the Church I love: God, worship, and what's ahead

Behind every great leader.

2011-10-15T11:29:00.000-04:00

Second Samuel 8 is littered with David's victories. Within 14 verses he's attributed with defeating the Philistines, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Amalekites, Hadadezar the prince of Zobah, 22,000 Syrians, and plundering bronze from Betah and Berothai. Verse 14 sums it up well, putting it as simply as possible.

"And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went."

However, I'd argue that the most influential part of the passage is in the next three verses.

^"So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people. Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, and Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, and Seraiah was secretary, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David’s sons were priests."

David's victories were not won single-handedly. He had been blessed with and supported by a dedicated and carefully organized team. It was the Lord who gave David the victory and He did it through the company David kept.

Here's a word to the wise: if there's a group of people who you know will derail your efforts or if you have a friend that criticizes far more often than they tend to lend a hand, then do yourself a favor.

Ditch them!

Proverbs 13:20
"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm."

Life is challenging enough without the naysayers.

Having said that, I would be remiss if I went without giving credit where it is due. I serve alongside some of my favorite people in the world and I wouldn't be able to pull of even half of what is accomplished each week without the help of my patient, supportive wife, Micole, and the best volunteers a church could ask for. You guys are great and I'm grateful for every one of you!

Lastly, I want to say thanks to both of my parents. Your wisdom and generosity are invaluable.

Behind every great leader is a list of great people.

It's infectious.

2011-09-19T14:04:00.002-04:00

I read from 1 Samuel 19 this morning and found something invaluable.

Just a couple of chapters before is where David takes down Goliath and immediately wins the hearts of the nation of Israel with a single pitch. In the next chapter, Saul, the king of Israel, becomes envious and fearful of Israel's newest celebrity and attempts to kill him at least four times. Twice he throws a spear at David while he's serenading him with a lyre. Next he puts him on the front lines of a battle against the Philistines, fulling expecting him to become a casualty of war, but instead "David has success in all his undertaking, for the Lord was with him" (v. 14). Though his last three attempts failed, his fourth would certainly do the trick! Saul offered his daughter, Michal, to David as his wife. The catch is that as a dowry, Saul asked David to give him the foreskins of 100 Philistines.

Nasty.

What Saul intended as a suicide mission was fatefully frustrated when David returned with not 100, but 200 Philistine foreskins.

Again, nasty.

In chapter 19 Saul is trying yet again to get rid of the up and coming king. Luckily, David's closest friend is the son of king Saul, Jonathan, who is able to talk his father out of ordering his servants to kill him. Saul agrees, but his change of heart is short lived and he takes a shot at using the spear again.

This time David runs away, far away. Here's what reads from this point to the end of the chapter...

^"18Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. ¹⁹And it was told Saul, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah."²⁰Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. ²¹When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. ²²Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" And one said, "Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah." ²³And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah."

When it says that the prophets were prophesying, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were all standing around predicting the future. The word used here for "prophesying" is the Hebrew word naba, which means nothing more than to speak or sing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. More than likely, these prophets were speaking and singing praise to God.

They were worshipping.

Notice what happens. Three times Saul sent a group of messengers in to find out where David was and each time, the worship of the prophets was spread to them. I'm sure Saul had to find this very irritating! Finally, seeing as how no one else could carry out his simple task, he set out to find David himself, but when he stepped into their midst, "the Spirit of God came upon him also and as he went he prophesied". Even the most hardened and atrocious of characters, at least for a moment, is melted in the presence of the Holy Spirit manifested in the praises of His people. When it's genuine, worship is contagious. It spreads like wildfire.

Real, Spirit inspired, God honoring worship is infectious.

Psalm 2

2011-06-08T11:49:00.000-04:00

Psalm 2 contains one of the greatest motivation for ministry and perseverance in our walk with the Lord that I have seen elsewhere. Verses 7-8 say this,

"I will tell of the decree.
The Lord said to me, "You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth as your possession."

David prophesies concerning the Messiah, whom God calls His very own Son and promises complete dominion to.

Furthermore, Paul says in Galatians 4:6-7 that, "because you are sons, God has sentthe Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, thenan heir through God."

As the adopted sons of God, we share in the inheritance of Jesus Himself, that being dominion over all. The things that once had dominion over us, i.e. sin, worry, anxiety, etc., are now under the dominion of Jesus with whom we share.

The motivation is this: the nations are your heritage and the ends of the earth are your possession. When it comes to Kingdom work and progress in your sanctification, we are guaranteed success if we would only ask it of Him.

Psalm 1

2011-06-08T11:37:00.000-04:00

For Psalm 1, I memorized the first three verses. It says this,

"Blessed is he who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
     nor stands in the way of sinners,
     nor sits in the seat of scoffers,
but delights himself in the law of the Lord
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water
   that yields its fruit in its season
   and its leaf does not wither.
In everything he does, he prospers."

Through these verses, the Holy Spirit revealed the progression of sin that develops in a person. The first verse says that a person will "walk," then "stand," and finally "sit". They'll begin by walking "in the counsel of the wicked." They seek the advice of those without wisdom and knowledge of God. They seek counsel from those who have themselves at the forefront of thought, encouraging others to do the same. Then they stand "in the way of sinners." They begin to associate in the "way," not merely the people as Jesus did, but the practices and methods, the lifestyle of sinners. Finally, they have a seat. They sit down in the "seat of scoffers." They find their sense of belonging with those who elevate themselves over others, who make the habit of ridiculing and condemning others. It is the final stage of rebellion: they perceive that their way, no matter how warped or corrupt, is in fact the right way.

A godly man, however, delights in the instruction and correction of the Lord, fueling his meditation and devotion to it both day and night. He is well-rooted. He bears fruit "in... season." His fruit isn't haphazard. It isn't green. It isn't born in an inopportune time. His fruit is ripe and comes at the most appropriate time and at the most desirable hour. He doesn't become brittle and weak, because his "leaf never withers." His way is healthy and full of life. "In everything he does, he prospers." Not a single effort put forth to live a life pleasing to God according to His Word or to His plan is given in vain. "In everything he does, he prospers."

What further motivation do we need?

Sunday Summaries - Dec. 12th through Feb. 20th

2011-02-22T14:25:00.000-05:00

I'm worse about this than anything, I think. Sorry I haven't kept up with these! Below are all of the songs we've worshipped through in the last three months, basically.

December 12th
Angels We Have Heard On High version by Chris Tomlin
O Come, All Ye Faithful version by Chris Tomlin
God Is With Us by Casting Crowns
Arms Open Wide by Hillsong United

December 19th
All Creation Sing (Joy To the World) version by Steve Fee
Love Came Down by Brian Johnson
We Crown You by Steve Fee and Eddie Kirkland
Hark The Herald Angels Sing version by Chris Tomlin

December 24
All Creation Sing (Joy To the World) version by Steve Fee
Little Drummer Boy version by Phil Wickham
Oh Holy Night version by Chris Tomlin
Here I am To Worship by Tim Hughes
Arms Open Wide by Hillsong United
Glory In The Highest by Chris Tomlin
Hark The Herald angels Sing version by Zach Orr

December 26
Angels We Have Heard On High version by Chris Tomlin
A Mighty Fortress by Christy Nockles
Forever Changed by Eddie Kirkland
Arms Open Wide by Hillsong United

January 2
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes
A Mighty Fortress by Christy Nockels
Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United
Oh Lord Your Beautiful by Keith Green

January 9
Jesus Paid It All version by Kristian Stanfill
How He Loves by Eddie Kirkland
By Our Love by Christy Nockels

January 16
I Exalt The version by Jesus Culture
Lord Of All by Kristian Stanfill
Our God Reigns by Passion Band
Arms Open Wide by Hillsong United

January 23
Our God by Chris Tomlin
Let It Rain by Jesus Culture
Awakening by Chris Tomlin
Healer by Hillsong

January 30
Glory To God Forever by Steve Fee
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes
Till I See You by Hillsong United
Breathe On Me by Todd Fields

February 6
Let It Rain by Jesus Culture
Give Me Faith by Elevation Worship
Revelation Song version by Jesus Culture
Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United

February 13
Love Came Down by Brian Johnson
Our God by Chris Tomlin
Healing Is In Your Hands by Christy Nockels
Give Me Faith by Elevation Worship

February 20
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes
Forever Reign by Hillsong United
Came To My Rescue by Hillsong United
Oh Lord Your Beautiful by Keith Green

True fasting.

2011-01-13T17:03:00.001-05:00

I thought this post would be especially helpful for my friends at Crossroads and elsewhere participating in a fast over the next few weeks.

Christians are far more well-known for what they are supposedly against than for the values they uphold. It's pretty obvious. Ask the average person what they think of when they think of church and they'll spout of some number of prohibitions... whether valid or not. Don't steal, don't murder, don't lie, don't cheat on your spouse... or far more likely: don't cuss, don't drink, don't smoke, don't dance, don't play drums, rock music is from Satan, etc. I got a little facetious toward the end, but you understand. I read a chapter from Isaiah a couple days ago where God speaks through the prophet to Israel about a couple of things they became known for abstaining from as well as a couple of things they'd become known for neglecting.

Isaiah 58, God starts off strong...

¹"Cry aloud; do not hold back;
   lift up your voice like a trumpet;
declare to my people their transgression,
   to the house of Jacob their sins.
²Yet they seek me daily
   and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
   and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
   they delight to draw near to God.

I had to read verse 2 over and over again. Did He really just say that?! "Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God". There are many people who appear on the outside to be devoted followers of Jesus who, in fact, are not. They act "as if" they are, but their true intentions are anything but sincere. To other people, they appear to "delight to draw near to God." They seem to "seek" God "daily" and "know" His "ways," but in fact "forsake the judgment of their God". They live without fear; fear of the Lord, at least. God quotes them saying,

³'Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
   Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?'

Why are their prayers going unanswered? Why hasn't God provided? Where is He?!

He answers in the latter half of verse three and following,

³'Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
   Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?'
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,
and oppress all your workers.
⁴ Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
   and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
   will not make your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is such the fast that I choose,
   a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
   and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
   and a day acceptable to the LORD?

In fasting, they sought their "own pleasure". Their worship is shallow and self-centered. Their image may have fooled their friends, but God now exposes the reality. He says, "you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist." Their fasting was accompanied with prayers of self-indulgence. They fasted to glorify themselves and make their voice heard, to elevate themselves about others. God rebukes their fast because it's hollow and completely for show. They do all the right things! They "bow down... like a reed" and "spread sackcloth and ashes" under themselves, but God doesn't even call this a fast. Instead, He says this is a true fast...

⁶"Is not this the fast that I choose:
   to loose the bonds of wickedness,
   to undo the strapsof the yoke,
to let the oppressedgo free,
   and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
   and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
   and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

A true fast begins with helping others. Oppression has to stop. Always needing to be right, the ways we spend our money or our time, or the way we use our skills for our own pleasure... these things have to stop! This is the kind of fast God chooses! Fasting has never been and never will be about us or what we can gain. It's about how God wants to love through us to other people, to "share... with the hungry," to "bring the homeless poor into your house," and to clothe the naked. Fasting is a means of justice.

And what's the outcome of such a fast?

⁸Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
   the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
⁹Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
   you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.'
If you take awaythe yoke from your midst,
   the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
¹⁰if you pour yourself out for the hungry
   and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
   and your gloom be as the noonday.
¹¹And the LORD will guide you continually
   and satisfy your desire in scorched places
   and make your bones strong;
and you shall belike a watered garden,
   like a spring of water,
   whose waters do not fail.
¹²And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
   you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
   the restorer of streets to dwell in.

Then and only then will you reap any kind of blessing! Notice he doesn't say we just need to feed the hungry. God says, "pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted". Pour yourself out! So much of our prayer life centers around asking God to "bless this" or "bless that." A true fast stops and asks God to make us into a blessing. And from that blessing comes light (enough to make your darkness like noonday), guidance, satisfaction, strength, and restoration. That's a heck of a promise! If God's people would couple their fasting with lives of righteousness and love, then they would begin to see their prayers answered.

The rest of the chapters deals with the Sabbath...

¹³"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
   from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
   and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
   or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
¹⁴then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Both fasting and observance of a Sabbath are expressions of not doing things. In fasting, you don't eat. In a Sabbath, you don't work. The things we don't do are not enough to make us right with God. Abstinence is not enough. If you're fasting, thinking that just by refraining from certain or all foods that God will somehow be more pleased and, in turn, bless you, then you're gravely mistaken. Our walk with God can never be simply defined by what we don't do. Rather, God cares deeply about the things we do.

In this season of fasting, I hope it's one of revival for you, but even more so, I hope it's one of charity and compassion for those around you.

The things we carry.

2010-12-26T07:47:00.001-05:00

Services were cancelled this morning for our church, but I'm already showered and ready, having had two cups of coffee and I don't think further sleep is in store. So... I spent some time in the Scriptures and just thought I'd share.

God speaks through Isaiah to the people of Israel in chapter 46 and says,

¹Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
   their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
   as burdens on weary beasts.
²They stoop; they bow down together;
   they cannot save the burden,
   but themselves go into captivity.

Bel and Nebo are a couple of false gods adopted from surrounding pagan nations. It's likely that these false gods are where Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar got their names. Because of their refusal to rely on the Lord, Israel is forced into captivity by the nation they came to rely upon and in this passage God paints a picture of their melancholy estate. He says even "their idols are on beasts and livestock". They're being carried away into captivity and even their idols are loaded up on the moving truck. The gods they they had come to trust in are the same ones that they are having to carry into exile. The idols "cannot save," and, "themselves go into captivity." Wow.

In the next two verses, God tells Israel what they've missed.

³"Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
   all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
   carried from the womb;
⁴even to your old age I am he,
   and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
   I will carry and will save.

The dumb and dead idols have to be carried along, but the One True God carries His people! He says He has carried them from "before your birth," and "to gray hairs." Every single day the Lord carries His people. From before their birth to their dying days and even further, the Lord is there and He will "save."

This proposes a weighty question... Do you carry your idols or does God carry you?

Which is it? What has been the most apparent this Christmas? What kind of things have you really rejoiced in?

⁵"To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
   and compare me, that we may be alike?
⁶Those who lavish gold from the purse,
   and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
   then they fall down and worship!
⁷They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
   they set it in its place, and it stands there;
   it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
   or save him from his trouble.

Our idols can be very costly, made from "gold" and "silver". Notice how it acquires its position. It doesn't accidentally get put in high regard. It's no coincidence or mere happenstance. It gets lifted and placed by us. We exult in it and can even be led to trust in it, though, "If one cries to it, it does not answer or same him from his trouble."

⁸"Remember this and stand firm,
   recall it to mind,you transgressors,
⁹remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
   I am God, and there is none like me,
¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning
   and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, 'My counsel shall stand,
   and I will accomplish all my purpose,'

Much of our defeat in our walk with the Lord is a result of forgetfulness. God says, "Remember"! Recall the great things He has done! Think about the promises He has made! Remember who He is! There is no one like Him. There is no God but Him. He was in the beginning and He'll be there in the end. He is everlasting! Even so, He's not a mere spectator like us! He says he was there, "declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done"! His "counsel shall stand" and He will bring to fruition all that He has planned! God is not a passive observer of events, He is the Director and nothing will stand in His way.

¹¹calling a bird of prey from the east,
   the man of my counsel from a far country.
I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
   I have purposed, and I will do it.
¹²"Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
   you who are far from righteousness:
¹³ I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
   and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
   for Israel my glory."

The "bird of prey" He's talking about is a man named Cyrus. God promised Israel to raise up a ruler named Cyrus to bring them out of exile and restore Jerusalem. It happened exactly as Isaiah prophesied... 200+ years later.

God will always answer and will always work a situation out for good for those who are called according to His purpose. There are times when God rushes to action. There are other times when, though He answers, He doesn't answer within our lifetime and our faithfulness, our allegiance is tested.

Drop the idols, be carried by the Lord, remember what He has promised, and persevere.

Services Cancelled.

2010-12-26T07:09:00.000-05:00

Crossroads, our weekend worship gathering has been cancelled due to icy road conditions. Please stay safe and enjoy the day with your family at home! I hope you've all had a merry Christmas and I hope to be able to worship with you next weekend!

Satan's playbook.

2010-12-15T11:27:00.001-05:00

You know how occasionally you read a passage of Scripture or even just a verse and a certain word or phrase jumps out like it never has before even though you've read it a hundred times? This happened to me a few years ago in Ephesians 5:15-17, which says, "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Here's what I realized: the days are evil. I know it doesn't seem all that revolutionary, but it is! Because most people live like the days are neutral. Most people, myself included at times, live as though there's no need to be all that ambitious in their walk with God. There's no need to be purposeful about evangelism and giving and worship. Just so long as I don't do the bad stuff, I'm ok. If I can just coast, then everything will turn out right. This would be true if the days were neutral! But they're not. They're evil. That means to do nothing, to stand idle is to actively engage in rebellion against God. The current is too strong. You can't resist it. If we're not ferociously pursuing the Kingdom of God, then we are vehemently opposing it.

This is why I found a particular passage in Isaiah extremely helpful last week. In Isaiah 36, there's a story about a king (Sennacherib, king of Assyria) who sends a high raking military officer (Rabshakeh, which is his title, not his name) to tell king Hezekiah's officials (Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah) that they're going to destroy them and there's nothing they or their God can do about it. I'm severely oversimplifying the story, but that's the gist of it. Though it's not explicitly about him, I saw tactics of Satan all over this story and thought to share it with you. Since it's kind of lengthy, I'm going to take out segments of the Rabshakeh's speech and show you what I meant. I encourage you to read the full chapter for yourself. It's great stuff!

1. When God gives us direction, Satan will attempt to question its authenticity and discourage us from obeying.

Isaiah 36:4-7
⁴And the Rabshakeh said to them, "Say to Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ⁵Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ⁶Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ⁷But if you say to me, "We trust in the LORD our God," is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, "You shall worship before this altar"?

The first part is true. Israel foolishly rebelled against the providence of God and relied on Egypt. No question! However, in verse 7, much like Satan, the Rabshakeh twists the truth into a lie in effort to deceive king Hezekiah's officials. The Rabshakeh knew that Hezekiah had implemented broad reforms in Judah, including the removal of the "high places" (2 Kings 18:3-4). The high places were spots of individual worship prohibited by God's law (Leviticus 17:1-4). Israel was commanded to bring their sacrifices to the tabernacle (which would later become the temple) for worship, but pagan influence convinced them they could worship in any manner and any place that they pleased. Thus, they built places of worship on high hills. God regarded the high places as an offense and Hezekiah demanded that they be removed. In the Rabshakeh's opinion, these reforms on places of worship displeased God and Hezekiah should not expect His help. Satan does the same. If we have direction from the Lord and meet opposition, Satan often seizes the opportunity to create doubt in the word we had received.

2. Satan would rather us give up out of fear, discouragement, or despair than turn and fight.

Isaiah 36:8
⁸Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

The Rabshakeh didn't want to fight. He'd much rather Judah surrender and not have to go through the trouble. Then he taunts them basically saying, "Even if we helped you with 2,000 horses, it wouldn't do any good!" Likewise, Satan doesn't want to fight you because more than likely you'll win (1 Corinthians 15:57), the battle will draw you closer to the Lord (James 1:2-3), and what God does in your life through the battle will be a great blessing for other people (Proverbs 27:17).

3. Satan seeks to glorify himself.

Isaiah 36:13
¹³Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

The Rabshakeh's speech was intended to glorify the enemy facing God's people. He was well aware that Israel regarded their God as King and purposefully began his speech referring to Sennacherib as "the great king". Satan also aims only to glorify himself. Though sin can be extremely enticing, it only aims for our destruction and his glorification.

4. Satan wants the people of God to doubt their leaders.

Isaiah 36:14-15
¹⁴Thus says the king:'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, "The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."

Like Rabshakeh, Satan aims for division. God gives authority to leaders within the Church to lead and equip others for the work of His Kingdom (Ephesians 4:11-13). Without these leaders, the people would be divided, double-minded, and confused. In 2 Peter 2:10, Peter refers to those who refuse submission to authority placed by God as lustful and blasphemous. If they do not trust their leaders, then they will lose "trust in the LORD". Not only will they doubt their leaders, but they will cultivate fear and unbelief.

5. Satan aims to make rebellion attractive.

Isaiah 36:16-17
¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with meand come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ¹⁷untilI come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Rabshakeh is deceiving the Israelites here into thinking that they will be blessed with prosperity for yielding to Assyria, but he is actually referring to a policy of ethnic cleansing and forced resettlement. When they conquered a group of people, they forcibly relocated them in far away places, keeping their spirits broken and their power weak. He aimed to make this terrible fate appear attractive. Satan does the same. Though sin appears satisfying, it leads to emptiness and helplessness.

6. Satan makes the One True God out to be like all the others and dissuade our trust in Him.

Isaiah 36:18-20
¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, "The LORD will deliver us." Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods ofHamath andArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

Rabshakeh's message is simple: the gods of the other nations have not been able to protect them against the armies of Assyria and the God of Israel is just like them; He won't be able to protect them either. His logic is cunning and Satanic. It is steeped in pure rebellion and vulgarity against the Lord.

The response of Hezekiah's leaders and the people of Israel is all the more inspiring. Isaiah 36:21-22 says, "²¹But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, "Do not answer him." ²²Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh." They kept silent and cast their concern on their king! They didn't push up their sleeves and take it into their own hands. They didn't attempt to conquer the enemy on their own, without higher help. They didn't offer even a single word to the enemy, but instead they cast their cares on the king.

Philippians 4:4-7 says, "⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.The Lord is at hand; ⁶do not be anxious about anything,but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God,which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

May we be unshaken by the deceitfulness of the devil and anchored in the assurance and victory of Almighty God. The Lord is at hand.

(Oh, and by the way, in the next chapter God destroys Assyria's army by sending a single angel that slays 185,000 soldiers at once.)

Unquenchable Worshipper, Ch. 8

2010-12-15T09:36:00.000-05:00

Chapter 8: Undivided Worshipper

This chapter came to our team prophetically, to say the least. Two weeks ago our team had a very cumbersome morning together. I don't share this by way of embarrassment or judgment by any means, other than on myself. I share it because, if you're a leader, it's likely happened to you as well and I hope to share it to encourage you that 1) you are not alone and 2) all is not lost.

Early every Sunday morning our team gets together to talk about what we've read in the book we're studying together, eat a warm breakfast, and then rehearse for the service we'll be leading that morning. I can't say enough about those guys and the work they put into every weekend! They come in and they know their stuff! They work hard on their own, knowing we have limited rehearsal time, so that when we get together as a team we're simply putting the pieces together.

