"Be my everything! -Tim Hughes
Much of the time after a hard day's work, a stressful day of taking care of the kids, or maybe just a tiring day of school and homework we like to unwind and relax, entertain ourselves with thoughtless things: TV, movies, or games. We all look forward to the weekend and our days off when we can relax and do nothing, after all our chores, of course. When tuning out our brains to the things of this world like work and responsibilities of the week with entertainment, we often tune ourselves out to the things of God, and in turn, tune ourselves out in church. Church is supposed to be one of the most engaging times of the week where we get to learn about God and His character, worship Him in song, and serve our brothers and sister in fellowship.
Worship is not a time for entertainment to empty our minds and relax. Worship is engaging wholeheartedly with the Holy Spirit, singing songs of great doctrine, praise, and thanksgiving! Yes, we empty our minds of the things of this world, but then we fill them full with the things of God.
To the Leaders
To the leaders and lead worshippers, don't just give people songs to sing and hope they engage in them. Teach them the songs. Teach them the doctrine of the songs through Scripture. Encourage them to engage and not be disengaged from worshipping our great God! Remember to not be tuned out yourself. All too often I catch myself disengaged and going with the flow. How foolish of me that I would neglect the praise and worship of my God! Worship is not entertainment.
To the People
To the people, make the effort to praise God. If you don't know how or don't have the heart to worship, pray. Ask God to give you a heart and mind focused on worshipping Him. Don't disengage yourself from worship to daydream, to think about what's for lunch after church, to people watch, or to sleep. Don't entertain yourself with distractions that in turn make you not think about the time of worship. Engage yourself, put your engine of worship into drive, and praise your God!
Personal Time
Even more so than in times of musical worship in church is your time of worship by yourself. To both leaders and followers, don't thoughtlessly entertain yourself day to day. David wrote in the Psalm 1, "Blessed is the man...who delights in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." Don't miss this! Brothers and sisters, please get this! Blessed, happy, are you when you delight in the Word of God, when you meditate on it day and night! We weren't designed to thoughtlessly entertain ourselves. We were designed to mentally engage in the Scriptures and the things of God. So grab your Bible, a book by Spurgeon or Edwards, or talk with a Christian brother or sister and engage in the things of the Lord. Find a ministry to serve in instead of being served. This is where it all starts. This is where you begin to engage in worship.
Commune with your God day to day, seeking Him first. He is not a God of thoughtless entertainment. He is a vastly deep God with no limit of understanding, no limit of glory, no limit of holiness. Commune with Him. Make your delight in Him. Make it your aim to get to know Him. Don't put Him off six days of the week thinking you can come to church on the seventh day and have a wonderful time praising and glorifying Him. You will never enjoy worship like you could if you neglect Him like that. No wonder you lead worshippers lose focus and just go with the flow! No wonder you stand so statuesque during worship, people of God! I beg you, don't let yourself become apathetic in your day to day walk with the Lord that your personal worship is forgotten and worship in church becomes thoughtless entertainment.
Pray with me today. Ask God to give us a heart and mind that is delighted in Him above everything else, that we wouldn't become apathetic in our relationship with Him, and that worshipping Him would become so natural to us that it flows out from us.
Blessings,
Nick
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Worship is Not a Concert
Help me get back to the reason I sing for you. -Jimmy Needham
I want to expound a little bit on something I said in my last post. I know there are many who would disagree with me on what I'm about to say, and that's fine. But I also want to clarify that my view of the atmosphere of worship is not the only correct view of worship. These are just my convictions, but I do hope we all agree that the heart of the lead worshipper should be able to focus on God while leading His people in songs of praise and adoration.
I would like to speak to two different people. First to the leaders, and then to the followers.
Worship Leaders
You are not leading a concert. Concerts are designed to focus upon the musician. That is not the design of worship, nor is it the heart of worship. It can be summed up into this: are you giving people an atmosphere to worship an experience or God?
Concerts are for musicians to engage with the people to effort a response, whether that be internal or external. Internal responses would be something like "Wow! This guy is good! I could listen to him all day! He's so cool! He's so handsome! He's so talented!" External responses would be something like screaming (just think of the Beatles concerts, and if you're too young for that, think of the Jonas Brothers or the Backstreet Boys), fainting, reaching out to you, being star-struck, etc. Both of these categories of responses are focused on the musician. As Christian musicians we are most likely to only get that internal response, but that doesn't change the fact that our pride firmly grasps onto these things when we have the mentality of how worship should be a concert-like atmosphere.
We all have watched those Hillsong videos and aspire for our times of worship to be just like theirs: to have everyone raising their hands singing and praising God while having awesome vocals and musical sounds. In response to these videos we try to copy their every movement, every guitar solo, every laser light, and fog thickness thinking "If our worship only looked and sounded like that!" All I can say is let me encourage you to be yourself when you lead. Don't copy someone else's worshipping or the atmosphere in which they conduct their worship. You yourself worship God in your own way and let the people see that, not a Xeroxed version of someone else. God works through you, not your imitation of a YouTube video.
What I'm Not Saying
Now I'm not saying we should go to acapella-only worship, organs and hymns only, no drums, or no lights and fog machines. Certain people have different styles of music they relate to most. I can say that I probably wouldn't be akin to country worship music, but other people are. Just because someone doesn't like one style of worshipping doesn't make that style wrong or a sin. Please don't forget that. This is something I've had to come to terms with in myself. Pride and arrogance is damaging to yourself, your relationships, and your ministry.
Pragmatism
Sadly, today the mentality of many churches is more equals success. More people attending or respones means we're doing something right, but less people or responses means we're doing something wrong. Pragmatism is sin because it is dependence upon man-made efforts instead of God-given grace. If your focus as a lead worshipper is to get more people into a church service by making the time of worship to look like a concert, then you might want to take a step back and see exactly how much you're relying upon God. Even worse, if your focus is to get more people to come see you and your band by making the time of worship look like a concert, maybe it's time you took a sabbatical to reassess your theology of how God won't share His glory, let alonenwhy you're even leading worship on a stage in the first place. Penning words by Jimmy Needham, "maybe our success is measured best by nothing less than our obedience." Numbers don't equal success. If that were so, then God would be a failure because Jesus said of salvation, "road is narrow, and few there be that find it."
Tech Teams
To the technical and A/V teams, make your effort to not "put the spotlight" on the musicians but on God. Reduce the thick haze of fog, turn the lights off of their seizure-inducing rotations and flashings, and make the lyrics on the screens not flashy and distracting. These aspects of the atmosphere around the people being led into worship are just as distracting or even more distracting than the band itself. Remember it is your aim to give God all the fame and glory.
