracting to others and ultimately take the focus off of God. When that happens, we are not doing all we can to help everyone join us in worship, even if we are worshiping God. Skill helps us serve the church. When we get to the point where we do not have to think about every little detail, our faces show it. We are free to express praise to God by the look on our faces because we aren't having to think about the coming key change, and that will serve the people we are leading.

Some might say that we are talking about being perfectionists here, but that is not the case. Our goal (as John Piper puts it) is "undistracting excellence." "It's a proficiency that doesn't draw attention to itself but rather points away from itself."

As we lead others in worship of God, we have to remember that this requires more than a sincere heart and good intentions. It does require skill. Skill requires work, time, and preparation. However, we can not worship the pursuit of skill. God wants us to be skillful, but He wants us to use that skill to produce genuine worship that affects our entire lives.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-11-17T11:37:00.002-05:00

My Mind: What Do I Believe

We say we love God, but do we really know Him? God doesn't just call us to love the idea of Him, but to 'love the truth' about Him (2 Thessalonians 2:10). We can sing, play music, dance, kneel, and raise our hands, but "there is no authentic worship of God without a right knowledge of God." With that thought we come to a couple of words that people dread: Theology and Doctrine. "Sadly, doctrine and theology rank fairly low on the popularity scale these days. But biblical worship is impossible without them." Theology means 'the study of God,' so every Christian is a theologian. Some are good theologians, and some are not so good. Whether or not we are good theologians depends on whether our view of God lines up with what the Bible teaches or not. Doctrine means 'what is taught.' "The study of doctrine isn't opposed to studying the Bible; it is studying the Bible. It's how we find out what God is like, what He wants us to believe, how He wants us to worship Him. So that means we need to be reading. We need to be studying. Because we'll be learning about God for the rest of our lives."

"I've met guys who don't read theology books because they don't want their understanding of the Bible to be influenced by anyone else. What they're saying is: 'God couldn't possibly use another person to help me understand His Word more clearly.' That's ridiculous. I need all the help I can get. So do you." Charles Spurgeon said, "He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own."

What was the last non-fiction, theological book that you read? Our reading needs to go beyond best-sellers, novels, and music magazines. We need to take advantage of other people's ideas, even though sometimes we might disagree with them! That is where our study of the Scripture will be our guide.

There are a few misconceptions about doctrine and theology that Kauflin points out:

1. Studying this Stuff Shouldn't Be So Hard: "Studying doctrine and theology is hard. Becoming a good theologian is harder than learning a new riff, and initially not as much fun." But "there are no shortcuts. Only a grace-movitvated, steadfast, lifelong pursuit of the god who created and redeemed us for His glory."

2. We Know God Better Through Music Than Through Words: I understand that many of us musicians prefer playing music than reading a book or listening to a sermon. Music stirs the emotions and helps us retain the words that we sing. The problem is that if we are bad theologians, we will not know if what we are singing about is grounded in Scripture or if it is just a clever tag line someone made up! For that we need our Bibles. We need good theology. "Good theology helps us keep music in its proper place. We learn that music isn't an end in itself but rather a means of expressing the worship already present in our hearts through the new life we've received in Jesus Christ."

3. Theology and Doctrine Cause Problems: Some people say they aren't interested in theology because it only causes divisions. But "when we're dodgy about our theology, we're really saying we want our own Jesus. But our worship isn't based on people's personal opinions, ideas, or best guesses about Jesus. Nor should we base our understanding of Him on anyone's individual experiences. He has a name, a particular history, and a specifically revealed body of teaching. god has theology; will we sharpen our own biblical understanding to find out what it is? Will we worship the Son of God, the Redeemer, the second person of the Trinity, the Alpha and Omega, our High Priest, sanctifier, and the intercessor and seek to understand what all this means?" Does doctrine divide the church? "Yes and no. Sure, Christians often disagree over doctrinal issues of secondary importance. Given the degree of sin that still remains with us and the enemy's desire to separate us, that's no surprise. But divisions have also protected the church. The New Testament warned us that false prophets and teachers would infiltrate the church's ranks. Many of the most precious truths we live by were more clearly defined as a response to heresy. The result has been clarity and agreement on foundational truths from God's Word that the church has cherished for centuries. Truth has often been tested and confirmed in the fires of controversy and conflict." The truth is that "theology and doctrine make life simpler. They protect us from reading verses out of context, restricting our diet to our favorite passages, and making decisions based on impulse rather than truth. They put meat on concepts we tend to use mindlessly like glory, gospel, salvation, and love. They help us understand what we're actually doing every Sunday. What complicated life is not doctrine but ignorance of doctrine."

As we learn more, we must be careful that we do not become too proud of our knowledge and start looking down on others who do not study like we do. "The more we study God, the more we should realize that what we know will always be dwarfed by what we don't know. If we are arrogant because we use big theological terms or have memorized more verses than our friends, we've lost sight of the God we claim to know. As Paul remind us, that kind of knowledge 'puffs up, but love builds up.' Good theologians are increasingly humbled and amazed by the God they study. Instead of causing problems, doctrine and theology rightly applied will solve problems. They inform our minds to win our hearts, so we can love God more accurately and passionately."

"Mind and heart belong together. Strong, passionate desires for God flow from and encourage the faithful, thoughtful study of God-His nature, character, and works. We're deceived when we think we can have one without the other. God intends us to have both. If our doctrine is accurate but our heart are cold toward God Himself, our corporate worship will be true but lifeless. Or if we express fervent love for God but present vague, inaccurate, or incomplete ideas of Him to those we're leading, our worship will be emotional but misleading-and possibly idolatrous. Neither option brings God glory. My prayer for myself and every worship leader is that we'll become as familiar with the Word of Truth as we are with our instruments. Hopefully even more so. If we do, there's a strong possibility people are going to walk away from our meetings more amazed by our God than by our music. And that will be a very good thing."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-11-04T10:18:00.003-05:00

My Heart: What Do I Love?

As worship leaders, we face many challenges. However the greatest challenge that we face is our own hearts. "For years we've read about or experienced firsthand the 'worship wars' -conflicts over music styles, song selections, and drums. But far too little has been said about the worship wars going on inside us. And they're much more significant." What it comes down to is this: "Each of us has a battle raging within us over what we love most-God or something else."

We have to take a careful inventory of our lives and see if there are any idols that we need to get rid of. "Idols are all around us. Can you spot them? They come in different forms. Material comforts. Financial security. Sensual pleasures. Musicians have their own special idols. New gear. Electronic gadgets. Hip clothes. The most powerful idols are the ones we can't even see. Things like reputation, power, and control. As Christians we're sometimes like the people described in 2 Kings 17:33: 'they feared the Lord but also served their own gods.' We fear the Lord externally, doing all the right things on Sunday morning-singing, strumming a guitar, lifting our hands-yet actively serve false gods throughout the week. We profess to love the true God but actually love false idols. It's a condition that God, in His mercy, is committed to changing."

In the chapter Bob Kauflin talks about the struggles that he has gone through with this. He says, "I'd been in a relentless pursuit of glory. I relished hearing my name mentioned, reading my name in print, and being commended by others for my wisdom, my musical gifts, my parenting, and my care-even my humility. I bristled inwardly when someone questioned my integrity, gifting, or planning. I tried to avoid any kind of criticism ad worked hard to persuade others that I was an exceptional (but humble) Christian, pastor, and worship leader. I wasn't depending on a Savior-I was searching for an audience." Now that is a pretty powerful admission, and I think that if we are honest with ourselves, most of us have been there or are there right now.

One thing that we have to understand about worship is that "worship isn't primarily about music, techniques, liturgies, songs, or methodologies. It's about our hearts. It's about what and who we love more than anything." We have to understand that we can be leading others in worship of God and worshiping something else in our own hearts. Do we love God more than anything else? "While it's simplistic to say that worship is love, it's a fact that what we love most will determine what we genuinely worship."

"God wants us to love Him more than our instruments and music. More than our possessions, food, and ministry. More than our wife and children. More than our own lives. That doesn't mean we can't love anything else. Or that we shouldn't love anything else. But we can't love anything in the right way unless we love God more. Our desires will be out of whack. We'll look to temporary pleasures like concerts, video games, and sports to fulfill eternal desires. We'll love things that aren't as worthy as God to be loved."

"How do I know what I love the most? By looking at my life outside of Sunday morning. What do I enjoy the most? What do I spend the most time doing? Where does my mind drift to when I don't have anything to do? What am I passionate about? What do I spend my money on? What makes me angry when I don't get it? What do I feel depressed without? What do I fear losing the most? Our answers to those questions will lead us straight to the God or gods we love and worship. That's why as worship leaders our primary concern can't be song preparation, creative arrangements, or the latest cool gear. Our primary concern has to be the state of our hearts."

Isaac Watts wrote:
"The Great God values not the service of men, if the heart be not in it: The Lord sees and judges the heart; He has no regard to outward forms of worship, if there be no inward adoration, if no devout affection be employed therein. It is therefore a matter of infinite importance, to have the whole heart engaged steadfastly for God."

Is having your heart engaged steadfastly for God of infinite importance to you? It is to God. And when it becomes infinitely important to us, we are starting to grasp the heart of leading worship.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-10-29T13:26:00.002-05:00

The Important Things

As we start a new book called 'Worship Matters' by Bob Kaulfin, we by talking about 'The Important Things.' When you lead worship, you are pulled in a hundred different directions at once, so it is important that we remember what we are doing and why we are doing it. One of the things that losing focus can cause is burnout. Many worship leaders struggle with having to "get up and do it again" for the two-hundredth time. We have to resist just going through the motions and "mailing it in." "Don't get me wrong. I think leading God's people in worship is one of the most fulfilling, enjoyable, exciting, sobering, life-changing jobs on the planet. We're helping people connect with the purpose for which they were created-to glorify the living God. We're pointing their hearts toward the Sovereign One who is greater than their trials and kinder than they could ever imagine. We get to display the matchless Savior who died in our place, conquering sin, death, and hell in the process."

We are here for one reason, to worship God. Otherwise what we are doing here is pointless. But "worship matters. It matters to God because He is the one ultimately worthy of worship. It matters to us because worshiping God is the reason for which we were created. And it matters to every worship leader, because we have no greater privilege than leading others to encounter the greatness of God. That's why it's so important to think carefully about what we do and why we're doing it."

I know that I am not adequate for this task, and if you don't feel adequate for the task...you're in the perfect place for God to use you.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-10-27T13:32:00.003-05:00

You Can Trust Him

Just because we know that God is God, that He created everything and that He is all powerful, doesn't mean that we know we can trust Him. Think about John the Baptist. While he was sitting in a prison cell hearing about Jesus' miracles, do you think he ever thought, 'why doesn't God help me out here?' 'If the Messiah is right outside, why I am stuck in here?' "We've all been there, wondering if God really is who we think He is-and if He is why He doesn't come and change our circumstances." Well if you know the rest of the story, you know it didn't end well for John...he lost his head. God doesn't always change our circumstances. But sometimes things that don't make sense to us at the time are even better for us than we could imagine.

"The death of Jesus on the cross in what appeared to be a senseless murder was actually divine intervention. When it seemed that God wasn't powerful enough (or big enough) to stop the chaos, God was actually being both big enough and good enough to orchestrate our redemption through the sacrificial death of His only Son. Never before had the world seen love like this. God came down to do the dirty work of buying back our lost and doomed souls in the most staggering act of grace and mercy ever known."

"I hope you see it clearly today: the cross of Christ is the place where trust is born. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is an act of kindness from a loving and trustworthy God, an undeniable demonstration of His goodness that we can cling to when our sight and understanding fail to make sense of the circumstances that surround us. The skies declare that I AM is huge; but Calvary affirms that I AM has the best interest of every 'i am not' in mind at all times. Our God is in the heavens and the whole world is under His command, but now because of Christ we can personally know how much He loves us and believe that He is using everything that comes our way for His glory and for our ultimate good."

The days are coming when you will be questioning, hurting, searching, wondering, struggling, and asking, and you will find that He is sufficient. For every cry, there is an answer. "I need help. I AM. I need hope. I AM. What works? I AM. What lasts? I AM. I need a fresh start. I AM. I need a bigger story. I AM. Nothing's real anymore. I AM. Who can I trust? I AM. Nobody's listening to me. I AM. I don't have a prayer. I AM. I can't hold on. I AM. I'm pouring into others, who's pouring into me? I AM. If we fail, who will get the job done? I AM. I'm not sure why I'm here. I AM. I've given all I can give and it's not enough. I AM. I'm tired. I AM. I quit! I AM. I can't! I AM. Somebody just hold me. I AM."

"And what does this great I AM say of Himself? He says to you and to me: 'I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am Savior. I am Jesus-the solution, the restorer, the builder, the answer, the Wise One, the Coming One, the Mighty One. I am the Lord and there is no other. I am God and there is none besides Me. I am the First and the Last. I am Alpha and Omega. I am the Beginning and the End. I am the Lord, that is My name, and I will not give My glory to another, or any of My praise to idols. I AM THAT I AM, and that is My name-My memorial name to every single generation."