Two weeks ago we started off back stage, sitting in a circle like any other weekend, and I asked the same couple of questions I've asked every week since we started our study.

"Well, what did you guys think of this chapter? What did it mean to you?"

This time, however, I was uncharacteristically met with silence. I rephrased, hoping to get a better response.

"How did God speak to you through it? What are some of the things you underlined in the chapter?"

Silence again. This time I scanned the room only to see one person with a book in hand and most people staring at the floor. Then, half serious and half jokingly, I asked, "Am I the only one that's read this chapter?"

I got a couple laughs, but mostly continued silence. That was tough! I honestly didn't even know what to do. I felt embarrassed. Even though I had read the chapter and I knew what it was about and how God had spoken to me through it, not having anyone to share it with or discuss it with left me nothing to say. It left me feeling completely unprepared even though it wasn't the case. From there on I asked the group what they had been reading from the Scriptures lately and how God was speaking to them, and then followed by encouraging them to be in the Word daily, constantly pursuing the presence of God and His direction in their life. Our public worship can never exceed our private worship. If it does, then it has ulterior motives.

When we huddled around this past Sunday, this is the chapter we read through together and discussed. I certainly felt its weight and I pray that the rest of the team did too. There are infinite things that compete for our attention and devotion. New distractions come every single day. There will always be things that could deflect our time and energy away from loving God, so we must constantly join with the psalmist as he cries out, "give me an undivided heart" (Ps. 86:11)!

Most of the chapter was spent looking at the life of Jesus. From beginning to end, He lived a life completely committed to the will of the Father. You may say, "Yeah... but... I mean, He's God! How could He not?!" Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." His obedience was done in humility and agony, not ease. When met with force and violence in the garden of Gethsemane, he responded in submission and grace, healing the ear of one of his oppressors. Outraged by the abuse of His Father's house, he turned over tables, driving out the money changers from the temple in a fit of pure devotion.

"Jesus is the perfecter of our faith ; true, undivided worshippers follow His example. Nothing can distract, dissuade or deter them from their ultimate goal: the glory and pleasure of God" (Redman, p. 97).

We have to constantly be on the defense and attack in our faith. We must actively pursue godliness, much like Jesus in the temple, while also defending ourselves from everything that seeks to lead us off the path of pure worship.

"If anything in my life consistently damages my relationship with God, then at some point I have to take responsibility and make some changes. There comes a time when no one else can do that for me" (Redman, p. 101).

It'll mean making sacrifices. It'll mean letting go of things we enjoy in order to pursue something promised to bring greater joy. Often the things that hinder our relationship with God can be in themselves good things. Just like Matt Redman wrote about in this chapter, I am easily distracted by busyness; especially busyness as it relates to leading worship! I can be very consumed with planning and practicing and writing that I miss the presence of God. It's not always sin that gets in the way. Much like the story of Martha and Mary before Jesus in Luke 10, serving itself is not evil. In fact, in the New Testament, the word most often translated as "worship" in English is literally "service" in Ancient Greek. Martha's distraction wasn't the service itself, it was the fact that in her serving she had neglected the presence and teaching of Christ.

I believe that two weeks ago our team got distracted from the most important thing about leading worship. I'm not talking about reading from a book I gave them, but spending time in His presence and learning from Him. We were divided and I'm praying that God used this chapter to awaken us and put us back on the right path.

May the songs of our hearts catch up to the songs of our lips.

Sunday Summary - Dec. 5th, 2010

2010-12-08T10:42:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday we started a Christmas series called Home For The Holidays and it was great! Our pastor delivered a powerful message on our tendencies to rely on law rather than grace and the freedom we have in Christ. If you missed it, you can check it out on our church website. Just go to the Media tab and open up the sermon player. Here are the songs we worshipped through last weekend:

Love Came Down by Brian Johnson
Glory In The Highest by Chris Tomlin
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (hymn plus an additional chorus)
The Stand by Hillsong United

When people are hard to love.

2010-12-08T10:37:00.000-05:00

A week ago I was sharing a meal with someone and over the course of our conversation they explained to me, rather rashly, that they loved God, but hated the church. Those were their exact words; "loved" God, "hated" church. I've heard that phrase before... there's a book (that's kind of older now) by Dan Kimball called They Like Jesus But Not The Church that speaks a lot to the same idea. The difference, however, is that the people Kimball writes about are the lost while the person I was eating with claims to be a Christian, so needless to say it struck a chord pretty strong in me.

I can't say that I haven't felt that way before. I in no way mean to point fingers at the person. At times, I'm guilty of the same. Some people, if we're honest, are just hard to love! Some people just get on my nerves. The people I have the hardest time loving (just being open here) are complainers, especially those that often complain without any recommendations as to how to resolve their supposed issue! It eats at me to no end. Some of us have family members that are hard to love. Maybe we've even been hurt in some way by a loved one and though we once found it easy to love them, now it's become painfully hard. For others it's coworkers or teammates... this list goes on.

Sadly, far more people leave a church because of bickering than because of God's calling. Somewhat dissatisfied with her church, a godly lady I met over the summer said she had been praying and asking God for eighteen years whether she should look elsewhere, but He had continued to say no and so she would faithfully serve Him where she's at. God has you where you are for a reason.

So here's what I'm wondering... is it possible to love God and hate the church?

Here are some passages to consider (emphasis mine):

1 John 3:11-18, 23
¹¹Forthis is the message that you have heard from the beginning,that we should love one another. ¹²We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. ¹³Do not be surprised, brothers,that the world hates you. ¹⁴We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. ¹⁵Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know thatno murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
¹⁶By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, andwe ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷Butif anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him,how does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸Little children, let us notlove in word or talk but in deed andin truth.

²³And this is his commandment,that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another,just as he has commanded us.

1 John 4:7-11
⁷Beloved,let us love one another, for love is from God, andwhoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸Anyone who does not love does not know God, becauseGod is love. ⁹In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love,not that we have loved Godbut that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Here's the most convicting one...

1 John 4:19-21
¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," andhates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannotlove God whom he has not seen. ²¹And this commandment we have from him:whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Is it possible to love God and hate the church for a believer? No. Not a chance. Not even close!

We are commanded to love without condition just as we have been shown love without condition by the Father. We are called to unity. Paul tells the Philippians, who thought that they had it all together, that they ought to be "of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind" doing "nothing from rivalry or vain conceit, but in humility" considering others "more significant" than themselves (2:2-3)!

If we find ourselves hopping from church to church, relationship to relationship, or both, frequently ending up irritated with others, then it's time to stop and take a good look at ourselves. It's time we realize that even on our best behavior, it wasn't easy for God to love us. "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:7-8)

If we can't find it in ourselves to forgive, to look beyond the faults of others, to look to the interests of others over our own, or to realize that we are not as lovely as we think we are, then we neither love God nor have His love in us.

Mark records Jesus as giving the greatest commandment like this in 12:30-31,

" 'And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Did you catch that last part? "There is no greater commandment," singular! To love God and love others is one command! The two commands are actually one in the same. To love God is to love others. Let it be so especially among fellow believers.

Sunday Summary - November 28th, 2010

2010-12-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

I wasn't able to be there to know how things went last weekend, but from what I've heard everything went extremely well. Thanks to everybody on the worship team for taking the lead last Sunday and allowing Micole and I to go down to Jacksonville and see our family for Thanksgiving! We really appreciate it! I do, however, know what songs they led with (because I picked them), so here they are...

I Stand Amazed (hymn, version by Candi Pearson Shelton)
None But Jesus by Hillsong United
Healing Is In His Hands by Passion (Christy Nockels)

Unquenchable Worshipper, Ch. 7

2010-12-02T10:45:00.000-05:00

Chapter 7: The Unnoticed Worshipper

I wasn't with the band when they went over this chapter last Sunday. Micole and I went down to Jacksonville, FL to visit her family and had a great time! While we were gone our worship team stepped up and took charge back home. From what I've heard they did an awesome job leading worship, so I want to give a special thanks to those guys! I'm so proud of all of you!

So needless to say, I'm not really sure what spoke the most to them from this chapter, but I'll be glad to share how God blessed (and convicted) me through it.

This is by far my favorite chapter in the book! I love it. It's a great reminder for every worship leader and pastor and, unfortunately, becoming more and more unpopular. Matt Redman takes a look at the life of David, where he started out young and unnoticed. In 1 Samuel 13:14, Samuel describes David as "a man after God's own heart" and in all likelihood, David was only about 15 years old at the time. He has no trouble directing all of his devotion to God alone because there's no audience for which to compete. Things begin to escalate pretty quickly, though, when he slays Goliath and gains popularity. By then there are even women singing songs about him: "Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands" (1 Samuel 18:7) and soon thereafter he'll become king.

Redman puts it like this, "No one else was around to witness his love for God in those lonely fields. Then David became a public figure, and from that time on his devotion was out in the open. The test was this: Could he preserve that simple, pure heart of adoration in the midst of all the public things he became entrusted with?" (p. 87).

As worship leaders, we often focus on outward expressions of praise and worship, but God first seeks devotion to Himself when no one else is watching. Our private worship must always exceed our public worship. We cannot ever become consumed with the public side of things. When we do we've exalted ourselves above the King. There's no other reason to be more expressionate in our public worship than in our private worship except self-exaltation. Proverbs 25:6 says, "Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence."

The church has become increasingly driven by performance. I have to be careful not to be overly critical here. At the start, it wasn't about attention as much as it was about evangelism. When this mindset began, it was in effort to provide an atmosphere the lost were comfortable with while still upholding Biblical integrity. Secular media was looked to as a model and it worked! Churches began to boom with attendance. People who would have never darkened the door of a church otherwise are now coming and hearing about the Savior.

Redman gives some really valuable insight: "Some may argue that performance can be worship, and that's true. In one way, everything can be worship if there's a good heart behind it. But performance is not necessarily a good way of leading worship. A worship leader needs as much as possible to be the unnoticed worshipper, simply encouraging the worship of God by setting an example for others to follow" (p. 89). To draw attention to ourselves in moments meant to bring God glory and affection is dangerous, to put it lightly.

Redman quotes John Wimber in saying, "the real test in these days isn't going to be in the writing and producing of new and great worship music; the real test is going to be in the godliness of those who deliver it."

I hope and pray that this is true of our worship team at Crossroads! May we constantly lead people into God's presence and kindly get out of the way.

Sunday Summary - Oct. 31st thru Nov. 28th

2010-11-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

If you're wondering what we've been worshipping through lately or if you're just looking for a certain song and artist, then this post is for you! I'm just going to list out the past few weekends I've missed on the blog.

Oct. 31st - boldness in evangelism (Acts 4:13-22)
All Because Of Jesus
Love Came Down
Let Me Sing
Came To My Rescue

Nov. 7th - Orphan Sunday
God Of Justice by Tim Hughes
Love Came Down by Brian Johnson
Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United
Arms Open Wide by Hillsong United

Nov. 14th - boldness in prayer (Acts 4:23-31)
Healer by Chris Gugliemicci (we did the Casey Darnell version)
Our God by Chris Tomlin
Revelation Song by Jennie Riddle (we did the Jesus Culture version)
Everything by Tim Hughes

Nov. 21st - gratitude and baptism
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes
Thank You by Hillsong
How Great Thou Art w\ How Great Is Our God (medley comprised of the hymn and Chris Tomlin's song)

Nov. 28th - gratitude and communion
I Stand Amazed (hymn version by Candi Pearson Shelton)
None But Jesus by Hillsong United
Healing Is In His Hands by Christy Nockels

Unquenchable Worshipper, Ch. 6

2010-11-24T13:07:00.000-05:00

Chapter 6: The Unstoppable Worshipper

"Unstoppable worshippers will never quit when it comes to adoring God. Faced with opposition, danger or even death, they just keep going" (Redman, p. 75).

This chapter didn't really focus on a single passage of Scripture, but rather several instances where someone (such as Job, David, Jesus, Stephen, and others) was faced with a kind of opposition, but chose to worship with even more veracity. There was one quote from this chapter that resonated with our team more than any of the others.

"Unstoppable worshippers are bold evangelists, lifting up the name of Jesus everywhere they get a chance. Their offerings of worship are just as vibrant outside the walls of the church as they are inside." (p. 77)

Over the past 15 weeks or so, our pastor has been taking us through the book of Acts and recently has focused on the boldness of the apostles, specifically in their prayer and in their evangelism. We talked at length about the things that keep us from sharing our faith; not knowing what to say, fear of rejection, etc. David writes several times about giving praise to God in the assembly of His people...

Psalm 26:12
"My foot stands on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD."

Psalm 89:5
"Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!"

Psalm 149:1
"Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!"

We can do this one all day! We've got it down. Whether or not His name is lifted outside the assembly is the true litmus test.

Psalm 18:49
"For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing to your name."

Psalm 105:1
"Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!"

Psalm 108:3
"I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations."

The most common reason that came up amongst our team for not sharing their faith is that they're afraid that they won't know how to answer all of their friends' questions. I shared the same concern for a long time, but God showed me something one afternoon when Kelley Smith and I went up to the high school last Christmas to take a look at the stage and make preparations for our Christmas series. When we got there, there were several of the drama students hanging out back stage. They asked us who we were and what we were doing, which opened up a prime opportunity to share why we were doing what we were doing. I shared the gospel with them and then waited in nervous anticipation for whatever questions or rebuttals they had. Interestingly enough, not a single one had a question about the existence of God or anything like that. Every question they had from that point on went, "What is the difference between a Baptist and a Lutheran?" or "What about a Catholic and a Methodist?" "What is a Methodist anyway?" "Which one is a Christian?"

Here's what that said to me... people are far more open to the idea of God and Jesus than we think. They're more interested in knowing why Christians don't get along.

A testimony is far more influential than an argument. When Jesus sent out the disciples in Acts 1, He said they'll be His witnesses. For a long time it was like I thought I was sent out to be His defense attorney. No one gets argued into salvation. People want to know what difference God has made in your life, that's it. And past that, if they do have questions and we don't know the answers, they tend to be very forgiving if we would just say, "I don't know. I need to look into that."

Redman ends the chapter saying, "Unstoppable worshippers let nothing hinder them in their quest to glorify God. Whatever 'goliaths' come their way, they walk out into that worship battlefield and take their chances. They do not shrink back in times of trouble, but instead raise a spirited psalm of trust and praise" (p. 82).

Unquenchable Worshipper, Ch. 5

2010-11-24T12:31:00.002-05:00

Chapter 5: The Unveiled Worshipper

At the end of Exodus 34, something incredible happens to Moses. He returns up Mt. Sinai to get his second copy of the Ten Commandments and has an encounter with God that leaves him changed for the rest of his life. He comes back down and the Scriptures say that his face was actually shining with the glory of God! His face was glowing, so bright in fact that he had to wear a veil over his face to speak with the other Israelites. "But," it says in verse 34, "whenever he entered the LORD's presence to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out."

"When Moses went to meet with God, nothing - not even a layer of cloth - was allowed to hinder his gaze upon God" (Redman, p. 62). How often does that describe us? How often do we come so determined to worship God that we refuse to let anything at all hinder our encounter with Him?

This is hard to do. It's hard to let nothing stand in the way, but it helps to have an accurate view of God. There have been times when I've messed up and thought that I had made myself unworthy of worshipping Him, much less leading others in worship. Guilt has a way of eating away at our hope and faith. About two years ago I started listening to a podcast from The Village Church out in Texas. Their pastor, Matt Chandler, quotes a verse often from Isaiah 64 that has become one of my all-time favorites.

Isaiah 64:6
⁶We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

That's heavy stuff to think about! Even on my very best behavior, before the holiness and the greatness of God I'm nothing more than a polluted garment. I'm just a filthy wash rag. But here's the hope in this verse; Romans 5:8 says that "...while we were still sinners Christ died for us." God knew what we would be like. He knew what we would do. He knew how we would betray Him and He still gave His life for us. There is nothing whatsoever that will keep God from loving me any more than He does at this very moment. Even so, there's nothing at all that I can do to make God love me more! All my righteous deeds are like polluted garments! When I feel like I've done everything right, it's not enough to make God love me anymore than He already does. When I feel like I've done something so terrible there's no way He would continue to love me, He does continue to love me.

Here's what I think God really wants from us... to approach Him with an unveiled face. When Moses returned to the Lord's presence, he returned openly. He returned honestly. He held nothing back and it changed him.

That was the real challenge for our worship team when we were discussing this passage! We could all recount a "mountain top experience" where we encountered the presence of the Lord and came away changed somehow. Several of us have been on a mission trip or to some kind of conference like Passion. Those were huge landmarks in our walk with God! But what about the daily reading from His Word? What about the weekend gatherings where we come together with others believers to worship? There are countless instances where we've been blessed with an opportunity to encounter God, to be changed into His likeness somehow, but walked away no different than we came.

Exodus 34:29 says that when Moses came down from the mountain he wasn't even aware that his face was shining! It says when he got down, the Israelites were afraid and Aaron had to let Moses in on what was going on!

When we have encounters with God, then others will take notice. There will be change. There will be a difference.

"Unveiled worshippers are different when they come down the mountain. They are radiant, for all to see, and shining with the glory of God" (Redman, p. 72).

In his birthday suit.

2010-11-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, I used to have this recurring nightmare. I had several actually, but there was one in particular where I would be in the public library with my dad and my sister and all of a sudden I'd look down and realize I had no clothes on at all! It was horrible. The rest of the short dream consisted of me trying to sneak my way out of the library without attracting any one's attention.

In Isaiah 20, God asks Isaiah to do what, in my opinion, is one of the weirdest things in the Bible. The entire chapter is only six verses long, so I'm going to put the whole thing here.

Isaiah 20
¹In the year thatthe commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— ²at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet," and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
³Then the LORD said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,⁴so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. ⁵Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. ⁶And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, 'Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped andto whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?'"

God asks Isaiah to walk around without clothes or shoes on for three years! He's stuck in his birthday suit. I don't know about you, but I'd have a pretty hard time believing that's what God really wanted me to do! I'd be like, "Are you serious?!! How about I go help out in a soup kitchen instead?" The only other thing that even comes close to being this strange in the Bible is in Ezekiel 4, where God tells Ezekiel to lay on his right side for 390 days. Still... I think I'd take laying on my side for a year and a month over going three years without clothes on!

But why? Why did God ask Isaiah to do this? It says, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,⁴so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt." He was a living metaphor. It was meant to be a message (and a strong one I'd say!), a warning to Egypt and Cush (modern-day Ethiopia) that they would be led away by the Assyrians defeated, naked, and ashamed. Furthermore, these were the very armies that Israel and Judah relied on the most for protection against Assyria. Time and time again, God calls Israel back to Himself, pointing out that He is the only One worthy of their trust and allegiance, but they turn to foreign armies for provision and protection. This time God is showing Israel exactly what their "protection" is worth. Nothing.

God says that the king of Assyria will "lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. ⁵Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast." Israel will be dismayed and ashamed because their hope and their boast were in the very armies that Assyria will lead away naked and ashamed.

This story has two profound meanings for us, I believe.

For one, it is a strong warning against relying on our own efforts to make anything better. When we want to work on our marriage, or get our finances under control, or find contentment, or overcome the sin in our life, or ... (you fill in the blank), we'd be far better served by seeking God's guidance in the matter than any number of self-help books and wishful thinking. Repentance is not driven by willpower. When it is, it doesn't work. It's Egypt. It will fail! It's like cutting the grass because the weeds are so high. The first two or three days after mowing the lawn everything looks fine, but soon afterward little shoots will begin to sprout back up! The mowing made it look great for a little while, but it didn't fix the problem: weeds. We tend to do that spiritually. We depend on our own self-determination to fix whatever problem is in our life, but we're missing the real problem: a sinful heart. Nothing and no one will be able to help in any way other than the indwelling Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, it is a picture of what happens to us should be refuse His help. Should we not accept being clothed in the righteousness of Christ, then Satan will lead us away "naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered". The only thing he has to offer is shame and dismay.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5
¹For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. ²For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, ³if indeed by putting it onwe may not be found naked. ⁴For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Let us pursue being further clothed in eternal life, relying on His word and His work.

Song writing.

2010-11-10T12:17:00.000-05:00

I used to write songs kind of frequently, but I've only led one that I've written at our church maybe a couple of times and both of those times it was with the student ministry. I'm not really sure why except that I feel like there is just so much good material out there that there's no need for me to write anything else. I can always find a song that says it better than I did. Lately God has been opening my eyes to something though. I shared these thoughts with a friend of mine a few weeks ago and he said, "You may be right, but they're still the things God has given you to say. It's like a sermon. There's always going to be a better one out there, but it's not the one that God gave a pastor to give his congregation."

All this has got me thinking. I want to write songs that encourage the church I serve and that reflect what God is doing there. So, here's what I want to know to get started...

What is God doing at Crossroads?

Unquenchable Worhsipper, Ch. 4

2010-11-10T12:10:00.002-05:00

Chapter 4: Unpredictable Worshipper

In Mark 14 we find a passage of scripture where a woman carrying a jar of perfume entered the room and without any explanation whatsoever proceeds to pour the entire contents of the bottle all over the head of Jesus. This particular perfume was meant to be measured out drop by drop. It was extremely valuable. She uses it all at once, the disciples look on in disbelief and disdain, but Jesus says, “She has done a beautiful thing to me” (verse 6).

Redman uses this passage to describe a particular aspect of worship. This is what he says,

“Worship is meant to be an encounter, an exciting meeting place where love is given and received in an unscripted manner” (p. 51).

He goes on to say,

“A relationship with the Living God shouldn’t just fade away or wear out like an old pair of shoes. It’s meant to be new every morning, just like the mercy it responds to” (p. 53).

So why is it that our worship services at times become dry? Is God any different those mornings than He is on any other?

I’ve thought about this for a long time, even before we began reading this book together, and it’s changed a lot of the ways that I lead and plan for our services. I noticed a while back that there were certain songs that our church appeared to respond particularly well to while others not so much. For instance, a couple of years ago, when our band led How Great Is Our God by Christ Tomlin, you could pretty much guarantee an enthusiastic response. However, when we led something like the hymn The Solid Rock, the response was pretty different. For some reason people didn’t connect. When you look at the lyrics of the songs, though, and no offense to Chris Tomlin, but the words of The Solid Rock make How Great Is Our God look like Dr. Seuss. So what’s the deal?

The difference is the music. Music moves. Music is emotive. It’s helpful, but it’s very dangerous.

As musicians, we know that if we play something a certain way it’s going to evoke a certain response. With this in mind, it’s easy to depend less and less on the Holy Spirit to move and more and more on our own abilities to elicit a response. But the Holy Spirit is the only agent of true, authentic change. He is the only One who can convict the heart and lead it in repentance. He is the initiator of true worship and we must be about the work of God rather than the work of our hands.