To the People
Worship isn't about you either. It is not the lead worshipper's job to cater to your fancies of how you would like to be entertained. If you make any time of worship about you, you are just as guilty of reserving glory for yourself. This can be anything like worshipping the experience, getting overly upset when the leader doesn't sing a song you love, purposely singing loud so everyone can hear you, or doing anything else to get people to notice you (raising your hands, swaying, dancing, or even shouting out stuff). Worship is not about you. It's not a concert for you to attend in order to be entertained.
A time of worship is for you to offer songs of praise, prayer, supplication, adoration, and thanksgiving to God. It is a time to commune with the Holy Spirit. It is a time for you to prepare your heart to receive the Word of the Lord from the sermon being preached. It is a time to give God glory and fame due to His name. This is not a time about you...
Well that wasn't brutal [insert sarcasm], but I believe it needs to be said. All too often the time of musical worship before church is viewed as that little concert or routine before the sermon. All too often people think that it's okay of they miss the worship because the sermon is the real part of church. Don't fall prey to this false notion of musical worship being non-essential or of little importance! It is a special, reverent time before the Lord. It is intimate, loving, humbling, and satisfying to the soul to sing praises to God! Don't diminish it to a concert or distraction. It's not a concert.. It's communion.
Pray with me today and ask our God to help us make worship less about us and more about Him. Worship the Lord with all your heart, mind, should, and strength today and you humbly walk before Him.
Blessings,
Nick
I want to expound a little bit on something I said in my last post. I know there are many who would disagree with me on what I'm about to say, and that's fine. But I also want to clarify that my view of the atmosphere of worship is not the only correct view of worship. These are just my convictions, but I do hope we all agree that the heart of the lead worshipper should be able to focus on God while leading His people in songs of praise and adoration.
I would like to speak to two different people. First to the leaders, and then to the followers.
Worship Leaders
You are not leading a concert. Concerts are designed to focus upon the musician. That is not the design of worship, nor is it the heart of worship. It can be summed up into this: are you giving people an atmosphere to worship an experience or God?
Concerts are for musicians to engage with the people to effort a response, whether that be internal or external. Internal responses would be something like "Wow! This guy is good! I could listen to him all day! He's so cool! He's so handsome! He's so talented!" External responses would be something like screaming (just think of the Beatles concerts, and if you're too young for that, think of the Jonas Brothers or the Backstreet Boys), fainting, reaching out to you, being star-struck, etc. Both of these categories of responses are focused on the musician. As Christian musicians we are most likely to only get that internal response, but that doesn't change the fact that our pride firmly grasps onto these things when we have the mentality of how worship should be a concert-like atmosphere.
We all have watched those Hillsong videos and aspire for our times of worship to be just like theirs: to have everyone raising their hands singing and praising God while having awesome vocals and musical sounds. In response to these videos we try to copy their every movement, every guitar solo, every laser light, and fog thickness thinking "If our worship only looked and sounded like that!" All I can say is let me encourage you to be yourself when you lead. Don't copy someone else's worshipping or the atmosphere in which they conduct their worship. You yourself worship God in your own way and let the people see that, not a Xeroxed version of someone else. God works through you, not your imitation of a YouTube video.
What I'm Not Saying
Now I'm not saying we should go to acapella-only worship, organs and hymns only, no drums, or no lights and fog machines. Certain people have different styles of music they relate to most. I can say that I probably wouldn't be akin to country worship music, but other people are. Just because someone doesn't like one style of worshipping doesn't make that style wrong or a sin. Please don't forget that. This is something I've had to come to terms with in myself. Pride and arrogance is damaging to yourself, your relationships, and your ministry.
Pragmatism
Sadly, today the mentality of many churches is more equals success. More people attending or respones means we're doing something right, but less people or responses means we're doing something wrong. Pragmatism is sin because it is dependence upon man-made efforts instead of God-given grace. If your focus as a lead worshipper is to get more people into a church service by making the time of worship to look like a concert, then you might want to take a step back and see exactly how much you're relying upon God. Even worse, if your focus is to get more people to come see you and your band by making the time of worship look like a concert, maybe it's time you took a sabbatical to reassess your theology of how God won't share His glory, let alonenwhy you're even leading worship on a stage in the first place. Penning words by Jimmy Needham, "maybe our success is measured best by nothing less than our obedience." Numbers don't equal success. If that were so, then God would be a failure because Jesus said of salvation, "road is narrow, and few there be that find it."
Tech Teams
To the technical and A/V teams, make your effort to not "put the spotlight" on the musicians but on God. Reduce the thick haze of fog, turn the lights off of their seizure-inducing rotations and flashings, and make the lyrics on the screens not flashy and distracting. These aspects of the atmosphere around the people being led into worship are just as distracting or even more distracting than the band itself. Remember it is your aim to give God all the fame and glory.
To the People
Worship isn't about you either. It is not the lead worshipper's job to cater to your fancies of how you would like to be entertained. If you make any time of worship about you, you are just as guilty of reserving glory for yourself. This can be anything like worshipping the experience, getting overly upset when the leader doesn't sing a song you love, purposely singing loud so everyone can hear you, or doing anything else to get people to notice you (raising your hands, swaying, dancing, or even shouting out stuff). Worship is not about you. It's not a concert for you to attend in order to be entertained.
A time of worship is for you to offer songs of praise, prayer, supplication, adoration, and thanksgiving to God. It is a time to commune with the Holy Spirit. It is a time for you to prepare your heart to receive the Word of the Lord from the sermon being preached. It is a time to give God glory and fame due to His name. This is not a time about you...
Well that wasn't brutal [insert sarcasm], but I believe it needs to be said. All too often the time of musical worship before church is viewed as that little concert or routine before the sermon. All too often people think that it's okay of they miss the worship because the sermon is the real part of church. Don't fall prey to this false notion of musical worship being non-essential or of little importance! It is a special, reverent time before the Lord. It is intimate, loving, humbling, and satisfying to the soul to sing praises to God! Don't diminish it to a concert or distraction. It's not a concert.. It's communion.
Pray with me today and ask our God to help us make worship less about us and more about Him. Worship the Lord with all your heart, mind, should, and strength today and you humbly walk before Him.
Blessings,
Nick
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Worship is Not About You
Worshipping God is not about you and it's not about the people.. Period.
