SIX WAYS WORSHIPING GOD ON SUNDAY SHOULD TRANSFORM THE WAY WE LIVE THE REST OF THE WEEK (Pt. 3)

So how are we doing in these areas? Is the time we spend worshiping God on Sundays making us more humble? Is it making us more secure?

Undoubtedly these things will take time to manifest themselves in our lives, and we'll never reach a point where we are perfectly humble, or perfectly secure, but these should be practical responses to the time we spend worshiping together.

Let's continue reading from Bob Kauflin's "Worship Matters..." for the third way our lives should be transformed by worshiping together:

3) Worshiping God should make us grateful

There's a reason God commands us to "Enter his gates with thansgiving, and his courts with praise!" (Psalm 100:4). "For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever" (Psalm 100:5). And he has been unspeakably kind to us.

When people ask my friend C.J. Mahaney how he's doing, he typically brings God's kindness to mind by responding, "Better than I deserve." Someone might think he's just received an unexpected gift or he's an optimistic guy. It's much deeper than that. He's reminding himself of the gospel.

I've adopted that response at times and have received negative reactions. Some people thought I suffer from low self-esteem. I told them I have no problem thinking highly of myself, too highly in fact.

The truth is we're all doing much better than we deserve. Because of our sin, we all deserve hell.

Yet many times people walk into our meetings unfulfilled, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. They've been thinking about others who are richer, more beautiful, more well known, stronger, more talented, or more godly.

Worshiping God rightly should open our eyes to God's amazing grace. We remember how in Christ Jesus we are redeemed and reconciled to our Father and therefore are enabled to abound in gratefulness and thanksgiving. Our greatest need has been taken care of at the cross.

For that reason, we're able to abound in gratefulness and thanksgiving. In fact, songs of gratefulness are one way Christianity is distinct from other faiths, as one author reminds us:

The great faiths of the Buddhists and the Mohammedan give no place either to the need for the grace reconciliation. The clearest proof of this is the simplest. It lies in the hymns of Christian worship. A Buddhist temple never resounds with a cry of praise. Mohammedan worshipers never sing. Their prayers are, at the highest, prayers of submission and of request. They seldom reach the gladder note of thanksgiving. They are never jubilant with the songs of the forgiven.

When we gaze on the cross of Christ and truly recognize that we should be hanging there instead, what response can there be but overflowing gratefulness?

Preparing For Worship: September 28, 2008

Well this month is just full of awesome things at Crossroads! Our Men's and Women's Bible studies started back up, we just celebrated our two year anniversary as a church, and now we are having our first dual-service Sunday!

It will probably take some getting used to, but we are all so excited to be expanding the ministry of our little church, and we hope that we quickly fill up the seats we've freed up by adding a second service.

I am also excited about our C4 ministry as well, which will be a series-based class focusing on on a variety of topics. This ministry will be so beneficial and help our people grow in their knowledge of God's Word!

As far as what this Sunday holds, here's what's going on...

We're starting the service with "Indescribable" and I tried something a little different with the lyric slides that you'll see on the screen. I thought that since there is so much imagery in the lyrics to the song, that it might be cool to see some actual images of those things behind the words we're singing. I found some REALLY cool images that hopefully will give us new perspective on the words we're singing.

Pastor Todd will come and lead us in prayer, and welcome our visitors, before giving us all a chance to do the same.

We'll continue singing, and this week we're focusing on how holy, and perfect, and amazing our God is, and as we grow in our understanding of this, it makes the passage we'll be studying make all the more sense. Jesus said "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" and as we realize the gap between our righteousness and God's perfect standard, we can understand our deep need for the Savior!

We'll sing "Immortal, Invisible" followed by "Good To Me" before we sing "Create In Me" as a prayer of preparation for the work that God's Holy Spirit wants to work in us as we hear His Word proclaimed.

As we respond together after the sermon, we'll sing "Give Us Clean Hands" and end the service with "Be Glorified" as we continually resolve to seek him and live a life worthy of his calling, by the power of his Spirit who lives within us!

Happy preparation!

SIX WAYS WORSHIPING GOD ON SUNDAY SHOULD TRANSFORM THE WAY WE LIVE THE REST OF THE WEEK (Pt. 2)

If you haven't read the first post in this series, check it out HERE.

But for the rest of you, let's jump in to reason number two!

From "Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God"

2) Worshiping God should make us secure

A few years ago the community where I live was terrorized by mysterious murders that took place in ordinary circumstances of everyday life. People were struck down by a sniper while they engaged in everyday activities such as filling up a gas tank, mowing a lawn, or catching a bus on the way to work.

