What Worship Is

Here's a link to a link to a FANTASTIC sermon on worship. It resonates with what I've said on this blog before: that we are by nature worshipers (whether it is God that is the object of our worship is another question), and that worship is so much more than singing! This link goes to the blog from Desiring God Ministries (the ministry of one of my favorite Christian authors John Piper), which then links to Sovereign Grace Fellowship.

Christians and Halloween

One of my favorite bloggers, Albert Mohler, has written about Halloween and the Christian response. Check out the full article here, but here's an excerpt:

Christian parents should make careful decisions based on a biblically-informed Christian conscience. Some Halloween practices are clearly out of bounds, others may be strategically transformed, but this takes hard work and may meet with mixed success.

The coming of Halloween is a good time for Christians to remember that evil spirits are real and that the Devil will seize every opportunity to trumpet his own celebrity. Perhaps the best response to the Devil at Halloween is that offered by Martin Luther, the great Reformer: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him for he cannot bear scorn."

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther began the Reformation with a declaration that the church must be recalled to the authority of God's Word and the purity of biblical doctrine. With this in mind, the best Christian response to Halloween might be to scorn the Devil and then pray for the Reformation of Christ's church on earth. Let's put the dark side on the defensive.

Preparing for Sunday Oct. 28th

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and hold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness-with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing-if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

This is a somewhat debated section of scripture among evangelicals, specifically the instructions to women as to how they are to behave in the church. The debate is over whether the command was one that applied only to the culture at the time, or if it is based on God's order of creation, and applies regardless of time or place. You'll have to come and hear Pastor Todd's message to find out which one it is! (No pressure Pastor Todd)

In order to prepare our hearts for this somewhat loaded passage, we're going to be singing songs that focus us on how great and amazing God is. We won't be following a specific theme, except for the greatness of God, so that when we encounter this passage that may take some time to digest, we can always turn back to knowing that God is sovereign, and he has revealed everything he intended to reveal to us in his Word. Even when we face passages that are hard to process, God knew what he was doing, and as the apostle Paul says in his second letter to Timothy: ALL scripture is breathed out by God, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

We'll start with the song "How Good And Pleasant" which I introduced a few Sunday ago, which brings our hearts together in the joy of corporate worship. Then we'll have a time of announcements to keep us up to speed on what's happening in our local body.

We'll jump back into singing with "Holy Is The Lord" "Indescribable" and "Beautiful One" which all point us to the glory and majesty of God!

Hopefully we'll take that mindset with us as Pastor Todd brings us God's Word from 1 Timothy, and we'll pray for God's Spirit to enlighten us, and give us discernment in how to understand and apply his Word.

We'll respond with "How Great Is Our God" and end by committing ourselves to seek after God as we sing "Be Thou My Vision."

Hope to see you all there, and look forward to worshiping together!

Keeping Music In Its Right Place

I read a post on worship leader Bob Kauflin's blog. He was commenting on a recent interview with "The Boss," Bruce Springsteen. Read it here.

Bill Cosby!

One of my favorite bloggers Albert Mohler, posted an entry reviewing Bill Cosby's new book. It addresses the breakdown of the family, and calls for a recovery of fatherhood. I won't try to describe it anymore, having not read it myself, but check out Mohler's review. It sounds like a timely and necessary book for our culture.

Preparing For Sunday Oct. 21

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

This is the apostle Paul's call for prayer. The church had apparently stopped praying that the lost might come to a saving knowledge of the sacrificial death of Christ! He also urges them to pray for leadership, both that they may be saved, and that as a result they would be able to live godly lives under that leadership.

This Sunday we will have a special segment in our service devoted to prayer for our leadership, and we will pray for 1) our national leadership, 2) our state leadership, and 3) our local leadership. It is our prayer that this will model what we should be doing in our own personal prayer lives, as it is a command of Scripture. Set aside some time in the next few days to pray specifically for those that don't know the Lord, either people you know, or the lost in general, and also for those that the Lord has placed in leadership over us.