“If we do what the Father is doing, when He is doing it, God will break into our services in powerful and surprising ways. That is the key to all effective ministry – to do what the Father is doing, exactly at the right time” (Redman, p. 54).

With the ubiquitous pressures of excellence in the media, it is increasingly tempting to plan the Holy Spirit away. We can become all about the right songs, the right transitions, the right tone, the right message, the right video, the right… We have to constantly guard our services from this frame of mind. Pursue excellence, yes, but do not do so in neglect of God’s working. Allow room for the unpredictable. Allow room in your worship for God to move in ways that You couldn’t imagine. He knows what your church needs. Be open to His leading.

“These are true worship leaders – people who, with their lives, and when they gather together, keep alive the romance of the first love with hearts that are always ready for the unpredictable” (Redman, p. 60).

Grumpy God.

2010-11-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the title significantly downplays what I'm going to be sharing, but I was at a loss... so that's what you get.

In Isaiah 13, you get something pretty uncommon. It's an oracle dictated to Babylon, but read to Judah. As far as we know the letter was never read to Babylon. It wasn't really given as a warning to them. So why is it here? I think it's here to help the people of God. Let me explain...

Let's fresh up on who we're talking about here. Babylon was one of the major oppressors (second only to the Assyrian Empire) of Judah and Israel throughout the Old Testament. They're mentioned 287 times in the Bible, which is more than any other city other than Jerusalem. It was located on the Euphrates River, a violent river that in many ways represented the people that lived near it. Babylon would later become the capitol of the empire that viciously conquered Judah. To the Jews, "Babylon" became synonymous with idolatry, blasphemy, and persecution. In Revelation 17 and 18, Babylon is used to describe the corrupt world system. Now, having set the scene, let's look at a few verses from this chapter. I'd encourage you to read the whole thing, but for this post, I'm going to give you the cliff notes.

Isaiah 13:1
¹The oracle concerning Babylon whichIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.
...
Isaiah 13:4-6
⁴The soundof a tumult is on the mountains
   as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
   of nations gathering together!
The LORD of hosts is mustering
   a host for battle.
⁵They come from a distant land,
   from the end of the heavens,
the LORD and the weapons of his indignation,
   to destroy the whole land.
⁶Wail, forthe day of the LORD is near;
   as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
...
Isaiah 13:11
¹¹I will punishthe world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
...
Isaiah 13:13-14
¹³ThereforeI will make the heavens tremble,
   and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the LORD of hosts
   in the day of his fierce anger.
¹⁴And like a hunted gazelle,
   or like sheep with none to gather them,
each will turn to his own people,
   and each will flee to his own land.
...
Isaiah 13:18-20
¹⁸Their bows will slaughter the young men;
   they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
   their eyes will not pity children.
¹⁹And Babylon,the glory of kingdoms,
   the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will belike Sodom and Gomorrah
   when God overthrew them.
²⁰It will never be inhabited
   or lived in for all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there;
   noshepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

Israel lived in distrust of God. He urged them to return to Him and they turned instead to the power of Assyria's army, who allied with them at first and later would come to destroy them as prophesied by Isaiah. Up until this point in the book, God had been rebuking Israel for their sinful lifestyle, but here God berates their oppressors. He tells them that He's going to destroy their land and punish them for their evil. He'll make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken out of its place. The very things that they perceived as stable and unmoved, God will shake and bring to shambles. It will be as though the world was turned upside down. They'll be like a hunted gazelle. Here's some visual aid...

They'll be completely devoured. God says that even their infants will be dashed in pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered and their wives ravished (verse 16). That's crazy to think about!! When we think about God, let's be honest, most of us think of love and mercy. It's like God is some kind of grandfather that never gets angry and just loves every single thing we do no matter how snotty we act. We think of forgiveness and seldom consider His justice. God says Babylon will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. Babylon is likened to Sodom and Gomorrah due to the moral cause of their destruction as well as their impending doom.

So why give this to Israel? What's in it for them? Here's what I think. I think God let them in on His indignation for Babylon so He could show them that He was just and would judge the wicked nations around them. Israel and Judah, at the time, were definitely feeling the sting of God's discipline and in those times we wonder if God is unfairly singling us out. When we experience His rebuke and see the prosperity of the wicked, it's difficult to remain faithful, don't you agree? Furthermore, God was showing His undying love to His people by announcing His vengeance against their enemies.

In the end, evil does not win! "For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." (Ps. 30:5)

So you slipped up? It appears that temptation got the best of you. In the end, God wins. Do you still feel the guilt and shame of something that happened to you years ago? Maybe months ago? Maybe yesterday? It hurts, but in the end God wins. God is for you. God wants you to be victorious. God is on your side!

That's what He was saying to Israel and Judah and that's what He's saying to us today. But here's the deal... in reality, we're no better than the Babylonians. Isaiah 64:6 says, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." All of our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment!

That means on our best day that what we have to offer to God amounts to a dirty wash rag. The truth is, we are the gazelle that God's wrath seeks to take vengeance on. Our sin ought to have brought us death and unrelenting condemnation. But here's where we can take comfort... God's unrelenting judgment on Babylon in this passage is the same unrelenting judgment that was poured out on Christ upon the cross. Jesus was the hunted gazelle and He willingly made Himself so!

"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

You're forgiven.

Unquenchable Worshipper, Ch. 3

2010-11-03T12:03:00.000-04:00

Chapter 3: The Undignified Worshipper

This chapter gets a little touchy... mainly because there's so much disagreement over its premise in the traditional church world. It's written based on the story of David from 2 Samuel 6, where the ark of the covenant is being brought back into Jerusalem and there's essentially a party being thrown. They're marching down the street, musicians and dancers leading the pack, and King David comes through capering around with the best of them. His wife, Michal, despised him for it and thought she'd let him know, to which he responded, "I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." (2 Samuel 6:21-22)

If you ask the typical Southern Baptist about dancing, they're going to tell you it's a no-no. Their intentions are good. They just really value reverence before the Lord! And I do too, but somewhere along the line, reverence was replaced with dignity. Dignity has no place before the Lord. It makes Christians into Stoics when God has called us to a life of love and passion toward Him and for His Kingdom.

Redman puts it like this, "Here was a man of great stature, with a public image to protect; a man trusted with more power, authority, and wealth than we could ever imagine. Yet he led the way, 'losing' himself so publicly in his worship of God and so on fire with praise that it burned right through any inhibitions or pride. True worship always forgets itself."

I love that last line! That's so important to remember. True worship always forgets itself. Later in the chapter he says this, "Our Heavenly Father loves us with an extravagant abandon. Passionate, undignified worship is our only reasonable response."It's our only reasonable response! It's the only response that makes sense! When we think about and live in the love that God has toward us, the only plausible reply is love in return. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because he first loved us."

So what does that mean? Does it mean that if we don't dance before the Lord we're not really worshipping? No. How about if we're not lifting our hands? No. Singing? No.

The outward expression is not what God is after. He's after the heart. But when you look at any other situation in life, passion always leads to expression. Whether it's the cheers that erupt from a grand slam, the hands lifted in celebration of a game-winning touchdown, the kiss shared after "I do"s, or the satisfaction after seeing a quality film, passion is naturally expressed outwardly. Jesus says, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).

Strangely, in our time together as a team Sunday morning, the majority of our discussion focused around being a "distraction." Someone once told me that they didn't want to be expressionate in their worship because they were afraid of being a distraction. I think it's good to be conscious of those we're leading. If we don't know our people we'll never be able to lead them. However, I'm not sure that those that are so easily distracted ought to be the centerpiece of our discernment. Someone who is "distracted" by heartfelt, Biblical worship expressed outwardly, in my opinion, came distracted. They came looking for a distraction. They came looking for a reason not to worship. They came dignified.

We can't be so concerned with our appearance that we are distracted from the worth of our Savior. 2 Samuel 6 says that David danced through the street in a linen ephod. Basically, he was dressed as a commoner. He shed his royal regalia in worship of the True King! May we do the same.

True worship forgets itself.

How God likes His grapes.

2010-11-03T11:30:00.001-04:00

I don't know a lot about gardening. Actually, I don't know anything about gardening. I'm quite content with going to Walmart and getting my chemical-pumped produce off of the shelf. No problem. I can, however, glean a little bit of insight from this passage.

Isaiah 5:1-4
¹Let me sing for my beloved
   my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
   on a very fertile hill.
²He dug it and cleared it of stones,
   and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
   and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
   but it yielded wild grapes.
³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
   and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard. ⁴What more was there to do for my vineyard,
   that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
   why did it yield wild grapes?

Just from first glance, I notice a few things about this vineyard. For one, it was planted on a fertile hill. The conditions are good. The soil is right and the sunlight is perfect; not too much and not too little. Next, the vinedresser was careful to clear the field of stones. The ground was carefully prepared that there would be no hindrance to its productivity. The ground was well cultivated. Furthermore, he built a watchtower in the midst of it, so the vineyard had protection. Lastly, he hewed out a wine vat in it. In other words, he made a winepress in the vineyard. That implies that the vinedresser was expecting fruit to be processed. He was making provision for the field to produce a harvest.

The field has every opportunity to produce good, ripe fruit.

With all of these advantages, it is not surprising that the vinedresser expected the vineyard to yield good grapes, but unfortunately, it yields wild grapes. Now, as you might have expected, this passage isn't really about grapes and it's pretty serious. We're not dealing with mere unfruitfulness. Matthew 7:17 says, "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit." It's not that the vineyard is producing no fruit at all, but it is producing bad fruit. It is producing the same kind of fruit you might expect had it never been cultivated at all!

Here's how we know that the story isn't about grapes (besides the fact that verse 7 of the chapter says exactly who the vineyard is). Everyone knows that farming is a matter of cause and effect. You can't blame a vineyard for a lack of production, but that's what the passage does.

³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
   and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard. ⁴What more was there to do for my vineyard,
   that I have not done in it?
When I looked for it to yield grapes,
   why did it yield wild grapes?

Whose fault is it? In the story, there was nothing left undone by the vinedresser. He did everything within his power to provide for the vineyard. So who's to blame? The story is a parable of the people of Israel, who referred to themselves as the "people of God." Israel was God's vineyard. Today, in the new covenant, we are His vineyard. There's one factor that differs between a physical vineyard and God's vineyard: the will of man.

It's entirely possible for God to do a work in His people, but for His people to receive that work in vain. We are given every possible opportunity to produce fruit. Charles Spurgeon once said, "Oh you that profess to be his people, what more could Christ have done for you? What more could the Holy Spirit have done? What richer promises, what wiser precepts, what kinder providences, what more gracious patience?"

Realize that every situation you're presented with is an opportunity to bear fruit. It's an opportunity to give, an opportunity to minister, to care, to tell, to share, to listen, to repent, to worship. The vineyard has been carefully prepared. The option to coast isn't an option either! Paul says in Ephesians 5:16 to "make the best use of the time because the days are evil." If we're honest, most of us live as though we believe the days are neutral. It's okay if I just stand still. If I'm stagnant, I'm fine. At least I'm not getting into any trouble! Man, wouldn't that be nice if the days were neutral! But they're not. The days are evil. To not "yield grapes" is to "yield wild grapes". To not pursue good is to pursue evil. There is no middle ground.

And I think I'd be remiss to not point out the frightful consequence.

Isaiah 5:5-6
⁵And now I will tell you
   what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
   and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
   and it shall be trampled down.
⁶I will make it a waste;
   it shall not be pruned or hoed,
   and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
   that they rain no rain upon it.

The consequence is that God will give us what we want.

If we have no care for the provision and protection, the opportunity that He has given, then it will be taken away. He will remove its hedge. The opportunity will be gone. Though the pruning, the digging, and the watering of the Lord may at times be hard, it is even worse that He stop doing them!

Be open to the opportunities God grants. He has made the way. He has made the provision. All He asks is that we obey and walk in it.

Unquenchable Worshipper, Ch. 2

2010-10-27T11:28:00.000-04:00

Chapter 2: Undone Worshipper

The chapter opens with this excerpt from Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:1-5 (NKJV)
¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. ²Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one cried to another and said:
     “ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
      The whole earth is full of His glory!”
⁴And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
⁵So I said:
      “Woe is me, for I am undone!
      Because I am a man of unclean lips,
      And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
      For my eyes have seen the King,
      The LORD of hosts.”

Upon seeing the holiness and the glory of the Lord, Isaiah is amazed, even stupefied by His presence. He's been "undone." His unraveling is not for destruction, though, as much as it's going to be used by God to "put him back together as a stronger, purer worshipper - a worshipper whose heart-cry is, 'Here am I! Send me' (v.8)" (Matt Redman, p. 33).

Redman further explains, "Sometimes we find we've strayed off course, and God has to shake us up to get us back on the right path. He'll often bring us into a season of brokenness, a time to refocus and check that we are heading in the right direction" (p. 36).

Have you ever had an experience like this? I have! I can remember in the summer of 2005 I was working with Global Youth Camps leading worship. I can't remember exactly which week it was, but I'm pretty sure it was the fourth or fifth week of camp. We were at Horns Creek in Ocoee, Tennessee. During the previous week of camp I felt my vocal cords getting weak. As the week went on I would have to strain more and more just to get sound out. Luckily, with camp ending Friday morning and the next camp starting Monday evening, I basically had a three day weekend ahead to rest and I decided that for the entire weekend I was going to be on vocal rest. I didn't even talk for those three days. Everything was a head nod or a note on a piece of paper (which, honestly, wasn't all that difficult because I'm not a big talker as it is)!

Monday came around and I tried singing a little bit that morning. All seemed to go well. That afternoon we had a sound check for the evening worship time and that's when it hit! We were playing Your Grace Is Enough by Chris Tomlin, which in hindsight was prophetic for what God was about to put me through. The first verse and pre-chorus went beautifully, then as I went up vocally to sing the chorus it went like this,

"Your gr______ ..."

My voice completely left. I couldn't even talk. There was no sound whatsoever. It just so happened that a guy by the name of Jamie Dickens was going to be with us that week and a few weeks after. He was part of the missions project in Moldova that Global was doing. Jamie sings very well. We asked and he agreed to lead worship that week and I just played acoustic guitar. God used the next few days to wreck me spiritually! I hadn't been out of the spotlight per se in quite a while and, here, God took me out and replaced me with Jamie. Watching him worship was so convicting! It was all about God! Nothing else. He was (and still is) a fantastic leader, but you could tell that as far as he was concerned it was just him and God up there. It was like God was telling me, "Look, this is the way I want you to worship me."

A couple of days later Casting Crowns came out to do an acoustic concert for the camp and toward the end of their set Mark sang Who Am I, which I had heard I don't know how many times before, but this particular night it was like I had heard it for the first time! God opened my eyes in the lyrics to that song to realize how much I had made leading worship about myself. I had used leading worship that summer as exposure for myself and my ministry. I just knelt down and began sobbing, asking God to forgive me. I spent a ton of time in prayer that night, just letting God put my heart back where it ought to be, resting in the fact that God chose me to do this. God chose me to lead worship. This wasn't and isn't about me. It's all about HIM! It's about His grace. His grace is enough. I don't need the attention. I don't need people to like me or love hearing me lead worship. All I need is Him.

The very next morning, when I woke up, my voice was back to normal. Completely healed. God had broken me and put me back together for His glory.

Redman says this toward the end of the chapter,

"God undoes us in many different ways: through situations around us, through a glimpse of His glory or simply by speaking into a situation when we've made a mess of things. But he never leaves us that way for long."

"Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." Ps. 30:5

May we continually be undone for His glory!

Unquenchable Worshipper, Ch. 1

2010-10-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

Chapter 1: The Unquechable Worshipper

"The heart of God loves a persevering worshipper who, though overwhelmed by many troubles, is overwhelmed even more by the beauty of God." (Matt Redman, p. 24)

This statement pretty much sums up the chapter! An unquenchable worshipper is someone whose worship is not based upon their circumstances, but rather on the God that they serve.

If we're honest, this is a struggle for most of us. It's evident when we're faced with a trial, say we lose our job or when we or a loved one gets sick, and the question we wrestle with the most is, "Why?" or "How could You let this happen?" It's at those times that our faith is most shaken. The question is commonly asked in this way: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Here's the problem with that question... In Mark 10, a rich young man comes up to Jesus and says, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus says to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone." The problem with that question is that there are no good people! But that's a discussion for another day. That's not the focus of Redman's chapter.

How do we get there? How do we become so firm in our faith that circumstances are of no consequence? Here's what he says...

"We simply need to keep putting ourselves in a place where we're likely to receive this revelation. The heart of worship is fueled by essential things, such as reading God's Word, praying to Him and going to church to share fellowship together."

Staying fueled is the key to strong faith. Knowing, but not just cognitive knowing, but experientially, deeply knowing the character and promises of God give us unwavering faith; leading us in inextinguishable and unquenchable worship.

He gives the example of Psalm 89. The psalm begins with the optimistic lyric, "I will sing of the Lord's great love forever" and spends the next 36 verses recounting the promises of God to His people. But beginning in verse 37, the cries of a troubled heart come out and climax in verse 49 with the question, "O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?" He thanks God for His great love and then wonders where it is all in the same sitting.

Redman explains, "At present he cannot see or feel the measure of God's love, yet he knows it to be as real and strong as it ever was. He's a man who has looked over God's track record and found it to be perfect. And so he rises up with an unquenchable song of faith and trust."

May we be a people of undying worship!

Unquenchable Worshipper study

2010-10-27T10:27:00.000-04:00

There's a lot at stake for a worship team! The challenges week to week are insurmountable without the power of God. With every person that comes through our doors on Sunday morning is a unique set of circumstances. For some, life couldn't be better. For others, they're leaving financial issues, screaming kids, sick loved ones, and who knows what else, expecting the worship team and the pastor to bring them to a right frame of mind. This is impossible. Impossible, at least, without the Spirit's power working through us.

For the worship team, then, it is all the more crucial to constantly be in the Word and constantly be devoting ourselves to prayer. Our public worship will never exceed our private worship. If we're not spending time studying the Scriptures, relying on the Spirit to lead us, abiding in God's direction, then it's going to be evident in the way we lead. "The proof is in the pudding" so to speak.

So to help with this, a few weeks ago our worship team began reading Matt Redman's The Unquechable Worshipper together. We're doing a chapter a week and discussing what we've read and how God has spoken to us during our time of prayer and devotion before rehearsal every Sunday morning. Since several of our volunteers are on a rotating schedule, I'm going to do my best to summarize the conversation on this blog and help people stay up to date.

If you're not on the worship team, but you're interested in reading the book with us and following along on the blog, you can get it here or at many local Christian bookstores.

Sunday Summary - Oct. 24th 2010

2010-10-23T12:59:00.000-04:00

I know we're not there yet, but I'm super bad about not putting these up, so here's the worship set ahead of time for those who are interested. Tomorrow Mike will be sharing from Acts 4:1-12 about Jesus' resurrection and the freedom we have in His name as a result. Here's how everything will go down...

Welcome

Your Love Never Fails by Chris McClarney (we'll do the Jesus Culture version)

Message

In Christ Alone by Stewart Townhend
Nothing But The Blood by Matt Redman
The Stand by Hillsong

It's goldie oldie week at Crossroads, ha! I can't wait. I'm excited about it! See you there.

Sunday Summary - Oct. 10th (and 17th), 2010

2010-10-15T15:26:00.001-04:00

I just realized that I haven't put this up yet! Our church has been studying through the book of Acts for about 13 weeks now, I think... I don't know. A long time! Anyway, Mike is currently in chapter 3, where God, through Peter, heals a crippled man and then provides Peter an opportunity to preach the gospel to the Jews. Throughout chapters 3 and 4, the "name of Jesus" is mentioned a ton of times. As such, that's what Mike has been (and will be) focusing on as of late. Here's the set we used last Sunday as well as the songs you can expect to worship through this weekend.

October 10th, 2010
Our God by Chris Tomlin
Stronger by Hillsong United
Your Name by Paul Baloche
Healer by Mike Guglielmucci (we did the Casey Darnell version)

October 17th, 2010
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes (we'll do the Jesus Culture version)
Arms Open Wide by Hillsong United
Healing Is In Your Hands by Christy Nockels
Here I Am To Worship by Tim Hughes (oldie but a goodie!)

See you Sunday!

Engage in business.

2010-10-14T11:42:00.000-04:00

Sometimes we miss the point. I recently read some commentators on a couple of Jesus' parables. I was struck by how similar they were and yet how they differed in small details and wanted to look into it further.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a story about a master who gave out talents (1 talent = 20 years wages for a servant) to his servants, entrusting them to his property while he takes a leave of absence. To one servant he gives five talents, to another two, and to another one. When the master came back, the first had invested his talents and produced five more, earning the much sought after affirmation, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." The second servant had similar results, yielding two additional talents to the two he had been given and received the same approval. The third, however, has nothing to show apart from the talent he received to begin with and earned the scorn of his master, "You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed and gather where I have scattered no seed? ... take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents... and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

In Luke 19, there's a very similar parable. Again, a master distributes currency to his servants. This time he gives out ten minas (1 mina = 3 months' wages for a servant) and instead of distributing different amounts, he gives the same amount (one mina) to each servant. In all, he gives ten minas to ten servants, but we only hear the results from three of the ten. The first returned with 1000% interest, having earned ten additional minas and received the familiar affirmation, "Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities." The second came with 500% interest, having earned five additional minas. The second servant receives no verbal affirmation, but does receive a reward: rule over five cities. The third servant returns with nothing, much like the parable in Matthew 25, but something different happens. He is scolded, called a "wicked servant" just like the previous parable, and his mina is handed over to the one who made ten minas, but he is not cast away. He remains a servant. His fear kept him from producing and lost his reward, but he remains a servant of the master.

In reading these, I had all kinds of questions... What do the talents versus the minas represent? Why the different allotments and why the subtly different results? The parable of the talents is commonly interpreted to refer to different skills and spiritual gifts (probably because of the use of the word "talent" which is actually a currency rather than a skill set, but nevertheless guides cognitive reasoning in such a direction) while the parable of the minas is commonly interpreted to refer to the gift of salvation or the Gospel. Occasionally digging this deep into a passage is helpful, but what I found myself doing was, in fact, not. It's a little cliche, but I really couldn't see the forest for the trees. I discovered this while thinking about the parable of the talents and how the third servant was cast into "outer darkness" and I thought... if the parable is about spiritual gifts, why is the third servant cast away from the presence of his master? If he's cast away from his master, than certainly he didn't belong there to begin with and if he didn't belong, then why was he given a spiritual gift? I began to focus so much on supposed insinuations that I was starting to miss what the passage was about to begin with.