For three weeks the fear and tension in the surrounding areas was palpable. People would zigzag as they walked through a parking lot, hoping no one could get a good shot at them.

Eventually the snipers were caught. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief

As we planned for the Sunday meetings during that time, we wanted to specifically remind our church that God was in absolute control. More than that, we wanted them to know that God's Word, rather than the media, was the best way to find out how things were going. So we sang songs such as "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman and Edward Mot's "The Solid Rock."

After the terrible tsunami disaster in December 2005, I added a new chorus to William Cowper's hymn "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" to help the church not only proclaim the truth about God's sovereignty but to respond in faith to it:

So God we trust in you;
O God we trust in you;
When tears are great and comforts few
We hope in mercies ever new;
We trust in you.

The foundation of our security in God is not our preparation and plans, nor what others can provide for our protection. Our security doesn't ultimately rest in our alarm system, our military might, the police, or the stock market. Our security ultimately rests in the unchanging love of God, most gloriously displayed at Calvary.

One of the reasons Christians often question God's protection and love is that they fail to keep the crucified and risen Savior at the center of their worship. The comfort and strength that corporate worship instills in us is more that the result of soothing music or a familiar setting. It's the reminder that nothing in heaven, hell, or in between can "separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39)

Thanks Bob for that valuable insight. Let's put this into practice this week!!
If you're curious about some of the songs he mentioned you may want to click the following:
"Blessed By Your Name"
"The Solid Rock"
"God Moves in a Mysterious Way"

Reflections on a Sunday: September 21, 2008

What a great morning we had this past Sunday! We celebrated two years of God's blessing and faithfulness to Crossroads Community Church, and I believe that God was honored by our time.

Our special guests Majesty shared their wonderful music ministry with us, and encouraged us by reminding us of some of the incredible attributes of God. They reminded us that he is faithful, even when we don't understand his plan, or when we encounter trials of all kinds; we are to count them as joy!

Pastor Todd preached God's Word from Matthew 5:7, teaching us what real mercy is, as exemplified by the life of Jesus.

We closed by singing "Mighty To Save" and I just wanted to share a little bit of what went on behind the scenes regarding that.

As I talked and planned with Majesty early last week, we had decided to have everyone sing "Blessed Be Your Name" together, and as Friday rolled around, I really wanted to have another song that we all sang together to close the service. So all day Friday, and Saturday I mulled over the number of songs we currently do at Crossroads, looking for that "perfect" song to end the service with. It normally doesn't take me two days to pick one song, and it was somewhat frustrating not to be able to decide on one.

Sunday morning came and I still hadn't picked that song, but this is what DID happen. I woke up in the morning still fretting about what song to do, when all of a sudden I realized that what was keeping me from picking the song was pride. Pride had subtly crept in to my heart as I kept thinking about what song to end with. I wanted to craft the perfect ending to what I hoped was going to be a great service, and I wanted to do it for my own gratification.

Sure, I wanted everyone to share in the awesome worship experience I was hoping to facilitate, but as I reflected on the past two days, I realized that most of all I wanted to feel good about the service, and I wanted God pat me on the back for being clever in my planning.

So I gave up my desire to find the perfect song, and asked Majesty to just end the service with a simple hymn medley that they'd told me they had, and I confessed my pride to the Lord. It was such a relief, and I felt perfectly confident that the service would be a blessing to our people, and most importantly, to the Lord, without my perfect song.

Then, the Holy Spirit sprang to work!

As Pastor Todd was preaching about mercy, I began to think of the song "Mighty To Save." I had considered it during my search, but had concluded that it wasn't the perfect song I was looking for. But Pastor Todd continued to preach, and it even started to seem like he was quoting lines from the song as he spoke! I felt that the Holy Spirit was directing and leading in a way I hadn't felt before, and so I asked Majesty if they'd be willing to change plans and sing "Mighty To Save" with me as a closing song. They were very flexible and accommodating, so I went and loaded the slides, and grabbed my guitar.

I checked my heart for pride, and went ahead and led "Mighty To Save" after the sermon, and I think that the Holy Spirit had gone ahead and picked the perfect song after all! It gave us the chance to corporately respond to the truth we had just heard, and to connect our minds with our hearts and emotions, and respond to the greatest mercy of all: Christ on the cross.

So I wanted to share that story to show how God had lead and directed through his Spirit, and how in spite of my sinful pride, his name was glorified and lifted up in an amazing and powerful way. We as leadership often would claim that we want to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, but it's not often that such a dramatic chain of events conspires the way it did Sunday.

