This is another great song from the latest album by Paul Baloche. It’s called “You Have Saved Us”. You can find out more about Paul and his ministry at his website. If you haven’t gotten a copy of “Glorious” yet, you can get the physical disc or digital download through Amazon. Watch Paul doing the song with his band, and then watch him as he talks about the song.
Enjoy!
We concluded our “Be People of the Word” series this Sunday in Deut. 6:1-25. There were a number of threads that weaved through the morning as we focused on taking advantage of teachable moments, especially as parents, to help people see God as the giver of life in all situations. There was also a tie-in with Sanctity of Life.
Because we had some extra elements in the service (focus on Sanctity of Life, interview about the formation of a Crisis Pregnancy Center, special prayer time, and baby dedications), we had a little less singing. Even so, we took the time we had to help people focus on remembering the God who is always worthy of praise because of His faithfulness, power, daily blessing of physical life, and eternal blessing of spiritual life in Jesus. It seemed that people really connected and engaged with the themes and expressions that we did together this Sunday. Click through to watch a video and for more information. Continue Reading…
“We are simple people. You can’t remember ten things at once. Invariably, if you could remember just ONE true thing in the moment of trial, you’d be different. Bible ‘verses’ aren’t magic. But God’s words are revelations of God from God for our redemption. When you actually remember God, you do not sin. The only way we ever sin is by suppressing God, by forgetting, by tuning out his voice, switching channels, and listening to other voices. When you actually remember, you actually change. In fact, remembering is the first change.”
- David Powlison
This week’s quote was found over at Of First Importance.
“Have you heard God’s blessing in your inmost being? Are the words “You are my beloved child, in whom I delight” an endless source of joy and strength?
Have you sensed, through the Holy Spirit, God speaking them to you? That blessing – the blessing through the Spirit that is ours through Christ – is what Jacob received, and it is the only remedy against idolatry. Only that blessing makes idols unnecessary.
As with Jacob, we usually discover this only after a life of ‘looking for blessing in all the wrong places.’ It often takes an experience of crippling weakness for us to finally discover it. That is why so many of the most God-blessed people limp as they dance for joy.”
- Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2009), 164.
What does worship look like? As the practical, pragmatic, and action-oriented Americans we are, how do we do this thing that is supposed to draw our attention to God so that we can give Him all glory and honor with our whole being?
The event of worship takes many forms. One of the biggest ways that worship happens is through music. This is true today and has been for centuries. Psalm 69:30 tells us that “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.” Music, in its various forms, provides an avenue where worshippers can open their hearts to God and one another. There is power in the corporate application of music.
Martin Luther (the one who nailed the 95 theses to the door and kicked off the Protestant Reformation), was a huge proponent of the role of music in worship. Charles Moss in The Musical Reforms of Luther writes that “Martin Luther viewed music as having powers to repulse evil and to glorify God at the same time.” In the forward to his Symphoniae, Luther himself wrote that “next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits.”
As vital as music is, there is a downside to the association of music with worship. Unfortunately, we have made worship about music and the two have become synonymous in our minds. Instead of music being an aspect of worship, worship is music. Then we find ourselves in a place that says we can’t worship without music. Or thinking that worship is optional if we don’t like the music.
The fact of the matter is, as songwriter Paul Baloche says, “worship has more to do with relationship than with music. Worshipping God with music is simply a tool to help us connect relationally to a living God.” Worship is about being preoccupied with God.
So, we return to our original question of what does worship look like. We know one way is music. But what other ways can we connect with the living God? How about things like reading, hearing, and applying the Word of God, tithing, living generously, serving, loving others, meditating on who God is, making our prayers more than just requests, developing an attitude of thankfulness, surrendering full control of our life to God, and responding to the truth of God by living it out in our daily lives.
There’s a reason why the event we attend each Sunday is called a “worship service.” All of the elements that take place in it should facilitate our whole self connecting with God and choosing to live for Him. It’s not called a “music service” as music is but a part of the whole.
Worship looks like a lot of things. We can connect with God in a variety of valid ways both corporately and personally. We should not be limited in our ability to worship the living God based on whether there is music available or not.
What does worship look like to you? What helps you connect with God? Let me know in the comments.
We’re in the third week of the “Be People of the Word” series as we focused on the value and benefits of the what the Bible offers us as an owner’s manual for life. We tackled Psalm 119 (all of it), and approached it be first focusing on the blessing of obedience that comes from studying the Word and then presenting a number of “tips” based off of the main themes in Psalm 119.
We began with Welcome and Announcements, and then as part of the Call to Worship, I took a teachable moment focused on why we sing when we gather (because we are instructed to and because it helps us to remember and declare the truth of who God is and what He has done). I mentioned that the songs we sing are from Scripture, some of them exactly, and that the reason we often put verses on the screen during musical interludes was to help people connect the songs with their Scriptural basis. I then read a medley of Scriptures (Col 1:19, John 3:35, Phil 2:9-11, Eph 1:21, Col 1:16, Rom 14:9, Col 2:10, John 1:16). Continue Reading…
This week’s quote of the week comes from Ravi Zacharias:
“Years ago, I read a definition of worship that to this day rings with clear and magnificent terms. The definition comes from the famed archbishop William Temple: “Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose – all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.”
“The more I have thought of that definition, the more I am convinced that if worship is practiced with integrity in the community of God’s people, potentially, worship may be the most powerful evangel for this postmodern culture of ours. It is imperative in planning the worship services that church leaders give careful attention to every element and make sure that the worship retains both integrity and purpose. People come to church generally “beaten down” by teh world of deceit, distraction, and demand. There is an extraction of emotional and spiritual energy that brings them on “empty” into the community. The church’s task is to so prepare during the week that it is collectively the instrument of replenishment and fresh energy of soul. Even being in the presence of fellow believers in worship is a restorer of spiritual hope. We so underestimate the power of a people in one mind and with one commitment. Even a prayer can so touch a hungry heart that it can rescue a sliding foot in a treacherous time.”
(Added emphasis mine.)
Each year, for the churches I’ve served in, Advent readings have been a part of the services in the weeks leading up to Christmas. At times I’ve used things others have written. At times I’ve used videos to tell the story. At times I’ve had people within the local body write the readings. The purpose of the variety has always been to both tell the story for those who aren’t familiar with it while at the same time giving it a fresh spin for those who have heard it many times.
This year, my lovely wife did the writing. She did a great job connecting some of the themes of our Christmas season services with the themes of Advent. (See more of her writing here.) She also took a unique approach by connecting some of the traditions of the Christmas time of year with how Christ was to come and fulfill some of the original worship patterns laid out for the Israelites in the Tabernacles and Temple. The approach was unique as well in setting up the readings in the context of a child asking a question, much like is done in the traditional Passover observance.
Find the readings available below for download. Feel free to use and adapt as necessary. I hope that they may be useful in your setting.
Update: A while back, I changed how I was managing downloadable files, and in the process, the reading for Week 1 went missing. I hope that the others will still be of use to you.
Update 2: We found the Week 1 reading. Now all the weeks are available. Woo-hoo!
Week 1: Download
Week 2: Download
Week 3: Download
Week 4: Download
Week 5 – Christmas Eve: Download