Neither passage is about spiritual gifts or salvation explicitly. The terms are not mentioned at all. What is the point? Stewardship.

In both parables, the servants were given something and either commanded or expected to "engage in business" until the master returned. They were supposed to use the resources that the master gave and use them to the utmost. I don't mean to propose that the differing details in each passage are insignificant, but that they are peripheral to the overarching premise. It doesn't matter as much that the servants in one parable are given different amount and yet the servants are given the same amount in the other. Nor should our attention be diverted to the fact that the third servant in one parable is cast away into the outer darkness while the third servant in the other parable loses his reward, but is allowed to remain a servant of his master. What is significant is that they are servants, that they were all given something, and that they were expected to do something with their gift!

God gives generously and requires stewardship from his servants.

This is a foreign idea to most of us, especially in the US. Here, by far, the common notion is that if I work hard, then I have earned my reward. That leads us to think of our assets in terms of what we have given ourselves, when in fact we haven't earned anything. The skills used to acquire the assets, though possibly fine tuned by our hard work (I may argue this one as well however), were given by God alone and carry into everything else! If the skills that I was given by God led to the job that provided the money for me to purchase the house I live in, then guess what? That house was given by God! The gift that God gives could be any number of things. Skills, salvation, spiritual gifts, a certain calling, good looks, a spouse, a relationship, wealth, time... you name it.

Let's call it like it is. If you've got it, God gave it to you.

I found the response of the third servant in both parables interesting. In both stories, the wicked servant responds to his master by saying, "you take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow." In essence, it's like the servant is excusing his disobedience by claiming that his master was so powerful that he didn't need him to do business with the resources his master gave him! Pardon my snide remark here, but wouldn't that be like someone who says, "God has predestined everyone who will accept His Son as their salvation anyway, so there is no need to share the gift of the gospel"?? Or maybe something like this, "I don't need to be diligent in my gift of prayer because God is going to do what he wants anyway." The fact of the matter is that the great power of the master should have inspired the servant to greater diligence, not disobedience and slothfulness.

The issue is not the Master's need of our help. The issue is my need to serve Him; my need to be a part of His work; my need to bring glory to Him with what he has given me, whether in my money, my skills, or whatever else!

It's not a revolutionary new thought, but it's a sobering one.

What has God given you?
How are you using it for Him?

Sunday Summary - October 3rd, 2010

2010-10-06T09:54:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was great! The staff came back after a weekend prayer and planning retreat in the North Georgia mountains pumped about everything that God is doing and will be doing through Crossroads, so it was particularly easy to connect and engage in worship for me. It was a very good weekend of worship and seeking God.

The worship set was a little out of the ordinary. Most of the time we start with upbeat, get your blood pumping songs and end with slower, more emotional songs after the message, but last weekend we turned everything on its head. Mike was teaching from Acts 2:42-47, which deals with several characteristics of the early church that thought to be present in the church today. The last of the characteristics was praise, thus ending with upbeat, God-exalting songs. Here's what we did...

Welcome

A Mighty Fortress - by Christ Nockels

Communion

Arms Open Wide - by Hillsong

Message

Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) by Paul Baloche
We Crown You by Fee

Likeness.

2010-10-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

It seems like every time there is a politician running, their position promises some kind of change in regard to taxes. Taxes are a touchy subject. The government doesn't function without them, yet no one wants to pay them.

In Jesus' day, the Jews were heavily oppressed by the Roman Empire. Since the year 6 A.D., the Jews were forced to pay taxes directly to the emperor's treasury. Some of them (the Zealots for instance) refused to pay the tax altogether because they did not want to recognize the legitimacy of Roman authority. Most of them begrudgingly paid the tax, but every one of them hated it. They were paying their oppressor. This was definitely a hot button issue, and one that two otherwise public enemies found common ground in order to attempt to catch Jesus in a trap. Using a clever question, they wanted to make Jesus appear to side with the Roman government against the Jews.

Mark 12:13-17
"And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, 'Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them or should we not?' But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, 'Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.' And they brought one. And he said to them, 'Whose likeness and inscription is this?' They said to him, 'Caesar's.' Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they marveled at him."

It is a mistake to put too much stock in what others say about us, whether good or bad. Enemies will flatter us as a pretense for harm. Friends flatter us to be kind or helpful. Either way, those who praise us are probably as much mistaken as those who abuse us. Jesus sees through the flattery and uses the opportunity to talk about far more than money.

This is the compassion and humility of Jesus; he held the coin knowing that the government of Caesar would soon pierce his hand and crucify Him, yet still said, "pay your taxes." Inscribed on the denarius would have been the head of Tiberius, the reigning Roman Emporer. Around his head was written the abbreviation for "Tiberius Caesar, the Divine Augustus." On the back was the title "Pontifex Maximus," declaring Caesar the "high priest of the Roman Empire."

The coin bore the image, the likeness of Caesar and thus belonged to Caesar. Rendering the things that are Caesar's to Caesar wasn't the surprising part. The part that left the Pharisees and Herodians marveling was the phrase Jesus ended with.

"...and to God the things that are God's."

This would have immediately brought several Old Testament references that the Pharisees in particular would have been all too familiar with! Here are just a few...

Genesis 1:27
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (emphasis mine)

Exodus 6:7
"I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." (emphasis mine)

Leviticus 26:12
"And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." (emphasis mine)

Now here's one for us in the new covenant...

Romans 8:15-17

"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,^,and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

The coin belonged to Caesar because his likeness, his image was stamped on it. We ought to give ourselves to God because His likeness is stamped on us. This should serve as both an encouragement and an exhortation for us.

Child of God, you no longer need to strive in your own effort to attain the likeness of God. He has given it to you already. In every way that you have fallen short, know that His likeness is already yours. Rest in it. May we also be exhorted to surrender completely to Jesus' rule in our lives. He doesn't ask for a tax percentage. He asks for it all. We are His. Give the coin to Caesar, but give your life to God. It may be fitting to die for one's country, but it is only fitting to live for the Lord.

May we not merely be marveled as the Pharisees were, but with constant surrender and loyalty to His kingdom.

Render to God the things that are God's.

Leadership lessons from Genesis 34.

2010-09-30T16:17:00.000-04:00

Where there is a void, someone will inevitably fill it one way or another. In Genesis 34, something terrible happens. Actually, a few terrible things happen. Here's how the void was created...

Genesis 34:1-5
       "Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. he loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, 'Get me this girl for my wife.'
       Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came."

This chapter contains one of the most shameful incidents in Israel's history. Jacob, in many respects, was a great leader, but here he messes up big time. His daughter, Dinah, a teenager at the time, enters into a pagan city to see the women of the land and gets raped. Jacob allows his daughter to enter the situation knowing what dangerous possibilities lay ahead and the unthinkable happens. Even more trouble comes after the fact, when Jacob gets wind of what has happened to his daughter and proceeds to hold his peace. He's not outraged. In fact, he appears to take the defilement of his daughter sickeningly easily. He neglected to be a proper covering for her, allowing her to go into the sinful city and now, by refusing to respond, he opens the opportunity for his sons to do something ungodly in response.

When God-appointed leaders do not take appropriate action, it creates a void, which is often filled sinfully.

Genesis 34:6-8, 12-15
       "And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done.
       But Hamor spoke with them, saying, 'The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife.' "
...
       " 'Ask me for as great a bride price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.'
       The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. They said to them, 'We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace. Only on this condition will we agree with you - that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised.' "

Dinah is raped, but more than that, Shechem and his father come to Jacob asking for her hand in marriage without apology! They insult Dinah and her family even more with a "just name your price" attitude as though money and marriage would erase the shame.

There's a problem. There's a void and it needs filling. It needs godly leadership, but Jacob doesn't speak up. He continues to hold his peace. The one path that never works is also the most common one: doing nothing at all. Having become unnerved by their father's silence, Jacob's sons speak up instead. They ask Hamor and his entire house to circumcise themselves! Circumcision isn't all that they're after though.

Genesis 34:24-27
       "And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.
   "On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister."

That's some intense revenge! Jacob continues in fine fashion too. Look how he responds to what they did...

Genesis 34:30
       "Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, 'You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household." (emphasis mine)

Even in the end Jacob is far more focused on himself than those he is supposed to be leading.

These are, in my opinion, the two biggest downfalls of a leader:
       1. When there's an obvious problem, yet they refrain from taking any action.
       2. When they're more concerned for themselves than they are for those they are leading.

Leaders lead most efficiently when they take positions and connect with their followers. It's impossible to lead if you're out of touch with the needs of your followers. Once you've lost that, you've lost everything. You'll, in fact, be leading no one because you'll be on your own.

Things of concern.

2010-09-21T10:13:00.000-04:00

My study through Genesis has been awesome! It's just amazing how dense that book is. I've had something I could write about pretty much every day going through chapter by chapter, but haven't had the time to write. This morning I had one of those experiences where I read something that I already knew, but somehow had new appreciation for.

I was reading about the story of Joseph, which is rich in itself. He's Jacob's favorite son, so naturally his brothers got a little jealous. Their jealousy got out of hand, though, when they sold him into slavery (only after debating on whether or not they ought to just kill him instead). Joseph winds up being sold to Potiphar. Potiphar's wife gets the hots for Joseph and attempts to seduce him. When he refuses, she accuses him of rape and gets him put in prison. While in prison, Joseph interprets a couple dreams and asks one of the guys to remember him when he gets out. Well, the guy forgets and Joseph gets stuck in prison for about 10 years total. All the while a couple of phrases keep popping up all over the place that say, "The Lord was with Joseph," and, "the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands." Bad things are happening and, whether you like it or not, God's hand is all over it! But He's using it for good.

Finally the guy remembers Joseph interpreting his dream, Joseph gets out of prison, interprets a dream for Pharaoh, and Pharaoh puts him in charge of everything. A famine comes and two years into the famine, Joseph's brothers pay Egypt a visit to get some food since Egypt is the only place that hasn't run out. Joseph disguises himself and keeps his true identity from his brothers until they can pass a couple tests. I'm skipping over a ton of stuff, but I just wanted to paint the backdrop for you.

Finally, in chapter 45, Joseph has his big reveal. It says in verse 3,

"And Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?' But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence."

They were caught completely off guard and, frankly, they're probably scared to death. Their brother, whom they considered killing, is now a high ranking official in the most powerful country of their time, which also happens to be the only place where there is food. They think they're about to die. So Joseph tries to calm them down a bit. Verse 4 says,

"So Joseph said to his brothers, 'Come near to me, please.' And they came near. And he said, 'I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life."

The very situation in which most people would have questioned God's existence, Joseph uses to say God used to "preserve life." That's some perspective! He sees God's hand in it all. He's not angry with his brothers. He's not resentful. He's not looking for revenge. He doesn't sugarcoat things, though! He says, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt." He says in a sense, "This is your fault, but I forgive you." He's looking to help. Where he has been shown resentment and wrong, He returns with grace and generosity.

Joseph in a lot of ways, is a picture of Christ. This passage is a picture of how Christ has grafted us into God's kingdom. Galatians 4:4-7 says,

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

Check it out. Something very similar happens with Joseph. He goes to the Pharaoh and tells him that his brothers are in town and Pharaoh says,

"Say to your brothers, 'Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.' And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, 'Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.' "

The best is theirs and it's also ours. I love that last line. "Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land... is yours." That's exactly what our Father is saying through Christ to us. We are heirs. The best is ours. Heaven's best belongs to us! When I hear that I can't help but feel compelled to pursue the Kingdom! Leave the world! Have no concern for your goods! Run after God!

The best of all the land is yours.

Sunday Summary - Aug. 29th and the month of September

2010-09-21T09:23:00.000-04:00

It appears I've dropped the ball on keeping these up to date. I apologize if you've been looking for a few of the songs we've been doing Sunday morning. Time to catch up a little bit. I believe these are all the dates I missed (plus one we haven't gotten to yet).

August 29th - Missions focus (specifically Romania)
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes (we played the Jesus Culture version)
The Highest and Greatest by Tim Hughes
Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United
God Of Justice by Tim Hughes

September 5th - Power of prayer and devotion to the Scriptures
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes (we played the Jesus Culture version)
Revelation Song by Jennie Riddle (we played the Jesus Culture version)
Till I See You by Hillsong United
A Mighty Fortress by Christy Nockels

September 12th - Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels
Forever Changed by Eddie Kirkland
Breathe On Me by Todd Fields
The Stand by Hillsong United

September 19th - Evangelism
Your Love Never Fails by Chris Quilala
Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United
God Of This City by Bluetree (If you only know about the Chris Tomlin version, you're missing out)
Our God by Chris Tomlin

September 26th - characteristics of a Christ follower
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes
Beautiful Jesus by Kristian Stanfill
How Great Thou Art w\ How Great Is Our God (an arrangement original to our church)
Jesus Paid It All (version by Kristian Stanfill)

Songs you should know.

2010-09-07T19:10:00.001-04:00

As far as introducing new songs to the church, if I had it my way, I'd burn CDs with all the upcoming songs and hand them out. Unfortunately, copyright infringement laws keep me from doing that. But if I was able to do that, here are a few songs I'd put on it (in no particular order)!!

Love Came Down
Forever Reign
Arms Open Wide
Holding Nothing Back
You Alone Can Rescue
Jesus Saves
King Of Wonders
He Is Greater
Because Of Your Love
Cannons
What A Savior
Where You Go I Go

You may not hear all of these, but there's a good chance we'll do several of them.

How to.

2010-09-07T01:22:00.001-04:00

The other day, a friend of mine, someone on one of the ministry teams I lead, texted me late one afternoon and wanted to know if I could meet him for dinner. He said he had something he wanted to talk to me about. For a pastor, when someone comes to you and says, "I need to talk to you about something" and they want to meet as soon as possible, it's seldom good. That request is usually followed by some sort of devastating event. In most cases, they're either unhappy with you, unhappy with someone else, or want to talk about a really deep struggle. Long story short, I wound up meeting him a couple days later for dinner. He sat down across the table from me and said, "So, the thing I wanted to ask you was, how do you study the Bible?" Having prepared for the worst, I was a little befuddled for a moment, but sooner after came intense joy! People are thirsty for more and it's exciting! Two other people have asked me the same question over the past two weeks. After searching around on the Internet for a while, I've found that resources on this subject are rather lengthy and unhelpful, so I've decided to catalog my thoughts on the matter here in hopes that others may benefit from it. There's not one single way to study the Bible, really, but I can tell you how I do it.

The Basics

First, you're going to need a few things...

A Bible (I hope this goes without saying, but just in case...)
A set time and place
A pen
A highlighter
A pad of paper

These are the essentials. Everything else is expendable.

By far, the most common excuse for not studying the Bible is, "I just don't have enough time." I don't buy it. I just don't see how this is possible. Everyone is allotted the same amount of time. It's not like there's a guy out there who drew the short straw and only has 22 hours in his day. Everybody gets 24, it's just a matter of carving out sections for what's most important. So, step 1: pick a time and a place and read the Bible.

Where in the Bible you start reading does going to matter. For whatever reason every middle school boy that I know of who wanted to begin a quiet time wants to start in Revelation. That's not a good idea. Similarly, for a reason I can't fathom, I've heard people recommend the Gospel of John to new Christians as a good place to begin reading the Bible. Also... not a good idea. Think about it. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:1-3) For someone who isn't accustomed to reading this kind of language, this is a very daunting passage! They're probably thinking, "Okay... there's a guy named Word who was with God and yet was also somehow God Himself. How does this work? And who names their kid Word?" I'd recommend maybe Matthew or James, something a little more literal and practical than poetic... at least to start with.

Have you ever read a passage of scripture and a certain word, phrase, or verse seemed to jump out to you? Let me let you in on a little secret. That's not by accident!! 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 says,

⁹But, as it is written,
"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God haspreparedfor those who love him"—

¹⁰these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Your intellect isn't what's making that verse jump out. It's the Holy Spirit. This is where your highlighter comes in.

It's also a good idea to jot down the things God points out to you in a journal or maybe even right in your Bible. Personally I like to do both. Some people have problems with writing in their Bible because they claim that it confuses people as to what is scripture and what is not. I don't usually have this problem. I pretty much know that if it's in my handwriting then it's not inherent!

That's the gist of it. From here methods abound. I usually take one of two approaches.

The next step.

First, I'll often use commentaries and do book studies. I set apart about an hour every morning where I'll enjoy a cup of coffee, read through a chapter, and then read through a commentary on the corresponding passage, taking notes either in a notebook or on my computer as I go. When I'm finished reading through the commentary, I'll read the text again and make notes in my Bible. Once I'm finished with that, I'll end my time with prayer in response to the text I read and what I felt like God might have been saying to me through it. Here are some resources I've found helpful:

The Expositor's Bible Commentary

The Broadman Bible Commentary

Precept Austin (this site contains many different commentaries in public domain)

Best Commentaries (a helpful resource for determining what kind of commentary you need according to the book you want to study)

Another strategy I use is a four step thought process. Last year I read through the Bible in a year and thinking/journaling through the passages this way really helped me understand and apply what I was reading.

Literally

Identify the historical, literal meaning of the text. What is the author talking about? Who is the author writing to? Are they addressing a story or teaching doctrine? What is the significance of the story historically? This is the foundational level of understanding Scripture. If this is abandoned, further interpretation will likely lead to error.

Christologically

How can you interpret the passage within the context of the totality of salvation? How can the text be read as an allegory of Christ and the story of redemption (Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, Holy Spirit, eternal life, etc.)? The Christological meaning is what emerges when a text is read in a fuller awareness of the spiritual realities about which the text is speaking. Though the texts are not allegories only, they are often "shadows of things to come." For instance, Moses leading the Israelites from slavery to freedom can be viewed allegorically to reveal Jesus freeing mankind from the slavery of sin.

Behaviorally

The Scriptures are given to form our behavior, to make us Christ-like. David says, “I hide your word in my heart that I may not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11) As James said, we are called to be “doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22-25). How is the text teaching us to live? How is the passage showing us to live in relation to God, ourselves, and others?

Applicably

Once a literal, Christological, and behavioral foundation are present, ask the question what is God saying to you specifically through the text? How is He calling you to respond? For example, the text may be talking specifically about murder, something you don't particularly struggle with (hopefully). Maybe God is using the passage to reveal some aspects of your temper? This step is just an application of the passage to a particular area of your life that God is leading you to apply it to, though not always exactly what the passage pertains to.

I'd read the passage, think through these steps, and then journal a prayer in response to what I read.

That's about it. That's how I do it. Feel free to ask me any questions about it! I'll try and help any way I can.

Partial obedience.

2010-08-25T15:41:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been studying through Genesis. I was a little hesitant to go through that book to be honest because of how many times I've read it before. I kind of wanted something new, something fresh, but I still felt like possibly God was leading me to study this book.

This morning I read through chapters 12 and 13, a passage very familiar to most, which deals primarily with God's call on the life of Abram (later to be renamed Abraham). It begins with God's initiative. God calls upon Abram, not vice versa, and when He does He says this,

"Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

These are some pretty powerful promises! God guarantees Abram land, prominence, honor, and security! These are the very things that the people of Babel sought for themselves, remember? They said,

"Come, let us build ourselves a city [land] and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves [prominence and honor], lest we be dispersed [security] over the face of the whole earth." (emphasis mine)

And what happened? Dispersion. God scatters them over the face of the earth. Why? Did they desire the wrong things? No. God promises those very things to Abram in the following chapter. So where did they go wrong?

They took their future into their own hands.

The crucial difference between what the people of Babel wanted and tried to do versus what God promises Abram is that to Abram, God says, "I will" do these various things.

Abram makes a few critical mistakes though. God begins his promise with a command. He tells Abram to, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you." So what does he do? Verse 4 says, "So Abram went, as the Lord had told him," we're doing okay so far, "and Lot went with him." Lot is Abram's nephew. Lot would definitely be considered "kindred". Partial obedience will get us into a lot of trouble and most of the time that's where we, Bible-belt Christians, unfortunately tend to hover.

At the outset everything seems fine. No bumps or bruises. No consequences. Everything is off without a hitch.

"And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan."

Canaan would be the land God was talking about when He said, "Go... to the land that I will show you." So he's on the right path, but something else happens. Verse 10 says a famine comes and what does Abram do? He goes "down to Egypt to sojourn there" and it's downhill from there. How often do we do that? God promises Abram that he's going to have status. He'll have prestige. His name will be great! All the families of the earth will be blessed through him! And Abram goes! Abram obeys. He trusts in the promise that God has made for His future, but here, he goes a different direction. There's a famine and sure, he has faith that God will fulfill His "big picture" promise, but at the moment he's about to starve! So it's time, apparently, to take things into his own hands and head down to Egypt.

We do this far more often than we think. We love the big picture promises of God! He's going to work all things together for our good! God's got a plan for us, for prosperity and not for harm! He'll give us hope and a future! We love those kind, don't we? But when Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" we tend to dismiss it as idealistic and far-fetched.

Abram is not wrong for being concerned about the famine and feeding his family. Abram is wrong in thinking that God would not provide for his needs in the place where God had called him to be! After all, God called him to Canaan, not Egypt!

Abram, like most of us, found it far easier to trust in God for the far-off promise than for his immediate need.

This poses some fairly serious problems. For one, Abram lies, claiming Sarai is his sister. Little white lie, big lie, honestly it makes no difference, but this one Abram lays out is a pretty serious one! Abram more or less sexually exploits his wife to save his own tail. Pharaoh found Sarai pretty attractive, so in verse 16 it says, "And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels." It appears that things have worked out pretty well for Abram. I'm sure he thought so! He got a ton of livestock and a few slaves. However, one of those few slaves (a female slave in particular by the name of Hagar) will be yet another stumbling block for Abram soon enough.

Once Pharaoh catches on to Abram, he sends them all away and they make their way back to Negeb, which happens to be where they were right before taking the detour to Egypt. While they're there, a family feud arises (remember that "Go from... your kindred" part?). It says,

"And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land." (chapter 13:5-7)

They can't live together and to make things worse, their bickering is taking place right in front of nonbelievers. Many people will never listen to what some believers say because of who some believers are.

And Abram decides that they need to take their separate ways and he'll let Lot take his first pick. If Lot goes left, he'll go right and if Lot goes right, he'll go left. Verse 10-11 says that, "Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other." Lot made his choice considering only material abundance. He makes his choice purely based on what he could see with his eyes and chose Sodom, a place that by this time was already known for their wickedness.

Where did Abram end up? "Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom." Abram ended up in Canaan. Abram ends up right where God wanted. Even when we only partially obey, God sovereignly leverages our shortcomings for His greater glory! He's so powerful that He can bring about His plans even when we're disobedient! But it doesn't come without consequences. Abram made it to Canaan and God's promises to him will definitely be fulfilled, but they didn't come without bickering and they didn't come without Hagar. Beware of partial obedience.