We'll also be able to meet the pastor of the church "next door" (in the gym): Real Life Church. Pastor Rusty George will stop by Crossroads' service so that we can be introduced to him, and to pray for their ministry that takes place a few short feet away. Pastor Todd will also have the opportunity to pop into Real Life's service for the same purpose.

Here's how our morning will look. We'll sing a few songs to call our hearts and minds together to corporate worship: "Stir In Me" and "Your Grace Is Enough," and then we'll have a short time of greeting. We'll come back and sing "To God Be The Glory" together, which is an arrangement by worship leader Tommy Walker. Take a listen to the sample, because though it's a familiar hymn, he does a few really neat changes with the rhythm of the verses and chorus. Then I'll read the Scripture passages I posted above, that will call our hearts to corporate prayer. The song "May The Mind Of Christ My Savior" is a well known prayer-hymn that echoes the call of the apostle to live peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified lives in every way.

Pastor Rusty will hopefully be over by this time and we can introduce him, and incorporate that into our prayer time for leadership. Wayne Dell, Ken Ruggles, and Darrin Utley will then lead in corporate prayer for national, state, and local leadership, and then we will respond with a prayer in the form of a song that we might live in a way that is honoring to God as we live ultimately under His leadership. The song is called "May The Words Of My Mouth (Psalm 19)."

Then Pastor Todd will bring us his message from 1 Timothy 2. Each week I've been reading from the beginning of 1 Timothy through the specific text Todd is preaching on, this way I keep myself familiar with what we've already studied, and prepare for his teaching on the next section. I find that it has been really helpful to remind myself of where we've been, and how it all contributes to where we are going in the book, and to stay mindful of the context in which the apostle is writing to Timothy. If you don't have another way that you prepare for the teaching each week, you might give that a try.

We'll respond to the truth of God's Word by returning to the chorus of "May The Words" and then closing with the song "Humble King" which reminds us that even Christ, God incarnate, did not come into the world to dominate the culture, or to put Himself on a cultural pedestal, but He came humbly, to do the will of the Father, and ultimately, to die a death He did not deserve in order that God's wrath for sin might fall on Him and not on us!!

I hope this helps you to prepare your hearts to gather together and respond to all that God has revealed Himself to be through His Word. The corporate worship experience is one that I hope we all look forward to, and take seriously, as we come before his presence as one body, and offer up songs of praise, prayers, offerings, and our desire to know Him more through His Word!

See you all on Sunday!

The Corporate Gathering And The Sum Of Its Parts

What a great morning this past Sunday! It is truly a blessing to be able to worship our God together as the local body of Christ at Crossroads Community Church!

The following is an excerpt from a book I've been reading entitled "Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives On Worship And The Arts" by Harold Best. It talks about the unique environment that is created when individual believers, who are all fully indwelt by the Spirit of God, meet together with other individual believers, who also are fully indwelt by the Spirit of God:

In a synergy, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and in a particular way, the coporate gathering is this kind of synergy...Even though Christ is the same in a single believer as he is in a million believers, a corporate gathering is somehow more than the sum of its individually indwelt parts, especially in this sense: no one has the same story. Everyone is diversely working out his and her salvation, and the Holy Spirit is at work making a sum of this diversity. Christ is at work with him, presenting this combined story, Sunday after Sunday, synergy after synergy, to the Father. This will not show itself visibly or measurably but authoritatively, powerfully and spiritually. The power does not lie in sheer numbers, for where two or three are gathered, the synergy is just as real. The power and the glory of this is inward, in the heart of each worshiper. If the Holy Spirit chooses to make this outwardly manifest, and should the entire assembly break into unpredicted ecstasy (whether in charged silence or Pentecostal polyphony), so be it. Our task is to be so spiritually alive that readiness for anything is as normal as lighting the candles or singing a chorus.

