Moellerd's Blog

Kirk Franklin, Blood, and Jehovah's Witnesses (a Rant)

2012-01-27T10:42:00.000-05:00

Driving to my office this morning was met with a little praise party in my car. I was listening to some of the best music, in my opinion, out there: Kirk Franklin, particularly his "Hello Fear" Album. (subscribe to my "Gospel" playlist on www.Spotify.com to listen to it!) As with all things, you must discern the overall message of the song. Sometimes my boy Kirk get's some flack for SOME of his music being shallow with more emotion than content. I can agree with that statement with some of his songs, but one thing I'm learning a lot recently is that you can't accurately judge a person by their shadow. I certainly wouldn't want people to say I AM what I was in the past. All that said, I had the opportunity to meet Kirk and find out that he's the real deal. And if you know his music as deeply and intimately as I do, you'd notice a refreshing refining of theology in his music throughout his years as an artist. His latest album, "Hello Fear" is STEEPED in the blood of Christ and the GOSPEL of Jesus as the substitutionary atonement. There is a song (titled: "But the blood") that has these lyrics, "by the blood, falling on us, but the blood, gives me purpose, but the blood, You are for us, but the blood, Who can be against us?..." The music, mind you, is getting more and more different from traditional black gospel music, but the message is floating in the blood of Christ. Which brings up my topic for today. What's with the Christian's fascination with blood?
I'm not sure if this has ever creeped you out at all about Christianity, and the more I think of it in the literal sense, it is kinda gross but in the spiritual sense it is glorious: without the blood of Christ, we'd be toast!
I'm attempting to read through the bible in 90 days, and so far I'm on track, but getting through Leviticus and Numbers was hard! One thing I've been reminded of this time around is that the blood of the animal being sacrificed was sacred. God had very specific rules and regulations surrounding the blood of the animals. And when God gives his law, he also mentions that no man should eat the blood of any animal because the "life" is in the blood, "for it is the blood that makes atonement by the LIFE." (Lev 17:11). And the writer of Hebrews uses this same passage in mind in 9:22 "...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
I like the fact that God uses this imagery of "life" in the blood. Because that is exactly what we are given through Christ's blood. Jesus is the perfect, spotless, lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn1:29) and His sacrifice on our account is our salvation. The only reason why this can be is because JESUS IS GOD. GOD HIMSELF sacrificed HIMSELF for us and our atonement from the wrath of HIMSELF because of OUR sin!
When the priests in the Old Testament would take the blood of the atonement and "throw" it on the people, the same thing happens with us with Christ's blood. Christ's blood, like the song said above, "fallen on us" is our atonement!
But here's the clincher, the blood hasn't fallen on you if you don't believe you need forgiveness. The blood means nothing to you if you don't think you are a sinner. The blood means nothing to you even if you "believe in Jesus and that he died on a cross somewhere" but don't believe that He's GOD himself.
One last story.
This last week, I had two Jehovah's Witnesses knock on the door. My wife went down and then came back up and said, "you're going to have to take this one." So I talked with them at the door. "You're a bible reader?" Me: "yes, I'm a pastor I love to read the bible." Then they said something about Abraham, and I returned with something about how they are Mormon (though I knew they weren't) and they were like, "Oh we're not Mormon! We're Jehovah's Witness... You're Christian right?" Me: "yes, I am" Them: "Oh! We are too! We believe in Jesus!" Me: "But do you believe he is God?" Them: "Uh.. no He's not God, He's the son of God.." Me: "No, He IS God... and because you just said that, I'm not interested in hearing any more from you.." And with relief in their voices they said, "Ok well you have a good day!"
I want to say this as delicate as I can, many people in this world can say and in truth that they believe in Jesus and even that he historically died on a cross somewhere in the middle east. BUT the way of truth is narrow and it is in the fact that Jesus IS God that will trip people up, and that God himself had to die BECAUSE of them! And it was the blood of God himself that had HIS LIFE in it that falls on the true believer. That is the only way of salvation. By the blood of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, God Himself.
Please don't gloss over the gloriousness of Christ's blood today shed for you! And maybe if you're reading this today and never really thought about the importance of Jesus as God himself and his blood was shed for you, I urge you to believe that with all of your heart and rejoice today in your salvation! If that's you, please find a bible believing church to get connected and pursue your new relationship with Christ and fellowship in the body of Christ!
Have a great day!

"Tebowing" doen't make Tebow a Christian

2012-01-17T10:19:00.000-05:00

I was in my bowling league last night (please take this moment to laugh and then read on), and the guys on my team know that I'm a pastor and often times they'll do things that they think will "please" me because I'm a "man of the cloth," as they say. I like bowling, but the reason why I joined this league was not to boost my average, but to live on mission and join a random group and show them the love of Jesus. I've had some great conversations around the table between frames with these guys. I'm not trying to force feed the bible down their throats, but more so hoping that they see that a true Christian can actually be a fun and cool guy.
In our culture, the "bible bubble," or "bible belt" as West Michigan has been called, has really perfected the art of polarization of so-called "believers" with the so-called "pagans." Kids often grow up with the false notion that it is sinful to be in the presence of non-christians. So we put our kids through Christian schools, we put them in Christian daycares, we have them make a list of their "approved" Christian friends that they are allowed to hang out with, and in all good intentions think we are growing our kids to be "good" Christians. The truth is, all of those things, though very good, don't make anyone or any kid a "Christian" any more than the act of "Tebowing" makes Tebow a Christian.
My teammate last night decided that after he got a strike that he would "Tebow." And he did, and everyone looked at him, and he looked at me with the face of, "yea! you like that right?! right?! that's cool for you right? You want me to do this cause your a pastor right!?" He genuinely wasn't trying to make fun of me, but in sincerity was trying to "please" me with his "christianeze" gesture. When actually, he was just making a fool out of himself.
Let me pause and say this, I am a big Tebow fan. I have nothing wrong with the guy, and I very much appreciate that he "Tebows" still to this day and probably for his career. Why? Because he IS a Christian. I know that not because he "Tebows" but because his testimony is lifting high the name of Jesus and when given platform at press conferences, he uses that opportunity to glorify God and thank Jesus for taking his place on the cross. Tebow is a Christian because he believes the Gospel, and as an outpouring of his heart and love of Jesus, he "Tebows."
The bible talks about "white washed tombs" (Matt 23:27) as those Pharisaical people who have made everything on the outward of their lives look perfect and "christian" yet are just fresh paint on a dead body. You aren't Christian because you are a good person or do "Christian" things, you are a Christian if you believe that Jesus died in your place because of your sin!
So in my bowling league, I'm hoping to show these guys that I'm not a whitewashed tomb, but rather that I'm a new creation because of what Jesus has done in his sacrifice for my sin. That I'm a broken man in the process of eternal healing through Christ's sanctification. That I'm NOT perfect, but forgiven. I'm growing some good relationships with these guys and what used to be entire nights without one mention of God's word has now turned into at least one maybe two different conversations about what the one guy's female pastor talked about and where she found that in the bible (as an example) or the other guy, last night, who was talking about how he really liked Revelation, and actually KNEW that it correlated with the book of Daniel! Who knew!? The guys I bowl with have the appearance of religion but I pray that the gospel would impact their hearts in a powerful way, it if hasn't already.

A Letter to a Porn Addict

2012-01-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

Disclaimer: The subject manner of this blog is spoken of very directly. It is also a very long blog; you may want to find a time suitable to read in one sitting. Thanks!

Friends, if you were to tell me that going into ministry would mean countless situations where I would have to counsel, sometimes emergency counseling at an ungodly time of night, people who are stricken with guilt, fear, and addiction to sex, I wouldn't have believed you. Well, I would be lying if I said that that statement weren't true. Just like Joseph at the end of Genesis (50:19-21) talking to his brothers saying, "you meant to harm me with this, but God meant it for good so that MANY people would be saved..." (paraphrase). I'm finding myself put in the same situation. I have been counseling, as of late, MANY young men between the age of 14-19 on the issue of sexual purity. These young men, by their own admission, cannot control themselves in looking at pornography, going too far with their girlfriends, or even the silent killer ("shhh don't talk about it!") masturbation. To say that at their age, I didn't struggle in one form or another in the area of purity would be a big lie. And I had spent many days with a guilt that weighed so heavy on my heart and listening to the lies that Satan tells you about your worthlessness and weakness. If you don't believe me, ask my dad, he was the best counselor that I had going through this season as a young man. (DAD'S DON'T MISS THAT SENTENCE). I remember days where because of this hidden sin in my heart I honestly would believe the lie, from Satan, that God had given up saving me because of this sin.

Why would I be transparent about this? Why would I step out on this limb as a pastor and say I went through this? Here's the reason. I think we have gone far enough in our "christian bubbles" emasculating our congregations by accepting this sin and not dealing with it, not speaking into it, and not educating and challenging our young people about it. Is it happening in some situations? Certainly! And I thank God for those situations, but I have recently seen and have been able to prove that the area of sexual purity in our contemporary time is not "a" issue, but "the" issue for young men.

Another reason why I am transparent about this is because this issue was something Satan meant to harm me, but God, in his grace, has turned around and because of my testimony and deliverance through Jesus' sacrifice and the power of the Holy Spirit in defeating temptation, He now uses for good so that many young men can be challenged and hopefully transformed by the Word of God in my testimony.