Praise God for his faithfulness, and for his forgiveness and mercy. He showed his greatness when I was able to let go of my pride and seek his will, and I think our service, and our people (me most of all!) benefited greatly.

Thank you Lord!

Preparing For Worshp: September 21, 2008

This Sunday is a very special occasion; it marks the two year anniversary of the beginning of Crossroads Community Church in the backyard of Josh and Debbie Abramson!

I've only been a part of the ride for the last year, but even in that time, I've been able to see God's amazing faithfulness to this little church. There is no doubt in my mind that he has some extraordinary plans to use Crossroads to magnify his great name in the SCV and elsewhere; and I know you all would agree!

This Sunday we have a few special things planned in celebration of turning two years old. We will have the vocal group Majesty, from The Master's College, here to minister in song, and lead in worship singing. They will share some great truths about the character of God, and remind us of his faithfulness to generations past, and remind us that we can trust him to be faithful to us today!

We will dedicate one of our newest little guys, Chase Kostjuk, to the Lord, commission his parents, Tyler and Cristen, to bring him up in the ways of the Lord, and commit to continually support them as their church family.

Pastor Todd will continue teaching us from the Sermon on the mount; this week teaching from the fifth beatitude having to do with mercy. We're just over halfway through the beatitudes, so don't check out, let's squeeze all the wisdom we can out of this section of scripture where Jesus so plainly and clearly tells us how we should live.

Majesty will close our service out with another song, and then we'll all share lunch together thanks to the Tommy's Burgers cookout trailer, which will meet you as you exit the building.

Looking forward to a great morning of celebration and thanksgiving. Be sure to join us, and happy preparation!

SIX WAYS WORSHIPING GOD ON SUNDAY SHOULD TRANSFORM THE WAY WE LIVE THE REST OF THE WEEK (Pt. 1)

When we meet together on a Sunday, what do we expect? Do we expect to come sing some songs, hear a "nice talk" and drop a check in the offering box? Do we come to see our friends and make plans for lunch?

God wants to use the time we spend together as the local body of Christ to make us more like his son, as the apostle Paul tells us:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18)

The following is from Bob Kauflin's "Worship Matters..." book. He suggests six ways that worshiping God on Sunday mornings should transform the way we live the rest of the week.

We'll take these one at a time so we can think through each one:

1) Worshiping God should make us humble

If we see even a glimpse of the glory and splendor of God, it will produce a genuine humility in our hearts. That was the response of Moses, the Israelites, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, the apostle John, and countless others in Scripture how beheld God's majesty. There's nothing about encountering God that should exalt us.

One reason we so often fail to be humbled by worship is that we focus on other things and end up obscuring God's glory. It would be like visiting the Grand Canyon and foolishly being enthralled with parking signs, souvenir shops, and the railings. We enjoy a picnic lunch, toss a football around, and leave - happy but unaffected bu the glory of God's creation.

No one does that. We never allow the surroundings to distract us from the magnificent splendor of the canyon itself. And the effect is always the same. Suddenly we feel small, helpless, insignificant. As John Piper says, people never leave the Grand Canyon more in awe of themselves.

That's why it's so important that we worship God through the lens of the gospel. Nothing humbles us more that worshiping at the foot of the cross. Not thought attacks the root of our pride like realizing that God himself had to pay for our rebellion against him.

I am a worshiper of God because Jesus died to make me one, not because I earned the right to be one.

If worshiping God leaves us thinking more highly of ourselves, we've turned biblical worship on its head. Worship in general, corporate worship in particular, is meant to make us humble.

Thoughts?

Preparing For Worship: September 7, 2008

Our beautiful Southern California summer draws on still as we head to September. Riding my bike to work has been a great way to save money on gas, get in shape, and enjoy the hot breeze on my face! As much as we complain, we must love the weather here, otherwise we could move anywhere else in the country and live for a lot cheaper!

It speaks volumes about how much we care for something in our culture by how much we pay for it; in this case the cost of living in Southern California. We are willing to spend more on things that are more important to us.

I'd wager that food would be on this list of priorities for us. When we're hungry, we're willing to sacrifice money/time/resources/etc. so we can have food to eat. When your throat's dry, the amount of money you'd pay for an ice cold bottle of water probably increases.

Jesus calls us to evaluate what we value when he says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness..." He wants us to place a high value on that which is right in his eyes, and be willing to "pay more" for it.

This is where we're headed this Sunday in the next Beatitude in Matthew 5. We're going to think about how much we hunger and thirst for righteousness in our lives.