If it were, it would not be worship. It would be idolatry. Too many people leading worship are caught up in making worship appealing to those being led rather than appealing to God to whom we direct our worship. This is not to say that we bring in a leader who has no skill leading and see what happens. There should be skill, planning, and effort put into worship, but not at the expense of the reduction of giving God glory He rightly deserves. This is very repetitious in my blogs, but very essential. Here are a few ways to keep the eyes of the people off of you and on God, not to mention your eyes off of yourself..
Worship
You yourself should be worshipping too. If you have so much going on on the stage that you can't focus on worshipping, how can you expect to lead the people into worship? Cut back on a few things that will make it easier for you to worship. Put the team on rotations so they have a chance to engage in worship apart from being on stage (believe me when I say that this is more essential than we could ever understand). Even put yourself on a rotation if there is someone else like-minded in worship theology that can rotate leading with you. All this to say that it so so important for you to be engaged in worship on and off the stage.
Simplicity
This one goes out to both the band, sound guy, and A/V team. Reduce excessive physical stimuli on the stage and around the room. We all have seen the Hillsong videos where countless adults and teens are raising their hands to God worshipping, and we think to ourselves "Wow! If only we do that song and have lights like that, we could make our congregation have the set response!", but in the end we learn we have failed miserably. Our focus was on ourselves leading people to a response, our atmosphere was too cluttered with laser lights and fog, our drums were too loud, the synth was going crazy, there was only supposed to be one person with a guitar solo, the singers were trying to sing parts they were never predestined to sing (little Calvinist joke there, haha!), and the congregation is doing one of three things: worshipping, entertained, distracted, or thinking "What in the world was that?" Make worship simple, or at least sound simple. If you're going to have lights and fog, make it flow together without being distracting. Also, don't make the music so loud people cant focus or hear themselves sing. Remember that this a concert and you aren't Hillsong.
Musical Prayer, Supplication, Thanksgiving, Praise, and Adoration
Leading the people in song is a time of prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, praise, and adoration. It's not a time for you to show off your skills. It's not the time for you to be a distraction. Let the people respond to their God, not the band. David poured his heart out to God through song so let the people pour their hearts out to God. Respect that time for them.
It's not your job to make the people respond but to give them the opportunity to respond in a controlled atmosphere free from as much distraction as possible. It is your job to humble yourself before the Lord and present yourself and the time given to you in leading worship to be a sacrifice, laying down your pride and self-satisfying eagerness, and be a worshipper yourself so you can lead the people of God into adoration of their most wonderful God.
Blessings,
Nick
If it were, it would not be worship. It would be idolatry. Too many people leading worship are caught up in making worship appealing to those being led rather than appealing to God to whom we direct our worship. This is not to say that we bring in a leader who has no skill leading and see what happens. There should be skill, planning, and effort put into worship, but not at the expense of the reduction of giving God glory He rightly deserves. This is very repetitious in my blogs, but very essential. Here are a few ways to keep the eyes of the people off of you and on God, not to mention your eyes off of yourself..
Worship
You yourself should be worshipping too. If you have so much going on on the stage that you can't focus on worshipping, how can you expect to lead the people into worship? Cut back on a few things that will make it easier for you to worship. Put the team on rotations so they have a chance to engage in worship apart from being on stage (believe me when I say that this is more essential than we could ever understand). Even put yourself on a rotation if there is someone else like-minded in worship theology that can rotate leading with you. All this to say that it so so important for you to be engaged in worship on and off the stage.
Simplicity
This one goes out to both the band, sound guy, and A/V team. Reduce excessive physical stimuli on the stage and around the room. We all have seen the Hillsong videos where countless adults and teens are raising their hands to God worshipping, and we think to ourselves "Wow! If only we do that song and have lights like that, we could make our congregation have the set response!", but in the end we learn we have failed miserably. Our focus was on ourselves leading people to a response, our atmosphere was too cluttered with laser lights and fog, our drums were too loud, the synth was going crazy, there was only supposed to be one person with a guitar solo, the singers were trying to sing parts they were never predestined to sing (little Calvinist joke there, haha!), and the congregation is doing one of three things: worshipping, entertained, distracted, or thinking "What in the world was that?" Make worship simple, or at least sound simple. If you're going to have lights and fog, make it flow together without being distracting. Also, don't make the music so loud people cant focus or hear themselves sing. Remember that this a concert and you aren't Hillsong.
Musical Prayer, Supplication, Thanksgiving, Praise, and Adoration
Leading the people in song is a time of prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, praise, and adoration. It's not a time for you to show off your skills. It's not the time for you to be a distraction. Let the people respond to their God, not the band. David poured his heart out to God through song so let the people pour their hearts out to God. Respect that time for them.
It's not your job to make the people respond but to give them the opportunity to respond in a controlled atmosphere free from as much distraction as possible. It is your job to humble yourself before the Lord and present yourself and the time given to you in leading worship to be a sacrifice, laying down your pride and self-satisfying eagerness, and be a worshipper yourself so you can lead the people of God into adoration of their most wonderful God.
Blessings,
Nick
Monday, April 9, 2012
Worship is Not...
I'll be starting a new series on the topic of what worship is not. It is highly important that as lead worshippers we don't fall into the lies of what worship is not, eventually taking glory and attention from the people that rightly belongs to God. So I ask that you take these next few blog posts as warnings to your leading and alerts to the pitfalls ahead of you.
Please follow me as we tackle the important behind-the-scenes issues of the lead worshipper's heart. Please be open to the fact that there might be some things you need to confess and repent of, as will I. Let us ask God to search our hearts and expose any evil thing in them, especially when it comes to leading His people into worship.
I leave you with these two verses:
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.'" -Jeremiah 17:9-10
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" -Psalms 139:23-24
Blessings,
Nick
Please follow me as we tackle the important behind-the-scenes issues of the lead worshipper's heart. Please be open to the fact that there might be some things you need to confess and repent of, as will I. Let us ask God to search our hearts and expose any evil thing in them, especially when it comes to leading His people into worship.
I leave you with these two verses:
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 'I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.'" -Jeremiah 17:9-10
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" -Psalms 139:23-24
Blessings,
Nick
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Futile Satisfaction
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." -John Piper
We filter everything we do with the thought of "Will I be satisfied by this or in this?" No matter what comes up you will always ask yourself "How will this be good for me?" So with that in mind, what are things that you find satisfaction doing or being a part of?
Satisfaction is gratification of a desire. As humans we have desires out the wazoo! Food, water, friendship, love, sex, drugs, alcohol, sensuality, television, music, etc... But the question is what can we satisfy ourselves with that will be pleasing to God?