So with that said, I've written many letters, like the one below, to many young men when I have been approached by them to help them with this major problem in their lives. Dads out there with young sons in this age range who don't even know where to begin, feel free to copy this letter and personalize it and give it to your boy(s). I cannot stress enough that DADS NEED to be more present in their sons lives about this sin problem.

Dear _______________,

What you have told me took a lot of courage to do. To come out and say #1 I'm struggling, and #2 I need help is a very good first step in defeating this sin. I want to warn you though, from this point on, you've just waged war with the enemy because you want to put to death an idol in your heart that was successfully taking your worship away from Jesus. Satan and his army are going to be firing their arrows at you pretty strong now and you need to realize that you are not without protection and an arsenal to defend and attack. The word of God is going to be your best weapon against the temptations of Satan to get you to fall back into this sin. Psalm 119: 9 says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your (God's) word." I know that reading the bible regularly is probably a foreign concept to you, if you were to be honest, but you need to know that the bible is not just a book, it is the very word of God that Hebrews says is "sharper than a double edged sword piercing to the division of joint and marrow..." It acts as a mirror to your heart to reveal the sin and clutter that is preventing Christ from having full reign over your life. Sin is revealed and then needs to be repented of. God's word is powerful to do that. God's word is also (John 1) Christ himself. Jesus IS the word of God and the fact that Jesus is your savior from sin should spark in you the logical conclusion that you need God's word to help resist and defeat sin in your life. When Christ died and rose from the dead taking away the wrath of God against the sin of those who believe in Jesus, we sometimes forget that he ROSE FROM THE DEAD! Death was defeated, the snare of sin is defeated! See, we do not have to be, as believers of Jesus, under the control of sin any longer! 1 Corinthians 15 says,

""Death is swallowed up in victory," "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ..." (15:54b-57)

My first challenge to you in this sin problem of yours is to defeat the ultimate heart issue that you have in the fact that you have an idol that you are worshiping more than Jesus Christ. That should scare you because you are saying you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, yet this sin has control over you.

To combat idolatry you turn to your savior Jesus. I don't want you to just read the bible and think you are doing something magical that will help you in this. I want you to "spend time" with your SAVIOR. Spend time with Jesus daily! When you spend time with a good friend, you don't hang out with just enough time to read them a paragraph of information and then leave thinking you are a great friend. SPEND TIME having a relationship with your savior Jesus Christ. Surround yourself with reminders of who He is and God's grace in your life and revel in the joy that is to be had in a relationship with him that is more than just reading your chapter a day.

Ok, can I throw a flag of foul? I addressed the most significant problem that you have in this sin. The problem is, "idolatry" is ultimately the root of all sorts of different sins. However, YOU are stuck in SEXUAL sin. And because you are stuck in sexual sin, you need a little more convincing and the fog cleared up to realize that this is indeed an idol in your life. I can tell you that you have an idol, but you ultimately probably won't truly understand it until you recognize the consequence of this particular idol. See, because idols have two forms of consequences, spiritual and worldly. The spiritual consequence of this sexual idol that you have in your heart is happening already and you are just starting to realize it: your heart is turned from worship of Jesus to the worship of self gratification and entitlement which is numbing you to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. You are quenching the spirit because you are consistently giving in to the temptation to look at porn, to masturbate, to go too far with your girlfriend, etc. Quenching the Spirit is deliberately going against the wisdom of your conscience saying, "don't do this!!! this isn't honoring the Lord!!! Stop!! don't go on!!" The ultimate consequence of quenching the Spirits warning in your life is the possibility that you will be so scaring your ability to hear the Spirit's warning that the Lord, like he did in Romans 1 to those who were being sexually immoral, will "give you up to the desires of your flesh..." I don't think you want this to happen, but I also don't think you understand how serious that consequence to this sin is. So let me run you through some consequences and implications of this sin that you may be convinced by.

When you look at and access porn on the internet, you are supporting an industry in America that is responsible for putting young women and even children of both sexes against their will into a forced and filmed lifestyle of sex. This is called sex slavery, and it happens in America every day. Every day thousands of young girls and boys are being forced into the porn industry because of the demand that is created and the money to be made by their pimps, EVEN by the free stuff. By watching porn on the internet, YOU now have the guilt on your hands of supporting this underground sex trade in America. You think this sin is harmless, that no one is being affected by it, that this is only YOUR business? Think again. You now have on your internal resume a line that says, "contributed to the sex trade in America."

How about this one, on the pornography subject still. You will probably go to college and spend thousands upon thousands of your parent's money to get a degree and go into a field of work that can make you money to live comfortably when you're older. Now money isn't everything and it is an idol in and among itself often times, but almost every creditable organization or corporation that you are probably looking to work for and cash in your hard earned degree has a NO TOLERANCE policy to porn on the work computer. Which means that if you have so much as a source of porn on your computer at work, you could be fired on the spot! And guess what, that shows up on your record and possibly, depending on the situation, put you on the regional sexual offenders list. Worth it?

Let's get real and talk about the more addicting of the problems that your facing right now. Chances are, you could turn off the computer and go cold turkey on the porn thing, but your left with a physiological problem now of your body so used to what you were probably doing while looking at Porn. Masturbation is an action that spurs on a feeling and a mental scenario that is actually placing you, in your imagination, inside the scenario that you are watching. When you pull the plug on the computer and are left with only your imagination, you think you've forgotten those images and scenarios that you succumbed yourself to? No. So in essence, masturbation, even without images, is a porn source for you. And it is often the harder of the two addictions to kick.

When it comes to masturbating you need to realize two things. One, in doing so, you are stealing from your future wife. What you are doing while masturbating is saying to God, "I know you have a time frame for this thing called sex, and I know ONLY your ways are perfect, but I want to be impatient and experience what you meant for me to experience and find more joy in with my future wife." The common misconception is that if, as a young man, you don't masturbate, you won't have an avenue for the "release of sexual tension." What isn't told you by those advocators is that physiologically, the more your body is released of its sperm supply, the more your body is conditioned to produce it and at higher volumes. So, in essence, by "releasing your sexual tension" you are actually creating a greater one! Ok, Chris, what the heck? How will this tension go away then? You think God doesn't have an answer to this? He does, and chances are, because of the severity of this issue, you may have never experienced one of these. God's NATURAL and planned way to relieve a young man of his sexual tension is through nocturnal emission. When you wake up at night thinking you peed your bed, it's really God's way of being faithful to his sexual plan for you to WAIT until your married. Yes, this is awkward to talk about, but if you don't man up and get past the awkwardness, you're going to subject yourself to guilt that can be devastating.

The question I know you are thinking at this point is probably this, "Wait, is masturbating ok if I'm not going through a scenario that is pornographic in my head?" My answer to this is probably obvious. Is it possible to masturbate as a young man without those pictures and images in your head? The answer is probably 95% no. For the other 5% you need to realize another facet of masturbation that has convinced me that it is indeed something that you shouldn't do and probably sinful in itself. When God talks about immorality in the Bible, like Romans 1 for example, he uses the term "unnatural" to describe the relations and actions that are being done. In God's created order, there are NATURAL processes, and if something is unnatural, it is often opposing to the Lord. Look at the example in Romans 1 where God gave them up to the desires of their flesh because the men were relating with other men in an unnatural way: homosexuality. In law (Leviticus for example) homosexuality is said to be an "abomination" to the Lord and was worthy of death. Why? because it is, in the most direct way, in opposition to the NATURAL way of God's created order! Now, let me ask you this. Is masturbation a heterosexual or homosexual action?

OUCH!! If you're thinking, "obviously it's heterosexual because in my head is a heterosexual scenario," my next question is this, "ok, well then, what parts are you actually playing with?"

Masturbation, as an action of itself is a homosexual action. You are by definition having sex with yourself ("homo" = same).

If you look at the influx of young people in current time who are coming "out of the closet" as homosexual, you look back, and see a generation that was spoon fed "for the sake of "safe sex" you need to explore yourself sexually and thus prevent the possibility of having a baby that you weren't planning on..." Please note, this isn't a scientific fact, only a logical observation. Are there more people saying they are homosexual because they have been convinced over their pubescent years to be comfortable and actually prefer to have sex with themselves and their own sexual organs that they now want to cohabit and have sex with their own kind?

What you need to understand is that because of sin, our hearts are filthy to the core. But Jesus came to save people like you and me who have made mistakes and are sinful. But to take hold of the power of the Holy Spirit to defeat this sexual sin in your life is not going to be easy, and will require sacrifice. You need to realize that you have this sin problem, and you need to realize the idol that is trying to kick Jesus off the throne. God is not up there with a scowl on his face about ready to throw a lighting bolt and finish you off right now or every time you've failed! Sure, sin grieves the heart of God but he is a God of grace who looks down on his most grand creation and says, "come back!! Let me pick you up! Let me dust off the dirt, let me put salve on your wound, let me HEAL YOU!!!" When God sent his son to die on the cross for you, he COMPLETED what he said he was going to do. And you NEED to believe that Jesus took your place on the cross because of this and the rest of the sin in your life. And when you understand and believe that Jesus is your Savior, the guilt is lifted away and the flood of forgiveness washes over you! What an amazing God we have who is willing to do this freely!

I do have to make this point however, because I know your head is going there. "If he always forgives, then why can't I keep this sin that I cherish so much knowing that he is just going to keep forgiving and by doing so make his grace for me more famous!?" Romans 6 says, "Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? By no means! who have we who have died to sin to still live in it?" Don't suck the blood out of the hand that feeds you! God is gracious yes, but are you proving that you believe that Christ really died for your sin if you are still actively pursuing your sin? I'll let you answer that one.