As we work each day to exchange our starring roles in the tiny stories of us for supporting roles in the story of I AM, we do so with full confidence that He is worthy of our trust. We move forward through the story with confidence, knowing that I AM is beside us all the way, and that the ending of the story is already written...

Enjoy the Journey

2010-10-14T12:59:00.004-05:00

Embracing Smallness

Sometimes in life we like to embrace smallness. I remember when I used to work at Boston Market, there were things I purposefully would not learn just so I wouldn't have to do them! Why? I didn't want that much responsibility! It's funny how things are so much different when it comes to our lives though. We are control freaks! We don't want to embrace smallness, we want to be in charge! In order to really live a life where we understand that i am not but i know I AM, we have to die to ourselves. But "If there's one thing we can all be sure of in our quest to live for His glory and His fame, it's that the flesh will not die quietly. No, our mortal selves will scrap and claw for every once of self-promotion they can get their hands on." We have to have humility. Humility can be defined as 'seeing God for who He is.' Pride, on the other hand, is 'an admission that I haven't seen God at all.' When you see God and His glory, you are instantly resized, and that is humility. "Once we see how glorious His glory really is, we realize that all other glory is futile and fading, and totally inconsequential in the grand scheme of things."

What is it that makes you feel small? What is it that helps to 'resize' you when you see it? For me it is space, or really old things like the pyramids, anything in Egypt really. Or the Coliseum, or St. Paul's Cathedral. "Or when I consider that hundreds of generations have passed before me and not a single person among them ever knew my name."

"When you get right down to it, trading in the little story of me is not really all that big of a sacrifice after all. Who wouldn't want to abandon a script you could fit on the pointed end of a pin for a chance to get in on the glorious epic that is so enduring that its screening will require all of eternity? Glimpsing His glory makes me want to say, 'Your name and renown are the desire of my soul.' Seeing His true fame makes me want to live for a bigger purpose, doing everything I do in such a way as to shine the spotlight on Him." That sounds great right? But how do we do that on a day in and day out basis? You do everything you do to glorify God. You don't have to be a preacher, worship leader, missionary, or work in a church. The truth is, you probably have a better chance of amplifying Christ to the world if you don't do any of those things! You see everyone expects people who "work for Jesus" to live for a bigger story, but I think it speaks more for people with "secular jobs" to do what they do for Christ.

When Paul writes, 'And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him,' he is saying "that living for God's glory is not so much about what you do as it is about doing whatever you do in such a way that it reflects Jesus Christ to those around you and ultimately points people to Him. In other words, you don't have a better chance of glorifying God by being a preacher than you do by being a bond trader, or by being a missionary verses being a mother. You don't get more credit in the kingdom of God for being a songwriter than you do for being a student."

Sometimes I think we do a really good job at redirecting all the glory to God. Other times we fail miserably. How do we know when we are slipping? "When I live like I'm privileged, I have lost the plot. In other words, when I start acting like I deserve a certain outcome or a higher standard of life, I have failed to strike the fatal blow to self and am living like I actually have rights in this world apart from God. When I am demanding, I have lost the plot, insisting that God and others meet my needs on the timetable that I see fit. When I act pompous, I have lost the plot, thinking that I am somebody while only proving that I haven't had a good look at God today. When I crumble under the pressure, I have lost the plot, declaring that the outcome of life rests squarely on my shoulders, not His. When I start protecting, I have lost the plot, marking turf as though it were actually mine and forgetting that everything I have comes first from above. When I crave the spotlight for myself, I have lost the plot, losing sight of the story line and the one true Star. When I fail to celebrate the successes of others who are living for His fame, I have lost the plot, thinking that possibly we are on different teams when we actually share supporting roles in the same story. When I dwell on feelings of being unloved, unnoticed, or insignificant, I have lost the plot, abandoning the miracle of knowing God on a first-name basis."

Dying to self is not an easy thing. And looking up doesn't make all our problems magically go away either. However it does remind us that God is still I AM, and that His greatness, goodness, and God-ness is the best lens through which to view every day of our lives. It is time to embrace our role. You know...the small one.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-10-06T16:48:00.002-05:00

Furious Rest

The Sabbath. It is something that I struggle with because I can't seem to slow down. Even when I'm still, I'm not still...can you relate? There are always 100 things to do and I need to multi-task to get them done on time so that I can do the other 100 things that need to be done. Sound familiar? Even working at the church I can get so caught up in getting 'stuff' done that I miss the most important thing, God. When that happens, I put myself above God, I have allowed the current of self to sweep me away. "The current of self is deceptively strong. So strong, in fact, that Sunday is slowly being blurred into Monday, and nobody in the church or the world seems to care. Well, nobody except the folks with the humorous cow commercials. It's interesting that these guys don't seem to be losing any money. On the contrary, the company is expanding rapidly. I think the folks at Chick-fil-A are doing exactly what God had in mind way back in the Garden. They've created a great product, forged a memorable ad campaign, and worked really, really hard-creating great demand for their product and a loyal following. They have faithfully served the American consumer Monday thru Saturday for almost sixty years. And on Sundays they've closed the doors and gone to worship, and in the process honored God not with busyness, but with stillness. Their unattended drive-through lines proclaim that they really do believe in the the God who formed the universe without their help, or anyone else's."

Sabbath rest is furious rest. It's the kind of rest that powers our journey as we follow Christ with every ounce of our energy. It's "giving all we have for the sake of God's fame, yet carrying Sabbath rest as we go, knowing that His life within us enables us to accomplish what He has called us to do."

We have to learn to be still. In doing so we may be required to sacrifice some of our 'moments in the sun,' and some of our 'stuff' might not even get done. John the Baptist said it this way, "He must become greater, I must become less." You see there really is just one star in the story. And if that's true, "our challenge is not so much to shun the spotlight as it is to redirect any bright light that comes our way onto Him. Success would mean people loving Him more than any of us, clamoring for His touch more than ours."

"That's why worship and Sabbath go together. By ceasing from our efforts when God asks us to, we make much of Him. When we trust Him by resting in Him, we exalt the Lord, championing Him as all-powerful in our purposeful inactivity. Furious rest, you see, is not about doing nothing. It's about doing everything we do with the quiet confidence that our lives, families, businesses, ministries, relationships, and dreams are in His hands."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-09-23T10:51:00.002-05:00

Be Still

Be still, is anybody good at that? I'm terrible at it. Even when we went on vacation, our days were filled with things to do, places to see, and a little rest while sitting on a train going to the next place. It's true, Sabbath is a foreign concept to most of us. What is the Sabbath? "Sabbath is not so much about a day off as it is a "day up"-a day to remember that He is God and we are not. Without Sabbath, we forget who we are and lose sight of who He is, leaving us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. When there is no Sabbath in our lives we become intoxicated by the lie that the sum of our lives depends on our effort alone. We get to the place where we truly believe that the outcome of the story fully depends on us."

After all, remembering the Sabbath is one of the 10 Commandments! "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

So "apparently, Sabbath rest is not just a suggestion for the betterment of your life and mine, but an essential, nonnegotiable command, an intrinsic part of the rhythm of life. Clearly, Sabbath is about ceasing from labor, but at its core Sabbath is about a whole lot more than sleeping in or catching a nap. Sabbath rest is about a state of mind, a deep-seated belief that God is the creator and sustainer of all things-an acknowledgement that He is sufficient and that He can be trusted. Because one of the symptoms of sin is short-term memory loss, we quickly forget that He set in motion the entire universe before we arrived on the scene. We need to get our memories corrected and our trust renewed by stopping long enough to remember that His name is I AM and our names are i am not."

"To remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy is for us to say: Everything doesn't hinge on me. If I stop doing my part, the whole world will not fall apart. I am not in control. God made the world in six days without any input from me, or my assistance. God doesn't need me to accomplish His work. I am little. God is huge. I trust him." We do all of this by being still. "But how do we find stillness when finances are tight, tragedy overwhelms, the kids seem out of control, nations are at war, relationships are strained, and there's just too much left to do at the end of the day? The only place true stillness of the soul can be found on planet earth is in super-close proximity to the God of all Creation."

When we are closest to God, that is when our lives seem the smallest. That is when our problems seem small. "We go to sleep and God goes to work. And we wake up to see what God has done. Oh, we still go to work when we wake up, but as we go we carry the spirit of Sabbath rest with us, believing that we have been invited into an already-in-progress Story in which God was doing just fine long before our little feet ever hit the floor."

If we rely on ourselves, we will never slow down, we will never get enough done, so we will always be busy and stressed. By ourselves, we can't even keep the ten rules God gave to Moses, much less manage everything we need to manage to "run our lives." But "Paul writes of a new mystery when he exclaims, 'It is Christ in you, the hope of glory.' He does not say it's Christ and you that brings the hope of a glorious life, but Christ IN you. In other words, Sabbath is not about God and me operating as a dynamic duo. Sabbath rest is about me realizing that He is the only one capable of doing anything eternal in and through me."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-09-01T14:20:00.002-05:00

The Little Leader

Nobody likes to come in 2nd or 3rd, after all, 2nd place is the 1st loser right? We all want to win, to be 1st! Its part of human nature, but its a part that we need to learn to set aside when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. John the Baptist got it. "'Behold!' John cried. 'There's the One we've all been waiting for!' Every head turned to look at Jesus Christ, the eyes of an entire crowd now riveted on one man. But scan the crowd and see if you can find John. Just a sentence ago all eyes were on him. All the attention was his. People hung on his every word. Now he was out of the spotlight, just another face in the crowd with his eyes glued on Jesus. And John seems so content-and even genuinely thrilled-to point people away from himself to one he believed was greater. As the crowd locked its gaze on the Christ, he continued, 'This is the One I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.'"

That is an amazing statement. First of all it takes a little thought to decode it. Jesus came after John on this earth, but in a greater sense He came before John because He is I AM, and has been since the beginning! John was a little leader. "Like John, all little leaders know who comes first in the story. When they do accomplish great things or taste success, they do so with the realization that God had been on the scene for a long, long time, and that He is the source of their vision, gifting, opportunity, creativity, energy, and breath. (No matter where we finish among men, Christ already has a permanent hold on first place.) That's why John was never happier than the day all eyes turned to Jesus.

When I say John was a little leader, "I don't mean he was small in stature or vision or courage, or short on influence. Just that John knew who he wasn't and who HE is. THere's something pretty powerful about knowing who you are-and knowing who you're not. Because John knew his name was i am not, he was free from the seduction of fame, the tyranny of comparison, the delusional current of self-deception, the never-ending scramble to the top of the heap, ego, jealousy, backbiting, and a massively swollen head. And he was free from the ultimate rip-off-holding onto the starring role in a tiny story that was quickly vanishing from view."

In the days and weeks that followed, Jesus' ministry really took off. It got so big that it was making John's disciples jealous. They would complain and they wanted John and Jesus to have a showdown to see who was the best, but John already knew. One day John's disciples were trying to convince him that he should take Jesus on, "And then John uttered the words that pierce the flesh but free the soul: 'He must become greater; I must become less.'" Just think on that for a minute. What could you accomplish in your ministry if that were the theme? "He must become greater, and I must become less."

When we can say that and mean it, our ego and our desires get pushed to the side, and Christ can be glorified. Until we become little leaders, we cannot glorify Christ, we will only glorify ourselves. Until we become little leaders, we are clinging to the starring roles in the tiny stories of us. "In John's mind he wasn't losing his people to a bigger ministry. He was just doing what he came to do-holding wide the door for the arrival of heaven's King." That is what ministry is about. It's not about numbers, it's not about making the most people happy, it's not about making a name for yourself. It's about becoming a little leader and holding the door wide for heaven's King. Are you ready?

Enjoy the Journey

2010-08-26T10:25:00.002-05:00

Big River

I've only been white water rafting a couple of times. We went on the Ocoee River in Tennessee, and it was really fun. Sure we got tossed around a little bit, but nothing too major. In this chapter, Louie is talking about rafting down the Zambezei River in Africa (which flows out of Victoria Falls). Now that is a big time trip. It is a river filled with class IV and V rapids that kill hippos and some "that could drag a bus under." He says that they made it half way through when they decided to take a break and celebrate their survival on the shore, when their guide told them that they could continue if they wanted, but it was going to get even more dangerous the farther they went. The group decided unanimously to call it a day and just say that the river had won. Currents are dangerous, and if we aren't careful they can sweep us away.

Even more dangerous than a rushing river current is the current that still flows out of Eden. It's called pride, it was the downfall of Adam and Eve, and it is still our downfall today. It all started so well for Adam. Here he was, in a perfect world (literally) that was just days old walking and talking with the Great I AM! Then, as if it couldn't get any better, God made Eve! Soon they realized that the story wasn't about them, I mean they didn't even come on stage until day 6, and all creation was praising I AM, and not them. The problem occurred when they decided that supporting roles weren't enough for them. They wanted to be as big as God. They wanted to be I AMS instead of i am nots.