Sunday mornings are a melting pot of the goodness and faithfulness of God in each of our lives, and when we come together to lift up and glorify his name as one, it is, as Best puts it, a "synergy."
The main argument of Best's book is that God is a being of continuous "outpouring" (outpouring of himself), and since we are created in God's image, we were neither created TO worship, nor FOR worship, but that we were created worship-ING, and that our worship is indeed "Unceasing." The issue then is whether the object of our continual worship is God or something else. I highly recommend this book to you; it will challenge your thought process, and how you view worship.

Holding Faith And A Good Conscience

This Sunday Pastor Todd wraps up 1 Timothy chapter 1, with the apostle's call to "wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience." He's spent the majority of this first chapter warning us against getting sucked into false teaching and doctrine, but to hold fast to the "gospel of the glory of the blessed God."

We realize that this "good warfare" we are called to wage is not purely against teachers with wrong doctrine, but in a greater sense, against the "devil's schemes" as Paul says in Ephesians. In chapter 6, he tells us

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We must take take seriously the call to hold fast to faith and a good conscience. This is a call to godly living and integrity in each of our lives! And I know in my own life, this is a significant battle each and every day that leaves us bruised and battered at times.

The good news is that we rely not on our own strength, but on the strength of an all-powerful, sovereign God, who equips us to do that which he has called us to do!

This Sunday, we will corporately seek God's strength and wisdom in our lives, that we might walk in a manner worthy of our calling as Christians. We'll start the service with "Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)" which has such a great chorus: "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, Your love makes me sing!" It reminds us that we're not offering God something he needs when we sing, but we're responding to how he has met our needs, both by being who he is, and because of his perfect plan of redemption in our lives!

Then we'll have a few short announcements, and then a baby dedication! How great it is that these parents want to stand before the church body and commit to bringing their child up in the ways of the Lord, and how great it is that the church body commits to encouraging, and helping them to keep that. Then we'll sing some more: "Be Glorified" again cries to God to accomplish his perfect will in our lives through his strength, and we'll learn a new song called "Lord Jehovah" which is a song of commitment on our part to bow before the Lord's throne and bring glory, honor, and praise in everything that we do. Right before the sermon, we'll sing "Change My Heart Oh God" as turn our hearts to the life changing truth of scripture and seek the Spirit's sanctification through it.

Pastor Todd will preach a message entitled "Don't Let Satan Blow It Out" calling us to the same charge Paul give to Timothy.

Then we'll respond with two "Take My Life" songs: the great hymn "Take My Life And Let It Be" and "Take My Life (Holiness, holiness, is what I long for)"

Looking forward to worshiping with all of you this Sunday!

Sunday October 7, 2007

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope your week thus far has been filled with examples of God's faithfulness and goodness (even in the trials!). I am so excited to come and worship together with you this Sunday as my first "official" Sunday as Worship Director!

Even as I consider what the title "Director of Worship" connotes, I hope that we will together learn what it means to worship God with the entirety of our lives. Many people have isolated the word "worship" to mean the singing of 5-6 worship songs in church on Sunday. If that were my only responsibility, my title would be much more accurate if it were "Director of Music." However, it is my passion and desire for all of us as part of God's bride to be more than "singers of worship songs," but to truly be "worshipers."

We'll explore much more about what this means in the coming weeks, months, and years (God willing), but I want to continue to emphasize the opportunity of coming together with the community of believers that call Crossroads home (and also with those God would bring to visit). When we gather together to pray, sing, give, sit under teaching from God's Word, and edify each other, we are bringing glory to God!

Hebrews 10:19-25 offers us a glimpse of the joy and responsibility of entering the "holy place" by the blood of Christ:

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting meeting together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So we see that we must come with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, coming with our sins confessed and forgiven by our just and faithful God! And we must hold fast our confession of hope: the gospel, which is exactly the theme that the apostle Paul is writing to Timothy about in his first letter, which Pastor Todd is preaching through right now. We must consider how to "stir up" each other to good deeds, encouraging and exhorting each other to live out our lives as those worthy of the call of Christ. We must not neglect meeting together; be at church, don't miss, the body suffers when one of it's parts is missing. And encourage one another; we are God's chosen people, we have an unfailing God, and a sure hope of salvation from the consequences of our sin!