I want to finish with the promise that God gives us in 1 Corinthians 10:13-15:

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
(1 Corinthians 10:13-15 ESV)

Can you come to your senses today and see that the grace of God through Jesus Christ has the power to save you even from this awful sin? I'm spoken very direct to you today because I love you and don't want to see you hurt severely from this sin. I want you to see that you can have freedom in your relationship with Jesus and look at this sin as a thing of the past. It's going to take some hard work and sacrifice, but I know you can do it, and I'm here to help you stay on track. I pray that you will hear my words sincerely and respond to the conviction of God through them.

Sincerely,

Chris

Church Growth Strategy

2011-10-27T11:28:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had a time with the Lord in His word where you're like, "I know I've read this book before, but THIS verse, I don't ever remember reading this! This is GOLD!"

I had that very thing happen to me today while reading and underlining through the book of Acts. I got to Acts 9, which is the conversion of Saul and about 3/4 of the way through is verse 31:

"So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."

This is how I've learned the Lord works! He gives you nuggets of gold here and there, as if to specifically encourage or challenge you in response to your concern or prayers of late. Lately, I've been troubling myself and worrying about how or what we can do as a church to grow and not get stale or stagnant. I feel often like we have planted in a desert and soon our water is going to run dry. How foolish was I to think that the end result of growth of our church was all of my or our leadership's doing? I knew that at a surface level, sure, but deep down, I've been convicted of trying to be in control of our growth, to "keep the momentum" going, to do everything I can to make sure people are walking through the doors.

So I have my time with the Lord this morning and read Acts 9:31 and realize in the most loving way that the Lord is saying, "doofus, chill. Rest in me and grow your fear and find comfort in the Holy Spirit." Is there a role that I can play in the growth of our church? Yes, but it's in cultivating my fear of the Lord and comfort in the Holy Spirit and relying on the Lord to multiply; not fancy lighting, not catchy logos or series titles, and yes, not even billboards. All of those things are ways we ultimately respond to our growing fear of the Lord and comfort in the Holy Spirit who challenges us in our MISSION. Those things in themselves, when not motivated by a fear of the Lord and the gospel mission, are just that: things.

The early church was growing and "multiplying" greatly because of their walking in the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..."

Psalm 111:10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!"

So, I have been challenged. I have been convicted. I have been empowered now to find my comfort in the Holy Spirit and see our church grow and seek to cultivate in our people to "walk in the fear of the Lord."

So... How's that going for you? I'm a work in progress.

Psalms for the Simple (8 of 150): Praise

2011-10-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

Hey all,
If there were a Psalm that I wish I could have branded on the frontside of my brain to be the first thing I think about when I wake up, I think it would be this one. Psalm 8 is a GREAT way to wake up and commit your day to the Lord. If you will, let me convince you of this.
Themes by verse:
Verse 1: The name of the Lord is majestic and greater than any other name in history, PERIOD. In Philippians 2:9-11 says "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus ever knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Interesting point: The name of the Lord brings God glory, "you have set your glory above the heavens." No thing, and no one can take God's glory from him, it is out of our reach, yet so overwhelming that it drops us to our knees when we think of how it was displayed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in our place on account of OUR sin! God is glorified and his name is made great because of his grace.
Ok that was verse 1. This post could get VERY long if I'm not careful. I want to challenge you to read this Psalm and think through them in this way: theme it out verse or section by section. Even write in your margin if you want to remember your time with the Lord and what he was teaching you.
Verse 2 is interesting. What do babies and infants have to do with strength against foes? According to my ESV study bible, this could be a reference to the people of Israel being compared to the majesty of the Lord and how it doesn't matter the size or strength of the actual person/people, but more so what they are praising. I say praising here because it says that God has established strength out of the "mouths" of infants. I looked into this a little more and saw that the Septuagint uses a greek word for "strength" that means "strength attributed to God in song." In other words, the people of Israel are, out of their mouths, though small and infantile they are compared to God, proclaiming the strength of God. It's praise. And when your strength rests in the Lord, your enemies are nothing, and thus are "stilled." Interesting eh?!
How are you proclaiming the Lord as your strength today, this week? Do you trust the Lord with your concerns? Do you recognize yourself as infantile and minuscule compared to our amazingly great God? And do you know that your size or inferiority doesn't prohibit you from a relationship with him? God opened that door to us through Jesus Christ who paid the price of our sin on the cross. He is the reason we can, though inferior, proclaim HIS strength in our lives. Do you know Jesus?! That's paramount to this whole discussion.
Verse 3-8 is a great description and declaration of the coming (now come) Messiah Jesus. Read that and see how he is ruler over all things and the only one in scripture who is worthy of Glory and Honor. He is the only one who is given dominion over the works of God's hands. Jesus is ALL over this section.
The Psalm finishes just like it started, (we call this bookending, there's a bigger name for it, but I can't recall it off hand.) Verse 9: The name of the Lord is the greatest and most majestic name in all of history and even before time, period.

I guarantee you start your day off with this in mind, you will have a proper perspective to your day. If you're ambitious, commit this whole Psalm to memory and have it playing through your mind on repeat all day. You cannot be shaken when you are pursuing the Lord, and when you are "bumped" with the stress and trials of this life, you spill what you are full of. Make your life full of praise to God for the sending of his Son Jesus who saves you.

Have a blessed day!

Working on a God @ Work video today

2011-09-29T10:15:00.000-04:00

Our church has, by God's grace, been growing and flourishing beyond our expectations this year. God has definitely been working and is at work in our church! One of the greatest joys as a pastor here is to see and have a front row seat to not only God's work in our church body as a whole, but also in the individual level of those apart of it.
When people ask me the question, "hey, how's it going with the new church?" I love to turn them to our website that has our growing collection of God @ Work videos. I recently wrote a post about the "God @ Work Initiative" (CLICK HERE) This post describes the background thought, logic, and preparation to what we hold very dear at our church: Personal Testimony. One of the best ways in God's grace in drawing people to himself is through those who have a story about how God drew them to himself! It's a simple logic: God is at work, and his work is contagious, so let's tell people how he is at work and see how he uses that for his ultimate glory in bringing people to himself through the work of Jesus Christ.
Today I get to work on one of those videos. It is a long tedious process, but one that I will gladly take on because of the proclamation of the gospel, not from a preacher whom you'd expect it from, but from the person sitting next to you in the congregation. It's one thing for a preacher to get up and share the gospel, which our pastoral staff does really well, but it's another, more rewarding thing, to see that Gospel through the Holy Spirit being proclaimed out of the mouths of those it's being preached to!
Our ultimate goal with these God @ Work videos is to glorify God by encouraging and challenging people to get out of their box and share the story of how God brought them to their knees and rescued them in His love through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, by faith.
Here are a few examples of the videos I'm talking about, and soon I will post the video of the one I'm working on. Enjoy!

Psalms for the Simple (7 of 150): Refuge

2011-08-16T11:02:00.000-04:00

Psalm 7 is one of the psalms that I think provides the most comfort for those who struggle with the fear of man. I can relate well to the fear of man because that has been the thorn in my flesh for most of my life. When I hear of something that someone said about me that isn't true, like slander or mockery, it really tears to my heart. Why? I want to be liked! I want to be someone who EVERYONE likes and I have worked hard to try to make it that way. Unfortunately, that goal will absolutely NEVER happen. Not everyone will like you, not everyone will be on your side. Not everyone will support you or will be an asset for your mission. And our challenge, as those who struggle with a fear of man is to GET OVER IT! Who cares what that person thinks of me!?
Easier said than done, I agree, however the bible says "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe." ~Ps 29:25
So what do we do when we face slander in our lives? What do we do when something is said of us and is spread of us that isn't true? What do we do when someone seems to be out to get you and you don't know why and they don't stop? Psalm 7 gives us a great insight into the heart of David who is struggling with that same problem and comes to his conclusion: find refuge in the Lord, NOT man!

Under the title of this psalm it tells us that this was a song of David in response to the words of Cush. I briefly tried to research what happened, or what Cush said, but came up empty. But based on the psalm, it would seem that this bully Cush decided to slander David in some way that really hurt David to the core.
So David responds in anger and as king lashes out with his army to kill Cush! Right? No. David turns to the Lord as his refuge and brings his concern and problem to the feet of the Most High.
Vs 1-2: "O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver."
If you've ever been bullied in your life, and not just as a child in grade school, but even in adulthood, you know exactly why David described it like a lion who is tearing his soul apart. Undeserved and unprovoked torment and slander is most painful! But we can learn from David's example here and approach the throne of God with our concern and have him search us and cry out for deliverance.
Notice in verse 3 that David, before moving on into praying for God's revenge, prays first for the Lord to reveal to him any fault of the matter. "Am I deserving of this? If I did, even unintentionally, let my enemy overtake me." David is quick to take blame and repent of something HE DIDN'T DO! He just wanted to make sure, before the Lord, that he was innocent of the slander against him. That's a man right there. Living up to something that maybe only the Lord knows you are at fault for and taking the punishment. However, the Lord determines that fault, not the other party.
David then opens up his mouth the praise of a God who stands up for the righteous, who protects the upright in heart, and lays waste the wicked man.
At the end of his reflection, David worships the Lord (vs 17). How often do we bring our complaints to the Lord and expect him to fix our problems, but are so angry about the situation that we fail to worship the guy who we are appealing to to help us!? We ought to give thanks everyday for the grace and faithfulness of God for even waking us up in the morning! Let us also bring our concerns before the Lord, but remember him as our Savior and king, the ruler of all, the creator of all, the epitome of righteousness, the only name worthy of praise and glory.