"When someone named i am not decides to live as though his or her name is really I AM, one consequence always follows: death."

The danger to trying to make ourselves out to be bigger than we are is this: "...we might succeed-at least in earthly terms-in making a name for ourselves. We night draw a crowd, grab some fame, amass some riches, hear the roar of applause. We might succeed at building a tower to the sky with our name emblazoned on it. All that hard work, only to have the River Pride deposit us on a sandbar called "The End." And in that moment, when the tiny story of us comes to a close, all the glory we could garner for ourselves will fade to nothing." But Jesus "gave Himself for us so that we could die to self-fame, self-glory, self-effort, self-centeredness, and the self-stories that are quickly coming to an end."

You see we don't need the spotlight, because we already know the star! "Not only do we know I AM, but I AM lives in us. He displays His power in us and glorifies His name through us. And in so doing we stake our claim in immortality, sowing our lives for His renown, investing in the applause of heaven that never, ever ends."

There will still be times when we are swept away in the current of pride. But we can rest easy in the fact that I AM is there to save us from the death we deserve. "The truth is we can be free of sin's power when we die to pride and self, and live instead in the powerful current of Christ's life in us-that eternal kind of life flowing in the veins of all who put their trust in Him."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-08-12T10:09:00.002-05:00

Chapter 3: BEcame

I've never been to Israel, although I've always wanted to go. Louie talks about a church called the Church of the Annunciation at the beginning of this chapter. It is located in Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. It gets its name because it was in that little village that the angel appeared to Mary to give her the news of Jesus' birth. Inscribed above the entrance to the church is a Latin phrase which means, 'And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us,' which we read in John chapter 1. He says that he dwelled on those words for the next several days, one word per day. The first day was simply the word 'and.' I don't know about you, but I don't know how much time I could spend just thinking about the word and. Louie however pointed out that when you put this word in its context, it summarizes the entire Old Testament! It is as if God is saying, you remember all that stuff that happened back there? The flood, the parting of the Red Sea, Goliath, all of it...you haven't seen anything yet! The next day he got to the word 'the.' Well, the only thing more exciting than 'and' is 'the' right? But think about this, the whole verse hinges on this word. "God did one thing. He sent one Son to be the way. John doesn't right that a Word became flesh. Or that some Word became flesh. Or that the flavor-of-the-day Word became flesh. And certainly not that one of many Words became flesh. John carefully wrote the Word. He was saying that Jesus is the Christ, the only Word there has ever been or ever will be.

Next he comes to 'Word' with a capital w. He is talking about Jesus. Next is the word 'became.' It is a great word! 'Do you see it? Became is a compound word, meaning it is comprised of two words-the word be and the word came. Wow, now do you see it? This verse is about Jesus, the one who bears the same name as the God who appeared to Moses at the burning bush. That day God revealed Himself to Moses as I AM-I AM THAT I AM-the present tense, active form of the verb, to be. Or, simply, BE. God told Moses His name is BE, the very name Jesus used when He claimed, 'Before Abraham was, I AM.' In an instant, became became BE came, and I wanted to shout for joy. Wake the world. Jesus came! BE came! I AM came! But in a most surprising form."

Flesh is the next word in the verse. "BE came flesh. God arrived with skin, the Divine in the form of a sweaty, laughing boy playing with other kids in a narrow street on a summer afternoon. Why does it matter? Because you can touch flesh. You can identify with flesh. You can wrap your arms around flesh and feel its heartbeat. You can hear the voice of flesh and look into its eyes. And if you're searching for a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, you can pierce flesh and it will bleed. You can nail flesh to a cross."

We'll move quickly through the rest. Next is 'and.' Jesus didn't just come in skin and move into Nazareth, there's more. Next is 'dwelled.' He didn't come to sit in a palace, he came to be one of us, to live like us. To feel all the joy and the hurt and the pain that everyone else feels. Next is 'among.' Not only did He come and live here, but He did it with people! He didn't just live out in the desert or on some island, His passion was for people. So he lived with them. And finally 'us.' Jesus didn't just come for certain people. He didn't just come for a chosen few. He came for us, for all, for everyone. The great I AM came to earth for all the little i am nots. Wow. 'The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.'

Enjoy the Journey

2010-08-05T15:41:00.002-05:00

Light Flies

Light does fly. It flies at 186,000 miles per second. Snap your finger one time. Light just traveled around the globe seven times! Astrophysicists have discovered what is the farthest known object from earth that is 13 billion light years away! A lightyear is the distance light travels in a year, and it travels 186,000 miles per second, so a lightyear is 5.88 trillion miles! Wow. I thought driving to Kentucky was far. To put that in perspective. It is about 3,000 miles from Atlanta to LA. We live on a tiny planet that orbits our sun, which is 25,000 light years away from the center of the Milky Way. And just like our planets orbit the sun, our sun orbits the center of the Milky Way, but it will take it 250 million earth years to complete one rotation! To sum it up, "We have no idea just how big the universe is, but it's so big we have to use a ruler that's 5.88 trillion miles long to measure stuff. The ruler is called a light year."

That may seem a little overwhelming, but all of that is just a speck to God. Scripture says, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. God is the one who makes light fly. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers (to Him). He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 'To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."

"God is constant. He blinks and a lifetime comes and goes. To Him one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. All of human history could be written on His fingernail, with plenty of room left over for more. And God is doing well today, thanks you. He has no dilemmas. No quandaries. No counselors. No shortages. No rivals. No fears. No cracks. No worries. He is self-existent, self-contained, self-perpetuated, self-powered, and self-aware. In other words, He's God and He knows it."

Us on the other hand..."You and I are tiny. Miniscule. Transient. Microscopic. A momentary and infinitesimal blip on the timeline of the universe. A seemingly undetectable alliance of dust particles held together by the breath of God. If this fact makes you just a tad bit uncomfortable, you're not alone. Invariably, when I talk about the vastness of God and the cosmos, someone will say, 'You're making me feel bad about myself and making me feel really, really small,' as if that's the worst thing that could happen. But the point is not to make you FEEL small, rather to help you see and embrace the reality that you ARE small. Really, really small."

But the great thing is that though we are just dust particles held together by the breath of God, we are loved by the God of all Creation! So we can say proudly, "I am not, but He knows my name. I am not, but He has pursued me in His love. I am not, but I have been purchased and redeemed. I am not, but I have been invited into The Story, I am not, but I know the Creator of the universe. I am not, but I know I AM!" We are small, but we are on a first name basis with I AM! We are galactic nobody's...99.99% of people on the planet have never heard of us, but God knows everything about us.

So I can live with that shrinking feeling. Because at the end of the day, the only One who really matters, the great I AM, knows me and loves me! That is awesome.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-07-28T13:51:00.002-05:00

Divine Invitation

"God is always looking for ordinary people to play significant roles in His unfolding story." That is a cool thought isn't it? God is looking for people just like you and me to play big roles!? That isn't how we do it. If we want to get something done, we don't look for 'average' or 'ordinary' people to help us. We look for the best and the brightest. We look for people who could really probably do it themselves. Think about it, if you were God, would you have chosen a stuttering 70 year, murderous old shepherd to go to the most powerful man in the most powerful empire on the planet and demand that he let your people go? Probably not. But that is exactly what God did.

So here was Moses, on the side of a mountain, living out his days in peace, when he got an invitation to join the story of God. A bush nearby caught fire, but it wasn't burning up! So naturally he went to investigate and then he got the surprise of a lifetime. God starts talking to him from the bush! What would your reaction have been? After he got over the initial shock, God starts revealing His plan. He said that He was going to free the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and then came the punchline..."So now, go, I am sending YOU to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." What!? God had been talking in first person the whole time and now he was asking, ok telling, Moses to go!

BUT, "When He said, 'You go and bring them out,' He wasn't thinking Moses was going to actually do the delivering. God wasn't counting on Moses' skill or power to break the chains of bondage that held His people captive. God was going to do all the work, He just wanted a leader with skin to speak on His behalf and lead the people to His promised destination. All along God was counting on Himself to pull the story off-not Moses. Definitely not Moses. When God said, 'You go,' He was implying: 'I am going to do this with or without you, Moses, but I've ben searching for just the right partner, a regular guy who will believe that I am able to do exactly what I have said I will do.'"

You see, "When God invites us into His story, assigning us various roles that are seemingly too big for us to carry out, His affirmation is always the same-I will be with you. It's as if He was saying to Moses, 'Don't worry about who you are, just focus on the reality that I'm going, too. And if I go with you, trust Me, everything's going to work out fine.' Bottom line: God and anybody else is an overwhelmingly powerful team."

So Moses is still making excuses, trying to find any way out of this that he can. He asks God who he should say sent him, because no one is going to believe this story. This was a significant moment, because "since the dawn of time, God had been referred to as Yahweh, meaning Most High God-a name so revered by the generations preceding Moses, they rarely even wrote it out in full (choosing instead to abbreviate it). But that revered title was really more of a description than a personal name. No one knew God's personal name. And, as far as we know, no one had dared to ask."

God tells Moses His name. He tells him that His name is "I Am." "God knew it was imperative for Moses to know who He was-that He was I Am. I Am is the present tense, active form of the verb to be. As God's name, it declares that He is unchanging, constant, unending, always present, always God. God was telling Moses: I AM the center of everything. I AM running the show. I AM the same every day, forever. I AM the owner of everything. I AM the Lord. I AM the Creator and Sustainer of life. I AM the Savior. I AM more than enough. I AM inexhaustible and immeasurable. I AM God."

That puts everything in perspective. You see, if God is all of those thing, it means that we are NOT any of those things. If God's name is "I AM," then our name is "i am not." "i am not the center of everything. i am not in control. i am not the solution. i am not all-powerful. i am not calling the shots. i am not the owner of anything. i am not the Lord." As God was explaining all of this to Moses, He said, "This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation" (Exodus 3:15). This is cool because it puts us in the same story as Moses! "God is big. We are not. He is calling the shots, directing the script, and determining the plot. We are not. And, what's really wild is that while He doesn't need any of us, He is choosing to include us, inviting us into the story that never ends. Try to fathom it-little you and me invited into the massive and mysterious story of the great I AM. Are you up for it?"

Enjoy the Journey

2010-07-22T09:17:00.002-05:00

Chapter 2: Look Up

When was the time that you felt most small? For me it was when I was walking around the streets of Rome. In particular when I was walking along the path that was once the Circus Maximus. There is something about standing in a place filled with biblical history that makes you understand the depth of your faith and really understand how big God is. It was then that it hit me that Paul walked these same streets proclaiming the name of the same Jesus that I have come to believe in and love. In the book Louie is talking about sitting in St. Paul's Cathedral in London, which is a magnificent church building. The ceiling towers 9 stories above the floor. He says that as he look up, everything about St. Paul's screams, 'God is really big, and you are not.'

It's good to be reminded of that. We often spend our lives trying to make a name for ourselves, to climb the ladder so to speak. We climb and we climb, trying to grab all the glory we can, and all the while God is saying, 'this isn't even your story.' We are a part of the story of God, so why are we wasting our time trying to make the story about us? Maybe we need to 'look up' more often. We need to take time to realize how big God is, because that really puts it all in perspective for us. The amazing part is that this massive God loves us enough to know how many hairs are on our head, we don't even know that! God has a role for each of us to play in His story, and we never get too old to be a part. After all, Moses was over 70 when he got an invitation to change history. Why should we think it will be any different for us? All we have to do is 'look up.'

Enjoy the Journey

2010-07-15T14:57:00.002-05:00

Start Here

As we start a new book (i am not but i know I AM) we are introduced to the Story of God. "Life is the tale of two stories-one finite and frail, the other eternal and enduring. The tiny one-the story of us-is as brief as the blink of an eye. yet somehow our infatuation with our own little story-and our determination to make it as big as we possibly can-blinds us to the massive God Story that surrounds us on every side."

So often we get so wrapped up in our life and our problems that we forget that we serve a God who is much bigger than we are. The things that we think are huge are things He doesn't even break a sweat over. I don't say that to put anybody down or to say that you don't matter to God. I'm not even saying that you aren't part of the story of God. In fact, the opposite is true. All I'm saying is that we have to keep in mind that the story we are a part of already has a star, and its not us! We have to remember this because when we forget, everything gets messed up. We start living life as though it is about us, and pride begins to well up in our hearts.

The problem is that so many people live this way. But in the end, that is why so many people are hollow shells of humanity. Because when the story is about you, in 80 years or so the curtain will fall, the screen fade to black, and a few people may even clap, but that will end the story of you.

So we have a choice. "We can choose to cling to starring roles in the little-bitty stories of us, or we can exchange our fleeting moment in the spotlight for a supporting role in the eternally beautiful epic that is the Story of God."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-07-08T16:31:00.002-05:00

Chapter 13: Vision

This is the last chapter of the book and perhaps the most convicting...

I can't see anything without my contacts, do you have vision problems?