First and foremost, not everything is a sin. I want to make that very clear because some people want to take some of these things and declare them 100% sin. A few of these things that are not always sinful are food, sleep, sex, alcohol, drugs, and money. If these are done with boundaries and moderation, they are not sinful to satisfy yourself with. Let's stick with these for now and I'll expound upon them.
Food
Food is a huge part of the American life. Big breakfast, big lunch, big dinner, big desert, and a big midnight snack. Gluttony is a gigantic problem in our culture. We worship our stomachs and please ourselves to the point of pain and suffering just to taste the delicious food that is put before us. Proverbs 23:21 says that the glutton will come to poverty. Why? Because he is spending all of his money on more food than he needs to nourish his body. In verse 20 the Bible says that you should stay away from the glutton. Even the smallest influence can cause you you fall into the dangerous and unhealthy life of a glutton. Use food to glorify God by eating to live and not living to eat. I don't mean to say only eat what is necessary, but rather don't over-indulge yourself with food. It's more along the lines of enjoy healthy food to preserve and take care of the body God has given you.
Sleep
Oh, how we love to sleep! Many of us love sleep to the point of neglecting our responsibilities. God even mocks those who are lazy by telling them to go look at how hard the ants work! How embarrassing that we are such sluggards that God has to use ants as an example for us to be hard workers and responsible! Use your sleep to rest your body to do work for the Lord.
Sex
Uh oh! Not this topic! Yes, and please don't shun this paragraph because of the topic. Sex is a basic human desire. It is in our nature to have a sex drive. When done in the bounds of marriage between one man and one woman, it is a good thing and pleasing to God (because He created it for a husband and wife to enjoy each other and produce offspring). When engaged in any sexual activity outside of marriage it is a sin. Fornication (sex before marriage), adultery (sex with some who is not your spouse), homosexual activities (sex with a person of the same sex), and beastiality (sex with animals) are all sexual activities that are regarded as sin and anyone who claims to be a Christian should be abstain from them.
Alcohol
Alcohol is a huge topic that many people get hung up on. Alcohol in and of itself is not sinful. Drinking alcohol is not sinful. It is sinful when a person become intoxicated by it, when drunkenness is brought forth by it. In moderation alcohol is okay, but that "little bit too much" can be enough to set you over the edge into sinful drunkenness. I can understand why so many people would believe and teach alcohol is a sin. Sometimes it's better for people to stay away from it. If you are tempted to drink yourself into drunkenness, stay away from it for your own soul's sake. If you feel guilty drinking alcohol, you should stay away from it. If something goes against your conscience, even if it is falls within biblical boundaries, stay away! It is a sin for you to engage in it. On a side note, if you are a Christian who drinks not to drunkenness and you find your conscience giving you an okay, then don't proclaim it to your brothers and sisters in Christ who can't drink with a clean conscience. Romans 14:22 says to keep it between yourself and God. Otherwise you are taunting them to the point of thinking you are in sin. You may even drive them to go against their conscience and sin by drinking, and that will be on your hands.
Drugs
This one won't take long to explain. Drugs are to be used to help your body and mind be in a more healthy state. If you are sick, take medication to help you get better. Anything that damages your body or alters your state of mind is a sin. Many times people get addicted to drugs and their desire is be in that altered mental state. Their flesh is gratified by the effects of the drugs beyond their helpful purpose. There are even drugs that have no other purpose except to put a person in an altered state of being.
Money
"Show me the money!" The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. If you look back at all the things I just wrote about, you will find that they can all be attained by money. Along with those things, the desire to gain wealth for yourself for the glory of yourself is sinful. Money should be looked at as gift of God to further the Gospel to all people, sustain the life of you and your family, and help those who are less fortunate than you are. Use it wisely because God has not given it to you to throw at worthless things.
There are things all throughout this life that you will have the option of satisfying yourself with. The question and responsibility you have is whether or not you will choose futile or God-pleasing satisfaction in all things.
Worship the Lord by letting your satisfaction be completely in Him always.
Blessings,
Nick
We filter everything we do with the thought of "Will I be satisfied by this or in this?" No matter what comes up you will always ask yourself "How will this be good for me?" So with that in mind, what are things that you find satisfaction doing or being a part of?
Satisfaction is gratification of a desire. As humans we have desires out the wazoo! Food, water, friendship, love, sex, drugs, alcohol, sensuality, television, music, etc... But the question is what can we satisfy ourselves with that will be pleasing to God?
First and foremost, not everything is a sin. I want to make that very clear because some people want to take some of these things and declare them 100% sin. A few of these things that are not always sinful are food, sleep, sex, alcohol, drugs, and money. If these are done with boundaries and moderation, they are not sinful to satisfy yourself with. Let's stick with these for now and I'll expound upon them.
Food
Food is a huge part of the American life. Big breakfast, big lunch, big dinner, big desert, and a big midnight snack. Gluttony is a gigantic problem in our culture. We worship our stomachs and please ourselves to the point of pain and suffering just to taste the delicious food that is put before us. Proverbs 23:21 says that the glutton will come to poverty. Why? Because he is spending all of his money on more food than he needs to nourish his body. In verse 20 the Bible says that you should stay away from the glutton. Even the smallest influence can cause you you fall into the dangerous and unhealthy life of a glutton. Use food to glorify God by eating to live and not living to eat. I don't mean to say only eat what is necessary, but rather don't over-indulge yourself with food. It's more along the lines of enjoy healthy food to preserve and take care of the body God has given you.
Sleep
Oh, how we love to sleep! Many of us love sleep to the point of neglecting our responsibilities. God even mocks those who are lazy by telling them to go look at how hard the ants work! How embarrassing that we are such sluggards that God has to use ants as an example for us to be hard workers and responsible! Use your sleep to rest your body to do work for the Lord.
Sex
Uh oh! Not this topic! Yes, and please don't shun this paragraph because of the topic. Sex is a basic human desire. It is in our nature to have a sex drive. When done in the bounds of marriage between one man and one woman, it is a good thing and pleasing to God (because He created it for a husband and wife to enjoy each other and produce offspring). When engaged in any sexual activity outside of marriage it is a sin. Fornication (sex before marriage), adultery (sex with some who is not your spouse), homosexual activities (sex with a person of the same sex), and beastiality (sex with animals) are all sexual activities that are regarded as sin and anyone who claims to be a Christian should be abstain from them.