If you are reading this and have experienced slander, or maybe are in a work situation with someone who just plain bullies you. The LORD is your refuge, not the approval of that person. The LORD is your refuge, not the ceasing of that slander. The LORD is your refuge and give thanks to him for the ultimate vengeance on your part by Him!

Conclusion: Jesus as our Worship Pastor

2011-08-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

I want to close simply and quickly with a thought about our Savior. Jesus is the worship pastor for worship pastors. When in doubt turn to the author and perfecter of your faith. Wake up every morning calibrating your heart in the light of Jesus, then you cannot help but have a pure and biblical motivation. Preach the gospel to yourself. It will keep you humble knowing constantly that Jesus is still the hero, not you. He is the mediator between God and man, and ultimately without him, our jobs are pointless: we can never lead someone into the presence of God as a sinner. Jesus is our worship pastor who leads us as the ultimate prophet being the voice of God. He leads us as the ultimate king providing the greatest, yet surprisingly simple structure of honoring God found in his word, the bible. And he leads us as the ultimate high priest who can sympathize with our weakness yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:14-16). Always hold fast to your Savior knowing that all of the strategies, philosophies, and methods discussed in this study would be a fleeting futility apart from Jesus as its foundation. When he is your focus, you will be able to adequately cultivate a culture of worship in yourself and reflect that upon your congregation. I finish with the words of Psalm 113:1-3

Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord!

Blessed be the name of the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore!

From the rising of the sun to its setting,

the name of the Lord is to be praised! ^[1]

^[1] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ps 113:1–3.

Worship Pastor as King (cont.)

2011-08-01T11:00:00.000-04:00

Auditions and Applications

To lead in a kingly fashion, begin to form processes and procedures for auditioning perspective volunteers. Construct and work closely with your senior pastor on all aspects of this job, but particularly on the fine print of these applications so as to be able to draw out the necessary information from an applicant on where they could best be used in your ministry or perhaps another ministry in your church. For auditions, be sure to have another ministry leader or staff apart of the audition. This will protect you from the possibility of accusations as a response to a declination to be on the team. Never audition alone and allow the other person to provide input so as not to give the impression that you and you only run the show in pride.

Planning Tools

You should have your services planned out with plenty of time for your team to be comfortable with the music. This does not mean that you can’t make last minute changes or allow the Spirit to take you on a worship tangent. What it does mean is that you have a venue by which your team has access to recordings, charts, sheet music, etc so that they can be prepared and competent with the music. There are many different venues to choose from, but with modern technology and resources available on the Internet, I’d suggest ministries such as Planning Center Online,[1] to upload service plans and schedule volunteers in advance. As a general rule of thumb, I have found that it works best to have your volunteers planned out at least 1 month in advance and your services planned out at least 2 weeks in advance. I have used Planning Center Online for a few years with success.

Rehearsals are opportunities

If you have a worship ministry with musicians whose caliber merits a necessity for a midweek rehearsal, then there is no question that you should have one. Striving for excellence is not an idol if you do it for the purpose of bringing the Lord the most pleasing offering of praise you possibly can. Rehearsals are also perfect opportunities for you to cultivate and disciple your team! Spend the first 20 minutes of a rehearsal going through a book of the bible or the latest book on worship together. Take time during the rehearsals to have pointed discussions regarding the reason why you are doing a particular song that weekend or perhaps enlighten a newer volunteer with the process of song selection and how you order your worship set and maybe even accept suggestions. Use rehearsals as a venue to grow your team’s unity, your church’s culture of worship, and discipleship focused on the personal ways in which your team functions as worshippers outside of Sunday morning.

Train with the humble mindset of replacing yourself

Lastly involves delegation and leadership strategy. My friend Andi Rozier once told me in his British way, “Mate, your purpose in ministry is to work yourself out of a job.” Hopefully what he meant by that was not a disrespectful statement of hoping I would leave, but rather a very biblically sound and wise statement of the minister’s purpose. This concept ultimately goes back to the discussion of discipleship but now in terms of structure and leadership in the specific ministry that you oversee. Just as the goal in discipleship is to make disciples who will then ultimately make disciples, your job in ministry is to lead in a way that the people you are leading will inevitably be fully resourced and capable to lead. To put it in a simple, yet drastic way, would the ministry that you oversee significantly be hurt and fail if you were die tonight? If you answered yes to that question, you should take this as a challenge to restructure your workload and delegate and provide more responsible opportunities for your volunteers so that you are in essence leading the future leaders of the body of Christ. This means that you are constantly looking for the opportunities to train people in the specifics of what you do and how you do them and give them the opportunity to practice!

Do you allow anyone else to be the worship leader on a Sunday morning? Or do you make sure that you are the front man every Sunday and when you’re gone they have a prayer service with no music? You should be seeking out people who have the skills and abilities necessary to lead worship and pour into those people! Train them in the philosophy of your worship ministry based on the study and research you’ve done on biblical forms and functions of worship! Include them in the process of planning. Give them feedback and critique them so that they improve in this wonderful task we have as worship leaders!

Work, knowing that you could be gone tomorrow. Who knows, you might actually, in doing so, see the Lord leading you to take on a different role in the church and give you the opportunity to actually install someone you trained to take your current spot? That is a privilege! Don’t hold so tightly to your position that you fail to respond to the leading of the Lord. In all of that, make sure that you are prepared to exit that position and that your ducks are in a row so that the bride of Christ, the church, is not hurt in any way. That is called ministry leadership stewardship and it is also called effective shepherding.

[1] www.planningcenteronline.com

Worship Pastor as King: Organized playlist eases stress of planning a worship set

2011-07-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

Have a playlist of the current songs that you do and go through them quarterly and determine which songs should be retired and consider introducing new songs. A great way to involve your congregation in this is to make this list available online as a playlist through the iTunes music store, for example. This allows you a resource to turn them to in order to get more familiar with the music that you are, and will be doing.

If you are convinced of the philosophy of song selection and categorization that I presented earlier as a reflection of the biblical model of how the Lord set up his Temple, you might put together a list like this to help you in planning services:

Ones (Horizontal)	O Praise Him- Crowder Adoration- Baloche Happy Day- Fee Hosanna (Praise is Rising)-Brown Holy- Hughes Here For You- Tomlin
Twos	Salvation Is Here –Hillsong One Way- Hillsong I Believe- Moeller/McCoy Lift up the Name-Caterer Beautiful One-Hughes
Threes (Diagonal)	Here is Love- arr. Stanfill You Alone Can Rescue- Redman O The Love of my Redeemer – Caterer Hallelujah for the Cross- Rozier Lord, I need You –Tomlin You Never Let Go- Redman
Fours	Always- Stanfill The Stand- Hillsong Our God-Tomlin Stronger-Stanfill Arms Open Wide-Hillsong Mighty to Save-Hillsong
Fives (Vertical)	Revelation Song-Riddle All Glory-Rozier God, You Are My God- Ingram, Noland, Mabury Jesus, You Are Worthy- Brown Your Name- Baloche The First Place- Westerholm Lord of All- Stanfill
Communion Songs	Jesus Paid It All There Is A Fountain How Deep the Father’s Love- Townsend Nothing but the Blood Amazing Love Here is Love How Marvelous
Christmas Songs	Joy to the World (1) O Come all ye faithful (1) Etc. etc.
Traditional Hymns	Holy Holy Holy (5) All Hail the Power (1) Come Christians Join to Sing (1) Amazing Grace (3) Great is thy Faithfulness (3)

Song frequency and introducing new songs

Regarding song selection and particularly song frequency of use, a general rule of thumb is, “when you (the leader) are sick of the song, the congregation is just getting used to it.” It will be difficult to cultivate a culture of worship that is tracking along and engaging in the worship set if the songs and elements that you do are new every single week. When introducing a new song to the mix, do it first as a special element, placed in the offertory section or pre-service, and then if it fits well, you can then “teach” that song as a response to the message. Then do the song in its categorized spot in the service for two weeks in a row. It can then be considered in regular rotational status. This conditions the congregation to be familiar with the song or element. It is also has been my experience that, in today’s congregations, even some of the old hymns my have to be reintroduced or taught.

It has worked best in my situation and experience to have a rotation of regular songs at a frequency of around five weeks. The same songs are not being done over and over, and yet the familiarity of the music is still being cultivated. This does not mean that you have five different pre-planned, cookie-cutter, worship song sets that you rotate, it simply means that you try to space out your songs in a way that the frequency is comfortable to your congregation’s ability to learn and be familiar with the music without overuse. This is not only true of worship songs, but of worship elements as well. Start thinking of how you can change the frequency of elements and song usage to better and more efficiently cultivate that culture of worship in your church.

Worship Pastor as King: Spirit leading in organization and structure

2011-07-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

Organization has always been the hardest aspect of the worship pastor. We are creative individuals who don’t like to be cooped up with the busy work in an office. To be overly organized in the realm of the worship pastor is sometimes viewed as “quenching the Spirit.” You don’t want to have everything so planned out that you aren’t flexible to if the Holy Spirit leads you in a reflective time of praise. There are other circumstances, such as multi-campus, video venue, churches that are confined to time constraints due to live streaming the pastor’s message. In this case you can’t organize and plan enough and make sure that times and cues are hit perfectly. Is this “quenching the Spirit?”