"Jesus didn't have any vision problems. He saw lost people. They weren't invisible to him. He didn't rush by them. He didn't ignore them. He wasn't too busy for them. He saw them crying by themselves on the back row of the church. He saw them dropping off their kids at day care so they could make it to their second job. He saw them with a scotch in hand, looking overwhelmed at the class reunion. He saw them riding bikes outside his window while he was writing his fifth book. He didn't step to the right side of the sidewalk when he saw them standing on the left. He didn't make assumptions about them because of the way the dressed. He didn't avoid being seen with them because of how that might impact his ministry. He didn't look at lost people as if they were second-class citizens. He didn't see their tattoos and piercings as obstacles to their salvation. He didn't see their 'will work for food' sign and think cynically, yeah, right. He didn't see their addictions as disqualifiers that needed to be conquered before they could come back to church. He didn't see them as sin, but sinners who needed salvation. He didn't see lost people as lost causes, because-to Jesus-there are no lost causes! Jesus loves lost people, so he saw them."

So many times we fall into one if not all of those categories. Something that we often do is expect people to come and meet us where we are, but Jesus went TO the people who needed him most. Take the story of Zacchaeus. Jesus didn't make Zacchaeus come to him, Jesus met him at "the spot." The spot is the place where sin and grace meet, and its the place where hope is born.

"Jesus didn't expect Zacchaeus to find him. He didn't send Zacchaeus a home mailer with directions to his spot. He didn't put a map in the yellow pages showing him ten different ways to get to his spot. He didn't hang a banner with the words "Come Worship at Our Spot!" on his church building. No, Jesus didn't expect Zacchaeus to do all the work, so he met him where he was. Fish don't jump into the boat. Good soil doesn't jump onto the seeds. Disciples don't make themselves. Sheep, coins, and sons don't find themselves. We have to go to their spots and look for them."

People want to be seen. That is why so many people dress the way they do. They want people to notice them. That is why so many men obsess over their car or their lawn, and why so many women try to preserve, improve, and show off their bodies, they want to be seen. They want to know that their existence matters. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but even more than that he wanted to be seen by Jesus. Jesus saw him, and then he spoke to him. Jesus actually invited himself over (which is sort of rude, but I guess you get a pass if you're Jesus). Because of Jesus' interaction with Zacchaeus, his entire life changed. He was a tax collector and notorious thief, but after his meal with Jesus he vowed to give back 4 times the amount he had taken! Being seen can be a powerful and transformational experience.

In this story Jesus reminds us "That he was at this spot to seek and save what was lost, Jesus showed everyone that he sees lost people not as distractions but as his purpose for being on this planet." What do you see when you look at the lost?

"I pray that you'll see people who are not where they are supposed to be, go to their spot, look at them, and simply say, 'How about you and I get something to eat? I pray that you'll join me in eating with sinners and in making our dinner tables the most challenging places...not where life ends, but where it begins."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-07-01T08:51:00.003-05:00

Chapter 12: Joy

What we celebrate says a lot about us? What do you celebrate? What you celebrate tells us what we really love and who we are. Jesus celebrated when lost people were found. Again 'lost' simply means not being where you are supposed to be (with Christ). Lost people were drawn to Christ, but it seems today that most lost people are running away from Christians. They wanted to be around Jesus because He wanted to be with them. They wanted to hear what He had to say because He was giving them hope. And that is what everyone is looking for, hope! Jesus gave them hope because He welcomed them, accepted them, and loved them, and it wasn't fake! This didn't make everyone happy, it made the religious leaders 'mutter.' Sometimes when you are living out your faith it makes people who aren't living out their faith uncomfortable and they begin to 'mutter.' So if you think about it, if people are 'muttering' about what you are doing, it could be a good thing!

The religious leaders muttered because Jesus was associating with people who were 'sinners.' They were lost because of what they had done, and the religious leaders wanted them to get their act together before they could be accepted. But Jesus doesn't care what we've done to find ourselves where we shouldn't be. All He cares about it getting us back, and when He finds us, He throws a party. It's not our job to determine if someone is 'good enough' to be found. In fact, no one is 'good enough,' you aren't good enough now even if you've already been found! The grace of God knows no limits, but we limit it far too often. "George Barna estimates that there are between 180-190 million people in America who are not born-again Christians. Imagine there's a huge fire coming toward this country and that everyone who wants to get out safely must come to you. If you could save 1,000 people a day, it would take you 521 years to save 190 million people. Good news: you don't have to save 190 million people by yourself. Bad news: there is a fire coming."

As most of you know, I tear up just about every time someone gives their life to Christ. That is the reason I am in ministry. I celebrate when lost people are found. And after reading this chapter, I'm going to start celebrating when people mutter about our passionate love for the lost. What do you celebrate?

Enjoy the Journey

2010-06-17T13:22:00.002-05:00

Chapter 11: Investment

Eating with sinners is not something that comes with no cost. It requires an investment of time, energy, money, our whole lives. Ironically, that is what being a Christian costs as well. You see they go hand in hand. Christianity isn't something that you just say you are, Christianity is who you are and what you do all the time. Before you become a Christian, or before you continue your life as a Christian, you need to count the cost. Are you willing to do what it takes to be a Christian? Are you really? Because Jesus asks for it all, and that is a lot to ask.

He asks for our resources. "What resources do you have? Which are you willing to give up to reach lost people? Are you willing to write a big check? Are you willing to sell that old sports car sitting in the garage that hasn't been driven for years? Are you willing to let the church use your home as a small group location? Are you willing to buy groceries for a needy family? Are you willing to spend money or supplies to an overseas missionary? Are you willing to start giving at least 10 percent of your income to your church? Are you willing to give up anything and everything to reach someone for Jesus? 'Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.' (Jesus)

There is a popular line of thinking today that says once you become a Christian all your problems will go away. You'll become 'healthy, wealthy, and wise.' I hate to rain on that parade, but that is far from the picture Jesus paints. Jesus says that there are no uncrucified disciples. He says be ready and willing to take up your cross. He says that if we aren't willing to invest our lives in following Him, we are not true disciples.

"If we're looking for a comfortable faith, then we're not going to want to follow Jesus. If we're looking for a faith that won't cost us too much, then Christianity is not the right choice for us. It's time for you, me, and any others who call themselves Christian to put on our big boy and big girl pants, man up (and woman up too), pick up our crosses, and start investing our lives in our faith by inviting people to the great banquet."

We say that we want a world filled wit the light of Christ. A world filled with the light of Christ costs a lot. It costs everything. Are you ready?

Enjoy the Journey

2010-06-10T10:23:00.002-05:00

Chapter 10: Humility

Humility is the quality of having a modest view of one's person, rank, and importance. "William Beebe, the naturalist, occasionally visited the home of former president Teddy Roosevelt. President Roosevelt and Beebe would go out on the lawn at night to search the skies for a certain spot of light near the lower left-hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus constellation. Then they would recite: 'That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.' Then President Roosevelt would grin and say, 'Now I think we are small enough. Let's go to bed.'"

Sometimes it is really hard to be humble. It must have been hard for Christ to be humble. I mean after all, He is God. Yet He was willing to die on a cross. The cross was designed to both humiliate and kill its victim. Check out what Philippians 2:5-8 has to say about this. Our attitude should be like His? Now that is a tall order.

"As we eat with sinners, it would be wise to start each meal with a slice of humble pie, because it seems to me that it's too easy to position ourselves safely on a comfortable perch and look down with pity on those so far below us. This is absurd and un-Christlike. If we really want to reach lost people, we must be humble=and true humility comes from standing next to the cross."

An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of each of the successive major parts of a compound term. What are some famous ones? CEO, FBI, SCUBA, RADAR, ect... Arron gives us the acronym HARD:

Healing is perpetually possible with Jesus.
Always remember the well.
Reseat yourself if necessary
Dinner should be a party to which everyone is invited.

As Christians it is tempting to separate ourselves from everyone else for fear that we might 'catch their sin.' I'm not saying that we should all go down and spend the rest of our time in the bar drinking with everyone. But what I am saying is that we can't expect people to come to Christ on our terms. We can't expect people who don't know Christ to act like they do before we are willing to spend time with them. We can't look down on people from our perch of holiness and pray for their pitiful souls and expect God to bless us by using us to bring people to Christ.

When Christ healed a man on the Sabbath who was suffering from dropsy, He immediately asked the teachers of the law if the had an ox who fell in the well on the Sabbath if they would pull it out. This was to prove His point that they didn't care about this man, they only wanted to trap Jesus. We've all been 'trapped in a well' from time to time, hopelessly flailing about in our sin. "With true humility, Jesus resolves never to leave the well until every last person who is willing to follow Him is rescued." That is our mission. True humility calls us to help people who we think are "worse" than we are. People who are trapped in a well of sin and need help getting out. That is what Jesus did, think HARD on it.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-06-03T16:46:00.002-05:00

Chapter 9: Mercy

What is grace? A simple definition is 'giving someone something that he doesn't deserve.' What is mercy? A simple definition is 'not giving someone something that he does deserve.'

We tend to like it when people get what they deserve don't we? We like it when the bad guy gets caught and goes to prison forever. We would like it if Osama bin Laden was found dead. We like revenge. It sells, it sells movies, books, revenge is sweet! That is how we are, but its not how we should be. We should be concerned with their salvation. We should be concerned about giving them the same chance to receive mercy that we were given. "Mercy doesn't sell a lot of books or movie tickets, and it may not make you popular at the Pentagon or as a UFC competitor, but it reflects the heart of God and it's an essential ingredient to any meaningful effort to reach lost people for Jesus."

Jesus told a parable about mercy. We know it as the parable of the Good Samaritan. The story began with a question from one of the teachers of the law. The question was this: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Its an odd question really. "I have to caution him about thinking that there is anything we can actually do to inherit eternal life. The cool thing about an inheritance is that you don't have to do anything to receive it-it's a gift from a father to a child. Like many of us, this guy has it all wrong. Our salvation is not about what we do or have done, but about what God has done for us."

As the parable unfolds, it turns out that the hero of the parable is the Samaritan. Of course the one person that the teacher of the law would hate the most ends up being the protagonist! Jesus also holds him up as an example of what a neighbor is! This was devastating, because Jesus had just told him that to inherit eternal life he had to love his neighbors. Jesus had just blown the social hierarchy right out of the water. "Like the Samaritan, Jesus was merciful to people regardless of who they were, what they'd done, or whether they liked Him," and He expects nothing less of us. As we eat with sinners, we need to leave revenge at home, and replace it with mercy. That's what everyone deserves, and we want them to get what they deserve right?

Enjoy the Journey

2010-05-27T15:33:00.002-05:00

Chapter 8: Urgency

Captain Sully knows about urgency. Shortly after takeoff, he realized that a bird had been sucked into the engine of his plane. He was going to have to make an emergency landing, but there was nowhere to land! He had 155 people on board, and he had to do something fast. So Captain Sully landed in the middle of the Hudson River!

When the alarms started going off, he acted with a sense of urgency. You may not know it, but the alarm is sounding. Each day 146,357 people die. That is 6,098 per hour, and 102 per minute! The alarm is sounding.

Have you ever had fruit or vegetables that were harvested too early? Too late? Its disgusting. The trick is to harvest them at just the right time. Jesus said that the harvest is ready, but the workers are few.

The harvest "looks like a coworker who starts crying at lunch when you ask her about things at home. It looks like an elderly neighbor who sits by himself on his front porch in the chair next to the chair where his wife used to sit. It looks like an angry boss who asks you why you go to a men's prayer group before work on Thursday morning. It looks like your kid's teacher. It looks like the guy in the 7-Eleven on Saturday night, waiting to spend fifty dollars on lottery tickets, hoping to finally have something that will change his miserable life. It looks like the classmate you've reconnected with on Facebook. It looks like the attractive woman with the low-cut top sitting next to you on the plane and trying to flirt as you discuss the weather. It looks like the young couple at the end of the street who seem overwhelmed taking care of their three little kids. It looks like your alcoholic father. It looks like your teenage daughter who acts like she doesn't want you around only because she needs you so desperately. It looks like the person you're going to eat with at McDonald's next Wednesday because you want to eat with him in Heaven for all eternity."

There was a girl who was awoken by her families grandfather clock, it was ringing 4, but it didn't stop there, it rang 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14! She was so frightened that she ran upstairs and told her family, Get up! It's later than it's ever was!

Are you ready to work? Jesus needs workers who will pray. He wants us to be ask to be sent? Seems kind of silly doesn't it? Why do we need to ask Jesus to send us to do what we already know He wants us to do? "Maybe He wants to know that we want lost people to be saved as much as He does. Maybe He wants to know that we know that without Him, the Lord of the harvest, there would be no harvest. Maybe He wants us to ask Him to send workers because it confirms we understand that we can't do this by ourselves."

Second Jesus needs workers who will go. We can't just sit around and wait for people to come to us. Jesus expects us as a church to GO to the world and make disciples. The best way to reach people for Christ is to go where they are and share Jesus with them.