Alcohol
Alcohol is a huge topic that many people get hung up on. Alcohol in and of itself is not sinful. Drinking alcohol is not sinful. It is sinful when a person become intoxicated by it, when drunkenness is brought forth by it. In moderation alcohol is okay, but that "little bit too much" can be enough to set you over the edge into sinful drunkenness. I can understand why so many people would believe and teach alcohol is a sin. Sometimes it's better for people to stay away from it. If you are tempted to drink yourself into drunkenness, stay away from it for your own soul's sake. If you feel guilty drinking alcohol, you should stay away from it. If something goes against your conscience, even if it is falls within biblical boundaries, stay away! It is a sin for you to engage in it. On a side note, if you are a Christian who drinks not to drunkenness and you find your conscience giving you an okay, then don't proclaim it to your brothers and sisters in Christ who can't drink with a clean conscience. Romans 14:22 says to keep it between yourself and God. Otherwise you are taunting them to the point of thinking you are in sin. You may even drive them to go against their conscience and sin by drinking, and that will be on your hands.
Drugs
This one won't take long to explain. Drugs are to be used to help your body and mind be in a more healthy state. If you are sick, take medication to help you get better. Anything that damages your body or alters your state of mind is a sin. Many times people get addicted to drugs and their desire is be in that altered mental state. Their flesh is gratified by the effects of the drugs beyond their helpful purpose. There are even drugs that have no other purpose except to put a person in an altered state of being.
Money
"Show me the money!" The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. If you look back at all the things I just wrote about, you will find that they can all be attained by money. Along with those things, the desire to gain wealth for yourself for the glory of yourself is sinful. Money should be looked at as gift of God to further the Gospel to all people, sustain the life of you and your family, and help those who are less fortunate than you are. Use it wisely because God has not given it to you to throw at worthless things.
There are things all throughout this life that you will have the option of satisfying yourself with. The question and responsibility you have is whether or not you will choose futile or God-pleasing satisfaction in all things.
Worship the Lord by letting your satisfaction be completely in Him always.
Blessings,
Nick
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Worship Leaders: Do Not Be Fluffy!
I've been turning my radio and headphones to more worship music lately. What catches me are lyrics that magnify and glorify our great God. I find myself to have wasted money on worship songs that are man-centered and have lyrics that seem to imply that "God's my boyfriend/girlfriend". What ever happened to the elaborate doctrines and lyrics of the Psalms and hymns in our worship services? I'm not trying to be hyper-critical, but mindful of the fact that we worship leaders over the past few decades have chosen some wimpy songs to lead the people of God into worship with.
Compare the lyrics of this contemporary worship song and hymn:
I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever
Over the mountains and the sea
Your river runs with love for me
And I will open up my heart
And let the Healer set me free
I'm happy to be in the truth
I will daily lift my hands
For I will always song of when Your love can down
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
Be Thou My Vision
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
You can see the difference in doctrinal depth here. Yes, they are both doctrinally correct, but which one gives a deeper understanding of God? Do you see what I'm saying? Here is a comparison with another contemporary song and hymn:
Draw Me Close
Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend
You are my desire
No one else will do
Nothing else could take your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find the way
To bring me back to You
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near
Come Thou Fount
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my hear to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
Here I raise my sign of victory
Hither by Thy help I'm come
And I know, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wand'ring from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
O, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring hear to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O, take and seal it
Seal it for They courts above
Now I'll take a step away from hymns and look at more contemporary worship songs that have deep doctrinal depth. Here is one of my favorites:
Counting On Your Name
My name is written on Your hands
You call me Your own
You call me Your own
Now I am Yours
No earthly power could tear us apart
Tear us apart
I'm counting on Your name
I'm counting on Your name
Counting on Your name to save me
I'm trusting You're the way
I'm trusting You're the way
Trusting Your the way
My Savior
My life is built on nothing less
Than Your faithfulness
Your faithfulness
Counting on Christ and Christ alone
I'm hoping in You
Hoping in You
How is that compared to:
Arms of Love
I sing a simple song of love
To my Savior
To my Jesus
I'm thankful for the things You've done
My loving Savior
My precious Jesus
My heart is glad
That You call me Your own
There's no place is rather be
(Than) in Your arms love
Your arms of love
Holding me still
Holding me near
In Your arms of love
Now I know some of these songs are probably your favorite worship songs, and you've probably got some things of your own to say to me. Before you do, think about the point of this post: do my songs I use to lead the congregation of God into the worship of God lift high the name of God? What's the point of worship? To make God's people feel warm and have an emotional high? No way! It's about bringing people to feet of the God of the universe and letting them praise Him for who He is and what He's done. It's about singing the praises of God. Let the Holy Spirit have reign over people's emotions with songs filled with good doctrine not good ideas.
Yes, harsh, but I think necessary. Praise God for who He is and what He's done. Lead the people of God in songs of good, sound doctrine.
Blessings,
Nick
Compare the lyrics of this contemporary worship song and hymn:
I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever
Over the mountains and the sea
Your river runs with love for me
And I will open up my heart
And let the Healer set me free
I'm happy to be in the truth
I will daily lift my hands
For I will always song of when Your love can down
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
I could sing of Your love forever
Be Thou My Vision
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
You can see the difference in doctrinal depth here. Yes, they are both doctrinally correct, but which one gives a deeper understanding of God? Do you see what I'm saying? Here is a comparison with another contemporary song and hymn:
Draw Me Close
Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend
You are my desire
No one else will do
Nothing else could take your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find the way
To bring me back to You
You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near
Come Thou Fount
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my hear to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
Here I raise my sign of victory
Hither by Thy help I'm come
And I know, by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wand'ring from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood
O, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring hear to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, O, take and seal it
Seal it for They courts above
Now I'll take a step away from hymns and look at more contemporary worship songs that have deep doctrinal depth. Here is one of my favorites:
Counting On Your Name
My name is written on Your hands
You call me Your own
You call me Your own
Now I am Yours
No earthly power could tear us apart
Tear us apart
I'm counting on Your name
I'm counting on Your name
Counting on Your name to save me
I'm trusting You're the way
I'm trusting You're the way
Trusting Your the way
My Savior
My life is built on nothing less
Than Your faithfulness
Your faithfulness
Counting on Christ and Christ alone
I'm hoping in You
Hoping in You
How is that compared to:
Arms of Love
I sing a simple song of love
To my Savior
To my Jesus
I'm thankful for the things You've done
My loving Savior
My precious Jesus
My heart is glad
That You call me Your own
There's no place is rather be
(Than) in Your arms love
Your arms of love
Holding me still
Holding me near
In Your arms of love
Now I know some of these songs are probably your favorite worship songs, and you've probably got some things of your own to say to me. Before you do, think about the point of this post: do my songs I use to lead the congregation of God into the worship of God lift high the name of God? What's the point of worship? To make God's people feel warm and have an emotional high? No way! It's about bringing people to feet of the God of the universe and letting them praise Him for who He is and what He's done. It's about singing the praises of God. Let the Holy Spirit have reign over people's emotions with songs filled with good doctrine not good ideas.