A common misconception is that it is impossible to plan and be spirit led at the same time. I have known worship leaders who purposefully do not plan a worship set until late Saturday night before, making sure that the Spirit is giving them the right music that will best praise the Lord. In the meantime, he loses volunteers on the worship team because they are overwhelmed with the stress of going into a Sunday morning oblivious to what the music is. The misconception here is that the only way that the Holy Spirit leads is spontaneously or “in the moment.” That simply is not true. Yes, it can be true, but is not actually a biblical standard. Bob Kauflin helps flesh this out:

The bigger your church, the more critical consistent planning and rehearsal become. But even when you’re small, it’s wise to develop the practice of planning. It’s not un-spiritual to determine ahead of time when things will take place, where transitions should be explained, how many songs to sing, what creative elements to include, or how the meeting will ended. We’ve found that the Holy Spirit’s most important guidance often comes before the meeting even begins.[1]

Thus leading in a “kingly” role is described best as being organized, well planned for and prepared. It is amazing how easy this can be when it comes to developing simple yet effective processes and procedures regarding planning and the facilitation of the worship experience. We’ve spent a great amount of detail discussing biblical philosophy behind the planning of an effectual worship service, so now let’s take that truth and develop very tangible and organized charts and lists to help with the process.

Communication Foundation: God talks to us, We talk to God, We talk to others about God

Functions: Prayer, Testimony, Meditation, Scripture, Prophecy/Preaching, Confession

Possible FORM	FUNCTION ACCOMPLISHED
Worship Songs	Prayer, Testimony, Scripture, Meditation, Prophecy, Confession
Communion	Testimony, Meditation, Confession
Baptism	Testimony
Open Mic Scripture reading	Scripture
Responsive reading	Scripture, Meditation
God @ Work video	Testimony, Confession
Calling out attributes of God	Testimony, Meditation, Prayer

This list obviously could go on and on, and I would encourage you as a worship pastor to be developing your own list and be prepared to give the reasons why you want those elements to be done in your services knowing what function they have in a worship service. Lead your congregation and cultivate a culture of worship in your people by making this list and the reasons available to the body. The more your people know about the theology of the greatness of God and how we can biblically respond, the more they will grow that corporate heart of praise and culture of worship.

[1] Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway 2008). 182.

Worship Pastor as Priest: Discipleship = Heart over Ability

2011-07-29T11:00:00.000-04:00

The worship pastor has the great challenge of leading a group of sometimes good, but more regularly mediocre musicians to come together in unpaid unity as a band to lead a congregation of music critics. That sounds like a gross generalization, but if you are a worship pastor or worship leader, you do know what vain of thought I’m going down. It is hard to take unpaid and a hodgepodge of mediocre and great skill level volunteers who happen to play an instrument and try to form a worship band that meet up to the unwritten standards of the people in that congregation! This can be an area of stress for the worship pastor and I want to present to you an alternative to a life of worry with this regard simply with a priority shift. The shift is not the priority of making an amazing band, but the priority of discipleship of the people that God has entrusted to you.

In the context of a worship ministry, the people who God has entrusted to you ought to be growing in the area of their personal worship so that when they are on stage playing an instrument or singing backup, they are indeed leading out of an outpouring of a heart that is consistently worshiping throughout their week. A priority is to intentionally shepherd the heart of your team with this worship-as-lifestyle concept.

This can be done a number of ways. Encourage them as a worshiper, not as a performer: To surround themselves with reminders of Christ, whom they serve; To feed on God’s word daily; To communicate with God by listening to the convictions and the nudges of the Holy Spirit; To hide away God’s word in their heart, memorizing, meditating and applying it in their everyday lives. They ought to seek to recognize Christ in every context of their lives, looking for inconsistencies of actions and represent Christ to the world. Thus worship is a life pursuing Christ as Lord over every aspect of their lives. We can, and most certainly will stumble, but we need to frequently confess and repent of sin so as to be cleansed by God (1John 1:9). This leads into another important aspect of shepherding your team in discipleship: Christian community.

Community is integral to being a disciple of Christ. They ought to be in Christian community to confess and repent of sin. This can be as simple as an accountability relationship, or as involved as a designated small group. I’d argue that both are to be pursued. Accountability and community is vitally important in making disciples, not performers. Following Christ in a fallen world is hard, and being “coached” and encouraged on many fronts outside of one’s spiritual disciplines just strengthens the disciple to be more and more like Jesus. As a worship pastor, this is your responsibility to your worship teams and volunteers: disciple them to be better followers of Christ by showing them the transparent reflection of Christ in your life.

Therefore the purpose of our disciple-making is to make disciples who then are drawn to and geared for making disciples themselves. By the grace of God, you will be shepherding people who are standing on stage leading worship out of the outpouring of their hearts geared to the worship of Jesus Christ.

As a pastor, your eyes should be in tune with seeing fruit of the Spirit evident in their lives. To shepherd effectively, you need to know your flock. This begins with an application process. A very pointed and strategically questioned application can quickly reveal useful information in knowing the strengths and weakness of your team. It can also help to prevent a wolf in sheep’s clothing to come in and cause division and devour your flock. This is where the worship pastor needs to have Spirit guided resolve. Just because an individual can play the electric guitar does not mean he should be given platform to play. There will be times when through the application process it becomes evident that the person’s unstated reason for wanting to be on the worship team is to show that he is an amazing musician and that people would see him play. RED FLAG! If you are not careful to identify and deal with the red flags, you could inadvertently feed someone’s sinful pride as opposed to growing them in humble service to our Lord.

Being a worship pastor who leads in a priestly manner means that you care more for the heart of your team members than their ability to sing or play an instrument. You have a longing for them to display more fruit of the spirit than musical perfection. You need to have a passion for their spiritual growth more than their growth in any worldly context. Provide them with resources to grow in their relationship with Christ and make it a passion of yours in understanding God’s word enough to encourage and challenge your team with it regularly. Do you show appreciation to your team? Do you compliment them on their good work. Do you provide ways for them to improve in their craft without making it seem like that is your only concern? Do you encourage your team to be in a small group? Do you do the hard thing sometimes and confront a team member with a sin that is evident in their life? Do you then provide the resource and the accountability to walk them through to see victory over this sin through the application of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit? It is a fear of mine that there are worship pastors who love the music more than they love the people. This unfortunately will be something that the devil will try to tempt the worship pastor with consistently throughout their career. To lead a worship ministry in a priestly way, you must lead by example. You must display a passion and hunger for God’s word and display a humility that will be contagious and be transparent with them about confessing sin. Spend time together as a team praying and seeking the Lord, confessing the idols of perfectionism and performance. To cultivate a culture of worship in your church, it MUST start with the effective and priest-lead discipleship of your team.

Worship Pastor as Prophet: 5 Element Worship Set

2011-07-28T11:00:00.000-04:00

Let’s talk about that 5 element worship set. I use the term “element” here because the worship set is not limited to songs. Elements are forms and can include but are not limited to Scripture readings, testimonies, confessional element, personal or corporate prayer, etc. This 5 element set is intended to bring the heart of worship from horizontal to vertical. The first element will be horizontal, the third element is diagonal and the fifth element culminates the journey with vertical. The heart is now eager and excited to hear God speak in a sermon from His word. The second and fourth elements are simply those “in-between” elements that we discussed earlier that help smooth the flow from horizontal to vertical. A second element may be a gathering song that has fairly testimonial in portions of it. A fourth element may be a song that is testimonial in the verse but extremely ascriptive and vertical in the choruses. These elements are not always musical. The second element could be a time where people greet each other and share why they want to worship the Lord this morning. A fourth element could be a time of confession where after the testimonial element the people are led through a confessional exercise that is responsive to a reminder of the sacrifice of Christ and bringing our sins to the foot of the cross. This could be in the form of actually writing sins down and having the people bring them to the foot of a cross in the room. The elements are creatively endless, and with ever-evolving technology, there will be new elements of which we currently aren’t even aware. For example, I have even seen text messaging being used powerfully in a worship set.

There are elements that emphasize different functions of worship that can be used quite powerfully. Open mic scripture reading is an effective way that we have seen in terms of the diagonal or testimonial portion of the worship set. Open mic scripture reading is an element that is carefully and strategically set up by the worship leader calling the congregation to find and share short passages of scripture that the Lord has used to impact their lives that particular week. This can be themed and act as a powerful time of worship by reading God’s word, book-ended and spliced in with verses of a particular hymn or other song that fits with the theme.

Regardless of the element, the journey should go from horizontal to vertical, from the hillside of the temple to the holy of holies. When this is done, you will notice a drastic change in the culture of worship at your church. The heart is conditioned by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit to leave the baggage and stresses of life at the door and focus on recognizing and responding to the greatness and overwhelming presence of God. As a worship pastor, train your volunteers on your team to understand the philosophy behind the songs you choose and the order in which you sing them. Come up with some elements that fit in those categories and try them out in your worship services. Take notes on how you could lead these elements better or how the people might better respond to them. Please keep in mind that the numbers are arbitrary. This method works with 3 elements instead of 5. It can be changed to an entirely different order of service but still follow the goal of the heart of worship
getting to a vertical direction focused entirely on the glory that is only God’s. Being a worship pastor is founded on a prophetic basis where you ought to be able to rightfully handle the word of truth and protect your congregation from false teaching. There is plenty of false teaching you need to be protecting them from in the music industry, even the Christian music industry. Study God’s word and see for yourself the mandate we have in responding in worship to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Do not take lightly theology and doctrine. Make it a priority in your responsibilities as a worship pastor so that you can better lead people in doxology because of your own heart’s overflowing of theology and the greatness of God!