It's time to get to work, and we need to hurry, because it's later than it ever was.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-05-20T15:51:00.002-05:00

Chapter 7: Resolve

Have you ever quit at something? What was it? What is the hardest thing you've done that you refused to quit?

Jesus refused to quit. His mission was to get to Jerusalem and die for the sins of the world. He had a clear goal, and unmatched resolve. "You are going to face obstacles on the way to Jerusalem. We all have a place God plans for us to go, our destiny, a place of extraordinary service and sacrifice, a higher purpose for which we were placed on this planet." Jerusalem meant death for Jesus. What is your Jerusalem? What are you resolved to do?

It takes a lot of resolve to get significant things done. Beethoven was resolved to create great music. He did, even after he went completely deaf! He wrote some of his most famous pieces, including several symphonies! Can you imagine writing a symphony that you could only hear in your head? Talk about resolve!

Whatever your Jerusalem is, you can't let anything get in the way of you getting there. We can't let anything keep us from eating with sinners. "Set your face on your Jerusalem and don't let misguided disciples keep you from following God's plan and fulfilling your destiny."

As we work to reach people for Jesus, we are going to face challenges from outsiders. However, we must understand that we will also face challenges from insiders! We have to be ready to follow God's lead no matter the cost. Jesus had his face set on Jerusalem. What is your face set on?

Enjoy the Journey

2010-05-13T09:05:00.002-05:00

Chapter 5: Tolerance

This was by far my favorite chapter in the book thus far. He says that there are two things that you never want to do. 1: Scream fire in a crowded theater and 2: whisper the word tolerance in a church. How true that can be. Tolerance has become a bad word, especially in churches. Many people associate tolerance with accepting sin, watering down the gospel, and letting everyone do anything they want to all the time. However there is a difference between tolerating sin and tolerating sinners. Tolerating, at least in the sense that we are talking about, is simply allowing someone or something to be.

Continued unrepentant sin by a Christian should not be tolerated. Paul teaches us in Romans that just because we have grace doesn't mean we should keep sinning. We all do, we are by nature sinners, but that doesn't mean that we should willfully sin all the time. "Sin in the church is like a caner that, if left untreated, leads to death. We are supposed to eat with non-Christian sinners but not with unrepentant Christian ones." We read in 1 Corinthians 5:9-11: "I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." "Sinners should always be allowed in our presence. It's their only hope. It's our only hope for reaching them."

Remember the story of the woman who came and washed Jesus feet with expensive perfume and her hair? She had a reputation of being...a sinner (probably a prostitute). The people who were there couldn't believe that Jesus was allowing her to hang around. But Jesus wasn't condoning what she had done, He was just loving her. "Jesus was more tolerant of lost people than most of us will ever be, because He loved lost people more than most of us ever will. Tolerance is viewed by many in the church as watering down the message of Jesus, but when we look at how Jesus interacted with sinners who were in need of salvation, we learn that tolerance toward sinners was key to how He reached out to them. He chose to be with sinners because He wanted them to have hope. He allowed this prostitute to be in His presence at this dinner because He wanted her to be with Him at the banquet He will host in eternity." Had this woman made bad choices in her past? Absolutely. But that didn't make her intolerable, just sinful. But with Jesus there are no lost causes.

One thing that we have to remember is this: in Jesus, we are not our worst sin. We are not defined by the bad choice we made on prom night, or the people that we slept with before we were married, or the wrong things we did so that we could get a promotion, or anything else that we have done. We are sinners who sin, but we are not sin. There is a huge difference. Sinners are loved by God, sin is hated.

"Do we really believe that all lost people can have the hope of forgiveness-that God can forgive anyone of anything? If so, then that will change everything. We will tolerate sinners-allowing them into our presence-because we believe that God has the power for positive change." With Jesus there are no lost causes.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-05-06T14:58:00.002-05:00

Chapter 5: Intimacy

The word intimacy brings up different thoughts to men and women. Women think of long walks on the beach, staying up talking all night, romantic candlelight dinners, and things like that. Men on the other hand think of...well...other things. Jesus thought of eating with sinners. You see eating with someone in Jesus day was equivalent to saying that you accepted, were friends with, were connected with that person.

"'In first century Palestinian Judaism the class system was enforced rigorously. It was legally forbidden to mingle with sinners who were outside the law: table fellowship with beggars, tax collectors... and prostitutes was a religious, social, and cultural taboo.' Manning writes that in the Near East today, for an orthodox Jew to say, 'I would like to have dinner with you,' is a metaphor implying 'I would like to enter into a friendship with you.'"

Eating with people was a big deal. And frankly, it still is. It is one of the best ways to get to know people, and people generally eat with people they are trying to get to know and become close friends with. It is one of the best opportunities that we can have to share the story of Jesus. And one of the best ways we can share the story of Jesus is to share our own stories.

We can not isolate ourselves from people. 'When we isolate ourselves from people, we lose the ability to connect with them on any level.' This is not how Jesus worked. After all, " Saving someone who is separated from you by a barrier is impossible."

We put up barriers all the time. We associate with people who look, talk, think, dress, and smell like we do. How can we be used by God to save the lost and at the same time not associate with them for fear that they will 'drag us down?' The answer is we can't. Its impossible. "Devotion to our points of view can hinder our efforts to reach lost people and help them get back to where they are supposed to be."

It's time that we start being known for being people who eat with sinners. People who aren't afraid to step outside the bubble of Christianity and associate and become close friends with people who have different points of view and ways of life! That is what Jesus did, and He expects nothing less of us.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-04-29T09:44:00.002-05:00

Chapter 4: Faith

With God there are no lost causes.

Jesus was a master fisher of men. He also put the fishermen who became His disciples to shame. Now the fact that He is God and can tell the fish to do whatever He wants might be considered cheating, but whatever. One day He saw some men fishing on the Sea of Galilee and He went over to them and just got in the boat! Then He asked them to put out into deep waters and let the nets down for a catch. I don't know why they did it, they had been fishing all night and hadn't caught a thing, but for some reason they just did what He said.

They put out into deep water. That is exactly what Jesus calls us to do today. You see big fish live in deep water. You can't catch big fish unless you are in deep water. If we want to reach people for Christ, we have to dive deep into the community in which we live. That means that we have to be involved in things outside of our churches! How many of our churches local outreach programs amount to little more than sticking our head out the door and whispering the name of Jesus? We wonder why people aren't coming to know Christ, its because we aren't listening to His call to us to go deeper!

Why is that? Because we fall into the trap of linear thinking. Linear thinking is "drawing conclusions about the immediate future based on the immediate past." Linear thinking says that we can't bring people to Christ today because we've never done it before. "Linear thinking says there is no hope for the prostitute, the abusive alcoholic, the adulterous spouse, the murderer, and the northern Colorado farmer convicted of dealing drugs, but faith disagrees- because with Jesus there are no lost causes."

I'm not a fisherman, but I do know this: If you want to catch fish, you have to put your line in the water. "Its one thing to want to catch fish, its another thing to put your bait in the water. It's one thing to have faith in Jesus and put our into deep water; it's another to put your faith into action and let down the nets for a catch."

"As we eat with sinners, we must have faith that God wants to save them. We must also be willing to do whatever it takes to make sure they know that."

What are you doing that constitutes putting out into "deep water?" What can you do this week to "put your bait in the water?"

Enjoy the Journey

2010-04-22T14:33:00.002-05:00

Chapter 3: Grace

Christians have been hated since the first day they were called Christians, and really even before that. But we used to be hated for the right reason: loving Jesus. Now it seems that we are hated because we don't love people enough and we're too judgmental. This is unfair to most Christians. However you can see where people are coming from, there are plenty of angry Christians out there screaming at the world that they are going to hell. This wasn't the way Jesus did it, He ate with people! The scary thing is that many people do not know who Jesus is and what He was like, so they assume He was just like the angry Christian yelling at them from the street corner, or standing outside the gay rights rally with a sign that says, "God hates fags." Jesus was never mean to people...truthful, but not mean. "He was a grace-filled Savior intent on helping people find their way to heaven."

Jesus came to preach good news to the poor. He treated the poor so much differently than most of us do.

"If you're honest, you might have to admit that most of the time you think poor people are a nuisance. I'm a preacher, and we can be the worst offenders. Preachers have "important" things to do, and honestly, it can be annoying to be trying to finish my sermon on service, only to have my admin call to say there's a benevolence case waiting for me i the reception area! So we usher the poor away quickly with a can of Vienna sausages, an oatmeal pie, a pat on the back, and directions to the shelter downtown. Shame on us. Shame on me."

Wow. I can definitely relate to that. I could easily substitute the words 'preacher' for 'worship minister' and 'sermon' to 'video.' Can you relate?

It's our job to proclaim freedom to those who need it. Satan tries to shackle people with hopelessness and despair. Many people can't see a way out of the life they are living, but Jesus offers hope. Let me rephrase that, Jesus uses us to offer hope to those He died to save. Hope of freedom. Freedom changes lives.

"Jesus was full of grace. He had the heart of a loving Savior, not of an angry street preacher. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus: 'He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.'"

Maybe its time for a new approach. Grace.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-04-15T16:01:00.002-05:00

Chapter 2: Accessibility

There is only one way to effectively change the world for Christ: to get the message of Christ to the world! But sometimes we make that so difficult. The world will not be won to Christ because the programs at our church run really smoothly, the by-laws cover every possible scenario, or because our building is amazing. The world won't be won for Christ until Christians decide to make the love, joy, and life found in Christ more accessible to everyone.

There are many things that stand in the way of people coming to know Christ. Arron deals with two physical things in this chapter, because they should be an easy place to start working: Clothing and Church Buildings.

We've all heard the debate about what you should wear to church. On the one hand, if you don't wear a suit to church then you don't love God, and on the other, God doesn't care what I look like so I'm coming in my pj's. It's funny that we don't have this conversation many other places than church. I understand dress codes. I understand that when I go to a wedding, I need to wear a suit. I understand that when I play basketball, I'm going to need shorts and basketball shoes. I understand that when I come to work, I need to wear 'business casual' clothes so that I can interact with people without intimidating them. So dress codes aren't really a problem for me, but the problem is that God doesn't really give us one! Arron hits it right on the head when he says, "I just refuse to clothe the grace of God in a suit or a dress and require that lost men and women meet a dress code before they can meet Jesus."

Just because someone doesn't wear a tie to church doesn't mean he doesn't love God. It probably means that he hates wearing ties (who doesn't), and that he enjoys breathing. This doesn't mean that I think we should be sloppy, but there is no dress code for church!

He also says that church buildings can be an obstacle. Many of us don't think of them that way, however they can be nothing more than big boxes that 'isolate Christians from the world (and each other) and sap huge amounts of time, energy, and money that could otherwise be used for outreach and staffing needs.' The first century church didn't have buildings, and they seemed to get along just fine. They met wherever they could and found ways to spread the gospel. Church buildings aren't bad, but they need to be viewed for what they are, a tool. They are not the end all, they are ONE method of getting the message of Christ out. If the building becomes the only method, and we spend all of our time, energy, and money on the building, we are missing the point.

"The church was never meant to be viewed as an immobile box sitting on the corner of Eighth and Main; God intended for us to view the church as a healthy, mobile body of believers moving, walking, through this world." We need to stop spending all of our time hiding inside the church building waiting on people to show up. Odds are that they won't. We need to be thinking of creative ways that we can take the message of Christ to a world that is thirsty to hear it.

"When people who are searching for meaning in this life encounter us, they should find hope, not hate. They should find love, not judgment. They should find us clearing a path, not cluttering it. They should find clarity, not confusion. No one should have to wear the right clothes or walk into one of our church buildings to find life, help, hope, peace, joy, truth, and love. No, accessing these blessings should be as easy as sitting down for a meal with you or me."

Enjoy the Journey

2010-04-08T12:29:00.003-05:00

Over the next several weeks we will be going through Arron Chambers' new book called 'Eats with Sinners.' If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post them here or email me.

Eats with Sinners Chapter 1: Integrity

One impurity in our lives can pull us and others off course. But this is our problem, not God's. He never changes, He has always been and always will be the same. Perfect. We on the other hand are not. That is why we swear on our momma's grave and sign contracts.

There is only one human in history who has ever had absolute integrity. And I'm not sure if it really counts because He was also fully God. His name was Jesus. As soon as He came up out of the waters of baptism He was lead out into the desert to be tempted, and He passed with flying colors. Scripture says that He was tempted in every way, just like we are, yet He was without sin.

In those moments when we are tempted, we have the opportunity to grow into something more, or shrink into something less. Before we can even think about leading others to know Christ, we too must face our deserts of temptation. None of us are perfect, but that doesn't mean that we can't live a life of integrity. We can't allow the mistakes we make to pull us permanently off course and away from integrity. If we are willing to learn from those mistakes God can and will use us to do great things. "You can have integrity without a ministry, but you can't have a ministry without integrity."