Yes, harsh, but I think necessary. Praise God for who He is and what He's done. Lead the people of God in songs of good, sound doctrine.
Blessings,
Nick
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Emotions Run High!
Emotions make us human. The ones we choose to embrace tell a lot about who we are. We all have "good" emotions that we feel: happiness, joy, excitement, love, compassion, peace, thankfulness, etc. But we also have "bad" emotions that we feel: sadness, sorrow, hate, anger, unrest, bitterness, etc. These all play a huge part in how we conduct our Christian lives. There are correct ways to use these emotions and the Bible tells us how to use them.
How do we use our emotions to glorify God?
Our lives are to glorify God in every thought, word, and deed; but since we have fallen natures, this is impossible to do most, if not every single time. Therefore God gave us the Bible to help us align ourselves to His nature. It is very important to remember that emotions swing back and forth. They are unstable and not a good standard for a guide in life. Emotions should compliment a standard for living and not be the standard for living.
What does the Bible say?
Here are some emotions that the Bible focuses on and how it tells us the right and wrong intentions for their use.
Happiness, Joy, Rejoicing...
There are times for us when acting on being happy and joyous are good, but there are times when these emotions are sinful.
A few examples of rightly rejoicing are always rejoicing in the Lord (Philippians 4:4), rejoicing when a person trusts in Jesus for salvation (Luke 15:7), rejoicing with another person who is rejoicing (12:15), and rejoicing in justice (Proverbs 21:15). We would all agree that these are good uses for happiness and rejoicing, but the Bible also has clear guidance on when these emotions and acting upon them are sinful.
Being happy about or joyous about something that dishonors God, His character, and His plans are sinful. Ways that these emotions dishonor God are being happy in sin or about sin (Romans 1:32, 6:1-4), being happy with calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20), happily being in alliance with injustice (Psalm 94:20-21), and happily making yourself more important than God (Romans 1:20-23).
Hate and Anger
Yes, there are correct times when hate and anger are to be acted upon, but I can almost guarantee it's not the way you're thinking of. As Christians, we are to hate the things that God hates and love the things that God loves. The first example of hatred is going to be a little more in depth because most Christians can't grasp the limit of how far hate can go.
Hatred for sin is the number one hatred we should have (Proverbs 8:13). It is our ruthless enemy and our nature is riddled with it. We will battle against sin until the day we die. There are two big problems that Christians have with this.
The first problem Christians have is a love for their own sin and a hatred for other people's sins. They want to hang on to their own selfish sins and criticize others about how they don't obey God. Sounds obviously crazy, doesn't it? But it's true. We don't hate our sin with a loathsome, passionate hate. We don't get angry with the sin in our own lives like we should.
Secondly, many Christians blur the line between hating sin and hating sinners. We are to hate sin, but we are to also love the sinner. Yeah, I know this has been used as a cop-out for "friendship evangelism" and cowardly approaches to evangelism, but that's not where I'm going with this. Jesus told us to love our enemies, and I believe that means we are to love God's enemies too. We are not to be friends with the world in the sense of living as the world lives and approve of how they live, but we are to go into the world as Christ did and love those who are at odds with God giving them the Gospel of reconciliation to God. The problem is that most Christians can't distinguish that. They see someone who doesn't believe as they do and they mark them off as if they were a leper, hating them because of how they live or what they do. Do you not understand you were in that exact same standing with God as this person is before God so graciously reached down and saved you? Quit being a hypocrite and love as Christ loved! Correct hatred does not breed hatred for people. It breeds compassion, love, and a desire that they be saved.
Hatred for injustice, calling good evil, and evil good are a few more ways we are to use hate to glorify God.
Anger goes right along with hate since they are very close emotions. Anger usually has to do with sin against others or you. A few examples of being rightly angered is when someone slanders God, slanders justice, misuses the Bible, or does evil to others and you. The correct response to this isn't revenge. God will deal with that in His timing. Our response could be as simple as educating the offender, seeking justice (again, not revenge!), or turning the other cheek. We can be angry, but we are commanded to be angry without sinning and don't go to sleep on your anger (Ephesians 4:26).
I realize that is a lot to dwell on for one blog so I'll leave this entry as is until my next post. Think about these things and check to see if you are rightly using your emotions to glorify God.
Worship Him with every emotion.
Blessings,
Nick
How do we use our emotions to glorify God?
Our lives are to glorify God in every thought, word, and deed; but since we have fallen natures, this is impossible to do most, if not every single time. Therefore God gave us the Bible to help us align ourselves to His nature. It is very important to remember that emotions swing back and forth. They are unstable and not a good standard for a guide in life. Emotions should compliment a standard for living and not be the standard for living.
What does the Bible say?
Here are some emotions that the Bible focuses on and how it tells us the right and wrong intentions for their use.
Happiness, Joy, Rejoicing...
There are times for us when acting on being happy and joyous are good, but there are times when these emotions are sinful.
A few examples of rightly rejoicing are always rejoicing in the Lord (Philippians 4:4), rejoicing when a person trusts in Jesus for salvation (Luke 15:7), rejoicing with another person who is rejoicing (12:15), and rejoicing in justice (Proverbs 21:15). We would all agree that these are good uses for happiness and rejoicing, but the Bible also has clear guidance on when these emotions and acting upon them are sinful.
Being happy about or joyous about something that dishonors God, His character, and His plans are sinful. Ways that these emotions dishonor God are being happy in sin or about sin (Romans 1:32, 6:1-4), being happy with calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20), happily being in alliance with injustice (Psalm 94:20-21), and happily making yourself more important than God (Romans 1:20-23).
Hate and Anger
Yes, there are correct times when hate and anger are to be acted upon, but I can almost guarantee it's not the way you're thinking of. As Christians, we are to hate the things that God hates and love the things that God loves. The first example of hatred is going to be a little more in depth because most Christians can't grasp the limit of how far hate can go.
Hatred for sin is the number one hatred we should have (Proverbs 8:13). It is our ruthless enemy and our nature is riddled with it. We will battle against sin until the day we die. There are two big problems that Christians have with this.