Worship Pastor as Prophet: Strategic and Biblical Service Order

2011-07-27T11:00:00.000-04:00

While on staff at Harvest Bible Chapel in Illinois, the leadership of a few men helped shape my philosophy of worship in amazing ways. Dr. James MacDonald, Andi Rozier, Matthew Westerholm, and Rory Noland have been instrumental in the development of this particular philosophy of ordering a worship experience that I’m about to flesh out in writing. To my knowledge, nothing has been formally published on this philosophy, so I want to be sure to give credit to the above men for their amazing influence in my life and training me in this biblically based philosophy of a strategically purposed worship experience.

How many times have you gone to a church service and before you knew it you were done with the music portion of the service and didn’t realize it? Your soul was not stirred, your heart was still not in a right place, and you felt a bit confused for some unknown reason. Before I dive into a solution to this problem, I must say that no method of rhyme or reason can consecrate the heart; only God’s word and the Holy Spirit can do that. This particular philosophy is focused on opening the door as wide as possible for the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts of EVERYONE in the context of a corporate worship service.

The goal in this strategic ordering of music and other worship elements is to condition the heart to be consecrated and overwhelmed with the greatness of God by utilizing the Holy Spirit’s working with the word of God (Isaiah 55:11). This means the Word of God through song, readings, prayer, and other elements. If it is not a direct quotation of God’s word, it is a well prepared and thought out paraphrase of God’s truth. EVERYTHING in a worship service must correlate to the truth portrayed in God’s word.

With that said, full consecration and humility in the heart is not something that is easy to “jump” right into. We are so prone to the prideful “closing” of our hearts that at the beginning of a worship service you may not be able to genuinely sing “Hallelujah” as an outpouring of your heart. You are distracted with life pressures or sin that has clouded your vision to what is most important. This is why you don’t want to start a worship service with a vertical worship song. Chances are you would be excluding the majority of your congregation in your “leading” them in responding to the presence of God, because they are hindered and needing to repent of un-confessed sin in their lives. A culture of worship formed and cultivated in your church brings your congregation READY to jump right into the vertical songs because it rightfully has been the outcry of their heart all week, living repentant lives. That is worth stating plainly: We are to be leading and cultivating a culture of worship that results in a congregation that walks into the sanctuary already with an overflowing heart of praise to our awesome God. But the sad truth is, this isn’t the case. We do our best to lead people in conditioning hearts to realize greater the presence of God and to respond in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24). Following those categories mentioned above in order, from horizontal to vertical, lead right into the sermon. The goal is to have hearts so in tune and overwhelmed by God’s presence that they are ready and eager to hear him speak.

When you unpack this biblically, we seek to form our worship services in a similar way that the Lord commanded his Temple to be set up. A generic setup of the Temple shows the temple mount starting with the hillside leading to the courts (outer and inner), and then leading to the holy places (holy, and most holy). Think back to the categories of worship songs into the context of how the Temple was setup. When you view the conditioning of a heart of worship for the believer, think of the journey from the hillside going to the holy of holies. I discussed much earlier how the holy of holies was the place where the presence of God was manifest in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, upon the death of Christ as the atonement for sin, the curtain was torn making the presence of God not a place, but a reality in the life of the now reconciled believer.[1]

In this model the worship leader is standing on the hillside calling out saying “Hey everyone! Come and worship with me!” (Horizontal). As people gather with him, they move into the courts and start telling each other what the Lord has done in their lives and rejoice together in the work of the Lord through Jesus Christ (Diagonal). After the declaration of the reconciliation they have in Christ and what the Lord has done for them in Salvation they are lead into the holy place and holy of holies where they are floored with the greatness of God and respond with shouts of “hallelujah!” and declaring the majesty of God! (Vertical). When heart of the worshiper has entered the holy of holies, what is happening then is between he and the Lord. The others in the room have faded into the background of his concern and he is focused fully on ascribing glory to the Lord in thankfulness for who he is and the salvation that has been given by him. What happens next is awesome! He speaks to us through his word, and we respond again with praise.

With this in mind, the order that has worked best for our church, and correlates nicely with the Temple setup model, is to start with a 5 element worship set that leads to the sermon where God’s Word is preached without apology and authoritatively, and then ending with a 1 or 2 element worship response.

[1] Hebrews 9 gives an amazing description of the work of Christ in being the once and for all high priest opening up the holy of holies.

Worship Pastor as Prophet: Worship Songs: Choose and order biblically!

2011-07-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

Another form that needs to be addressed in this discussion is in the area of worship music. Every worship pastor has probably been put under the stereotype of a “worship musician” who is hip on the latest Hillsong or Passion album, writing his own music, or digging in some of the best indie Christian music out there. Regardless of stereotypes, I want to spend some time on song selection and ordering elements. As a reminder, song choice and service order is a FORM and not a function of worship, but to strive for excellence and a biblical standard we ought to talk about this. It is an important subject because it is sad how many churches go week by week with worship element packages that have no biblical rhyme or reason to them.

We need to start with choosing the right worship songs. There are generally (and I mean generally) three types of worship songs and then there are what I like to call “christianese” songs. “Christianese” songs don’t have any place in a worship service and are typically very man focused. These songs are heard mainly on mainstream Christian radio, and though they may be very encouraging with puffy statements of how God is our buddy, they are lyrically shallow and sometimes counterintuitive to our standing with the Lord.

It goes without saying that the style of the music or the catchy nature of the tune has nothing to do with the message of the song. It would do the worship pastor good to choose songs based on the lyrics and message before being savored by the music it was put to. In terms of the message of the song, there are three categories of God-glorifying worship music that ought to be used in a worship service: Horizontal, Diagonal, and Vertical worship songs.

I use these directionally descriptive words as categories because of the direction that one’s heart, soul, and mind are pointed if singing the words genuinely. The first category is Horizontal songs, which can also be referred to as gathering songs. These songs are horizontal by nature because the message that is being sung in general form is: “Hey lets gather together to worship our Lord! He has saved us, let us now come together to lift up our voices to praise!” These songs will typically be in the third person tense and focus heavily on the body of Christ coming together corporately and declaring the intent and motivation to praise God. You have songs that declare heavy amounts of truth of God’s work of Salvation and a plea to come and worship together because of this. Insofar as form is concerned, the style of these songs are typically more upbeat and energy driven. The purpose of these songs is to energize and get the church body excited to praise God in song. In these songs you are very aware that others are with you in the room and you are united together and pursuing now a greater purpose and intention to praise. A great example of a song that would fit this horizontal description is David Crowder’s “O Praise Him.” In general when you think of a horizontal worship song, think of a song where you are singing to the person next to you, “Hey, let’s praise the name of Jesus together right now! Sing with me! Let us ascend the hill of the Lord! (Psalm 24:3, Psalm 95:6) ”

The next category is the diagonal worship song. These songs can also be referred to as testimonial songs. These songs speak on the work of God in the life of the believer and how the believer relies solely on God and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sin. Testimonial songs still are very corporate expressions because we are declaring to one another how God sustains them in trial, forgives them of sin, and how he sacrificed his son for them. These songs recount our sinful nature and the grace of God. These songs also state the attributes of God that pertain to the life of the believer such as God is faithful to me, God never let’s go, or Christ has healed me. Most hymns fall into this category by nature, because most of the lyrically strong hymns have a personal nature to them about the work of God in the believer’s life. A good example of a song that is in the diagonal and testimonial category is the old hymn put to modern music “Here is Love” or even a modern worship song like “You Alone Can Rescue” by Matt Redman. Also the song “Enough” by Chris Tomlin fits in this category, and of course the song “Amazing Grace” by John Newton fits here as well. When you think of a horizontal and testimonial song, think, “Hey, let me tell you what the Lord has done for me! (Psalm 9:1, Psalm 77:11-15)”

The final category of worship songs are the vertical worship songs. These songs can also be called ascriptive songs that lyrically ascribe worth, glory, and honor to the Lord. Such songs may rely on the Revelation passages that declare glory, honor, strength and power to the Lord. The focus of these songs is no longer what the Lord has done for the believer but responding to the greatness of God with words of praise. The singing of this song is now with the throne of God in view and our voices are unified directly TO God in giving him what he is most worthy of: glory. The person who sings this song genuinely is no longer caring of the people around them, they are fully engaged in declaring praise to a one man audience: Jesus Christ. Lyrically these songs may be more simple and repetitious in order to promote emphasis of the praise: “Holy, Holy, HOLY is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come! (Revelation 4:8).” “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created (Revelation 4:11).” “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed (Revelation 15:3-4).” And I’ll leave you to read Revelation 19 on your own to have a personal time of worship. The point is that the vertical songs are just that: songs of praise and thanksgiving that we are singing directly and vertically to God. The praise shall leave our lips and not be directed to anyone else except the Trinitarian God of the bible. He alone is worthy of praise and vertical songs truly are the most appropriate songs that declare and respond to this truth. Musically these songs are more like anthems and may have more legato and beautiful sounding melodies. They are the songs that you will most likely have stuck in your head for the rest of your Sunday after the service is over. A couple songs that fit in this description would be “Revelation Song” by Jennie Riddle, “All Glory” by Andi Rozier, and “Agnus Dei” by Michael W. Smith. When you think of vertical songs think this, “How Great are you God, worthy of my praise and thanksgiving!”