We'll start the service with a song that reminds us of the power and might of our God, and the certainty that he will reign forever, and that he alone has the power to save us from sin: "Let God Arise."

Pastor Todd will lead us in prayer together and we'll also pray for our new Crossroads Ministry Interns: Nathan Trothing, and Kyle Ruggles, as they begin their ministry training under the Crossroads leadership staff. We'll also hear from Angela Bennet, CEO of the SCV Pregnancy Center, about their upcoming "Walk For Life."

The next few songs will help us focus on the idea of hungering and thirsting for righteousness: "Take My Life (Holiness)" declares that what we want in our lives, and that we completely surrender to the Lord that he may mold and shape us so that we have holiness, faithfulness, and righteousness. "Jesus Paid It All" reminds us that though we seek righteousness in our own lives, in the end, it's the righteousness of Christ, imparted to us, that counts before the throne of God; and we rejoice as the chorus says: "oh praise the one who paid my debt, and raised this life up from the dead!"

Pastor Todd will then come and teach us from the Sermon on the mount; Matthew 5:6, where Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. Come and find out what that means in your life.

We'll respond together by singing "I Give You My Heart" as we commit to pursuing righteousness with our lives, and we'll close our service with "Give Us Clean Hands" as a prayer that we might be seekers of God's face as we go about our week.

Happy Preparation!

Preparing For Worship: September 7th, 2008

This Sunday is the first one of the month, which means we get to celebrate the Lord's Supper together, and remind ourselves of the body and blood of Jesus which were given up as a ransom for our redemption from sin! Take some extra time this week, as you prepare, to ask God to help the simple taking of the cracker and the cup to newly refresh our perspective on the gospel, that we might hold a little dearer, and treasure a little more, the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

This week we'll start our service with "Fortunate," a song we learned a couple of weeks ago, that reminds us how blessed we are in the Lord, and reminds us of how we should live in light of that blessing; a great way to focus our minds and hearts.

Pastor Todd will lead us in prayer to dedicate the morning to God, and to ask his blessing on it. Then, John Book will come and give us a little glimpse into the trip he took with his family to Japan recently to work with Campus Crusade over there. He'll show a few pictures, and then give us some things to pray for as they head into a new year on campus at UCLA. He'll also have some more informational materials in the lobby so you can find more ways to be involved with this crucial ministry to students.

We'll continue singing with "Marvelous Light" that reminds us that we once dwelt in the darkness of our sin, in bondage, with no hope of paying our debt to a perfect God, when he extended his kindness and mercy to us through Christ, and called us out into the light of life!

We then turn our attention to the Son, and consider his perfect obedience and humility in submitting himself to the Father's will, and taking on humanity to come and pay the price for our sin. Jesus is truly our "Humble King."

Pastor Todd will then come and teach us from Matthew 5:5 where we are reminded that in the same way that Jesus submitted himself, we are to show meekness in our lives, for it is the meek that will inherit the earth!

We'll then share communion together, and sing an old gospel hymn that asks Jesus to keep us near the cross, and to always remember it, and to continually kneel before it, as we lay our sins at his feet through our confession: "Near The Cross."

We'll close our time together by exclaiming "Hallelujah (Your love is amazing!)" as we take up our own crosses and follow Christ out into the world, that we might be his voice in our land!

Happy preparation!

ps. the video I found for that last song is so great, that even if you know the song, you should check it out...

Why I Need YOU To Sing

This post was so short and sweet over at John Piper's Desiring God blog, that I just copied the thing in its entirety for you. This is my heart for Crossroads as well:

From John Piper:

When I read this quote from Michael Raiter’s article, "The Slow Death of Congregational Singing," I thought about a decision we made at Bethlehem 13 years ago. The article said:

I was at a convention recently, seated near the rear of the auditorium. The music team at the front were ‘leading’ (and I use that word advisedly) and we were singing. Well, we were meant to be singing.... I turned to a friend next to me and commented, “No-one's singing”. He looked at me as if I'd just observed that no-one was flying. Of course they're not singing; we haven't really sung here for years.

Thirteen years ago we asked: What should be the defining sound of corporate worship at Bethlehem, besides the voice of biblical preaching?

We meant: Should it be pipe organ, piano, guitar, drums, choir, worship team, orchestra, etc. The answer we gave was “The people of Bethlehem singing.”

Some thought: That’s not much help in deciding which instruments should be used. Perhaps not. But it is massively helpful in clarifying the meaning of those moments.

If Bethlehem is not “singing and making melody to the Lord with [our] heart,” (Ephesians 5:19), it’s all over. We close up shop. This is no small commitment.