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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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