The first problem Christians have is a love for their own sin and a hatred for other people's sins. They want to hang on to their own selfish sins and criticize others about how they don't obey God. Sounds obviously crazy, doesn't it? But it's true. We don't hate our sin with a loathsome, passionate hate. We don't get angry with the sin in our own lives like we should.
Secondly, many Christians blur the line between hating sin and hating sinners. We are to hate sin, but we are to also love the sinner. Yeah, I know this has been used as a cop-out for "friendship evangelism" and cowardly approaches to evangelism, but that's not where I'm going with this. Jesus told us to love our enemies, and I believe that means we are to love God's enemies too. We are not to be friends with the world in the sense of living as the world lives and approve of how they live, but we are to go into the world as Christ did and love those who are at odds with God giving them the Gospel of reconciliation to God. The problem is that most Christians can't distinguish that. They see someone who doesn't believe as they do and they mark them off as if they were a leper, hating them because of how they live or what they do. Do you not understand you were in that exact same standing with God as this person is before God so graciously reached down and saved you? Quit being a hypocrite and love as Christ loved! Correct hatred does not breed hatred for people. It breeds compassion, love, and a desire that they be saved.
Hatred for injustice, calling good evil, and evil good are a few more ways we are to use hate to glorify God.
Anger goes right along with hate since they are very close emotions. Anger usually has to do with sin against others or you. A few examples of being rightly angered is when someone slanders God, slanders justice, misuses the Bible, or does evil to others and you. The correct response to this isn't revenge. God will deal with that in His timing. Our response could be as simple as educating the offender, seeking justice (again, not revenge!), or turning the other cheek. We can be angry, but we are commanded to be angry without sinning and don't go to sleep on your anger (Ephesians 4:26).
I realize that is a lot to dwell on for one blog so I'll leave this entry as is until my next post. Think about these things and check to see if you are rightly using your emotions to glorify God.
Worship Him with every emotion.
Blessings,
Nick
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Live by Truth
Pilate asked the greatest question of all time, "What is truth?" The sad part is that the answer was staring right in front of him. We see Jesus talk about truth a lot in the Bible. Truth is very important to God, and it transcends man's emotions, thoughts, and reasoning. Isaiah 55:9 says,
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (ESV)
Our fallen, sinful emotions sway in the wind of our sin nature. Our thoughts seek to please ourselves or mankind rather than God. Our reasoning does what benefits others or ourselves above what benefits God. Every ounce of our being is sinful because it contradicts God's truth infinitely.
But what is truth? When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemene before He was arrested He was praying for us. He prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17 ESV)." God's word is truth. So then my question is:
How do we live by truth?
After Jesus was baptized He went straight into the wilderness to fast and be tempted by Satan. His first test after fasting for 40 days without food was Satan's mockery of how Jesus was hungry and could turn stones into bread to eat. Jesus had an interesting reply quoting the Old Testament, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4 ESV). Here Jesus was starving, yet He still lived by the Word of God first before the desires of His flesh.
It is necessary for us to be in God's Word as much as we can. Not because "that's what good Christians do", but because that's what Christians need. We can't live a strong, victorious Christian life without refreshing ourselves with God's Word.
Forgive this analogy.. since the Twilight book saga came out vampires have become a huge trend in movies and TV shows. Most of us know from these movies, shows, and books that vampires need blood to stay strong. Without it they weaken and in some shows wither. Well, the Christian's need for the Word of God is kind of like a vampire's need for blood. If we aren't reading the Bible and meditating on it, how can we expect to fight temptation and be strong in our faith? Our faith will wither and weaken without the strength of God's Word giving us power and strength.
But living by truth comes at a price since the people and systems of this world do not operate by God's truth. Jesus warns us in Matthew 10:34-39 that following Him and His truth may cost us because truth is so opposite and sometimes even condemned by those in the world:
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter- in- law against her mother- in- law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
Jesus uses some of the closest relationships imaginable here. Family members, friends, business relationships, or any other relationships of the closest nature may be severed because of your following Christ. Paul says to live with men as peaceably as you can, but there may come a point where your path of following Christ causes separation from loved ones, and Christ gives the ultimatum: "whoever loves anyone more than Me is not worthy of Me." We must find our primary satisfaction in God and His truth above everyone and everything.
This weighs heavy on my heart. This is not an issue to be taken lightly. There is a cost to following Christ and His truth. Am I willing to make a stand for God that can result in me being made an outsider? Am I willing to be the "Jesus freak" in my classes at school because I don't follow the philosophies being taught? Am I willing to lose the respect of my professors and peers because God's truth doesn't match up with their reasoning? Am I willing to let others sever a relationship with me over my following Christ and the truth of the Bible? Am I willing to let loved ones hate me because of my love for God is greater than my love for them? For the glory of my God I say, yes!
May our hearts long and pray for the salvation of those who do not love God, may we long for them to enjoy the truth of God's Word, and may we long to see them satisfied in God for who He is.
Worship our God is spirit and truth today. Let Him humble you in the strength of His truth. Let Him quiet you with His love.
Blessings,
Nick
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (ESV)
Our fallen, sinful emotions sway in the wind of our sin nature. Our thoughts seek to please ourselves or mankind rather than God. Our reasoning does what benefits others or ourselves above what benefits God. Every ounce of our being is sinful because it contradicts God's truth infinitely.
But what is truth? When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemene before He was arrested He was praying for us. He prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17 ESV)." God's word is truth. So then my question is:
How do we live by truth?
After Jesus was baptized He went straight into the wilderness to fast and be tempted by Satan. His first test after fasting for 40 days without food was Satan's mockery of how Jesus was hungry and could turn stones into bread to eat. Jesus had an interesting reply quoting the Old Testament, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4 ESV). Here Jesus was starving, yet He still lived by the Word of God first before the desires of His flesh.
It is necessary for us to be in God's Word as much as we can. Not because "that's what good Christians do", but because that's what Christians need. We can't live a strong, victorious Christian life without refreshing ourselves with God's Word.
Forgive this analogy.. since the Twilight book saga came out vampires have become a huge trend in movies and TV shows. Most of us know from these movies, shows, and books that vampires need blood to stay strong. Without it they weaken and in some shows wither. Well, the Christian's need for the Word of God is kind of like a vampire's need for blood. If we aren't reading the Bible and meditating on it, how can we expect to fight temptation and be strong in our faith? Our faith will wither and weaken without the strength of God's Word giving us power and strength.