Just a quick look at the service so you can prepare:
I'll be introducing a new song by worship leader Tommy Walker called "How Good and Pleasant" which comes out of Psalm 133, as a call to worship. We'll have a few announcements, and then sing some songs that direct our thoughts to the Word of God, and specifically to the ideas found in the passage Pastor Todd is preaching from- 1 Timothy 1:12-17 (reading the passage=always a great way to prepare) : "Amazing Grace," "Overwhelmed," and "Immortal, Invisible God, Only Wise." Pastor Todd will then bring God's Word to us, and we'll follow that with a time of communion where we will also be able to respond in song with "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross." We'll end the service by singing "Majesty" by Delirious, rejoicing in the hope of our salvation through Christ!

I look forward to seeing all of you at 9:30 am this Sunday as we gather to worship our great God!

Stand Firm in the True Grace of God!

Crossroads' youth group, Foundations, began a study of the book of 1 Peter last night at their biweekly Bible study ("biweekly" meaning every two weeks, somehow it means both "every two weeks" AND "twice a week" in the dictionary...go figure). Kyle Ruggles is heading up this ministry, and it's a privilege and pleasure to serve with him.

He gave us a little background of the environment in which Peter was writing this letter: Nero had burned Rome to the ground in order to make room in the city for him to build his legacy (literally, to build buildings, structures, monuments, etc. that people would "ooh" and "aah" over), and he's gone and blamed the Christians for it!! Naturally, these Christians would be encountering some significant persecution, both from Nero, and from other Romans, and Peter is writing to encourage and instruct them.
He states his purpose and theme of the book in his final greeting:
"By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him,
I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring
That this is the true grace of God.
Stand firm in it." (5:12)

Kyle then talked to us about his initial greeting in verses 1 and 2. Immediately we encounter the word "elect" which necessitates at least some discussion on predestination. Kyle was thankfully honest about the fact that we were not going to solve this centuries old debate at our hour-and-a-half Bible study, and he briefly explained the seemingly opposing ideas of predestination and free-will, and the reality that because God's ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours, that in his perfect will and plan, these things somehow work together, and better display his glory.

Verse 2 describes the process of salvation, that God foreknew those who would be his children, sprinkled them with the blood of Jesus Christ, and sanctifies them through the Spirit. He then gives his customary: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Kyle then asked the big questions: Do we have peace? Are we at peace with God?

The Roman Christians were struggling to keep their faith alive, and no doubt they went through periods where they lacked peace. Wondering why God would allow them to go through the things that were happening, wondering if he would be faithful to provide for them, to take care of them. Realize that these questions probably opened their mind to bigger issues: if God isn't saving me now from these earthly trials, how do I know he'll save me from his own infinite wrath that I deserve because of my sin??

If you want to know how Peter reinforced their weakening faith, just read the rest of 1 Peter ch. 1! He doesn't tell them any new secret, he tells them the gospel!!

How often do we wonder if God will be faithful in our lives. Probably not that many of us have experienced persecution such as the Roman Christians were experiencing, but we have our own trials and hardships, and we (I know I do) catch ourselves wondering why in the world God is letting these things happen, and if he will come through (sometimes the ways we think he should "come through" for us can be a little skewed as well).

I'd encourage you to read 1 Peter 1, and to put yourself back in Rome in 64 AD, in the shoes of a 1st century Christian, and to understand that the gospel is living and abiding within you, so that nothing in this world can shake you from the firm foundation of God's Word!

"...you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable,
through the living and abiding word of God;
for 'all flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.'
And this word is the good news that was preached to you."