Jesus tells us to pull the log out of our own eye before we try to remove the speck of dust out of our friend's eye. In other, words, don't be such a hypocrite! Jesus wants our lives to be characterized by integrity. "Hypocrisy is cancerous to evangelism, rendering Jesus a joke and His message a punch line in the hearts and minds of lost people."

Hans Christian Andersen tells a famous story about an Emperor who was tricked by two swindlers. They claimed to be able to make the finest clothes, but only those with great taste could see them. So naturally, everyone in the palace raved about the clothes when they were "finished." The king even agreed to have a parade to show them off. Everyone in the kingdom pretended to see these fine articles of clothing until they passed by one little boy who yelled, 'the king isn't wearing any clothes!' Relieved that someone had finally said it, everyone in the kingdom, including the king had to admit that he was parading around naked! Is that how our spiritual lives are? Are we pretending to clothe ourselves in righteousness but in reality parading around naked in our sin? This has to stop.

Sin makes us cowards, but integrity makes us bold. Its hard to help someone come through a sin that you are stuck in yourself. If you are addicted to porn it would be extremely hard to preach about the evils of porn. "Private sin is an evil warden that Satan employs to keep us locked up, silent, and hopeless in a dungeon that reeks with fear. But private sin is also an illusion. We can't fool God." He already know what we do when no one else is looking, and He wants to forgive us if we'll just ask!

God doesn't expect perfection. Only faithfulness. You see God knows that we are all flawed and that we are going to sin everyday of our lives here on earth. But He wants us to be faithful to Him. Don't let your life be defined by a moment of weakness, but rather by years of loyalty to the One who redeems us from sin.

At the end of the chapter Arron gives 3 tips toward walking with integrity:
1. Personal Devotions- are you doing them? Are you spending time in the Word of God?
2. Accountability Partner- find someone of the same gender who will help you stay on track.
3. Local church- find one and stick with it. We need each other!

Enjoy the Journey

2010-02-04T17:41:00.002-05:00

Creatives

Don't allow yourself to be standardized. When you do, your soul slowly starts to die. God didn't create us all to be the same! He gave us desires and passions that are uniquely our own. Some religions would tell you that the way to ultimate peace is to rid yourself of all desires. Ever tried that? Good luck. Its torture! You were created to grow, dream, achieve, and create! Your life came from God and He intended it to be God-sized and God-inspired. Jesus was a man of emotion and passion. He definitely wasn't a man who had gotten rid of all desires. Quite the opposite in fact! He was so passionate for God's house that He drove people out with a whip! He was so passionate for you that He gave His life for you! And He made us just like Himself! Why would we think that people created in the image of God should be unpassionate, desireless people? God has called you to be passionate and to create. The destination of our spiritual journey is not nothing, on the contrary, it is an adventure beyond measure.

Enjoy the Journey

2010-01-19T22:44:00.002-05:00

If Only

I saw an interesting movie tonight. 'The Book of Eli.' The book was the Bible, and everyone wanted it. There had been a great war and the whole earth was in shambles. There was only one copy of the Bible (although they didn't tell you it was the Bible until the end) left, and everyone wanted to get their hands on it. Eli (the main character) had it, and he read it everyday. Late in the movie you realize that he has the entire Bible memorized. If only we desired the Bible the way the characters in this movie desired it. If only we would commit it to memory like Eli does in the movie. What would our world be like? What would our churches be like? If only...

Enjoy the Journey

2009-12-14T17:37:00.003-05:00

Israel=Egypt?

I just started reading Rob Bell's book 'Jesus Wants to Save Christians.' Chapter 1 talks about the cry of the oppressed. God is the God of the oppressed. Even after He kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden and everything descended into chaos, He responded to the Israelite's 'cry' when they were in Egypt. Egypt was a place of slavery, a place where they were forced to build things using bricks, and they were treated in an inhumane way. God delivers them from that using a man named Moses, and then He takes them to Sinai, where God finally breaks His silence. Here He meets with His people and gives them the 10 Commandments. The commandments were given so that they could have a way to remember who they are and the God that saved them from their slavery. The first commandment is that they should have no other gods. If they did, they would forget about the God who brought them out of Egypt, the God who heard their cry. The rest give them instructions on how to live and treat others in a humane way, something that they were not used to while living Egypt. God wanted them to be the opposite of Egypt.

Fast forward a few years to the reign Solomon. We see Solomon amassing a huge amount of wealth and building military bases, palaces, and even a temple for God. But how did he build all of these things? He used slaves! The slaves had become the oppressors. Those who God rescued were now doing the very things to others that God had rescued them from! But it didn't stop there. Solomon married many women, and they lead his heart astray, and he began to worship other gods. That was rule #1! This puts God in an awkward position, He told them not to, but here they are doing it anyway! He warned them not to even charge interest to their neighbors, or He would 'hear their cry,' and they are making slaves of people! Israel had become just like Egypt. The people who had been saved from Egypt moved up north and created a kingdom just like the one they had been saved from!

So throughout the rest of the Old Testament, God is trying to warn them that they need to get it together through the prophets, but they won't listen. Eventually God has enough and as He always does, He hears the cry of the oppressed. He sends the Babylonians in and destroys everything that Israel had built and carries them into exile. They began as slaves, then they tried to be masters instead of taking care of the poor like they were told to do, and so they ended up as slaves once more. Its weird how much Israel and Egypt have in common!

Enjoy the Journey

2009-12-04T22:17:00.002-05:00

Why do we care?

Do you ever wonder why we have this need, this desire, this longing to be someone, to create something, to make a difference? No other species has this desire. My dog is laying at might feet right now, and I'm pretty sure she isn't thinking about what her personal destiny is (she's probably wondering when I'm going to tell her she can go get the rawhide bone that is on the other side of the living room). This is something that is unique to humans. We have a desire to make the world better. Even those of us who don't believe in God feel the need to be humane. Whenever a tragedy strikes, humankind rushes in to the rescue. Why is that? If the world is truly evolutionary, we should be motivated by a survival of the fittest mentality, but we are just not. We know that there is just something not quite right about living like that. Without God there really is not justification for it, but none the less we feel compelled to care about other people. Why do we care about other people? Because we are created in the image of God, we have within us the need to believe that this world can be better, and that we can help. Gandhi was the one who said that we should become the change we seek, and I completely agree.

Enjoy the Journey

2009-10-09T22:58:00.002-05:00

Hope is Born

Who would have thought sitting out on a hillside
Watching the sheep by night
We'd be surrounded by thousands of angels
Your glory shining so bright
And who would have thought that a baby's cry
Would change this whole world and give us new life
And now that I know, all that's within me sings

You are the One we've been waiting for
You are the Lord of all lords
You are the One we've been waiting for
And tonight is the night hope is born

Who would of thought that three kings from afar
Would leave their land and their home
To travel by night and follow a star
In search of a King of their own
And who would have thought that the King of all kings
Would be born in Bethlehem cause you see
We all know nothing good comes from there

You are the One we've been waiting for
You are the Lord of all lords
You are the One we've been waiting for
And tonight is the night hope is born

Who would have thought that this King would grow up
And find Himself nailed to a tree
And what held Him there? Not the cross or the nails
But His love for you and for me
And who would have thought that three days would go by
He'd rise from the grave turning death onto life
And all creation joins in as we sing

You are the One we've been waiting for
You are the Lord of all lords
You are the One we've been waiting for
And tonight is the night hope is born

2009-10-06T14:41:00.002-05:00

Searching for Significance

One of the basic needs of humanity is significance. We spend our whole lives trying to do something meaningful, something that will be remembered, something that will make an impact. Many times we start off looking for success, and sometimes we even get it. But when that leaves us empty we start looking for significance. And that need in and of itself can be an argument for God. If there weren't a God, then everything truly would be meaningless, just like Solomon talks about in Ecclesiastes. Take God out of the picture and as Erwin McManus says in his book 'Soul Cravings' "...all your future holds for you is a splat and then its over." So where does the desire for significance come from? I would argue God. You may not be able to 'prove God in a tube' but take Him out of the equation and you can feel it in your gut.

Enjoy the Journey

2009-09-16T14:52:00.006-05:00

Prayer- of God and Gandalf

I've been thinking alot about prayer lately. When you pray, do you pray like you are talking to a person? Because until recently I don't think I did. I found myself saying the phrase 'God I pray that...' alot during all of my prayers. I don't know I guess I thought maybe God forgot I was talking to Him or that I was even praying at all! Its amazing that when you really start to picture that you are talking to a person when you pray, your prayer life changes instantly. I was talking with the middle school boys a couple of weeks ago about this and we were talking about how annoying it would be to have someone say your name at the beginning of every sentence while they were talking to you? How long could you listen before you wanted to slap them!? I know God has way more patience than me, but it hit me that maybe God gets annoyed when I talk to Him! Maybe I'm completely off base here, but I don't talk like that when I talk to anyone else... except God. So I've really been working on actually talking to God conversationally in prayer, and it has revolutionized my prayer life.

So picturing someone helps, but what do you picture? Revelation 4 gives a pretty amazing picture of God sitting on the throne. He is a gigantic jeweled man with all kinds of crazy looking creatures flying around and yelling worship to Him at the top of their lungs, with lightning and thunder all around. Now there is a picture for you. When I was teaching the Kindergarten chapel we were talking about creation, and how God made everything out of nothing, He just spoke things into existence. One of the kids raised their hands and said, "Is God a wizard?" It was all I could do to contain my laughter, but then I started to think about it and it is amazing how a kid can pull a concept like that together so easily and just accept it. I'm not saying that God and Gandalf have anything in common, but it helped this child understand that God is not like us at all. To Him God is magical, powerful, and mysterious, and in that sense he nailed it. And I have to admit that a couple of times when I've prayed over the past week, I've pictured myself talking to an old man with a cool staff and a white robe :)

Enjoy the Journey

2009-07-02T14:04:00.002-05:00

Ancient Worship Leaders

One of the best things we can do as artists (or just as people) is learn from those who have come before us. As artists we have plenty of people to learn from. One group of people would be the Levites. I like to say that the Levites were kind of like the roadies of the Old Testament. They were in charge of music, but also of moving the tabernacle, set-up, tear down, maintenance, the whole bit. They worked along side the priests. If the priest was the Senior Minister, the Levites were the Worship Leaders. The things about the Levites was that they were unified. They are the ones who stood together when the rest of the Israelites were still trying to decide who they were going to worship...God or the golden calf that Aaron made. As artists in the church we are the best example of unity a congregation will see on any given Sunday. Think about it, everyone else does their job by themselves (most of the time). The preacher preaches alone, the teachers teach alone, but the worship team has to play together or it won't work!

Another thing about the Levites that we learn from scripture is that they were given to the priests by God as 'gifts.' The relationship between the artists and the preacher is so important. If it isn't the most important relationship in the church, its in the top 5. If the artists and senior minister don't get along, it is easy to see. Then the rest of the people have to pick sides, and worshiping God takes a back seat to the feud between the artists and the preacher! Can you honestly say that you are a 'gift' to your senior minister? That doesn't mean that you will always agree and everything will always be great, but it does mean that you don't bring your junk with you into worship. Issues should be resolved one on one, and no one else should ever know about it. You are on the same team, worshiping the same God, and after all, isn't that what is about to start with?

Enjoy the Journey

2009-04-29T14:13:00.002-05:00

Relational Skills for Artists

Relational skills often go undeveloped in artists because we focus so much on our art we neglect everything else. The problem with that is you can be the greatest artist in the world, but if you are a jerk, no one will want to work with you! Artist need to be able to initiate meaningful conversation. Meaningful conversation goes beyond, 'how bout this weather?' and into things like 'are you happy?' Taking relationships beyond surface level is key. We also need to listen attentively. As an artist and a guy, this one is sometimes hard for me. Listening means more than just sitting there facing in the other person's direction. Don't let your mind wander to other things! James tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak, not the other way around. Artists have the potential to be great listeners. So much of our art draws on emotion, we can often perceive exactly what emotions others are trying to express.

Artists need to develop the skill of blessing others verbally. How ironic is it that artists, who are sensitive by nature, can be some of the most insensitive people in the world!? Sensitivity is no good if it is always directed inward, then it is nothing more than selfishness! When giving affirmation to others, be as specific as possible. 'Good job,' just doesn't cut it. Another thing we need to do is listen to how we come across. There are things that need to be said, and there are ways that they need to be said. Our minister (Mike McGinnis) puts in nicely when he says, 'I could say to my wife, 'Jennie, your face makes time stand still.' or I could say, 'Jennie, your face could stop a clock!' They are the same, yet will get very different reactions! We see the same thing in the Old Testament when Joseph is trying to tell his brothers about a dream he had. He told them about a dream in which everyone else's sheaf of grain bowed to his. His brother's quickly caught on to the fact that he was saying he would rule over all of them. They resented him so much they sold him into slavery! Be careful with your words. Proverbs 12:18 says, 'Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.'