I know what you are thinking, “Aren’t there some songs that don’t fit neatly in one of the categories?” Yes! The beauty of art is the fact that you can’t always fit good art in the confines of a categorical box. Some songs are very horizontal but then jump to diagonal in the choruses or perhaps even jump to vertical at the bridge. The important thing is not trying to categorize songs perfectly but to make sure what you are doing fit because the categories as a form fit perfectly in the context of many of the functions of worship. Songs can be meditative, testimonies, prayers directly to God, presentations of scripture, and even confession of sin. If the song does not lyrically fit in these categories or the message is not accomplishing a function of worship, please spare your congregation the confusion and don’t use it in a worship set. It may be a great song, but probably is not appropriate to adequately lead people to a genuine and truthful response to the overwhelming greatness and presence of God. Song selection is vitally important in terms of cultivating a culture of worship in your church as a worship pastor. If you put no thought into it but base it on musicality, you’ve just identified and idol in your life that needs to be put to death.

So with adequate songs in play, how do you put together a worship song set that is most effectual? When dealing with order of service, you have many traditions that come into play, as well as personal preference. The phrase was already mentioned, “Theology leads to doxology.” Some people have taken this phrase in a more drastic way and demand that the worship response by song is to be done after the sermon where theology was preached in a way that motivates a response. I really have experienced powerful worship services where this was indeed the case, and I have ordered some of my church services to reflect this model. However, to say that theology only comes by means of the sermon is simply false. With adequate and careful selection of appropriate worship songs, theology is declared in song and it is responded to. It is with this vein of thought that I want to present to you a philosophy of planning a worship set using the above categories of songs but now including other elements that may or may not be musical to fill the slot of one of those categories. I want to give a disclaimer that this is by no means the only biblical model to structure a worship service, however has proved to be one that works very well.

Worship Pastor as Prophet: Testimony: Utilizing Media as the Form

2011-07-25T11:00:00.000-04:00

Some of the most powerful worship experiences in my life have had some form of personal testimony given by another believer of how God has been working in their life or how he saved them from destruction or despair. As a practical application to our discussion about forms that accomplish the functions of worship, I want to spend some time on a particular form initiative that I’ve adapted from my church and have developed for the sake of showing how each form should be well thought out in how it accomplishes it’s function. It is also important in these discussions with your team on different forms to wrestle over how and what it takes to make sure that you can accomplish this form in excellence and genuineness. It may cost the church’s worship ministry budget a substantial amount to assure the best equipment or training needed to accomplish it well. Whatever the case, does the form accomplish a function of worship on the foundations of communication to, from, and about God? If the answer to that question is no, then humbly put that form to death and move on. Here is an example of a well thought out form initiative, focused on the function of testimony that I have begun to implement at my church after approval by the Elders.

In development at Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake is a ministry entitled “God @ Work.” Under the leadership of the Worship Pastor, and the production ministry, the premise is this: God is clearly at work in our church body-- let’s find out where and how, and capture it in media, sharing the stories during our worship times to distinctly draw attention to the greatness and mercy of our God!

Let me quickly describe some background and some clarification. The “God @ Work” concept is not new. Testimonies have been powerful ways that we worship God and ascribe praise to Jesus’ name. The testimony venue, however, in terms of realm, style, and form is accelerating in exciting ways. Spoken or written word has been the norm for testimonies in the past. Now with the availability and simplicity of computer programming and technology, we are able to add intensity and emotive influence to the story. What was spoken word can now be transformed into video. What is merely a video testimony can be transformed into an artistic depiction of the work of God in a person’s life or situation, utilizing still photography, artistic “b-roll” footage, and different settings in the midst of the story being told similar to that of a documentary.

The value of the “God @ Work” initiative as a worship service element is that people are drawn into a greater realization that God is real, he is working, and he is good, leading to a response that is worshipful. If you were to think back on some of the most powerful ways that you’ve felt the presence of the Lord in your life, or perhaps powerful worship experiences that you have had, more often than not, a testimony of how God has saved someone through Jesus Christ or how He has sustained them through a trial comes to mind. Why is that? It is because people are experiential and social beings. When it is very evident that God is working powerfully in the life of someone very close to you, it sparks an emotive response in your heart that is worship, “PRAISE GOD that He is sustaining you or has delivered you out of a life of sin and into belief in Jesus as your Savior!”

Another value is in the area of community. Surface level Christian community is sometimes more harmful than good. A quick way to make a surface level friendship into an intimate God glorifying relationship is in the sharing of your testimony. Maybe it is the testimony of how you first believed that you needed and received a savior in Jesus? Or maybe it is a testimony of how God is sustaining you through a serious health issue and you are being strengthened in your trust of an almighty and sovereign God. Testimonies quickly grip the hearts of the hearer because of our social nature, and the combination with modern technology, similarly to the addition of music to a lyric, heightens the emotive response of that hearer in a worship setting.

Another value is in the modern ease of duplication. The written testimony can be duplicated, yes, but the filmed testimony captures the tone and emotion of the one in which God is working so powerfully. This is a value that I wish was available in the time of Christ. Can you imagine if you had a video testimony of the man who was blind at birth and was given, not healed, but given sight by Jesus Christ (John 9)!? Or perhaps we had a recording of Lazerus reflecting on how he had died and was decaying when Christ raised him from the dead (John 11)? Or better yet, hearing Mary and Martha’s point of view about that amazing work of God?

Please hear me that the written testimony that we have in the Gospels (God’s word) is not in any way demoted in terms of not having the technology available at that time. I’m simply stating that modern technology and media allows us the amazing ability to distinctly capture and distribute how God is truly working even in the fallen world that we currently live! Whether this is in the form of a video in the middle of a worship song, or on a webpage or blog; the good news of Jesus Christ, as told through the voice of the sinner saved by grace is what is able to be distributed in powerful ways in our current times. Moreover, we are called to do this in the great commission.

In order to make this possible, we need the support of our church body. Simply supporting the idea of “God @ Work” media is easy, but challenging our church body to open up and consider sharing their story of their redemption in Jesus Christ is not. As humans, sin is very embarrassing and often times hard to want to talk about. As believers, the closer we are with the reality of sin correlates with our repentance and thankfulness of our Savior. When we can humble ourselves and open up to share our story, we encourage those who can relate to that story and then more fully trust in the Lord in their situation. In order to gain this support, it takes one person at a time to participate in a video being produced on their story. The more people see the testimonies of others in their recognizable church body, the more they are going to be willing to say, “hey, I have a story of how God is working in my life that I think may be able to bless someone in this family and give God all the glory.”

Not only the support of the church body, but of the elders as well as the senior pastor, who, from the pulpit, can encourage the congregation to see God at work in others lives as well as their own. The elders’ support may look as simple as being one of the first people to participate in sharing their testimony. A secondary benefit to that is a deeper understanding and trust of the congregation to an elder that is leading their church.

An initiative like this can get expensive. However, because of the availability of high quality equipment at reasonable cost, the quality of the media produced determines the cost. I would start this initiative at a reasonably high level quality. The highest-level quality would require Hollywood grade equipment, which is not a wise investment for a church of 200. The level we want to utilize would require a designated high-speed computer that will solely be used for video and media production. This computer would house a high quality video editing program. It would also require an HD camera. I want to get a full HD camera that is also a DSLR still photography camera that will be versatile in other ministry use and even Sunday morning live-feed webcam use. Another capacity that is needed is artistic and creative people in our church body to help with the creation and production of a testimony video: story boards, what parts of the testimony are most valuable, editing and cutting edge/current graphic expertise.

At the dollar level, we are looking at under $10,000 in equipment to achieve what would be considered a high-level quality production. But it is surprising how starting off, this initiative can be accomplished with almost no extra cost utilizing something like a simple digital camera’s video function and the free video editing software on most computers. Seeing how this form has already impacted the worship atmosphere and culture of worship in our church, I’m seeking to put more energy and assets into it to make it better, giving the highest glory that we can to God in our excellence.

This initiative works best when the testimony is indeed true and biblical. If the testimony is man-focused on how someone kicked an addiction temporarily through a program like AA, the Lord is not glorified. When David, in Psalm 71:15 declares that even though his accusers try to shame him, “My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.” True and biblical testimony is man’s recognition of the work of God in his life that corresponds with scripture and is declared verbally.

I like these four designations of a good testimony:

• Biblical testimony centers on Scripture.

• Biblical testimony focuses on Christ.

• Biblical testimony results from God’s work in your life.

• Biblical testimony always requires response.^[1]

^[1] Kenneth O. Gangel, vol. 5, Acts, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 438.

Worship Pastor as Prophet: Form Vs. Function

2011-07-24T11:00:00.000-04:00

The worship wars are started because of insubordination of the “forms” of worship in a service. Music is a form; it is not a function of a service seeking to experience God in communication with him and about him. Music can fall under the category of a number of the functions, but it itself is NOT a function of worship. When the “form” of music becomes, in the mind of the congregant, a “function” of worship, you will inevitably be fighting over the correct way. The function designations are such because of the simplicity of each function and the open-ended nature of which the Lord ordained them. Although the functions are general, they are direct scriptural ways in which communication happens from God (scripture, prophecy/preaching), to God (prayer, meditation, confession), and about God (testimony, confession). It will do the worship pastor well to look at every element down to the minutest of details and see if it indeed aligns to a function which has its foundation in at least one of the three directions of communication. There are MANY forms out there that are being done that don’t, but are being done because of a fleshly human satisfaction in them. Those forms may or may not be inherently wrong, but without a function that accomplishes a direction of communication, they will inevitably prove to be futile in the context of a true worship service.