Sunday Summary - August 22nd, 2010

2010-08-25T14:25:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Snellville UMC and fill in for a good friend of mine who was gone for the weekend. While I was at his home church, the team I usually lead with every weekend led without me, which gives me the opportunity to say (again) how awesome our volunteers are at Crossroads! Our band led worship passionately and skillfully even without me there! I love those guys. Every weekend they work so hard to provide a winsome invitation to worship and last weekend (from what I've heard from countless other people) was no different. It's just awesome to be a part of a team that genuinely wants to see people worship to the extent that they are willing to step up and take the lead when I'm not there. I can't brag on them enough!

Here is the set they worshiped through:

Sing To The King by Candi Pearson Shelton
Hosanna by Hillsong United
Lead Me To The Cross by Hillsong United

Message

None But Jesus by Hillsong United

Sunday Summary - August 8th and 15th, 2010

2010-08-19T08:54:00.000-04:00

Our series through the book of Acts has been off to a great start! Even if it takes a long time, personally, I'm very excited about it! I love these kind of things. If you've missed the past couple of weeks, then I'd strongly encourage you to check out the messages on the church website. If you're looking for the songs we've been worshiping through the past couple weekends, look no further! Here they are:

August 8th - focusing on our calling as Christ's witnesses
Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United
From The Inside Out by Hillsong United
Hosanna by Hillsong United
Your Love Never Fails by Chris Quilala

August 15th - focusing on Christ's returning and the drive behind Kingdom living
A Mighty Fortress by Christy Nockels
Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus
Healer by Hillsong (though we did the Casey Darnell version)
Everything by Tim Hughes
Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United

All of these songs can be found on iTunes or Amazon.com. See you Sunday!

Are we growing? Pt. 3 (the leading)

2010-08-11T10:40:00.000-04:00

Lastly, I want to focus on some more practical stuff that we as a team of worship leaders can improve on. Here are some things to consider...

Are we growing in our gifting? Are we improving?It's crucial that we understand our role as it relates to the band, practically, and as it relates to the church, spiritually. You are a worship leader - no matter if you're musician, vocalist, running sound or video, or serving as a stage manager. In everything you do, you're leading worship. Every week, the people in our church will either think about you or about God. Though we can't control the thoughts of others, we can definitely keep from being a distraction as we point others to God as we worship Him.

Everyone on our team is unique and has their own personality traits that set them apart from everyone else. Likewise, everyone of you guys worship differently. Some are just naturally more expressive than others. I in no way want to tell you that you have to move or sing or whatever else in a specific way to worship. You don't. I do believe, however, that there are often some things we can do to promote a worshipful atmosphere and lead others more effectively! And sometimes that will mean sacrificing our comfort zone for the spiritual growth of others.

I've posted some videos of us leading worship on YouTube and listed them below. Take a look at how you lead. Can people see that you are "glad in the Lord" by the way you worship (Psalm 92:4)? Or do you appear apathetic or unengaged even though you are actually worshiping?

Do you regularly use Biblical expressions of praise and worship, i.e. lifting of our hands (Psalm 28:2; 63:4; 134:2; 141:2; 1 Tim. 2:8), clapping of hands (Psalm 47:1), playing of musical instruments (Psalm 150:3-5), kneeling (Psalm 95:6; Rev. 19:4), singing (Psalm 26:7), dancing (Psalm 30:11; 149:3; Acts 3:8), and shouting (Psalm 47:1; 66:1; 81:1; 95:1-2; 98:4-6; 100:1).

Generally speaking, if we are reserved physically before the Lord, then we are reserved spiritual before Him as well. When we are reserved spiritually, we often hinder how and to what extent God decides to work among us.

Us leading worship:
Healer
We Crown You
The Stand
Lead Me To The Cross
It Is Well

Are we growing? Pt. 2 (the music)

2010-08-11T10:39:00.000-04:00

Hopefully you've already read and prayed through the questions I asked before about our spiritual growth as a team. In this post I want to focus on some more practical stuff that we as musicians can improve upon. The key to improving is recognizing your weaknesses on your instrument, and not shying away from them; rather, face them head on. This may require a great teacher and is certainly something that any musician should be considering, regardless of ability or experience.

Psalm 33:3 says, "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts." (emphasis mine)

We have a biblical mandate to grow in our gifting. Here is some help in the area of growing in our musical gifts...

Vocalists
Are you singing on days other than Sundays? Are you strengthening your vocal cords? Just as you lift weights to strengthen certain muscles at the gym (well, I don't obviously but I hear a lot of people do!), you should be singing often and learning to breathe well in order to strength your vocal cords. If you would like exercises and training on mp3 or CD for your voice, let me know and I will hook you up!

Recommended listening:
Passion (Christy Nockels), Hillsong (Jill McCloghry & Brooke Fraser), Jesus Culture (Kim Walker & Jenn Johnson), Sara Bareilles, Kendall Payne

Listen for things like pitch (sharp/flat), rhythm, when and how they breathe, diction, crescendo (to get gradually louder), decrescendo (to get gradually softer), staccato (singing the notes in a short and detached way) and legato (singing in a smooth and long fashion), vibrato (a rapid, slight variation or vibration in pitch) and when and how they choose to belt their voice and/or soften it.

Guitarists
Are you working on scales, picking, strum patterns, making space, etc.? Do you think about tone? Do you think creatively?

Resources:
The Pursuit of Tone
Amp Settings
Guitar, Riffs, and Songwriting

Recommended Listening:
U2 (The Edge), Hillsong United (Nigel), Chris Tomlin (Daniel Carson), The Fray (Joe King)

Drummers
Are you listening to drummers that have our style? Are you practicing?

Resources:
Finding The Pocket
Exponential Motivation

Recommended Listening:
Jesus Culture, Hillsong, The Fray, Coldplay, Dave Matthews Band

Keys
Are you listening to creative keys players? Are you practicing? Have you ever thought about using delays or other effects?

Resources:
Approach to Keyboard Playing
Pete's Gear List
Listening/Musical Influences

Recommended Listening:
Hillsong (great use of pads, piano, Rhodes, delay, etc.), Coldplay, Tim Hughes (especially God Of Justice and When I Survey from the "Happy Day - Live Worship" CD), The Fray

Are you growing in your gifting? are you improving? If not, do you want to grow in this area?

Are we growing? Pt. 1 (the spiritual)

2010-08-11T09:40:00.000-04:00

Though my posts are generally for the public, this one in particular (and its sequel) I'm writing specifically for our worship team at Crossroads. Hopefully, even if you're not on the worship team, you will be able to use the same questions I'm going to be asking for your own spiritual growth as well.

The biggest struggle I have in ministry is being able to disciple people who, for the most part, I only see on Sunday mornings and honestly, it's sad, but that's the hardest day to try and help someone grow spiritually. There is so much that has to happen within the few hours I spend with you guys, whether setting up equipment, running through songs, getting monitor mixes set, going over the service order, or whatever else. It always seems to fly by and I want to make sure that you guys get the kind of mentoring that you need. Just like the way ought to take being a husband, a wife, a mother, or a father seriously, being a Christ-follower and specifically a leader in the church also something we need to take seriously and I want to ask the question: "Are we growing?"

Are you growing in godliness?

Read 2 Peter 1:3-11. Peter says that the follower of Christ is characterized by faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love and "if these qualities are yours and increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Colossians 3:12 says, "So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Psalm 119:162 says, "I rejoice at Your Word, as one who finds great spoil."

So here are some questions to help break this down for you.

Are you increasing in virtue?
Are you increasing in knowledge?
Are you increasing in self-control?
Are you increasing in steadfastness?
Are you increasing in godliness?
Are you increasing in brotherly affection and love?
Are you compassionate?
Would others describe you as kind or gentle?
Do you resist the flesh with self-control?
Do you lead with humility?
Do you love and study the Bible?

If you're on our worship team (or even if you're not), and after reading these passages and thinking through these questions you realize there is an area in your life where you'd really like to grow and you need some direction or prayer, let me know. Comment on the blog if you'd like or just send me a message on Facebook. I would love to pray for you and help you through this stuff! I know God used several to open my eyes a bit anyway!

After all, as a worship leader, this kind of thing should be primary! Our public worship will never exceed our private worship.

Micah 6:7-8

⁷Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"
⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
   and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

God is not nearly as concerned about our outward sacrifices (whether bulls and rams like Israel in the Old Testament or with music, prayer, and preaching today) as He is with the dedication of the heart.

New song: Tear Down The Walls

2010-08-05T11:06:00.000-04:00

This weekend the band will be leading a song that's been around for a while, but will be new for our church. If you want to be a little familiar with it before Sunday, you can find it here. It's called Tear Down The Walls by Hillsong United. It's an incredible song about mission and the Kingdom of God! Great for our series through Acts for sure!

The question behind the command.

2010-08-05T11:02:00.000-04:00

If you've been a Christian for any prolonged length of time, there's a tremendously good chance you've heard Acts 1:8 read at some point.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The thing that I have somehow missed up until recently is that this command given by Jesus right before His ascension is actually the second half of an answer to a question His apostles' asked. Here's what led up to it...

Acts 1:4-7
"And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which, he said, 'you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'
So when they had come together, they asked him, 'Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?' He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.'"

Even after the resurrection the disciples didn't get it. The disciples shared with other Jews the hope in a descendant of David whom God would appoint as Messiah and recover the national status of Judaism. Now that Jesus had been raised from the dead their hopes came alive again and they looked to Jesus to perform His vindicating role, establishing authority through the nation of Israel.

Jesus comes back from the dead, talking about the kingdom of God, and the power that the Holy Spirit will bring to the apostles in order to continue what He "began to do and teach" (verse 1) and yet they're stuck in the same old rut. They can't think past earthly power and prestige! They can't wait for Israel to be at the top and for every other nation to be put under their feet. Somehow those who were set free from the slavery of Egypt are now rushing to be the next Pharaoh. "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" There are as many errors in this question as there are words. These men spent three whole years under the guidance and teaching of the Son of God Himself and they boast the same ignorance as though they had never heard Him say a word.

Jesus replied, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority." He didn't say that the kingdom of Israel would never be established. He also didn't discourage the apostles by laying out God's timeline and showing them how many things wouldn't be complete for another two thousand plus years. He simply told them, it wasn't for them to know "But you will receive power..."

The important thing to grasp is that the Kingdom would be delayed until the appropriate power had been established.

In verse 4 Jesus "ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father," which is the Holy Spirit. For the disciples at this particular time, the Spirit had yet to come, but when it did, it brought the true Kingdom! It brought power! It wasn't the kingdom of Judaism. It was a kingdom of grace and truth! When the Holy Spirit came, so came the intentions and heart of God into the lives of believers.

So what about you? Do you tend to think like the disciples did at first? When you consider God's authority, God's kingdom coming in your life, does it comes with a few misconceptions? For instance, do you associate God's rule with earthly prosperity? The apostles did. If the kingdom of Israel was established and Jesus ascended, then of course He would leave them in charge! They'd have all the wealth and all the power! They'd be healthy and rich and respected! God's word promises us a lot of things, but earthly prosperity isn't one of them. I think like that a lot, I'm afraid; that if I have given my life to Christ, then there are certain things I deserve. Deserve is a stupid word and the more I study God's word the more fictitious it becomes.

God, align my priorities with Yours. Let Your kingdom come in my life and overthrow the one I've built for myself. Lead me by Your promise and give me grace to follow without preconditions, knowing that You are sovereign and You satisfy. Amen.

Sunday Summary - 8/1/2010

2010-08-05T10:00:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday we began a series through the book of Acts, which I'm personally very excited about! Maybe it's just my personal preference, but God always seems to teach me more in book studies than topical message series. When you study through the Bible, God teaches you about things that maybe you wouldn't normally study if you were going about it topically, I think. We focused last weekend on the first three verses, where Luke says he dealt with "all that Jesus began to do and teach," implying that what Jesus began is not finished and it continued in the life of His Church. Luke says that after His resurrection, Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples "speaking about the kingdom of God," the very same thing He began His ministry speaking about. Here are the songs we worshiped through.

Let Me Sing by Todd Fields
We Crown You by Fee
A Mighty Fortress by Christy Nockels

Message

Till I See You by Hillsong United

Sunday Summary - July 11th, 18th and 25th

2010-07-28T10:40:00.000-04:00

In the last 2-3 of Sundays, God's Spirit has moved in particularly powerful ways! I can't really put my finger on it, but I like it that way. We're not doing anything particularly different than normal. We're just praying a lot and then worshiping God through every song we use each weekend. That's the encouraging part! We're not doing anything different. That means that God is working. It's His doing and it's His will coming to fruition! Exciting stuff! He's using our worship and the lyrics of the songs to impact people's lives and bring them closer to Him and into His will. That's a really cool thing to be a part of! Here are the songs we've been worshiping through for a while...

July 11th
The Solid Rock by Edward Mote (version by Charlie Hall)
Your Love Never Fails by Chris Quilala
It Is Well by Horatio Spafford (version by Todd Fields)
I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin

July 18th
Your Love Never Fails by Chris Quilala
Lead Me To The Cross by Hillsong United
Glory To God Forever by Steve Fee
The Stand by Hillsong United

July 25th
Salvation Is Here by Hillsong United
The Highest and Greatest by Tim Hughes
Mighty To Save by Hillsong
A Mighty Fortress by Christ Nockels

When there are no answers.

2010-07-28T10:29:00.002-04:00

For a few days now I've been reading and praying through a very difficult psalm and if I can be honest I still don't really know what to make of it. We all like those verses that make everything all right. Verses like Jeremiah 29:11 or Romans 8:28 or Psalm 40:2, where God comes to the rescue. Somebody needed a hero and there He was. The psalm I've been reading is not that kind of psalm. In fact, it's the kind of psalm that if the Bible weren't true, I think someone would have had the sense to leave it out.

David opens with the words,

"O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free, for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them."

That's some pretty encouraging stuff! Right at the start we have the joy of remembering all that the Lord has done! His own hand drove out the nations (being the Canaanites from the Promised Land), but them (being the Israelites) He planted. He afflicted the peoples (the former inhabitants of the Promised Land, the Jebusites and the Hivites), but them (again, the people of Israel) He set free. Israel's soldiers weren't inactive, but their valor was secondary at best to the power of God. The Lord's favor alone secured their freedom! He delighted in them. David takes the first eight verses to describe the victory of Israel careful only to boast in the sovereign power of God and ends with,

"In God, we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever."

(SIDE NOTE: This has nothing to do with the rest of my post, but I thought it worth saying. David was careful in the first verse to say our fathers have told us the deeds God has performed. There is no better informant than a child's father. Teachers and pastors are all well enough, but godly fathers are the best instructors for their sons and their duty is not to be delegated.)

Everything begins perfectly, but verse 9 made my heart sink.

"But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies."

God withdrew His presence. Look at the next two verses. It gets worse...

"You have made us turn back from the foe and those who hate us have gotten spoil. You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations."

They were in the middle of a battle and God deserted them. It says they had to turn back. Why? For starters Israel isn't that big. Their army isn't that strong. Besides those obvious reasons, in case you missed the first eight verses, every victory they've ever had was thanks to God alone. If He's not there, then what would be your next logical decision? Retreat. To make matters worse, the enemies got the spoil. The enemy actually benefited from God removing His presence from the people of Israel.

I wish it got better, but it doesn't. The next verse says,

"You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them."

No good result was perceptible from all the miseries of Israel. So far as David could discover, the Lord's name received no honor from the sorrows of His people. If God had been even the least glorified by all this wretchedness the affliction could have been born patiently, but it was the reverse. His gain appeared to be mere trifle. It's not a test. It's not a bad situation used for good. It's just a bad situation. So, why? Could it be punishment for sin?

"All this has come upon us though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way... If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart." (verses 17-18, 20-21)

No. It's not punishment for sin. David has a clean conscience here. For the rest of the psalm he'll cry out to God for help.

"Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For our spoil is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!" (verses 23-26)

And that's where it ends. No answers. No rescue. It just ends.

Sometimes, that's how life is. There's trouble without answers. So what do we make of this psalm? What can we learn from it other than the fact that life is hard? There's a verse in this psalm that Paul uses in his letter to the Romans and I believe this psalm is best interpreted in light of what Paul had to say. Verse 22 in the psalm says this,

"Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."

Here's the context in which Paul uses it (Romans 8:35-37):

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

At what point is someone a conqueror and at what point does someone because more than a conqueror? The answer is in Psalm 44:17-18.

"All this has come upon us though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way."

After tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, war, ... has come upon us, to remain faithful, to remember the God of our past, to remain loyal to His covenant, and to abide in His way is to become more than a conqueror. The question God wants us to ask in reading this psalm is not, "Where did God go?" That's why He doesn't answer. The question He wants us to ask is, "What would I do?"

A conqueror is someone who has victory over their circumstance, but to be more than a conqueror is to have victory in the midst of circumstance. We are only empowered to do so through him who loved us.

New Song!

2010-07-20T16:56:00.001-04:00

If you're the type person who doesn't really pick up on new songs all that quickly, but loves to worship, I'm doing this just for you. This weekend we're leading a newer song by Christy Nockels called A Mighty Fortress. If you want a chance to listen to it a little early, then you can find it here.

See you this weekend!

PG-13, but pushing it.

2010-07-07T09:47:00.000-04:00

Here's a passage seldom taught in church! Galatians 5:7-12...

"You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!"

So, the first part, maybe. We've heard the "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" bit fairly often. No problem. But when was the last time your pastor used the word emasculate on Sunday morning?! I'm guessing it's been a while.

There are a few things to consider in this passage (I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, but it will be okay).

One, it's important to note who Paul is talking about. He is talking about some false teachers who have come in to the region of Galatia and told the Galatian Christians that salvation is a little more complicated than they've been led to believe. See, they would say, salvation came to the Jews, so in order to be a Christian, first you've got to become a Jew, which means you've got to be circumcised (yet another equally awkward subject) and once you've been circumcised then you need to obey the Mosaic Law (613 some odd rules outlined in the first five books of the Old Testament) and only then, so long as you continue to keep the law, you can have salvation too.

These false teachers are precisely that. False. They're not telling the truth. Even worse, they may believe that are telling the truth, but they are oblivious and refuse to hear otherwise.

This begs the question, does such a person exist within the church today? Absolutely. They just look slightly different.

They're not asking people to be circumcised in order to become a Christian and they're not necessarily asking people to obey the Mosaic Law (except for maybe a few choice laws that they've hand-picked while conveniently ignoring the rest). Instead, they (or maybe I, maybe even you!) have composed their own list. A list of things a Christian is supposedly expected to do, but that may not necessarily be outlined specifically in the Bible itself. I'm not going to exhaust you with examples because it takes little imagination to come up with a few of these on your own.

They can also be a little more subtle. For instance, when they do take biblical mandate (such as giving or serving for example) and presume to give believers an addition to their spiritual check list. This one is tricky because, yes, we ought to align our lives with scriptural standard, however, the path isn't stricter obedience. The avenue by which we become more obedient to the commands of Jesus is more passionate love and pursuit of Him. He, then, by His Spirit in us, moves us toward repentance and obedience. For instance, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Gal. 5:22). The way to produce more fruit is not to try and be more loving, more peaceable, more patient, more kind, and all the rest. The way to bear more Spiritual fruit is to have more of the Spirit and the only way to have more of the Spirit is to surrender further to Christ.

The second thing to consider in this passage is what Paul wishes would happen to these false teachers. They want people to follow the rules. They want people to fix themselves, rather than being changed by the Spirit of God in them. And where does it start for them? Circumcision.

The want the Galatians circumcised, so what does Paul say he wishes would happen? "I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!" (v. 12) Circumcision is the first step, huh? Why not take it all the way?! Let's cut to the chase (no pun intended... well, maybe a little)!

There's a ton of meaning below the surface of this remark. These false teachers, seeing as how they want people to follow the Mosaic Law, would have been very familiar with it. Having once been a Pharisee himself, Paul was also very familiar with it. It just so happens that there's a verse in the Mosaic Law about emasculation, which Paul knew would be readily recognized by his readers! It's found in Deuteronomy 23:1 and says...

"No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord."

As it turns out, emasculation was a ritual practiced in pagan worship! In wishing emasculation upon the false teachers, upon those who would force rules upon others with a pretense of spiritual maturity, Paul is essentially saying, "You're no different from the pagan worship we see in the countries outside of Israel and, frankly, you're unfit for the kingdom of God!"

Things just got a lot more tense.

Motivation

2010-07-06T14:26:00.000-04:00

Scripture passages can take on completely different meaning depending on whose perspective we decide to read from.

For example, Jesus' parable of the laborers in the vineyard in Matthew 20. If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, basically what happens is a master of a plantation goes out and hires servants to work in his vineyard throughout the day. He goes out once early in the morning, once at the third hour, once at the sixth hour, once at the ninth hour, and then once more at the eleventh hour. The master agrees each time to pay the workers a denarius a day. At the end of the day every gets paid the same, which irritates the workers who've been there all day. More times than not, I read that parable from the perspective of the workers who have been there all day. The story doesn't sit well with me because it feels like they ought to have been compensated more for their efforts than those who only worked for an hour... if I can just be honest about it. Truth is I'm not the worker who has been there all day and neither are you. We're the people who came in at the end and by the grace of God have been rewarded with the same salvation, the same inheritance, the same reward as those who have been there all along.

Perspective changes everything. That brings us to what I read this morning and how God used it in my life. This morning I finished up Galatians and at the end of chapter 6 Paul writes this...

"See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God."

I wanted to read this from the perspective of Paul, honestly. I wanted to be able to read this and say, "Yes, I boast in nothing other than the cross of Christ. The world means nothing to me in light of what He has done and who He is to me." Instead, God wanted me to read it from the perspective of the false teachers. Not that I am legalistic or even care whatsoever whether or not someone is circumcised, but we share similar motivation. Paul tells the Galatians that the people preaching a false gospel to them, saying salvation comes by works and not by faith, are doing so "to make a good showing in the flesh" and "in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ."

The bottom line is that these people who were telling the Galatians that salvation came from the Mosaic Law were actually doing something sinful. After all, "the law came in to increase the trespass" (Romans 5:20). In Romans Paul even goes so far as to say that, "if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin" (Romans 7:7). So, if these teachers were teaching salvation by the law, and the law increases sin, then their 'gospel' is false altogether. So the question is this...

What sin or deception am I trapped in because I don't want to suffer persecution for the cause of Christ? What would I rather "make a good showing in the flesh" for instead of abandoning the riches and fame and comforts of the world for the mission of God?

