Attitude

We talk all the time about our attitude, and what it should be when we worship. We throw around words like, gratitude, humility, brokenness, joy, wholeheartedness.... etc. But what do those things really mean? What does the Bible say about them?

I think this is something that we NEED to investigate, if we are to call ourselves worshipers, and leaders of worship. Our church, and the Church as a whole, needs to know what it means to worship. We talk about this all the time. We say, "Well, if WE are truly worshiping, then our church will see that and be drawn to it." I believe that that is true! I truly believe that when people see God's children engaged with Him, intimately, they can't help but want that for themselves. It's because that's how we were designed. We were designed to want to worship Him. But how can they see that, if we don't understand what it means to worship Him with humility, brokenness, joy... etc.?

I found a great article that listed a bunch of scriptures that references each of these qualities. I've linked them all in this blog. I want each of you to try and look at them all. Just click the links and you'll be taken to the scriptures that reference them. They are short and to the point. But some of them are going to speak different things to each of us. So, here's your "assignment", so to speak. Pick two that you really keyed on and explain what you think. Again, we don't need a book! You don't have to try and write something profound or brilliant. By sharing what God shows you, you will be writing something profound and brilliant! (see how that works!) I'll start.

Justice: I was floored by this scripture! God says, as plainly as He possibly could, that he isn't interested in my songs or my singing, or my talent, or my offering. He even call's them, and I quote, "Noisy hymns of praise!". Why? Does God not liked to be praised through song? NO! That's not what He's saying. He says that if my heart isn't right, that if I'm not living a life that exemplifies worship all the time, then He doesn't want my songs on Sunday. It's nothing more than a peace offering for the week that I spent ignoring Him!

Purity: This Leviticus passage is weird! Let's be honest... the entire book of Leviticus is weird! It's a very hard book to read. For a lot of people, they feel like it is the "Rule Book" of the Bible. It's full of crazy things you shouldn't do! However, we must remember. The Israelites didn't have a Saviour yet. And just as Erik talked about, before Christ, they had "the Law". And when you have a bunch of "laws" to live by, they begin to leave questions about boundaries. So, what happens? You start having to justify those questions by adding more boundaries to the already existing law. This passage talks about the sacrifice being pure before God. That If you don't present a perfect animal for the sacrifice, it is not worthy and God will not acknowledge it. The beauty is... we have already had the perfect sacrifice. It was Jesus. And so, while this passage doesn't apply to us, in that, we don't sacrifice cows and goats to atone for our sins anymore, we do offer ourselves. That is our worship. We cannot come before God to worship, harboring anger, malice, pride, or any other junk in our heart. We have been given the perfect sacrifice. We MUST lay that down at the cross and ask God to purify our hearts before we worship Him. And since we are to live a life of worship.... (you can connect the dots here!) then we must do this daily. Only when we truly ask Jesus to clean our hearts and repent (which is not the same as confessing. To repent means to acknowledge our sin and turn from it. To make every effort to not return to that behavior) then we can truly worship Him.

Those are my thoughts. Tell me yours. And please, guys and gals, don't just click on two of them and then comment on those two. Please, try to look at all of them. You don't go to a restaurant and ask them to only tell you about two things on the menu! You look at everything... and then make your choice!... (I'm just saying!) Living a life of worship involves all of these things. We need to know what God says about all of them!

Love Y'all.

Honesty (John 4:23), Gratitude and Reverence (Hebrews 12:28), Faith (Hebrews 11:4), Righteousness (Malachi 3:3), In the Spirit (Phil. 3:3), Humility and brokenness (Psalms 51:15-19), Purity (Leviticus 22:18-22)

Wholeheartedness (Deut 6:4-6; 1 Chronicles 29:6-9), Joy (Phil. 4:4, 1 Chron. 15:16)
Loyalty (Hosea 6:4, 6), Justice (Amos 5:22-24), Simplicity (Exodus 20:25), Self-giving (Ephesians 5:1; Romans 12:1)

Worship In Heaven

What is worship in Heaven going to be like? We hear all the time about how God's throne room is full of worshipers, who never cease in worshiping Him. For us, that can be overwhelming to understand. And in the book of Revelation, we're actually given a small glimpse of what worship will look like in Heaven. For a lot of people, reading the book of Revelation can be confusing. Many argue that it is a lot of symbolism. I personally believe, as I hope you all do, that the word of God, the Bible, is the complete and absolute word of God, without error. If that's the case, then when John speaks of the Elders and the creatures that he saw in his vision, we must believe that there are going to be these things in Heaven, just as they are written. Can you imagine seeing these things! But here's what gets me... of all the things that God has EVER created, He tells us that we are His most prized possession. So, though we may be in awe of seeing these things, can you imagine what they think? They get to live in God's Heaven already. They've been there for all eternity. What, then, do you think they think of us, when they see us.... God's most prized creation. That should make you think about how you live your life. It should make you think about how you worship. There are these beasts, with like six wings, with a bunch of eyes on them, who do nothing but sing praise 24 hours a day, without ceasing. And as spectacular as they are, they cannot measure up to what we were created for.