Follow through with your responsibilities! I don't know why, but sometimes artists get the idea that because they are artists, they are excused from acting like responsible adults. If you are an artist (or if you are not), BE ON TIME! Artists are notorious for being late. And to put it bluntly, it is inconsiderate and rude. The message is that your time is more important than everyone else's. If you are forgetful, write things down, its just not that hard! Artists are also known for being bad with money. If you don't take care of your family, the scripture says you have denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever! Get your finances in line and stop being irresponsible! Stay away from debt. Money is also the number one cause of divorce in North America. So artists, if you want a happy marriage, you better get your act together! Money won't make a happy marriage, but doing things God's way will, and He says you need to be able to take care of your family.

Enjoy the Journey

2009-03-20T14:04:00.003-05:00

All I Want is You (new song)

A love that's never ending
And the kindness in Your eyes
Speaks more than words could ever say
Hold me in your arms while my soul cries

Your love will never fade away
You walk beside me all the way
And all I want is You, all I want is You
By Your wounds You set me free
You opened my eyes now I see
That all I want is You, all I want is You

Only You can satisfy
This emptiness in me
So now I offer You my life
I lay it all down at Your feet

Your love will never fade away
You walk beside me all the way
And all I want is You, all I want is You
By Your wounds You set me free
You opened my eyes now I see
That all I want is You, all I want is You

And when I hit the bottom
You are there to pick me up
And I know
That Your grace is more than enough...for me

Your love will never fade away
You walk beside me all the way
And all I want is You, all I want is You
By Your wounds You set me free
You opened my eyes now I see
That all I want is You, all I want is You

2009-03-20T13:51:00.002-05:00

Keeping Your Passion Alive

There is something about a passionate person. They seem more alive than everyone else. You want to be near them in the hopes that some of that passion will rub off on you and make your life more meaningful. I think that is exactly how Christ intended us to live our lives. In John 10:10 Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." In order to really be passionate about something, it has to consume your life. Several times in Scripture we are told to love God with everything that we have, our heart, soul, mind, and strength. I think that is everyone's goal, but there are some things that get in the way.

Routine is one of those things. If you are always doing the same thing the same way eventually the excitement dies down and you end up just going through the motions. Other things that kill our passion are pressures, distractions, and perfectionism. Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to deal with those things? If you find a way to get around those things, please let me know...

In order to find your passion, ask yourself a series of questions (1 rule, the answer can't be 'pay off the house' or 'get out of debt'):
If you could do anything with your life, what would it be?
What would you do with a millions dollars?

The answers to these questions will more than likely tell you what your passion is. By focusing on that thing you will find life to be much more exciting. For me that passion is music. I have been fortunate enough to be able to channel that passion through my job. But I realize that the quickest way to lose passion for what I do is to settle for superficiality in my life. I have to keep stretching myself continually, or that passion will fade. In ministry, its easy to get so caught up with the busyness of church that we don't have intimate time with God. This is where our passion for ministry starts to fade. It fades because we forget the reason we got into ministry in the first place...God! The key to maintaining passion in your ministry is to maintain an intimate relationship with God, without it all the pressures and distractions begin to take hold, and the passion begins to fade.

Enjoy the Journey

2009-02-10T15:19:00.002-05:00

The Spiritual Disciplines of the Artist

My ministry is a direct result of my relationship with Christ. The theme verse for my ministry is John 15:5 (also the name of this blog): "I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." With that in mind it is hard to get too prideful. The realization that I can't do anything without help really keeps my ego in check. It is only then that God blesses ministry. When ministry stops being about you and begins to be about Him.

When I fail to remember this, I run the risk of beginning to do ministry without God. Yes, you can play 'Christian' music without God. Think about it, one of the most popular songs during Christmas time is the 'Hallelujah Chorus,' but does the average person listening to that song think about God while it is being sung? Sadly I would think not. Most of the time we focus on the singers, and for those of us music nerds, maybe the conductor, but rarely God. Without being intimately connected to Him, we can very easily do the same thing in our ministries!

So how do you do that? The answer is both simple and hard. Spend time daily with God! This can be difficult to do, especially for artists because we get bored easily. We all have a little bit of ADD in us, and we are easily distracted with things that are 'more important.' The cure to this is to do different things with God everyday! The time you spend with God doesn't have to look exactly the same everyday. There is no formula! As artists, we should be just as creative in the time we spend with God as we are in the time we spend with other people. If you did the exact same thing with your friends every time you hung out, eventually that would get boring too! Stay connected to God, and your art and ministry will be blessed. Remember, without Him, you can't do anything!

Enjoy the Journey

2009-02-06T11:42:00.002-05:00

The Artist and Sin

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This we know, but the daily battle against sin should be just that, a battle. It is not something that we should just resign ourselves to, it is something we should fight! Do we expect everyone involved in our ministry to be sin free? Of course not! But we do expect everyone to be actively trying to live lives worthy of Jesus Christ. Having a strong moral fiber is a sign of character.

A great way to counter sin is to counter quickly. I love this quote by William Gurnall: "Christian, this is imperative for you to realize: When wicked or unclean thoughts first force their way into your mind, you have not yet sinned. This is the work of the Devil. But if you so much as offer them a chair and begin polite conversation with them, you have become his accomplice. In only a short time you will give these thoughts sanctuary in your heart. Your resolve- not to yield to a temptation you are already entertaining- is no match for Satan and the longings of the the flesh."

In other words, put those thoughts out of your head as quickly as they enter! Being tempted is not a sin, but don't test your resolve by entertaining thoughts you know to be sinful! The two keys to battling temptation are knowing scripture and countering quickly. This is the model that Jesus used when He was tempted, and it would do us well to remember this as artists.

Enjoy the Journey

2009-02-02T21:31:00.002-05:00

Leading Artists

Being a leader of artists requires that you fulfill two rolls at once. Being an artist requires that you be a feeler, while being a leader requires that you be a thinker, and balancing the two can be extremely difficult. As an leader/artist, make sure that your gift does not get neglected. God gifted you as an artist and you need to really work hard at continually improving. This is the easy part to let slide because there are alot of administrative things that need to be done. Make sure that you are a full time artist. At the same time we can not neglect the paperwork that needs to be done either, we must be full time leaders. This can be a daunting task, there just are not enough hours in the day! That is why we must not be too proud to involve others in key areas of our ministry. Its ok to give others things to do, delegation is a sign of a good leader! Without delegation, you will burn out very quickly, and then in spite of all your talent, you will be benefiting no one. Giving others ownership in your ministry will increase loyalty and improve morale as well as give you some much needed down time! Being a leader doesn't mean doing whatever you want with your ministry, it means doing whatever God wants with His!

Artists are a different breed. There are some leadership styles that just don't work with them:
The Demanding CEO- 'its my way or the highway'
The Overbearing Coach- 'no pain, no gain'
The Overly Protective Patron- spoils artist because they are 'so misunderstood'
The Silent Type- gives no feedback or direction

Artists need to be encouraged, but they also need to be challenged to get better constantly. Like anything else, when you stop growing in your art, the quality doesn't stay the same, it diminishes! A true leader of artists is one who can celebrate with them and help build a solid team of artists where the focus is, where it should be, on God.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-09-18T14:28:00.005-05:00

Managing your emotions (chapter 7)

In the Christian church/Church of Christ movement showing emotion in worship is often times viewed as someone showing off and trying to draw attention to themselves. However that is not the Biblical picture of worship. Worship is something that is done with everything you have. As artists we should be pouring our emotion into our work, otherwise it will be shallow and lifeless. Emotions do not need to be suppressed, but by the same token we cannot allow them to cause us to sin. It is a sign of character to do the right thing even when you don't feel like it.

Don't take yourself too seriously. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't work on your skills and try to be the best artist you can be. It means do not lose your sense of humor and the ability to laugh with other people and even at yourself. An artist without a sense of humor can be one of the most miserable people in the world. When you face disappointment (and you will) do not let bitterness set in to the point where you can't function. Disappointment is part of being an artist, it is something that will cause you to grow, you may even create one of your best works after going through disappointing times. Don't be impatient, be willing to wait on God's timing. Learning to delay gratification is a sign of maturity. Often we don't get what we want exactly when we want it.

Use your emotions to create your art. But be careful that you are not ruled by your emotions, or you will become unbearable to those around you.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-09-18T14:28:00.002-05:00

Jealousy and Envy (chapter 6)

Jealousy and Envy are things that we all struggle with as artists. There will always be someone who is better than you. There will always be reason to aspire to be better. The problem is when our admiration turns to resentment. It is a very subtle change, as respect turns into dislike. Once you wished you could be like that person, now you wish they would just go away and stop making you look 'bad.' When that happens, you have to confess it as sin, because that is what it is. You also have to learn to appreciate your God-given talent. God made you exactly the way you are on purpose, and He gave you the gifts that you have, you need to appreciate them and use them for His glory. You must give credit where it is due. When someone performs well, you can't say they only got the gig because they have connections, acknowledge the hard work they put in and the excellence of their performance.

The root of the problem is that we are constantly comparing ourselves with each other. Like I said before, God doesn't ask us to be someone else, if He wanted us to be like them, He would have made us that way. He made each person the way they are with the gifts they have on purpose, so stop comparing yourself to other people! One way to get rid of jealousy and envy...pray for that person. You will find that it is impossible for you to remain jealous of another artist if you are constantly praying for that person. Remember this: when someone else is paid a compliment, it doesn't take anything away from you!

If someone is jealous of you, be careful not to flaunt your abilities. Frankly, it is not flattering, and people who really have it don't need to flaunt it. So stop showing off. Jealousy and envy are very strong emotions that can break a team apart very quickly if not handled properly.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-08-25T13:56:00.002-05:00

Handling Criticism (Chapter 5)

As artists, we tend to be defensive. However, when it comes to criticism, defensiveness can kill you. It keeps us from the truth. Recognizing the truth and speaking honestly is a sign of high moral character. Defensiveness on the other hand, is a serious character flaw. Don't be quick to take offense, or you will find yourself constantly being offended. You have to have thick skin, not everyone is going to like what you do.

A major difference in performing and being in ministry is putting on a facade. When you are performing, you have to own the stage. If you are having an awful day you still have to look self-confident and enthusiastic. But that is not how ministry works. It is not entertainment, it is worship. You have to be authentic, you have to be real. Replace fake confidence with humility. Ministry demands that we allow the Holy Spirit to own the stage, and not us!

As artists, we need to be willing to welcome feedback, good or bad. Scripture says that it is foolish not to be open to feedback (Proverbs 1:7). So how do you respond? There are 3 things you need to do:
1. Be quick to listen. Shut your mouth, stop trying to defend yourself for a minute, and listen to what the other person is saying. If what they are saying is untrue, you don't have to justify yourself anyway. God loves you, they don't have to.
2. Be slow to speak. Take some time and think about what the person had to say. Again, stop trying to defend yourself! If you are wrong, you don't have a defense, if you are right, you don't need one!
3. Be slow to become angry. This is a hard one. Take a step back and cool down. Sometimes criticism comes across a lot more harshly than it is intended to. Most people (and I say most) are genuinely trying to help.

We have to ask ourselves what we can learn from this criticism that can make us a better artist. If you can't figure it out, run it by someone else. Find out what parts of the criticism are valid. Work on those things, and just let the others slide. We also need to learn how to fail. We don't like to fail, it is never a good feeling, but sometimes it is necessary to succeed. Just because you fail doesn't mean you are a failure. Sometimes we learn how not to do things before we learn how to do them.

Keep all of this in mind when you are giving criticism as well. Think through what you need to say and say only that. Put yourself on the other side of your comments and speak the truth in love.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-08-15T10:08:00.001-05:00

Write Love on My Heart

A song I wrote...

Verse 1:
Broken on the street corner
A scene that's too familiar, a world that's passed her by
Emptied of all feeling, she can't bring herself to cry
Another day, another heartache, you're born and then you die

Pre-Chorus:
Is there no hope?
Is there no love?
Is there nothing real?

Chorus:
Write love on my heart
Teach me to love like You do
More than words or an idea, make it something that is true
Write love on my heart
Cause its all we'll ever need
In a world falling apart
Help me, write love on my heart

Verse 2:
Three nights in a row
A broken hand and no place to go
Rejection is everywhere, and no one seems to care
The hurt is deeper than we'll ever know

Pre-Chorus:
Is there no hope?
Is there no love?
Is there nothing real?

Bridge:
How long, how long
We will stand here pretending it's alright?
How far will we let them fall?
Until they cannot see the light?

Chorus:
Write love on my heart
Teach me to love like You do
More than words or an idea, make it something that is true
Write love on my heart
Cause its all we'll ever need
In a world falling apart
Help me, write love on my heart

2008-08-11T08:59:00.002-05:00

Excellence vs. Perfectionism (Chapter 4)

As artists it is all too easy to fall into the perfectionism trap. This happens many times because we think too much in black and white. Our performance was either all good or all bad. I am either a really good artist or I don't deserve to be called one at all. As an artist we need to be careful not to find our self-esteem in our performance, but in our identity as children of God. We also need to have realistic expectations of ourselves.