But living by truth comes at a price since the people and systems of this world do not operate by God's truth. Jesus warns us in Matthew 10:34-39 that following Him and His truth may cost us because truth is so opposite and sometimes even condemned by those in the world:
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter- in- law against her mother- in- law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
Jesus uses some of the closest relationships imaginable here. Family members, friends, business relationships, or any other relationships of the closest nature may be severed because of your following Christ. Paul says to live with men as peaceably as you can, but there may come a point where your path of following Christ causes separation from loved ones, and Christ gives the ultimatum: "whoever loves anyone more than Me is not worthy of Me." We must find our primary satisfaction in God and His truth above everyone and everything.
This weighs heavy on my heart. This is not an issue to be taken lightly. There is a cost to following Christ and His truth. Am I willing to make a stand for God that can result in me being made an outsider? Am I willing to be the "Jesus freak" in my classes at school because I don't follow the philosophies being taught? Am I willing to lose the respect of my professors and peers because God's truth doesn't match up with their reasoning? Am I willing to let others sever a relationship with me over my following Christ and the truth of the Bible? Am I willing to let loved ones hate me because of my love for God is greater than my love for them? For the glory of my God I say, yes!
May our hearts long and pray for the salvation of those who do not love God, may we long for them to enjoy the truth of God's Word, and may we long to see them satisfied in God for who He is.
Worship our God is spirit and truth today. Let Him humble you in the strength of His truth. Let Him quiet you with His love.
Blessings,
Nick
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Pick and Choose
The beauty of the Gospel isn't that it makes a person pretend to be who they aren't. It's beauty is that God takes you as you are and changes you into a completely different person.
This begs the question to you, Christian, why do you pick and choose who you accept and despise? Is there any sinner that deserves to be shown the love of Christ over another? Let that question settle in for a minute..
Truth be told, you didn't (and don't) deserve to be given the love, grace and mercy of God any more than the lost sinner next you does. Brother and sisters, don't pick and choose who to love. Don't you understand the great love that has been given to you? Don't you want the enemies of God to be reconciled to Him as friends just as you are? How could you not?
Christians for centuries have looked a sinners in disgust. They have detested those who practice sin openly and in secret. They have categorized sinners as unworthy and untouchable, all the while forgetting that they used to be just like them. Yes, sinners are unworthy and detestable in the eyes of God, but that's what the cross is for! The blood of Christ makes sinners worthy and clean in the eyes of God! How dare you start judging and condemning sinners! Your job is to show them the love of Christ in word and deed.
What did Jesus do? He ate and drank with the sinners while calling them to repentance. We for too long have played the part of the Pharisee looking askance at sinners while parading our pride and arrogance of being better than the poor, wretched, lowly sinner. Your arrogance is disgusting to God.
The healthy are in no need of a physician, but the sick are. If man was righteous in himself, he wouldn't need God, but we all know that no man is perfect. Every single person living on the earth is in need of the righteousness of God through faith in the Gospel. Until you understand the grace that has been given to you and the love that has been shown to you, you will never love the lost. You will continue in your pride and arrogant attitude of "I'm better then them because I'm a Christian." Are you really a Christian? Do you understand the great Gospel our God? He came to seek and save the lost..
Don't pick and choose those who you think need to hear the Gospel. Give it freely.
Don't pick and choose who to show the love of Christ to.. Show it freely.
Don't be a hypocrite and hide the love of God from everyone. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Don't be ashamed of it. Don't be a hypocrite and believe the Gospel but hold your nose high above everyone else. That's not the love of God. Speak the truth about sin and judgment to come.. Speak of the grace and mercy and love through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection.. Save the judgment and condemnation of sinners for God..
Worship Him today,
Nick
This begs the question to you, Christian, why do you pick and choose who you accept and despise? Is there any sinner that deserves to be shown the love of Christ over another? Let that question settle in for a minute..
Truth be told, you didn't (and don't) deserve to be given the love, grace and mercy of God any more than the lost sinner next you does. Brother and sisters, don't pick and choose who to love. Don't you understand the great love that has been given to you? Don't you want the enemies of God to be reconciled to Him as friends just as you are? How could you not?
Christians for centuries have looked a sinners in disgust. They have detested those who practice sin openly and in secret. They have categorized sinners as unworthy and untouchable, all the while forgetting that they used to be just like them. Yes, sinners are unworthy and detestable in the eyes of God, but that's what the cross is for! The blood of Christ makes sinners worthy and clean in the eyes of God! How dare you start judging and condemning sinners! Your job is to show them the love of Christ in word and deed.
What did Jesus do? He ate and drank with the sinners while calling them to repentance. We for too long have played the part of the Pharisee looking askance at sinners while parading our pride and arrogance of being better than the poor, wretched, lowly sinner. Your arrogance is disgusting to God.
The healthy are in no need of a physician, but the sick are. If man was righteous in himself, he wouldn't need God, but we all know that no man is perfect. Every single person living on the earth is in need of the righteousness of God through faith in the Gospel. Until you understand the grace that has been given to you and the love that has been shown to you, you will never love the lost. You will continue in your pride and arrogant attitude of "I'm better then them because I'm a Christian." Are you really a Christian? Do you understand the great Gospel our God? He came to seek and save the lost..
Don't pick and choose those who you think need to hear the Gospel. Give it freely.
Don't pick and choose who to show the love of Christ to.. Show it freely.
Don't be a hypocrite and hide the love of God from everyone. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Don't be ashamed of it. Don't be a hypocrite and believe the Gospel but hold your nose high above everyone else. That's not the love of God. Speak the truth about sin and judgment to come.. Speak of the grace and mercy and love through faith in Jesus' death and resurrection.. Save the judgment and condemnation of sinners for God..
Worship Him today,
Nick
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
How Deep Is His Love?...
I used to be very legalistic. It was to the point that I had no understanding of God's love for me. It was like I needed to make sure I was on God's good side before I could even feel loved by Him. I realize now that during those years I was robbed of knowing God's love because I was trying to please Him to help Him love me (like that's even possible!). This video broke me and made me realize just how much more God loves me in spite of my sin, and this is possible only, only, only, only because of God's work in my life.. through faith in Christ's redemptive work on the cross and the receipt of the blood-payment through His resurrection from the dead. I pray you are blessed and broken by this video.
Our God is great.. He is worthy of all praise, glory, and worship.. May He be glorified in us as we are most satisfied in Him and His grace. He loves us.. He loves you..
Our God is great.. He is worthy of all praise, glory, and worship.. May He be glorified in us as we are most satisfied in Him and His grace. He loves us.. He loves you..
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