What's holding me back? Fear of failure? Embarrassment? Fear of rejection? Am I so comfortable with the way I live that I'd rather put God's plan for me on hold so that I can enjoy life a little more?

What is motivating every decision you make? What motivates how you live your life?

What is God asking you to do that you have yet to obey just because you're afraid of the consequences it'll have on the way you live your life?

God, help me to value You and Your mission over the comforts of my life. I pray that the world would be crucified to me and I to the world so that Your will would be done in my life. Help me to treasure You above all else. Amen.

Sunday July 4th, 2010

2010-07-06T09:52:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday Mike, our pastor, was back with us. The last time he taught on Sunday morning was the first weekend in June, so it's been a little while! He taught from 2 Corinthians 7, focusing on the idea of freedom (being it Independence Day and all), particularly freedom from sin by means of godly grief. Paul says in verses 10 and 11 of that chapter, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter." Godly grief led to repentance, freedom from sin, freedom from shame, freedom from fear.

On the front end of the worship set, we used Steve Fee's All Because Of Jesus, then Where the Spirit Of The Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels off of the new Passion album, and finishing with Eddie Kirkland's Forever Changed. After the message we took the Lord's Supper, remembering the freedom we share in Christ and then closed by worshiping through Jeremy Riddle's Sweetly Broken, which Kristy did an awesome job leading! It was a very praise-filled and humbling morning! To God be the glory.

Stopping short...

2010-06-30T16:04:00.002-04:00

While I was studying this morning, I came across a verse that I think I have often cut short. It comes from Galatians 5:13 (ESV) and goes like this...

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh."

That's usually where, for whatever reason, I've stopped mentally. But that period is not there. It's a comma. The verse actually reads,

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

And the next verse goes with it.

"For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

All along, I had been applying verse 13 as saying since I have liberty in Christ, that I shouldn't use my freedom as a license to continue in sin. Something along the lines of what Paul was saying in Romans 6:1-4. St. Augustine has a great quote on this subject. He said, "A man whose hands are full of parcels cannot receive a gift." If we refuse to let go of all the world has to offer us, how are we supposed to receive the eternal gift that God is offering?

That's not really the case this time though. He says something else. He's saying something further.

The context focuses on the way we treat one another. To use our "freedom as an opportunity for the flesh" this time is to use it in such a way that tramples on others. Our liberty is not a license to sin without consequence, it is the Spirit-given desire and ability to do what we should do before God.

This attitude of service toward one another fulfills the commandment to "Love your neighbor as yourself." To be called to freedom is to be called to the heart of God. It is to be called to put others first.

It is a call to be free from ourselves.

New music!

2010-06-30T15:55:00.002-04:00

So, it's only been out for a day and a half now, but Hillsong's new album A Beautiful Exchange is one of the most worshipful collections of songs I've heard this year! It's fantastic. If you worship with us at Crossroads, then you can expect to hear a few of these in the near future.

You can get it here.

One little word: reflections on Galatians 1.

2010-06-30T15:22:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago I started studying the book of Galatians and God has spoken to me through it in a lot of ways, but one particular verse (one little word in a particular verse, actually) has meant more to me than anything else I've read in the past month.

Paul spends most of his letter to the Galatians showing them that their salvation, the gospel that he preached to them himself, is not brought in any way by works and only by God's grace through faith. Here's what he's got to say in chapter 1:11-19 (ESV)...

"For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother."

This paragraph is jam-packed! For one, notice how when Paul is telling his story that all of his personal pronouns are words like "I," "my," and "me". He began with all of the things he did himself and then, at conversion, immediately shifts to everything God did.

"He who had set me apart... who called me by his grace... was pleased to reveal his Son to me..."

Paul wants his readers to understand that his conversion, his salvation, had nothing to do with his own efforts and had everything to do with the initiative and work of the Father.

Further, Paul wants the Galatians to understand that the gospel he preached to them was not handed down from another man like the supposed 'gospel' that they were living by, which had far more to do with their ability to keep the Law than their faith in Christ's work on the cross. He says that he wasn't taught the gospel by any man, instead it came "through a revelation of Jesus Christ." His message came directly from Jesus Himself. After that, he didn't even bother to consult any of the other apostles. It was three years before he even saw another apostle to be able to confirm what he was teaching!

He didn't need any other proof. He didn't need any other details.

Even in all of this, God spoke more to me from one little word in verse 16 than any other part of this passage. The ESV reads,

"But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;"

As big a fan as I am of the ESV, unfortunately, they missed this one. The NIV is closer to the original text...

"to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man,"

God was pleased to reveal His Son in Paul, not to Paul. What's the big deal? The latter is how 90% (if not far more) of us approach God. This is an observation God made clear concerning myself. The vast majority of the time I want God to reveal something to me. I want some new piece of knowledge. Maybe a new experience. Maybe something I already knew revealed in a new way to me. I'm addicted to intellect.

But God is far more concerned with how He is revealed in me than He is concerned with what He reveals to me. Too often we are educated beyond our obedience.

In one little word Paul gives massive implications for our salvation and for our lives here on this earth. Our salvation is not given for us to know more or feel better. Our salvation is given to us so that Jesus Christ would be revealed in us to the people around us.

God, I pray that You would be pleased to reveal Your Son in me in order that You would receive the worship that You are worthy of from the people You have given me to minister to. Amen.

Catching up...

2010-06-29T15:47:00.002-04:00

I can't even begin to describe everything that has been going on over the past few months! We've had mission trips, events, disciple now weekends, the works... so, I have literally done nothing with this blog since April. I haven't even opened it. That's about to change though. I'll soon be posting various things God is teaching me, worship leading insights, and just what's going on in our church, but before that (for those of you who care), I'm going to catch you up on all the songs we've been worshiping through on Sundays since I stopped blogging. So, here it goes...

April 11th, 2010 - Subject: Effects of financial tensions on relationships
Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels (Passion)
Forever Changed by Eddie Kirkland
How He Loves by John Mark McMillan (Jesus Culture version)
Everything by Tim Hughes

April 18th, 2010 - Subject: Sickness and Death
Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels (Passion)
Healer by Mike Guglielmucci (Kari Jobe version)
Healing Is In His Hands by Christy Nockels (Passion)
You Never Let Go by Matt Redman

April 25th, 2010 - Subject: Disappointments
Praise The Father Praise The Son by Chris Tomlin
Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman
None But Jesus by Hillsong
Healer by Mike Guglielmucci (Casey Darnell version)
Lord Of All by Kristian Stanfill

May 2nd, 2010 - Subject: Spiritual warfare and the strength we have in Christ
Let God Arise by Chris Tomlin
Breathe On Me by Todd Fields
Healing Is In His Hands by Christy Nockels (Passion)
Stronger by Hillsong

May 9th, 2010 - Subject: Origin of Satan, his tactics, and Christ's victory
Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels (Passion)
Sing To The King by Christy Nockels (Passion)
Shout Unto God by Hillsong United
Revelation Song by Jennie Riddle (Jesus Culture version)

May 16th, 2010 - Subject: Armor of God, Pt. 1
Forever Changed by Eddie Kirkland
Let Me Sing by Todd Fields
The Stand by Hillsong United
Came To My Rescue by Hillsong United

May 23rd, 2010 - Subject: Armor of God, Pt. 2
Praise The Father Praise The Son by Chris Tomlin
I Stand Amazed (Candi Pearson Shelton version)
How Deep The Father's Love For Us by Stewart Townhend
It Is Well (Todd Fields version)

May 30th, 2010 - Subject: Prayer as a spiritual weapon
Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) by Paul Baloche
Where The Spirit Of The Lord Is by Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels (Passion)
Healer by Mike Guglielmucci (Kari Jobe version)
Jesus Paid It All (Kristian Stanfill version)

June 6th, 2010 - Subject: The cost of being a disciple of Christ
The Highest And Greatest by Tim Hughes
We Crown You by Fee
None But Jesus by Hillsong
Everything by Tim Hughes

June 13th, 2010 - Subject: Godly leadership
Sing To The King by Christy Nockels (Passion)
How He Loves by John Mark McMillan (Jesus Culture version)
I Stand Amazed (Candi Pearson Shelton version)
Lead Me To The Cross by Hillsong United

June 20th, 2010 - Subject: A father's role in the home
In Christ Alone by Stewart Townhend
Forever Changed by Eddie Kirkland
Before The Throne by Charitie Lees Bancroft and Vikki Cook (Shane & Shane version)
Take My Life (Chris Tomlin and Christy Nockels version)

June 27th, 2010 - Subject: Suffering, perseverance, and God's power
We Crown You by Fee
Praise The Father Praise The Son by Chris Tomlin
Healing Is In His Hands by Christy Nockels (Passion)
Healer by Mike Guglielmucci (Casey Darnell version)
Stronger by Hillsong

Whew! I think that just about covers it.

Sunday Summary - April 4th, 2010

2010-04-08T16:06:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday wound up being an incredible day! The weeks leading up to Easter are always pretty stressful, but everything came together very well thanks to all our volunteers! They're awesome.

If you weren't there, then let me fill you in. We climaxed a series we've been in for 5 weeks called Jehovah on Easter Sunday with the name Jehovah-Tsidkenu, which means "The Lord our Righteousness," which was awesome in itself since it was Easter!

Since we incorporated a lot of clips from Passion of the Christ at our Good Friday service, walking through Jesus' journey to the cross, we thought it appropriate to begin our worship gathering focusing on the reason we were there and continue the thought we left on Friday. We opened the service by blacking out the lights and then playing the minute and a half clip of Jesus rising from the tomb in Passion of the Christ. Once the clip had ended, Angie came out and welcomed everybody. After that we went straight into a few baptisms, which is always cool! I love the way we do it at our church because it's not just another part of service. They are real people taking real steps in obedience to God, wanting the world to know about the transformation that has happened inside of them, so we often have them share a portion of their testimony and then have a friend or loved one pray for them and their spiritual growth before dunking them.

After the baptisms, the band carried on the celebration with Tim Hughes' Happy Day, Kristian Stanfill's Beautiful Jesus, and then ending with Fee's No One Higher.

After the message, the band came back up and led a response time with Hillsong's Stronger and Todd Fields' version of It Is Well before finishing up by Mike coming out and giving a final challenge.

The passage Mike taught from that morning was Jeremiah 23:5-6, which says

⁵ "The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
⁶ In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The LORD Our Righteousness.

So, to help illustrate this our creative team made a stump look like it was growing out of the stage! it was awesome! It had a blooming shoot coming out of it to represent how mankind, like the stump, was dead in sin and yet God saw to it that a "righteous Branch," a shoot sprouting out of the deadness, would come forth to be our righteousness. We also handed out small red bud trees to people as they were walking out, reminding them once again about the righteous Branch.

Everything turned out great and God moved in a powerful way! It was awesome to be a part of what He was doing that morning!

Sunday Summary - March 28th, 2010

2010-03-31T15:13:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday was the fourth week of our series through a few names of God. I have to say, I think the message last weekend was my favorite by far! Mike taught on the name Jehovah Shammah, which means "The LORD is There" and is was incredible! God was definitely using him in some powerful ways that day and if you weren't there I would highly recommend downloading it off of our iTunes podcast.

We began worship with Candi Pearson Shelton's version of I Stand Amazed, followed by Tim Hughes' The Highest And Greatest, and finally Casey Darnell's version of Healer. The worship set was more a conglomeration of the themes we had explored throughout the series rather than a set more specific to the particular day. We ended the worship gatherings with communion and Paul Baloche's Your Name.

I honestly don't know what to say about last weekend except for the fact that you could sum it up in His name alone.

Jehovah Shammah.

Sunday Summary - March 21st, 2010

2010-03-23T16:27:00.002-04:00

I have to say that this was my favorite weekend of the entire series. Maybe even since the beginning of the year! It was awesome. God spoke and moved in many different ways and it was great just to be a part of what all He is doing.

Usually we open with an upbeat, energetic song to really get people going with praise, but last Sunday we started a lot differently. We opened with Christy Nockels' Healing In His Hands off of the new Passion album, which in my opinion is the best they've produced to date. The lights dimmed out, the band came out and started the tune softly, and then a single light came up on Katherine, who sang the song beautifully! It was very worshipful and a great way to start our service since Mike taught the meaning and significance of the name Jehovah Rapha, which means 'The LORD our Healer."

Mike did a great job going through Exodus 15:22-27 and pointing out how God sometimes gives us "bitter waters" and, though our first instinct to grumble, God's intent is to test and teach that He is the Healer, relating the piece of wood Moses threw into the water to the cross of Christ.

After the message, we worshiped through Hillsong's None But Jesus, which Kristy did an awesome job of leading, followed by Casey Darnell's version of Healer. That song was new for us, but was well received! It turned out to be a great anthem for our church to latch onto, declaring that Nothing is impossible for our God. We closed with Hillsong's Mighty To Save, praising God for his power over our struggle.

Sunday Summary - March 14th, 2010

2010-03-15T12:55:00.004-04:00

Wow. I'm getting worse and worse about updating these things! Sorry guys.

Last Sunday was great! It was week two of a five-week series called Jehovah, where basically we're going through a few names of God and looking at the implications they have on our lives. We began with Jehovah Jireh, looking at how God, the Great I AM, is our provider. Specifically, we looked at how He provides for us through Christ. Yesterday, we followed up with Jehovah Jireh with the name Jehovah Nissi, looking at a passage in Exodus 17 where Moses and the Israelites are being led into battle against the Amalekites. God led Joshua to "overwhelm" Amalek and his people with the sword, giving the Israelites the victory and verses 15-16 say...

And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD is my banner (Jehovah Nissi), saying, 'A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.'"

So the entire morning was focused on what it means that Christ is our Banner. Not only are we identified through Him and are led into battle by Him, but we also share the victory over sin in Him.

So, to start the day off, we opened with Tim Hughes' Happy Day, celebrating Christ's victory over sin and death on our behalf. The rest of the worship set came in response to the message. After the message we worshiped through Paul Baloche's Your Name, written from Proverbs 18:10, which says,

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe."

That led us into Kim Walker's version of Revelation Song and ending with a medley we've used from time to time at our church that uses the verses from the hymn How Great Thou Art and the chorus and bridge from Chris Tomlin's How Great Is Our God, focusing again on Christ's victory for our salvation and His glory in the cross. It was a very Spirit-filled time of worship for us! It was great to just rest in His triumph and give thanks and praise for all He has done!

Upcoming songs!

2010-02-25T22:36:00.003-05:00

Some of the hardest times to engage in worship is when the band is leading a brand new song that you have never heard before. I definitely know the feeling! Because of that, I thought it may be a good idea to give you guys a heads up!

Starting March 7th, Crossroads will be starting a brand new series called Jehovah. Along with the new series come a few new worship songs that will be appearing through the next few weeks and HERE THEY ARE...

I Stand Amazed (hymn) by Candi Pearson Shelton
http://www.amazon.com/I-Stand-Amazed/dp/B002KAQOD0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1267155638&sr=1-1

Your Name by Paul Baloche
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Name/dp/B00137XSIA/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1267155418&sr=1-13

Healer by Hillsong
http://www.amazon.com/Healer-Album-Version/dp/B001DOKCPK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1267155510&sr=1-1

So check them out, download them, and worship through them!
I'll see you guys soon.

Sunday Summary - Feb. 21st, 2010

2010-02-25T22:19:00.002-05:00

Hey everybody!

Last Sunday was a great weekend for us! God was moving in some very powerful ways amongst the men in our church. We've been in a series called On Demand, where we are focused specifically on men and their leadership within the home and the church. Last Sunday we focused primarily on their role as a father with the help of Deuteronomy 6.

We started off a little different than usual. On an average weekend we begin with a high energy praise song or some kind of popular song from the radio that gets people's attention and creates momentum. Last Sunday we started off very reflective, worshipful, and slow... We began with Kim Walker's version of Revelation Song. Katherine did an AMAZING job singing and leading that song! We read a couple passages of scripture along with it, such as Psalms 18:3 and Revelation 5:13, looking at the relationship between our salvation and praise. From there we worshiped through Eddie Kirkland's Forever Changed and Todd Fields' Breathe On Me, the train of thought being that we focused on Christ's victory, our new life based on His victory, and then a plea for God to use us for His glory alone. It was a fantastic time of worship just dwelling upon all that god has done and resting in His will for his church! Specifically for His will regarding fathers.

After the message we played this video that our creative team put together using kids of all ages from within our church. It was particularly impactful to our fathers coming from the mouths of their own kids!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThRfPtaT3UU

Granted, we stole the idea from someone else on worshiphousemedia.com, but it was great! I couldn't ask for a better lead in to our response time.

We ended the gathering with Hillsong's Came To The Rescue, allowing the men an opportunity to pray and ask God to use their life, their world, and their love to bring glory to His name.

Praise God for how He showed up and used us to speak to His church!

Sunday Summary - Feb. 14th 2010

2010-02-15T14:41:00.002-05:00

Wow! Yesterday was a very worshipful and motivational day! We're in our second week of a new series called On Demand, where Mike is speaking directly to the men. Our first weekend was on leadership in the home, called Leadership On Demand. Yesterday, being Valentine's Day, was called Romance On Demand, focusing on a husband's responsibility to love his wife as Christ loved the church, in humility and self-denial.

We opened the morning with a welcome and then followed it with a worship set beginning with Todd Fields' Let Me Sing. After Let Me Sing, we led Kristian Stanfill's version of Jesus Paid It All and then finished with Hillsong United's Lead Me To The Cross. The train of thought being Christ and His sacrifice for the church, preparing us for and relating to what Mike had to say regarding husbands loving their wives (Ephesians 5:25-30).

After the message, we responded with Hillsong's From The Inside Out again reflecting on God's grace towards us which fuels humility and grace towards others.

Sunday Summary - Jan. 24, 2010

2010-01-26T11:02:00.002-05:00

Last weekend Mike taught about the importance of relational accountability and God's call for us to encourage one another toward Kingdom living. It was very practical and equally as crucial to our church's mission and vision for seeing life transformation take place.

Because the list of worship songs dealing with relational accountability is kind of scarce, we focused more on our salvation and our freedom from sin and shame that allows us to be open with one another. All of the musical worship was done at the beginning of the service, allowing the congregation to leave challenged with the message fresh in their minds.

We opened with a quick welcome and then worshiped through Hillsong's Salvation Is Here, Todd Fields' version of It Is Well, Hillsong's The Stand, and finally Jesus Culture's version of Revelation Song. The train of thought being God's presence with us, the peace only He can bring, salvation and our response of praise and dedication, and then ending with a glimpse of worship on a heavenly level.

Sunday Summary - Jan. 17th, 2010

2010-01-26T10:50:00.002-05:00

We've recently been undergoing some fairly major changes in our weekend services that require a lot of attention (at least from the worship/arts side of things anyway). So, sorry about not getting this to you guys last week!

A couple weeks ago Mike taught on a lifestyle of worship and how it relates to the Kingdom of God. He used two passages, one from Genesis showing the unity man had with God and how it fell, and then another from Revelation 4-5, depicting the unity reconciled and resulting in praise and worship toward Christ. It was a great morning! Because Mike taught on worship, the bulk of the worship set came after the message. The worship gathering went like this...

We began with a short welcome and then went in to a new song for us Forever Changed by Eddie Kirkland. It's a fantastic song with honest and inspiring lyrics! There we focused on salvation and the freedom Christ brings.

After Forever Changed, Mike came up to teach.

Following the message the band led Jesus Culture's version of Revelation Song, followed by Everything by Tim Hughes, and finally Glory To God Forever by Steve Fee. Though Revelation Song was new for our church, it was quickly latched on to! Especially coming out of our pastor's emphasis on worship taking place in Heaven using Revelation 4-5, this song really accentuated the text! I particularly love the song because the vast majority of the lyrics are straight from scripture. Since, by nature of their repetition, the songs we sing on Sundays often shape our theology, songs like this one are crucial. Following Revelation Song up with Everything and Glory To God Forever drove the point home even further and really allowed our church to dedicate themselves wholly to Christ as "living sacrifices" (Rom. 12:1).

It was a very Spirit-filled morning!

Sunday Summary - January 10th, 2010

2010-01-13T09:21:00.002-05:00

Last weekend was out of the ordinary for our church. We spend a lot of time building and equipping the Church (as in the people of God and not the building or worship service that the term commonly means today) to go out, share the gospel, and do ministry to our community. Consequently, a lot of our weekend teaching focuses on holiness and obedience to the will of God rather than on presenting a Gospel message. We do present the Gospel in some form every week, but it's not usually our focus as much as it is the thing that drives our focus every week. Hopefully that makes sense... At any rate, last weekend we took the entire service to present the Gospel. The first of the year is a time when lots of families make resolutions to go back to church and we felt it would be a key time to deliver that message and so that's exactly what we did.

We began with a short welcome and then launched right into a Gospel-centered worship set, beginning with Paul Baloche's Hosanna (Praise Is Rising), starting us off praising God, calling Him Hosanna, which is both an Old Testament cry for help from Psalm 118:25 and an answer to the very same cry, looking to Christ as our Helper.

We also did something that was a little gutsy. Even though we knew there would be a lot of visitors, we introduced a new song. It had potential to be very awkward, but it worked out well. I read some scripture from 2 Corinthians and then quickly taught the chorus to Forever Changed by Eddie Kirkland (currently my favorite worship writer). The band then proceeded to the lead the song and we followed it up with Hillsong's Stronger, once again focusing on the victory Christ has over the grave uniting us and reconciling us with the Father. It was a great time of worship! People were really able to engage and connect to God in a real way.

Mike delivered a powerful and clear message based on the Kingdom of God coming in the lives of believers and how we enter into that relationship. At the end, Kristy and I came back up to lead Chris Tomlin's Mighty Is The Power Of The Cross, which is a few years old now, but has timeless truth! Mike gave an invitation and several came forward for repentance and rededication. Praise God for how He used us to invoke new passion and purpose in His people!

Sunday Summary - January 3rd, 2010

2010-01-13T09:08:00.002-05:00

After being on vacation for a couple weeks around the holidays it's been crazy catching up and getting back into the swing of things. Weekend before last is definitely a blur by now, so I apologize for the lack of detail. I do, however, remember what songs we played...

We opened the morning with a very new song called Kingdom by Kristian Stanfill. It was fitting since we were beginning a brand new messages series called Kingdom Come basically taking about five weeks to reiterate our vision and mission as a church and especially as the people of God.

After a short welcome, the band led Tim Hughes' Highest and Greatest followed by a Bluetree/Chris Tomlin hybrid version of God Of This City. Both songs focusing our hearts on passion for God and seeing His Kingdom come in our midst. I especially love Highest and Greatest because of how much it reflects Philippians 2:5-11.