We need to savor the positive. What that means is not patting ourselves on the back for doing a good job, but letting God pat you on the back for doing what He called you to do. This turns a performance into a worship experience. Maximizing the negative is really self-centered (although it doesn't seem so at first) because it focuses on us and our shortcomings.

Instead of pursing perfection, we should pursue excellence. A good definition of excellence is "doing the best you can with what you have." We should always do the best we can, because that brings glory to God, which is the purpose of our art in the first place. Check out this quote from Rory Noland: "Excellence is also a powerful witness for Christ. Most non-Christians who ever end up in church expect the music to be lousy and outdated. They don't expect to be moved by drama or dance or the visual arts. Wouldn't it be great if they were to come expecting the worst but instead found the arts produced with creativity and excellence?" It is our responsibility to bring glory to Christ with excellent art.

As Christians we should be committed to quality. After all, God deserves nothing less. We should not be looking for excuses to produce second rate stuff. This doesn't mean that there isn't room for experiments and growth, but it does mean that there is no excuse for continuing mediocrity. In 2 Samuel 24:24 David insists that he will not offer the Lord anything that cost him nothing, we should do the same. We should hone our skills so we can offer Him our best.

When we talk about effective communication, we have to talk about stage presence. 'There's been a sentiment in the church for far too long that singers who perform without any facial expression or emotion are somehow less distracting and more spiritual. When we're talking about something important to us, we don't stand at attention like robots. We move our arms to emphasize our point. Our faces register an emotion that matches our words. Vocalists, when you rehearse, do you give as much attention to how you're going to communicate a song as you do your technique? Do you know what the payoff lyrics are, the ones you don't want anybody to miss? Does your face reflect what you are singing about? We in the church need to take communication seriously, because we've been given the charge to communicate the Good News!

We also need to be prepared spiritually. It is just as important as rehearsing the songs. If a song doesn't minister to the person singing it, it won't minister to anyone else. Make sure that your walk with God is a daily thing, and you will be amazed at the things He tells you through song.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-08-08T14:24:00.002-05:00

Purity and Proximity

"If you practice only purity apart from proximity to the culture, you inevitably become pietistic, separatist, and conceited. If you live in close proximity to the culture without also living in a holy manner, you become indistinguishable from fallen culture and useless in God's kingdom."

This is a quote from Mike Metzger that I read today in the Book UnChristian. It was in the middle of a chapter about how sheltered Christians often are. It has been something that I have felt for a long time but never really put it into words before. If you know me you know that I absolutely loath the 'Christian' subculture bubble. In my opinion we are not far off from the money lenders Christ drove out of the temple many times. Put Jesus' name on it and sell it to Christians, doesn't matter if its a piece of garbage, they'll buy it because they are Christian. Fake. We become so caught up in the Christian subculture that we isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. No wonder they think we don't have a clue, because we don't. How can we have compassion for a world that we want nothing to do with? If we are unwilling to engage the world because they are offensive to our beliefs, we can never introduce them to Christ.

In the midst of this I came across an organization today which I had heard of before, but had never really looked into. The organization is called 'To Write Love On Her Arms.' It is the exact opposite of what I just talked about. This is a group who is out there helping the hurting. It started with a group that was helping a young girl who was struggling with cutting herself. If you want to learn more about them you can visit their website or their myspace.

Being compassionate means being willing to stand with people who are hurting. It will take many more people living that way if we are to shake the 'UnChristian' label.

2008-07-16T13:24:00.003-05:00

The Artist in Community (Chapter 3)

To know and be known is a basic human need, and artists are no exception! Especially in the church, how can we be at our best if we don't work together? We have to come together to do what no one of us could do alone. That is called teamwork, and it is vital to a music ministry. There are several things that can kill teamwork:

1. Selfishness- This one is pretty obvious, if you are being selfish, you aren't thinking about the team.

2. Grumbling and Complaining- Philippians 2:14 instructs us all to "do everything without complaining or arguing," because grumbling and complaining are like cancers that grow and spread and eventually kill a team or even an entire church.

3. A Competitive Spirit- This one is really hard as artists. We are competitive by nature. We want to be the best their is in our area. But in the church we need to learn to cooperate, and stop competing.

4. Unresolved Relation Conflict- This usually occurs because the three mentioned above are occurring! When problems arise between team members, they need to talk to each other and work it out. Often they will find that things are not as bad as they seem. But left unchecked, things grow into big problems.

Team unity is absolutely essential. Don't ever think unity is optional. It's required if we're going to do anything together in God's name. There are several things that need to happen for this to become reality. One of them is that you need to be willing to bring a 'healthy self' when you come. This means physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Take care of your body! Just because you are an artist doesn't mean that you don't need to take a walk every once in a while! If you are not doing well physically, it will translate into your art. The same is true spiritually and emotionally. If you are a spiritual and/or emotional train wreck, it will translate to every area of your life, including your art. We also need to get past caring who gets the credit. This is a big one, because artists like to be recognized. But there comes a point when you have to decide that it is more important that the work gets done than it is that you get recognized for it. Once you get to that point, it is amazing the things that can be accomplished.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-07-07T13:36:00.003-05:00

Servanthood Vs. Stardom (Chapter 2)

As an artist it is so hard to be a servant. Most of the time we are up on stage and everyone is looking for us to do something great. Servanthood is all about humility. Often we have the wrong idea when it comes to humility. We think that humility means that we don't think that we are any good. It doesn't mean that at all! It means that we have an accurate view of ourselves. Don't beat yourself up and pretend that you are humble. Don't mistake a poor self image for humility. The focus then is still on yourself, it is just a negative focus instead of a positive one. Know your strengths, know your weaknesses, and give glory to God. I say give glory to God because without Him we wouldn't have any of the talents that we have to begin with! The prideful person says, 'Look what I did!' But the humble person says, 'Look what God used me to do!'

In Luke 17:10 we learn that when we do what God has gifted us to do we have 'done our duty.' Don't expect to be patted on the back all the time for using your gifts. You should be using your gifts to glorify God, that is why He gave them to you! Another thing we 'artsy types' struggle with is an intense desire to be better than everyone else. This is pride. C.S. Lewis says, "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man."

Artists in the church need to keep all of this in mind. But perhaps the most important thing for an artist in the church to remember is that the message is first and foremost. If 'tricking' your voice makes a word harder to understand, don't do it, no matter how good it makes you sound! If you are an instrumentalist, don't crank it up to 11 to draw attention to how great your solo is. Don't draw undue attention to yourself. As artists in the church, we are to serve the message, not ourselves.

What is the secret of humility? I think Rory Noland put it very well when he said, "We are all background. Jesus Christ is center stage, not us. He must increase and we must decrease."

Enjoy the Journey

2008-07-02T13:51:00.003-05:00

Character (Chapter 1)

Having character as an artists (especially in the church)is so important! Why? Because people can tell if you are real, or if you are a fake. I ask our artists in the church all the time to make me believe them! People can tell if you believe what you are singing, playing, writing, painting, etc. Your character gives you credibility.

I love this quote from John Wooden, the legendary UCLA men's basketball coach: "Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

As artists in the church, we are expected to live lives of high character. We expect our pastors and leaders to live godly lives, but we address the same people with the same message that they do! We should not be living double lives either! A life of character brings blessing and fulfillment.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-07-02T13:43:00.003-05:00

Artsy Types (Introduction)

Musicians and others with 'artsy' personalities often get a bad reputation for being overly sensitive and moody. Admittedly, this is often times true. However we cannot overlook the importance of the arts. When commended on his excellent 'entertainment' by Lord Kinnoul (who was talking about The Missiah Handel said this, "My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertain them. I wish to make them better." The arts do entertain, but that is not their sole purpose. This goes for the church as well. Often times people sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, and sometimes as artists we like it that way. This should not be so, we too, like Handel should be letting God work through us so that we may 'make them better.'

If you are an artist, and you don't like what you are doing, stop doing it! Especially if you are serving in a church. Do not use the church as a stepping stone to a 'better' field. Work in the area of your passion, you...and everyone else will be much happier.

Arts in the church are vital. Why? Because the arts speak to the heart. A well read poem or a song well sung will stay with a person for a long time. It used to be that the premier artists did their work in churches. Work at your craft and make it the best it can possibly be. But even more than that, we need artists in our churches who are known for their art...and their character.

Enjoy the Journey

2008-06-12T22:09:00.002-05:00

He gave His one and only Son

God gave His one and only Son for me. Now there is a humbling thought. Me, the guy who can't drive to work in the morning without sin, much less go a whole day. God gave His son to die for me so that I could be with Him! Are you kidding me? What part of that deal was fair? People complain all the time that life isn't fair. I for one, am glad it isn't, because if it was I would go straight to hell. I am glad life isn't fair!

Jesus is the one and only. That is a pretty crazy thought. He is the one who has the ultimate power. The guy everyone pretends to be when they are little. Everyone wants to be in control, but He actually is! He can calm storms or create them, he causes the sun to rise and set. He is one with the Father, and He came to die for me! Now that is love.

2008-06-07T14:16:00.002-05:00

For God so loved the world...

The love of God is an amazing thing. It isn't like the love of this world. There is alot of fragile love in this world. Love that grows old, cracks, fades, and breaks. God's love isn't that way. It is a love that endures for all time. A love that caused Him to come from heaven and save my sorry soul. The things about God's love is that I don't deserve it. It is something that He just gave to me. I can't do anything to earn His love, but the great part is I don't have to earn it. It has already been given.

God's love will never let go. I love the words penned by Matt Redman:
"Oh no, You never let go
Trough the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord You never let go of me."

That is such a comforting thought to me. Even though at times it seems like everyone else has left, I know that God will not ever leave. He won't ever kick me off the team or vote me off the island. His love for me runs deeper than I can even fathom. Wow.

2008-06-05T21:18:00.002-05:00

The Most Famous Conversation Ever

Nicodemus was a man well respected in the community as a religious leader, yet he finds himself sneaking around late at night going to talk to a homeless carpenter from Nazareth. He comes and and pays Jesus a compliment saying that he knows he is a great teacher from God, probably expecting Jesus to return the compliment. Jesus does not. He gets right to the point and says, 'unless you are born again, you can't get to heaven.' Nicodemus is really confused and probably thinks it is a bit of a joke. After a few minutes it became quite clear that Jesus wasn't joking around.

Think about it though, how much work did you do when you were born? Nicodemus lived in a culture that preached works to get to heaven, and Jesus was totally turning that idea inside out! Your mom did all the work when you were born the first time, and God is going to do all the work the second time! You can't earn your way to heaven, it is a gift of grace.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

Probably the most well known verse of scripture. Sometimes it almost becomes cliche. But take a few minutes and look at the hope that springs from this verse. God isn't an angry God waiting to send us all to hell! It says He loved us so much He would rather send His son to die than send us to hell! All we have to do is believe and follow. Amazing. Nicodemus was the first to hear these words of hope, it what may have been the most famous, and most important conversation of all time.

Enjoy the Journey

2007-11-05T16:48:00.000-05:00

The Passion Worship Conference was an awesome time. We talked about being pit dwellers. How many times do I find myself in a pit that I can't get out of! I don't need a 'pit expert,' I have Jesus. He came down into the pit that I was sinking in and died in that pit. He absorbed all of the mud that I was sinking in, it was the only way I could get out! Doing that killed him (literally), but he rose!

Heaven isn't for good people. It is for sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors.

Another thing we talked about was trouble. Everyone has trouble. There are two things happening all the time:

1. A messed up world
2. An overcoming Savior

God turns bad things into good things. Example: The cross! Can you think of something worse than the son of God being crucified? He didn't even do anything wrong and he suffered the most horrible death known to man! When it happened it was the worst thing in the world. But in just 3 days God turned the worst thing in the world into the best thing in the world! Can you think of anything better than what happened as a result of Christ dying? I have salvation because that happened! On Sunday God turned horrible Friday into good Friday!

There are not always answers to the bad things that happen to us. When those times come we need to cling to the cross. Our message is never louder than when the bottom falls out. The world expects to hear us praise our God on sunny days, but when the bottom falls out they listen to our song.

Enjoy the Journey

2007-08-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Extreme Makeover

Here at FCC Clearwater, we are getting ready to undergo a major project. Repainting, resigning, and generally repairing the building. We have decided to call it, Extreme Makeover Church Edition. It really is a pretty fitting name since the church will look entirely different once it is completed. Each room in the building will go up for adoption. Once adopted the room will be made over. We are so excited about this project, and hope we can get the whole churhc involved in Extreme Makeover Church Edition.

2007-08-01T15:41:00.000-05:00

Rooted
Being rooted in scripture is something that is vital to life as a Christian. As we journey towards our goal (heaven) we must stand rooted or we will be knocked over by the storms of life that come our way. I am so glad that I have a God whose roots go back before time began. Christianity is not a new thing, know your roots!