So my question is this. If that's the kind of worship that is going on in Heaven right now, how are we measuring up? We have to live our lives in constant worship of Him. What are you doing to make that happen? What are the things that we can do as a team to encourage each other to be living a life worthy of the grace that we live under?

Love you all.

What Do We Worship

Romans 1:18-32 is a passage of scripture, where Paul talks about worship. Not just Praising and Singing, but living a life of worship. He asks a good question and then gives us something to really ponder, in the form of a warning that should scare us all to death. He says that God will eventually abandon those who turn from Him, worshiping idols, and leave them to pursue the evil desires in their hearts. And then He talks about some consequences of those actions.

What do you think is our job as a worship team? Is it merely to lead our church in the time of Praise and Worship that we do on sundays? Or is it more? I want everyone to honestly consider what is in our lives and takes the place of God at times. I want to hear some of your answers. And then, I want us to spend some time talking to each other, encouraging each other, praying for each other and holding each other accountable for the things that we reveal. Because make no mistake, we will be judged for the life that we live. And if we call ourselves worshipers, and leaders of worship, we will be expected to live a life that reflects it. I'll go first. For me, I put my work and my family before God sometimes. Though I do ministry for a living, it's just that. Ministry. It is not through my job that I worship God. When I take time away from Him and focus on my family (whom He blessed me with) and my job (which He so graciously allows me to have), I deny Him the worship that He deserves. There are other things in my life, I'm sure, that keep me from focusing on Him more. I'm really going to challenge myself to pray about those things and ask God to forgive me, and guide me, so that I'll put Him first in everything I say and do. Where are you on this?

Love you all.

Let the Young Rule!

Hey everyone. I'm really enjoying this blog. So many of you are posting regularly and even a couple times. Please continue to do so. It's encouraging to see all of us grow like this.

So, the Journey is a young church. We have some relatively young leadership (compared to most churches). And all throughout the scriptures God appointed people who weren't necessarily the most qualified, or seasoned, to do His will. I know that we are going to get some push back as to who our leaders are.... we're young, we're rebellious, we don't have a respect for authority and customs, we aren't reverent enough.... Blah Blah Blah! And most of them will be talking about how we do things sooo differently from what church "Should" be (that is... according to how they see it)

My question is... are we qualified? Do we need tons of experience to be effective? Do we carry the authority to be His witnesses? Here's what the scriptures say. You tell me what it means to you. Jeremiah

Listening and Doing

In the first Chapter of James, he begins to delve into this whole idea of "Watch your tongue". James is consumed with the idea that what comes out of our mouths is a direct reflection as to where your heart is. For some of us, I fear, it may not be a matter of the heart, as much as it is a matter of habit.

I know that deep in my heart I don't want to make snide remarks about people, or let a curse word slip, but sometimes it's just a habitual reaction. I mean, C'mon! I lived for 10 years on the road with 20 guys who could say a complete sentence, using nothing but the "F" word, and you knew exactly what they were talking about.

So here's my question. At what point does it cease to be a habitual problem and become a heart problem. And if you use the excuse of "Well it's just habit"... does that really mean that you're not that concerned with growing past your old self?

This was a huge deal for me. I won't lie... sometimes when I get really mad, I still slip up and say something that I would not say if Jesus were standing right beside me. But I can honestly say that I don't just flippantly use bad language out of habit. I try not to revert back to that when I have conversations with some of those old road guys.

What I have realized is that, as a Christ follower, I must ask God to burden my heart to want to change the way I talk, so that I don't give Him a black eye, by popping off and saying something that any nonbeliever would say, and then someone ask me.... Hey, don't you go to church all the time? Aren't you some kind of music minister or something? And then they laugh, as if associating myself with those things is a big joke. Because to them... they see nothing different about me.

I want to challenge all of us, to begin to really watch ourselves and how we talk. And not just around non-believers, but especially around each other.

Here's what James has to say. Check it out and give me your thoughts. You can also read the entire book of James and comment, if you want. It's not that long. I think.... 5 chapters.