⁵Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

After the message, the church took communion while Kristy Hawkins (who nailed the harmony part) and myself led Hillsong's Till I See You, which was an extremely Spirit-filled time! It was fantastic! A great morning worshiping the Lord! It was good to be back.

Recommendations...

2009-12-15T09:48:00.003-05:00

Occasionally people will ask me what kind of new worship music is out there that I would recommend. Well, today a new live worship album from North Point Community Church came out. It's called North Point Live: Awake. It's fantastic! I especially enjoy all the songs Eddie Kirkland wrote and led on that album. He's a phenomenal worship leader! Very real. Very passionate.

Some others...

Hope Rising by Fee
Consumed by Jesus Culture
Life Light Up by Christy Nockels
Orthodoxy by Eddie Kirkland
Holding Nothing Back by Tim Hughes
This Is Our God by Hillsong (not really new, but one of the better albums from them lately)

These will get you headed in the right direction...

Sunday Summary - Dec. 13th, 2009

2009-12-15T09:14:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday was a busy, but great morning for us. Usually we're able to set up in the auditorium the day before, but no such luck last weekend. We were there at 6am to set up everything. Conveniently, it was a new series and we only had a small forest to set up as stage decor (no, really; we did). I'll post some pictures soon. It was a lot of work, but when it was finished it looked AMAZING! The entire stage looked like a paper cutout winter wonderland. All the people from the creative team and the set up team that made that happen did a fantastic job!

We opened the morning with Andy Williams' Happy Holiday/The Holiday Season, which was really cheesy, but a lot of fun. Ha. We didn't do anything fancy to it. We played it exactly the way he wrote it. It was pretty challenging just because it's a style we don't usually incorporate, but the band pulled it off well. We played it to introduce our new message series called Holi-Daze. It will last three weeks and focus on all the things that take our attention away from Christ in the Christmas season. Last Sunday, since Mike had the flu, Jono, our family pastor, stepped up to fill in and gave a helpful message about forgiveness and family. He pointed out how Jesus is described in the Scriptures several times as bringing peace to men, yet "peaceful" is hardly the word we'd use to describe the Christmas season! Part of the reason it tends not to be so peaceful is because of family disputes and the Church neglecting their role as peacemaker within their family.

The musical worship set came after the message last weekend. We started with a brand new song by Heather Williams off of the Catalyst Music Project called Emmanuel. It's a powerful song reflecting on the greatness of God as well as the nearness of Christ. After that we worshiped through Kristian Stanfill's Beautiful Jesus followed by a beefed up version of Angels We Have Heard On High containing a simple chorus we added just to help tie everything within the hymn together. We ended the morning with praise using Steve Fee's All Because Of Jesus, sending people out reminded of the kindness God has shown us in sending His Son and compelling us to live the same.

Sunday Summary - Dec. 6th, 2009

2009-12-08T19:04:00.004-05:00

Things have been pretty crazy around here getting everything together for our Christmas series and our Christmas Eve service. So, consequently, this post is going to be relatively short. Sorry about that.

Weekend before last Rodney McCart, one of our elders, concluded our series The Church Jesus Loves, teaching through Revelation 3:14-22 where Jesus speaks to the Church in Laodicea. Rodney had some very compelling insight into the text, pointing out how Laodicea had lots of stuff going for them, but they had one major problem. They didn't have a reliable water source and were forced to go to surrounding cities, some with warm springs and others with cool springs, to get their water. Not a huge problem except that by the time they arrived back home, their water was lukewarm. Jesus used their own problems to reveal their spiritual condition. He wasn't telling them, "I'd rather you be all about Me and My Kingdom or be completely against Me." Rather, he's telling them to be useful. Warm water is known for being soothing and healing. Cool water is known to be refreshing and satisfying. Laodicea was neither. They were lukewarm. They were apathetic and useless.

We opened the musical worship set before the message with Steve Fee's version of Joy To The World called All Creation Sing (Joy To The World), a very fun version of the classic Christmas song! We followed it with Chris Tomlin's Glory In The Highest, reflecting on the song of the angels revealed to the shepherds when they were told of Jesus' birth. We followed that song with Hillsong's None But Jesus. Our focus throughout the whole worship set was the birth of Christ, His presence with us now, and the appropriate response of devotion to Him.

We closed the morning with a newer version of Keith Green's Oh Lord, You're Beautiful by Melissa Howe. The chorus of that song really capped off our service in a powerful way!

I want to take your Word and shine it all around
First help me just to live it, Lord
And when I'm doing well help me to never seek a crown
For my reward is giving glory to You

Sunday Summary - Nov. 29th, 2009

2009-12-01T09:28:00.004-05:00

Micole and I were in Florida last week visiting her family for Thanksgiving. We had a great time down there seeing them and visiting with friends! It was very refreshing and made Sunday morning all the more meaningful for me I think. Just being able to get away for a little while and to step back and give thanks to God for who He is and what He has done without distraction was very good and really prepared us both well for Sunday's services!

Last Sunday Mike taught from Revelation 3:7-13, fleshing out the various doors of opportunity that Jesus has given us in order to reach our community. The whole passage talks about evangelism and salvation. We're given a mission and we are given a name. Jesus says, "I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my god, the new Jerusalem, which down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name." As the church, we bear the likeness, the Name, the signature of Christ Himself! What an awesome thought!

We did the message right up front and used all of the musical worship at the end as a response. We started off with Paul Baloche's Your Name, written from Proverbs 18:10, which says that "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man run into it and is safe." We worshiped through the thought of the power of the Name of God and how awesome it is that He has chosen to give it to us. We followed that with Hillsong's Stronger, which is all about God's victory over sin and death, ending with the anthem,

Let Your name be lifted higher!
Be lifted higher!
Be lifted higher!

Which was really powerful! Next we worshiped through Chris Tomlin's version of O, Come All Ye Faithful followed by Tim Hughes' Highest and Greatest reflecting again on salvation as well as our calling to go out in the Name of the Lord, sharing that salvation with the nations.

Sleeping In: Jonah 1

2009-12-01T08:58:00.002-05:00

Today I read a familiar passage and found a gemstone that I had yet to notice. I read from Jonah chapter 1. God comes to Jonah and commands him to go and rebuke Nineveh, telling them about the destruction that awaits them because of their sin. So, Jonah went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.

The city of Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, i.e. NOT a city of Israel! It was very large and very idolatrous. It was a pagan city, a Gentile city, and God called Jonah, a Jew, to rebuke them and call them to repentance by foretelling their coming doom should they refuse. A rather daunting task.

Tarshish is not on the way to Nineveh. In fact, it's no where close. Nineveh was to the east of Israel and Tarshish was about as far as you could go west, on the coast of what is today Spain. In heading for Tarshish, Jonah intended to get as far away from Nineveh and the calling of God to go there as he possibly could. Hence the end of verse 3,

"So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord."

Having not paid very much attention to Psalm 137, Jonah thought he could escape the calling God placed on his life and was met with a tempestuous storm that caused all of the sailors to hurl cargo off the ship in hopes of stabilizing it and call out to false gods for their rescue. Meanwhile, Jonah is catching some Z's in the inner part of the ship.

(This is not the point I aim to make, but isn't it interesting how this story contrasts with the one where Jesus was asleep and then arises to calm the storm? In the story from the gospels, God calms the storm, however here in Jonah God causes the storm.)

Here is where God spoke concerning myself (and possibly the church as a whole). Verse 5 says,

"Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep."

There is a storm raging and the sailors are frantically calling out to gods that could neither save them nor answer them while the one man on board who had a relationship with the One True God slept unaware. The one who knew His Word and had habitually worshipped Him in the temple slept as the others fought for their lives. The one who had the Answer lay unaware of the danger that he and the others were in.

Jonah slept in a place where he hoped no one would see him or disturb him.
Jonah slept in a place where he could not help with the work that needed to be done.
Jonah slept while the others lifted empty prayers to empty gods.
Jonah slept and had no idea of the problems around him.
Jonah slept when he was in great danger.
Jonah slept while the lost needed him.

How often are we found in the same state of slumber?

An Appropriate Response: A Reflection on Nehemiah 8

2009-11-20T13:01:00.002-05:00

This morning I read from Nehemiah chapter 8. Just to get everyone up to speed, up to that point the Israelites had been exiled and the city of Jerusalem was laid waste by surrounding countries as an act of discipline by the Lord for having turned to idols, immorality, trust in earthly kings rather than Himself, and pretty much anything else you could think of. God, in His sovereignty, preserves a remnant from which to rebuild the nation. Nehemiah then comes on the scene and leads the Israelites to reconstruct the wall around Jerusalem despite opposition from higher authorities from surrounding nations. Once the construction is finished, Ezra, a scribe, stands before the returned exiles and proceeds to read the Book of the Law of Moses in chapter 8. There are a few key verses through which God spoke to me, recalling the response the Israelites displayed to the reading of His Word revealed through Moses...

Verse 3
"And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law." (emphasis added by myself)

The Israelites were "attentive" to the Word of God, a characteristic severely lacking before the exile. They came ready to hear from God, ready to listen, ready to understand and apply what they hear.

Verse 5
"And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was high above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood."

The Israelites stood. Now, I don't think this physical response is in the least obligatory, but the motives of the heart behind such a response certainly are! They were reverent. They stood in honor of the Word of God. Not only were they attentive to what it said, but it was obviously considered valuable to them.

Verse 6
"And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground."

Once the Word of the Lord was read to them, their first response was praise (the lifting of hands) and then it soon led to worship. The natural response to the revealed word of a holy God is humility. Their response went beyond adoration (or praise). It resulted in submission.

Verse 9
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the high priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law."

This is the area where I personally felt the most conviction. They were attentive, they respected the Word of God, they responded in praise, they were led into worship, and now they are struck with a godly grief for their trespasses. I've often read the Word and readily recognized various areas of my life in need of attention, but I pray that when those areas are revealed to me that sorrow would pierce through the apathy and lead me to heartfelt repentance.

Verses 10-12
Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

During their grief, Ezra and the Levites gave them instruction from the Book of the Law and here lies the disconnect between the Word of God and those who claim to be His people today.

Obedience.

It's certainly a simple idea, but somehow we have become educated far beyond our submission. Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

I in no way mean advocate salvation by works in using these passages. Instead, I only point to what should be objective evidence of our regeneration. Not knowledge, but obedience.

When we hear the Word of God, we ought to be attentive, we ought to be reverent, we ought to respond in praise, we ought to be humbled by His word, we ought to be grieved over sin, and we ought to respond in repentance and obedience.

Lord, as I read Your Word, let these characteristics be evident in me. Bring me far beyond mere scholarship and into complete submission. Amen.

Sunday Summary - November 15th, 2009

2009-11-20T12:39:00.003-05:00

It's a bit late in the week to give a recap, especially after having spent so much time planning for weeks ahead, but nevertheless here it goes...

Last weekend Mike taught from Revelation 2:18-29 and related what Jesus had to say to the church of Thyatira to the modern church. Having flourished in good works, love, faith, service, and patient endurance, they became concerned with the works of their faith at the expense of personal holiness and purity, a topic very relevant for our people.

We began the worship set with Chris Tomlin's Holy Is The Lord, opening the morning with thoughts on God's holiness.

On another note, our worship team meets together about 20 minutes before service starts to read some scripture and pray together in preparation for leading worship. That particular morning we meditated on Isaiah 6 where Isaiah sees the seraphim flying around the throne of God singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" and how this experience shaped Isaiah's life forever. Similarly, we are always affected by the attributes of God that He shares with us. The holiness of the Lord is revealed to Isaiah and from that point on Isaiah is set apart, or holy, from the rest of Israel and used as the vessel through which God chooses to speak. When God's holiness is revealed to us it should follow that we are conformed more to His holiness; when God's faithfulness is revealed to us it should follow that we are conformed more to His faithfulness; when God's grace is revealed to us it should follow that we become more gracious as He is gracious; and so on. It was an awesome time of worship through the reading and meditating of God's Word for our team. He spoke to us a lot in those few minutes.

As for the rest of the set list... after Holy Is The Lord we led Todd Fields' Let Me Sing followed by Hillsong United's The Stand. The general train of thought being the revelation of God's holiness and our call to surrender and obedience based on that revelation.

After the message we closed with Kristian Stanfill's version of Jesus Paid It All, concluding our morning dwelling on the power of the cross and the life of surrender it calls us to.

It was a powerful morning!

Half-baked.

2009-11-10T08:41:00.002-05:00

For some reason I've always wanted to title a Bible-study that. Ha! This morning I was reading from Hosea and found a passage that was particularly convicting and reflective, in my opinion, of the church as a whole today.

Hosea is a book about a prophet who is a living metaphor for the people of Israel. God tells him to marry a prostitute who will be unfaithful to him and to name his three children Jezreel (a land of destruction), No Mercy, and Not My People. Each of these names, as you can tell, are symbolic of who Israel had become to the Lord. They had become spiritually adulterous and turned after anything and everything other than the one true God.

In chapter 7, God begins with some pointed things to say to those who claim to be the "people of God." He says,

"When I would heal Israel,
the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
and the evil deeds of Samaria;
for they deal falsely;
the thief breaks in,
and the bandits raid outside.
But they do not consider
that I remember all their evil.
Now their deeds surround them;
they are before my face."

They don't consider that God remembers their evil. I'm not going to camp out here very long, but that is easier to relate to than most of us would like to admit. How often is sin justified in this manner? We often forget that sin precedes us. We are not in the least intrinsically righteous. There is no such thing as an inalienable right. Everything we have is given not out of obligation, but rather from the hand of a generous and gracious God, yet how easily we become complacent! Moving on...

In verses 8-10, God says...

"Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Strangers devour his strength,
and he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
and he knows it not;
The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
nor seek him, for all this."

He says, those who claimed to be his people were merely cakes not turned, only half-baked. They are cake on one side and dough on the other. They are a head of hair with two different colors, gray mixed in with the brown. They are double-minded. They have mixed passions, mixed aspirations, mixed allegiances, mixed morals, and mixed views. They are not loyal. They are not faithful. They are faithless. They are adulterous.

He even says in verses 10-11,

"I would redeem them,
but they speak lies against me."
They do not cry to me from the heart,
but they wail upon their beds."

And then later caps it off by saying in verse 16,

"They return, but not upward."

Those who claim to be the people of God with their lips and claim something different with the way they live their lives often return, but not to the Most High God. Their return is to sin and self-reliance. There is no such thing as an apathetic and complacent Christian. Either you are an authentic worshiper and follower of God or you are not. There is no middle ground.

It's easy to write this off because in the South we equate devotion to God with keeping the right rules. The problem is that God desires steadfast love and not ritual. He wants intimacy rather than knowledge. There is far more to God than facts and philosophies and without a love and passion for Him they are empty. They are meaningless.

They are half-baked.

Sunday Summary - Nov. 7th, 2009

2009-11-09T09:31:00.003-05:00

First off, my apologies for not having the past couple weeks posted. I got a little behind, but now I'm back up to speed. If you're interested, the songs from the past two weeks are...

Oct. 25th
How He Loves by John Mark McMillan (we played the Kim Walker version)

Message

Till I See You by Hillsong United
None But Jesus by Hillsong United
Beautiful Jesus by Kristian Stanfill

Nov. 1st
All Because Of Jesus by Steve Fee
It Is Well by Todd Fields and Horatio Spafford
Praise The Father Praise The Son by Chris Tomlin

Message

When The Tears Fall (I've Had Questions) by Tim Hughes

Alright, now on to yesterday...

Yesterday was a JAM-PACKED day!! We are still in a series through the 7 churches Jesus speaks to in Revelation chapters 2-3 called The Church Jesus Loves. In addition to that, yesterday was National Orphan Sunday and, since our church is very involved in orphan ministry, we dedicated a portion of our service to the needs pertaining to adoptions as well. So... here's what we did.

We opened with Chris Tomlin's Let God Arise, just getting the morning started praising God for His greatness and deliverance. Following that song, Mike gave a quick welcome, introduced people to the series, and talked about how yesterday was National Orphan Sunday. Following the welcome, a video was played recognizing the families in our church serving through adoption as well as addressing the still very large need for people to step up in the area. You can check it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqqyWVIQJAw

After the video played, we had Danny Stephens (adoption agency representative for the state of Georgia) with us sharing his heart for orphans ministry and also asking people to take a framed photograph of a child in need from the state of Georgia and committing to pray for them as well as consider and seek God's will for their life as it pertains to adoption.

When he was finished the band led Lead Me To The Cross by Hillsong United, which has quickly become one of our church's favorites. It was a great song to tie adoption ministry to the text Mike would be teaching through (which had little to do with orphan ministry) because the song is a plea for God to lead us to His heart, in whatever aspect that may be, whether in service, repentance, etc.

Mike then taught a powerful message about the church at Pergamum and how they had made several compromises in their faith, leading them to deep indwelling sin.

Following the message, the band led The Stand by Hillsong United, just declaring to God that because of what He has done and who He is, we will follow and surrender to His will for our life.

It was a very busy, but very influential and powerful day! Having said that, it's time to get started on next Sunday...

Sunday Summary - Oct. 18th, 2009

2009-10-21T11:50:00.003-04:00

Last Sunday was very cool. We went a little more low-key. We still had the full band, but used much more reflective songs. Usually we have a couple high energy, get up and going kind of praise songs up front, but this time we went more worshipful. Anyway, Mike ended the series we've been in for 16+ weeks through the Sermon On The Mount called Revolution. He did a great job, staying true to the word of Christ and offering fresh perspective on the parable of the two builders by relating it back to where Jesus points out that a true follower of Christ will not only hear the Word, but will do the Word.

So, to start things off we opened with Charlie Hall's version of The Solid Rock. That's as up-tempo as we got last Sunday. After that Mike gave his message and then we closed the service with an extended response in musical worship. We used Hillsong's Stronger, Todd Fields' version of It Is Well, and Kristian Stanfill's Lord Of All. It was a very cool time of worship, focusing on building our lives upon the foundation of Christ and everything that that means for us. It was great to reflect and rest in His sovereignty and authority!

Sunday Summary - Oct. 11th, 2009

2009-10-15T12:32:00.002-04:00

Whew. It's been a busy week. Sorry to get this post out so late. Last Sunday seems like a distant memory now after spending a week planning for the next couple weekends.

Last Sunday was amazing though! God showed up in a powerful way. Mike taught a very hard passage from Matthew 7:13-20 pointing out hypocrisy and apathy in the life of the modern church. It was a very convicting message and God used it to move people into a life lived for His glory.

After opening with a welcome and a video call to worship, the band led Everything by Tim Hughes, Marvelous Light by Charlie Hall, and Hillsong United's Lead Me To The Cross. We focused on Christ being the only way to God and what it means to live a life in pursuit of Him. After the message we led a mellowed out version of From The Inside Out by Hillsong United (an oldie for us now, but a goodie).

May we take the narrow road in pursuit of heart of God!

Sunday Summary - Oct. 4, 2009

2009-10-05T09:46:00.002-04:00

Hello all! Yesterday was a fun day. Mike taught from Matthew 7:7-12, giving a fresh perspective on what Jesus was saying. If you're like me you've heard this passage taught mostly from the perspective of us asking, seeking, and knocking for ourselves through prayer. When you realize that this passage as well as the one before it (7:1-6) is leading up to what we call "The Golden Rule" as its climax, it puts a whole new perspective on the teaching and has massage implications on our faith. Our asking, seeking, and knocking is not done on our own behalf, but rather on the behalf of others... even those we might have ordinarily been likely to judge rather than bless (7:1-6)! Very cool.

Musically, we opened with a Kings of Leon tune called Use Somebody just opening with the idea that there are millions of people out there in need of someone who knows the truth and WE HAVE IT! After a short welcome we led Chris Tomlin's Let God Arise followed by Steve Fee's Glory To God Forever. Both were very upbeat and full of praise, focusing on the urgency of the church to step up and live a life worthy of the gospel, and followed by a powerful, very reflective video on asking, seeking, and knocking on behalf of others. You can check out the video at:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=555419129162&comments

We ended the day with Chris Tomlin's song This Is Our God, playing the arrangement from his Live in Austin Texas album. It was a great way to end the morning! The song focuses on who God is and our need for Him, so it worked especially well when the theme for the morning was on how much the world needs Him and our responsibility to bring the gospel to our community.

In what ways are you asking, seeking, and knocking on behalf of those around you?

Sunday Summary - Sept. 27, 2009

2009-09-28T13:47:00.002-04:00

Yesterday God moved in a unique way. Because of some last minute changes, several of us were a little uncertain of exactly how the morning would flow, but God worked it out wonderfully. We had some very special guests with us, the Bruski family, sharing about their mission to Romania and showing us some of the highlights of the past year as well as some things God has for them in the works. They are a very passionate, very humble family that we are blessed to be in partnership with! We love having them!

So, with that in mind, much of the worship set was mission-focused. After opening with a welcome, we launched into the worship set with Glorious One by Steve Fee, followed by The Highest and Greatest by Tim Hughes, and finishing up with Breathe On Me by Todd Fields. These are all tunes that our church really latches onto in a powerful way, putting into words our passion to see God glorified in everything we do. We ended the day with a phenomenal song by Tim Hughes that is still new to us called God Of Justice. This song has been one of my favorites ever since it came out in 2007. It's very powerful. I pray that the chorus would be true not only of Crossroads Church, but of the Church around the world...

We must go live to feed the hungry,
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go

Sunday Summary - Sept. 20, 2009

2009-09-21T09:13:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was a fun day. We had a few glitches, but God used us in a great way! The morning was focused on Matthew 7:1-6 where Jesus teaches concerning judging others. Kelley was able to get us a gigantic log up on stage as a visual illustration of the "log in your own eye." It was incredible! This thing was huge. It took six grown men just to put it on a hand truck and when they put it on the first hand truck, the wheel bent off. It had to weigh every bit of 600-700 lbs. No doubt. It was very cool looking though! Mike did a great job pulling ideas Jesus was portraying in the passage through the illustration.

Musically, we opened the morning with Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) by Paul Baloche, starting the day lifting praise to God, Hosanna, our Savior, focusing on our need for Him and His providence. After a short welcome we then led Jeremy Riddle's Sweetly Broken (an oldie but a goodie for us) and Hillsong's Lead Me To The Cross (probably an oldie for most other modern churches, but a newbie for us). Katherine did a fantastic job singing and leading Lead Me To The Cross! She has a very mature voice and, the best part, is that she's got an even stronger faith! It will be great to see how God uses her in years to come. The whole idea behind the worship set yesterday was brokenness. With such a hard message on our tendencies to point the finger at others without first stepping back and seeing the sin in our own lives, I wanted all of the worship songs to focus on our sin, but most importantly on the cross and God's grace towards us. Coupled with the message, it made for a powerful morning.

After the message we played one of my favorite songs of late called Sweetest Mystery by Eddie Kirkland. This song is incredibly profound! Just look at the first verse...

Why do you love me? Why do you care?
Greatly You've blessed me, greatly I've erred.
In all of my failings You stood in my place
With patience unending and tireless grace.

Those words really move my heart to worship! I don't know about you, but the patience of God blows my mind when I think about my own life! The band played this song along with a video demonstrating God's love for us. It was of a hand writing sins on a Magna Doodle and then erasing them one by one and ending with the word "clean." It was a great way to end our services. We focused a lot on our depravity, but ended with God's power and forgiveness.

What aspect of God's character has blown you away lately?

Sunday Summary - Sept. 13th, 2009

2009-09-16T09:48:00.002-04:00

Alright! It's been a while since I made a post because it's been ridiculously busy around here getting ready for the move to Monroe Area High School and trying to take a vacation the week before, but everything came together smashingly! I owe an enormous thanks to all of the amazing volunteers that made that happen! They stayed at the high school setting up the day before for 12 hours making sure everything was exactly the way it should be. I have some incredibly dedicated volunteers! God has definitely blessed us in that regard. The stage set looked fantastic and all of the audio/video/lighting looked great as well. It's important to have that kind of environment in a worship gathering that allows people an opportunity to connect with God more freely and these guys pulled it off very well.

As far as the set goes, since it was Celebration Sunday and our church was celebrating 5 years of ministry in our community, we opened with Celebration by Kool & The Gang and spiced it up a bit by having all of our staff and elders come out on stage one at a time dancing to the song and dressed like they were from the 70's. It was awesome! Everybody loved it. It was meant to be an upbeat, light opening to get people smiling and feeling good and it worked!

After things settled down a bit and we did a welcome, we had another special time in our service. Every year on our birthday we have a "year in review" video where we look back on everything God accomplished through us and then challenge the church to keep focused on how God wants to move through us in the future. This year the band played Hillsong's Hallelujah during the video, climaxing on some baptism footage, and encouraging the church to stand and praise God through the song as we showed them all that God had done. It was pretty powerful and a great way for us to get launched into the main worship set.

After that we worshiped through Steve Fee's Glory To God Forever, Todd Field's Let Me Sing, and Hillsong's Came To The Rescue. All of these are songs our church has been particularly moved and encouraged by as of late and were very useful in communicating our desire to live a life worthy of the calling of Christ because of who God is and what He has done and is doing for us.

After the message, Mike led a response time where we encouraged people in the church to come up front and write the name of someone whom they felt God was telling them to reach out to in the coming year on a banner that had our mission statement on it (to "Be & Build Disciples of Christ). While people were doing that, the band played the song By Our Love from the new Christy Nockels album.

It was a very exciting day! I can't wait to see how God uses our church in the new location and how many lives will be impacted for the Kingdom!

Sunday Summary - August 9th, 2009

2009-08-10T11:29:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was a great day. Very different, but really good. Mike was teaching from Matthew 6:5-18, where Jesus tells us not to pray or fast for the praise of others or even for self-gratification, but to genuinely seek the presence of God in those acts. After thinking about this idea throughout last week, we decided to pull the plug on a few things and do something we've never done before at our church (all on Thursday afternoon)! Yeah, I know, kind of last minute, but hey, it was awesome and well worth the trouble! Thanks to some awesome volunteers the morning went flawlessly and God moved!

We decided to scale everything down. We went without a band and I led with an acoustic guitar only. We've done acoustic sets in the past, but even then it still had background vocals, piano, bass, and light drums or some kind of percussion. This time it was just me, which made me a bit nervous. It was very good for me though, because as a musician it's easy to rely on yourself or the talents of others to lead the church in worship. It's easy to rely on our own strength to do stuff like that. We never should, but we do from time to time. Yesterday taught me to what extent I actually do rely on myself rather than God because this time I had no one else to hide behind. I prayed that God would use me to lead others in worship no matter how different it would be and He did. He gets all the praise for what happened yesterday! None of it was from me.

Major credit goes to Mrs. Kelly Smith for getting all the props made and making the stage look the way it did! It was amazing! We had large candle stands with candles lit all around the stage, a large leather chair with a side table and a lamp on one side of the stage, and a replica of the Jewish altar of incense and the veil covering the Holy of Holies on the other. We were going for an intimate feel, talking about the presence of God and our prayers that are ever before Him and she nailed it!

After a warm welcome, I opened with Paul Baloche's version of Brenton Brown's Hosanna (Praise Is Rising), beginning our morning with praise and focusing on the presence of God. After the message we had a longer, worshipful response time where I led with John Mark McMillan's How He Loves, Tim Hughes' Everything, and ending with Todd Fields' Let Me Sing... with some Came To The Rescue thrown in there for good measure. Our people really responded well even though it was just me and an acoustic! God moved in some powerful ways and people were motivated to stop exalting the blessings of God over seeking more of His presence and nearness in their praying and fasting.

Fantastic day! Can't wait until next week.

Sunday Summary - August 2nd, 2009

2009-08-03T09:14:00.004-04:00

Ok, so I haven't done one of these in a couple of weeks. It's been a little crazy as of late.

Yesterday was a good day. It was good to have Mike back with. He had been on vacation for a couple of weeks and while he was gone our family minister and one of our elders filled him for him. They did a fantastic job as well. Mike picked up with Matthew 6:1-4, titling his message "Secret Service, pt. 1," where Jesus begins to teach about doing our acts of righteousness with the right motivations. This week in particular was about giving to the needy not for the praise of men (including ourselves), but only for the glory of God. It was a great day!

As for musical worship, we used Steve Fee's All Because Of Jesus and Jeremy Riddle's Sweetly Broken up front and then Hillsong's Till I See You and Steve Fee's Glorious One after the message. All very solid, engaging worship songs. The band did a phenomenal job leading those songs with lots of energy and our church was really able to engage in praise and worship to the King!

Great work everybody! Praise God!

Sunday Summary - July 12th, 2009

2009-07-13T14:42:00.002-04:00

Ok, so you've heard me talk about how it's nice to have an engaging song up top. Something that the is familiar and really lightens the atmosphere as people are still coming in. Well, yesterday we tried something way different than we've ever done before, followed by some great worship! Of course. :)

We played the game Plinko on our own game show Which Mike Is Right? (A knock-off of The Price Is Right). We pre-selected a contestant - not plants or anything like that, just people that we asked about 10 minutes before the service started - and it was hosted by the pleasantly irreverent and always funny Jeff Keeble! The contestants were asked to answer 5 True or False questions about our pastor Mike Keaton (since he was teaching about integrity) and they earned a Plinko chip for every right answer. It was a lot of fun! Especially with the cheesy game show music, Keeble's "Cuties," and the hokey motion lights to go along with it. We went all out and it was awesome!

So once everyone’s had their funny bone tickled, it’s a whole lot easier to sing. It seems like crowds come alive after something in the opening slot has really helped them let their hair down. That’s another great reason to have something light, fun and engaging right at the top of the service - it actually HELPS worship!

Once we finished that we worshipped through Chris Tomlin's Let God Arise, and Hillsong's Stronger and Came To The Rescue. We also followed up the message with a low-profile, acoustic version of Charlie Hall's Center.

It was a good morning. People got into the worship and God got all the glory!

Sunday Summary - July 5th, 2009

2009-07-06T14:29:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was a hard day for several reasons, but a very good day. It was physically draining having spent most of the previous day setting up and playing for Freedom Fest 2009, a county-wide 4th of July celebration here in Monroe. We played about an hour and fifteen minute set there and didn't get home until really late, which made our early sound check Sunday morning seem to come even more swiftly than usual! It was also a very spiritually hard morning, but one much needed!

Mike taught from Matthew 5:27-32, where Jesus addresses issues like adultery, lust, and divorce. Mike did an amazing job pulling it all together and relating to the relationship we have with God as the Bride of Christ! God spoke through him in a very powerful way. I only pray that the message isn't easily left by the people in our assembly.

Alright, well, musically we did some really fun stuff. We opened the morning with The Fray's hit Over My Head (Cable Car), which is a fun and pretty easy song to play. It went over well and made the atmosphere fun, familiar, and engaging. The song, though it doesn't relate directly to our series as a whole, related to the theme of the message and fit well since the worship set was placed in the latter half of the service for this particular week.

For the worship set we started with a very scaled down, mellow version of Hillsong's From The Inside Out. We've done this song a million times at our church, so it was refreshing for it to have a bit of a different feel. We kept most of the band out until towards the end and left it to the acoustic guitar and the keyboard on a pad, accompanied by the electric guitar lead. It really worked well coming off such a convicting message. The opening verse,

A thousand times I've failed, still Your mercy remains
Should I stumble again, I'm caught in Your grace

really met people where they were emotionally in the moment and propelled us into an incredible time of worship. We followed this song with Tim Hughes' Everything and then ended the day with a Kristian Stanfill tune called Lord Of All, recognizing that in our pursuit of God and His nearness that He, by His sovereignty and providence leads us in righteousness and repentance.

It was a great morning! Can't wait to do it again.

Sunday Summary - June 28th, 2009

2009-06-29T13:43:00.003-04:00

Overall, yesterday was a good day. The response wasn't as strong as I would've liked towards the beginning, but it was still good quality stuff and it wound up being a powerful morning!

We opened with the Tim Hughes song Happy Day, a fun, upbeat song celebrating the salvation we have through Christ! Great song. We've only played it once before, though, so not everyone knew it. I still think it was a good way to open the service because it was really energetic and set the mood for the rest of the morning (which would get progressively more convicting). :)

After the welcome, we did three worship songs back to back, being Glory To God Forever by Steve Fee (yet not released on recording yet), a version of It Is Well by Todd Fields, and ending with Everything by Tim Hughes. Glory To God Forever has been done at our church for a while now and has really become an anthem for what we do here at Crossroads. The people really latch on to that song, making it their prayer to God that He would take our lives and use them completely and solely for his glory. It Is Well is also a favorite in our church, especially considering the changing circumstances so many from our church have encountered in the past year or so.

Everything was new for us this past week, but is a really powerful song that I know will become a staple. The song is a plea for God to be present in any and every circumstance of our lives, to be our everything, and to use us for His Kingdom. It's written from Colossians 1:27, which says that "God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory," that through salvation we have the Spirit of Christ living inside us, directing every move for the glory of the Father.

Before the message we used a video we put together that had various scripture passages pertaining to anger zoom in and out of the screen. The video started with the broad question, "What does the Bible say about anger?" and then went through the various passages, and ended with the more pointed question, "What does the Bible say about you?" This set the message up perfectly, which dealt with Jesus' teaching on anger in the sermon on the mount.

The morning became a very convicting one. God spoke to a lot of people about the way their conflicts in various relationships had been dealt with. We ended with some soft music and invited people to stick around and pray if they needed to. Otherwise, they were free to go. No closing song. Just a nice, soft ending to allow the Holy Spirit to apply the message to their lives.

A look at worship, what it is, and who we are… Pt. 3

2009-06-23T09:41:00.001-04:00

Like most of us, the woman appeals to physical need and says, “Sire, give me this water, so that I will not be thirst or have to come here to draw water.” Convenience is poison to the growing worshiper. Many Christians feel the need to have a worship service tailored to their specific preferences before they are able to engage in authentic worship. This is not only a shame, but also self-assertion: the stark opposite of the self-abnegation that lies at the heart of true worship.

Nevertheless, Jesus does not give up on the woman. He means to create a true worshiper out of her.

“Go, call your husband.”

Ouch! He touches the most sensitive and vulnerable spot in her life. He has pierced the very center of her heart through a wound.

John 3:20 says,

“Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

Why does Jesus use this approach? Because concealed sin keeps us from seeing the light of Christ. John Piper puts it like this, “Sin is like spiritual leprosy. It deadens your spiritual senses so that you rip your soul to shreds and don’t even feel it.”

Unconfessed sin will inevitably callous the soul.

“You have had five husbands, and the man you are sleeping with now is not your husband.”

A look at worship, what it is, and who we are... Pt. 2

2009-06-22T16:46:00.003-04:00

The water that Jesus gives satisfies forever. Even more, when we drink of the living water, our souls become a spring. Let me explain...

John 7:37-39 says, " ³⁷On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."

It is also written in Proverbs 13:14 that, "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life."

Jesus' teaching is a fountain of life. When the thirsty drink it, they are not only revitalized, but then give it to others. John Piper put it like this, "The presence of God's Spirit in your life takes away the frustrated soul-thirst and turns you into a fountain where others can find life." The Word and the Spirit are held together.

The well that the Samaritan woman had been drinking was empty from the first day she drew water from it. The water Jesus offered to her was the Truth and the power of the Spirit. The Truth is not dry, empty, powerless, or lifeless. The Truth is saturated with the life-giving Spirit of Christ!

Sunday Summary - June 22, 2009

2009-06-22T16:25:00.002-04:00

Alright. Well, sometimes there are days when various things happen and the day just doesn't seem to click. Sometimes you have an off day. Yesterday was one of those days for me. Not that a ton of stuff went wrong. It was just a strange day.

We opened with a fun Keith Urban tune called Song For Dad in honor of all the fathers present for Father's Day. This song was kind of a challenge for me because the song has far too many lyrics to squeeze into a tiny verse! It's like a Stephen Curtis song or something. There were about 16 bars and three paragraphs. Ridiculous. Nevertheless, we got it done (in the first service anyway)! In the second service, I had a brain fart and barely recovered. The first verse and half of the first chorus sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown, but the rest of the song was spot on. Hopefully it wasn't really as bad as I remember it.

Everyone else played fantastically!

The only downside to playing that song was that nobody new it. Given, it's never been played on the radio to my knowledge, but still... nobody??? Oh well. It's over with. Next time we'll have a more familiar tune.

As for the worship set, everything went smashingly! We played Charlie Hall's version of How Great Thou Art followed by Tomlin's How Great Is Our God leading into the message. After the message we finished up with a response time playing Came To The Rescue by Hillsong, which is rapidly becoming a favorite at our church!

Rodney McCart spoke this week instead of Mike and taught from Matthew 5:17-20. He did great, but we had a little mishap with the timer. Someone set it for only 30 minutes instead of 40 and Rodney, as you would imagine, finished right on time... unaware that he actually had 10 more minutes. This wouldn't seem to be that big of a problem; however, since a lot of the family members of our musicians come in the second service, they usually hang out together in the hallway having breakfast. They were under the impression that they had a little while before the end of the message and I was left stranded with only a drummer and an electric guitarist for the last song. After playing through the progression for about a minute and a half, the rest of the guys finally came in to lead the last song with me. A little embarrassing.

Needless to say, we fixed it in the second service!

Like I said, sometimes you just have an off day. It's over. Everything is alright. God still moved in the lives of the people there. Thank God for grace, right?!

A look at worship, what it is, and who we are… Pt. 1

2009-06-18T16:52:00.002-04:00

John 4:1-14

The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The Samaritans were half-breed Jews from the northern kingdom who completely rejected the Old Testament except for their own version of the first five books of Moses. Their hatred towards the Jews (and vice-versa) was over a hundred years old.

Jesus walks into the mess, right into the animosity, sits down and asks the woman for a drink. Her response was, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”

Jesus, instead of directly answering her question, decides to raise the bar a bit on this conversation and replies, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

The amazing thing about this story is not that Jesus asks a woman of Samaria for a drink, but rather that she has not asked Him for one!

Having not quite come to grips with what has just happened, she says, “How are you going to give me water when you don’t even have a bucket?” She’s missed the point so far, but Jesus goes on and says, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The amazing thing about the story is not that He asks a Samaritan woman for a drink or that He can give her water without a bucket, but that His water will eternally satisfy her thirst!

When you worship, what are you asking for? The next material blessing? Or an encounter with an ever-satisfying Savior?

Sunday Summary - June 14th, 2009

2009-06-17T10:24:00.002-04:00

I should really start doing these a little closer to the beginning of the week. So many other things come my way that it's hard to remember all the details about Sunday. Oh well, maybe next week. Last Sunday was another good one! We focused primarily on praise rather than worship and people were really engaged.

A lot of people use the terms "praise" and "worship" synonymously, but I tend to disagree with that assumption. Just because LifeWay tends to shove them into the same aisle it doesn't mean they refer to the same thing. Praise throughout the Bible is referenced to making much of God, ascribing value and worth to God, and is typically used in conjunction with celebration. Worship, on the other hand, is accompanied with brokenness and humility. When we see God in such a way that we realize the magnitude of His grace and the depth of our depravity, we begin to worship because humility and brokenness are the only plausible responses. Worship can, however, lead us back to praise in so many ways. When we realize how much our sin grieves the heart of God and how undeserving of His favor we are, but realize His love for us in sending Jesus to reconcile us to Himself, celebration and praise is the outcome!

This weekend we opened with an older Steve Fee tune called Revolution Cry. It's not a really deep song, but really captures the life change and power of the Kingdom of God and was a great way to start our worship gathering. Miriam Nelson did an awesome job nailing the harmony parts to that song, making it sound really nice and full!

Our worship set started with another Fee song, Glorious One. The people at our church respond really well to this song! It's an incredible anthem about the glory of God and the life and victory that comes with His reigning over us! Next we played a newer Todd Fields song called Breathe On Me, which is written from a passage in Ezekiel 37 where it says that God breathed life into a valley of dry bones. The chorus of this song is amazing...

"Forever, You are my reason for living
Merciful Savior unending
Breathe on me

Forever, You are the God of my story
Write every line for your glory
Breathe on me."

The Author of Salvation writing every line of the story of our lives. The church submitting ourselves to God for His will and His kingdom! Powerful!

After the message we ended with a song of response called Let Me Sing written by Todd Fields. It was a great way to reiterate the message given from Matthew 5:13-16, talking about the church as the salt of the earth and light of the world. This song is a worshipful response to Jesus' charge to His church, asking God to fill us with His Spirit and use us to shine the light of Christ "brighter than the stars in the sky" as an offering of praise to Him.

Great work to everyone involved! It was awesome to see how God used us!

Sunday Summary - June 7, 2009

2009-06-10T09:24:00.002-04:00

Last weekend was a lot of fun! It's awesome being able to play with a group of people who are passionate about leading worship and really do their part to make sure everything goes well each and every weekend!

This weekend our pastor was in Romania on a mission trip with a group of people from our church, so our family pastor, Jonathon Long, stepped in to fill the gap and did a fantastic job. He taught through the last half of the Beatitudes, showing how our adoption into the kingdom of God is a call to purity, peace, and persecution. We are made pure by the cross of Christ and expected to live out the reconciliation Jesus provided for us between ourselves and God within our families, friends, and our community (serving the widows, poor, and orphans).

There was a pretty big crowd (considering we were missing about 15 or so people from the mission trip) and lots of energy, making for a good morning of praise toward God!

Jono tends to be pretty comical and witty up front and that allowed us to play some more upbeat songs toward the beginning. We opened with the Lifehouse tune First Time, which was a lot of fun and a big hit! It was a good way to start the morning when our focus began with loving God and being welcomed into His kingdom.

For the worship set we started with Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) by Paul Baloche. Great song! A while back when we introduced the song, I used Psalm 118:25 and cross referenced Mark 11:9-10 to show what the name Hosanna really means. It's a passion of mine that when we use a song of praise or worship that we really understand what we're saying. It's important to know what the names of God mean that we sing because it allows us to engage more fully in praise and worship, having focused on a specific aspect of his character. At any rate, in the Old Testament "Hosanna" was a cry of lamentation meaning, "Save us, Lord, we pray." Psalm 118:25 is the only verse in the Old Testament where we see this Hebrew word used. The next time we see it used, it's in three of the four Gospels where the people cry out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" So the name has a double meaning. It's a plea for help ("Save us, Lord!") and a praise to the Answer ("You are the Savior!"). This is a song that our church has really latched on to and engage in.

We followed that song with Sing To The King by Billy James Foote and Charles Silvester Horne. You're probably more familiar with the version we played from the Passion CD called "Sacred Revolution" and sung by Candi Pearson. A goldie oldie.

After the message, we led a response through the Hillsong tune Till I See You, talking about living for the kingdom of God and passionately pursuing Him in everything we do. It really put the cap on the morning, I thought.

We had a few hiccups with some video-related stuff, but overall a good morning! God was speaking to people and moving among us and that's all we're about anyway.

I'm looking forward to next week.

Sunday Summary - May 31st, 2009

2009-06-01T17:50:00.000-04:00

So this weekend was an interesting one for me.

It started Wednesday when the sore throat hit me. Come Friday the sore throat was accompanied by its friends congestion and sneezing, soon to be met by coughing and a runny nose on Saturday. Luckily the sore throat had left by Sunday morning, but the other adversaries made it increasingly difficult to sing as the morning went on.

Gratefully, God was still working and blessed our efforts!

We're in about a 15-week series entitled Revolution, where our pastor, Mike Keaton, is teaching through the Sermon on the Mount.

So, we've had the opportunity to open with some pretty cool tunes. Last week we launched the series with Revolution by The Beatles. This week we opened the service with the Mayer tune Waiting On The World To Change. Not nearly as difficult as most of his stuff, but nonetheless a fun one to open the service with.

Worship yesterday morning went well. We started off with a Chris Tomlin song most people have been doing for a while now called Let God Arise, but it's relatively new for us. It was a great way to start with praise to God for His victory and power in delivering us! Our church is beginning to latch on to this one.

We followed that song with Todd Field's version of It Is Well, which was very well received by our church. It's the standard hymn sped up a bit, but adds a powerful chorus that goes

"It is well, it is well
Through the storm I am held
It is well, it is well with my soul

It is well, it is well
God has won, Christ prevailed
It is well, it is well with my soul"

Very powerful! Our church has been hit hard by the downturn in the economy because most of our congregation is involved in the housing market. Whether real estate agents, builders, developers, flooring installers, electricians, you name it, they're at our church. For a lot of them, God is using the troubling times to shift their focus and their trust back on Him. Knowing we serve a God who is victorious over the grave brings a lot of hope and stirred our church to a great time of worship!

In his message, Mike taught through the first four of the Beatitudes, showing us how they are meant to be taken in progression. When we are poor in spirit it leads us to mourn over our sin. When we mourn over our sin we become meek and humble before God. When we are meek before God we have a hunger and thirst for righteousness which He satisfies by the sacrifice of His Son.

So, we ended our worship gathering with a call to respond in humility and gratitude for our salvation using Hillsong's Came To The Rescue.

Overall, it was a great day and I'm praying that people were encouraged to connect to God throughout the week in a deeper way than they were before!