With an understanding of function being superior to form, you can see why arguments about contemporary versus traditional style of music just have no bearing to the ultimate goal of a Sunday morning service meant to amplify a believer’s life of worship. Rather, it simply distracts the leadership down the rabbit hole of people pleasing and fear of man. The devil has had a lot of success in distracting people from what is actually important to spend time and energy on. That is why, I contend, that when you prayerfully plan a service, you MUST start from the foundation and work up. You first ask yourself “how can we be sure to be in communication to, from, and about God in this service?” and not start with a discussion about “what is the latest and greatest thing being done in churches today?” If you want to cultivate a culture of worship in your church, where people are being molded more and more into the likeness of Christ and responding to it, you should teach this biblical model, and you should model this service planning rubric.

I don’t want to completely minimize the value of good forms. There are many great forms out there that have proven to stand the test of time in regards to accomplishing the function on the firm foundation of communion with God. One of these is music. Music has been a form used to accomplish the function of prayer and testimony for thousands of years. King David was a prime example of one of the first “Christian artists.” Then you have the sons of Korah as perhaps the first worship band of all time. The Psalms were most assuredly put to music originally and in contemporary time as well. Some of the best lyrical mining can happen by digging into the Psalms for material to be put to music! Again style of music has no bearing in the argument. Though I am not a fan of the popular craze in the young market designated as “screamo,” but if combined with the message that ascribes worth and praise to God because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the style becomes moot and the message becomes superior. I may not prefer that, and it probably won’t end up in my church because I wouldn’t be able to pull it off well and I personally am not drawn into worshipful or overflowing heart with that particular form and if I am charged with leading a congregation in that overflow, I better genuinely exhibit that myself before expecting to lead well. This brings up a very crucial point in the issue of forms that accomplish functions. Maybe you do have a form in mind that will accomplish a function, but you may or may not be able to do that form justice with your musical ability, accomplish it with excellence or a genuine heart. Excellence and genuineness in the context of forms is extremely important. It displays a passion for the subject of our worship and minimizes distraction to those we seek to lead in worship. Again, we don’t lead people into the presence of God; we lead people in responding to God’s constant overwhelming presence. When this truth is realized and responded to outside of the walls of Sunday morning, we are successfully cultivating a culture of worship in our churches. That is our goal. No matter what the form, focusing on making the functions of worship around the foundation of three part communication, we seek to train, guide, and lead by example our congregations to worship every day in their own contexts!

Worship Pastor as Prophet: Sunday Morning: The Communication Structure

2011-07-23T11:00:00.000-04:00

The Sunday morning service is what we will focus on right now in a very practical way particularly in planning in a way that leads to a Spirit filled gathering where genuine worship is amplified in spirit and truth. I’m using the word “amplified” on purpose because of the above discussion on how genuine worship is not confined to a specific worship “service” or place, it is merely amplified in the context of a church service because the external and worldly distractions are significantly lessoned and for the most part, people in the church service are unified with this same purpose to “experience God.”

The purpose of the Sunday morning worship service, I would contend, has a three-part foundation around the concept of communication.[1] One of the major aspects of the greatness of God and the direct result of the sacrifice of Jesus is the fact that we are reconciled to him. We have already spoken about the torn curtain in the temple after Christ died symbolizing the reconciliation of a Holy God to his people. We will discuss how we can culminate an amplified worship experience with this concept in mind, but the underlying result of reconciliation is the glorious and gracious ability we have in communication. The purpose of the Sunday morning service is then to facilitate communication on three levels: God communicates to us (Matthew 17:5, Hebrews 1:1-2); We communicate to God (Jeremiah 33:3); We communicate to others about God (Ephesians 5:19). These three make up a mentally structured foundation to a biblical gathering of believers.

Notice that the subject of the service is not man and it never should be. The subject of the purpose of a Sunday morning service should only and always ever be God. In the three foundational communications, many things and elements are probably popping into your mind of how to accomplish them, but I want to focus on six distinctive biblical functions that are done corporately to build on the communication foundation: Testimony (Psalm 71:15); Prayer (Philippians 4:6); Meditation (Psalm 119:27); Scripture itself (2 Timothy 3:16); Prophecy—Preaching (1 Corinthians 14:26) and Confession (1John 1:9; James 5:16). These are very general functions and are meant to be so. Some of the functions tie very closely together and can be combined, yet are distinct enough to be individual. The purpose of these distinctions is to identify the biblical means by which communication happens logically in the corporate and unified body of believers during a service. This function list is by no means exhaustive, yet is the best general representation of biblical corporate response. There are so many different ways that can be done to accomplish these functions, and that is where our discussion leads to now. We finally get to the portion of the recipe that most worship leaders and worship pastors spend most of their time trying to think up: Forms. The functions that accomplish the foundation of a worship service can be done in so many different ways. If you take the function of prayer for example, you could simply pray over the mic, have your congregation read a pre-written corporate prayer, leave a moment of silence for people to pray privately, sing songs, which are basically prayers put to music, you could have an open mic time where people call out their requests aloud to the Lord, have an elder pray, the pastor prays in his sermon, even before the service starts you can have a prayer team praying over the service, you can have a whole service devoted to prayer and set up stations and such. Do you get the idea? The forms are endless, but the function stays the same. Because of that, the function holds more weight than the form and it MUST always be superior to it.

[1] While on staff at Harvest Bible Chapel (Elgin, IL) I sat under the teaching of James MacDonald, Andi Rozier, Rory Noland, and Matthew Westerholm. They trained me in the Harvest Worship Philosophy which makes up most, but not all of what I am portraying in this study in written form, though the philosophy has not been formally published. It is to say that citation and credit be given in part to the above men for helping me be able to formulate these thoughts in written and chart form from their years of trial and error and extensive study of the subject passing it down word of mouth and in house printed resources. Currently (May 2011) James MacDonald is working through a sermon series titled “Vertical Church” that makes reference to Harvest’s motivation and strategy in service planning.

Worship Pastor as Prophet: Responding to the greatness of God

2011-07-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

Worship is not merely a “section” of a church service; it is a continual reality of the genuine believer who responds to the greatness of God with an overflowing heart of praise. We see the greatness of God in many ways and we ought to respond.

We see the greatness of God in his creative work for example (Genesis 1, Romans 1, Psalm 92:4, Psalm 102:25, Psalm 148, Isaiah45:12, Colossians 1:16, Romans 11:36). It goes without saying that when you face a natural beauty like Niagara Falls, or the Grand Canyon, or maybe even the simple yet complex beauty of a tree bursting with blossoms in spring, that something inside the believer is welled up to give glory to God. The shear complexity and perfect calculative order of how the universe was created in very fine-tuned constants that allow life to exist on this earth and not be burned up or frozen over is such that our hearts should scream, “Praise God! Wow he is amazing!” It is the greatness of God in creation that should well up a burning and holy anger against worldly claims that everything we see and the complexity of the natural world is all a result of chance and evolution.

As a worship pastor we should be encouraging and training our congregation to recognize the greatness of God in creation. I use opportunities while I pray corporately to thank God and praise him for displaying his power and faithfulness in the rain outside, as an example (Job 5:10, Psalm 65:9, Psalm 104:13). Our hearts should be so in tune with everything that points to God’s glory that by drawing attention to it before our congregation and relating it back to the sovereignty or faithfulness of God, you will be cultivating that culture of worship.

You do not have to be an environmentalist to have an appreciation for and recognize the beauty and fragility of nature. Instead of worshiping nature, where many environmentalists fall, we attribute the beauty and find joy in the provision and sovereignty of God in his creation. Using God’s creation as a means to elevate who he is, is not only beneficial for the body, but it is a biblical model. Jesus uses this model when he preaches on the subject of worrying or the provision of the Lord in Matthew 10:29-31, and paralleled in Luke 12:6-7. The Lord IS concerned and paying attention to us even to the smallest details of how many hairs we have on our heads! He then uses the example of how the Lord knows even when a single sparrow falls: how much more does he care and has concern for his most grand creation that he loves enough to sacrifice his only son for? You see how it can quickly get back into the grand mystery of the Gospel, which is our motivation as worship pastors. Our God saves, even when he was not obligated to. As a worship pastor, our job is to facilitate a corporate response to the greatness and overwhelming presence of God. The list is long of methods to accomplish this task, but one method is actually on the responsibility list of most job descriptions for worship pastors: Plan and execute a Spirit filled and contemporary worship service on Sunday mornings.

Worship Pastor as Prophet: God's Present REALITY

2011-07-21T11:00:00.001-04:00

Before we get into the actual discussion about the planning of a purposeful worship service, an all too common misconception needs to be addressed. I’ve heard this statement many times and in different ways: “you really lead me into the presence of the Lord today…” It warms my heart to hear things like that, because it makes me feel like I succeeded in the goal of the worship service. My goal ought to be to lead people into God’s presence right? That goal is based on an assumption that the presence of God is a place, spiritual or physical. Is the presence of God a place? You see in the Old Testament the affirmative of this question in terms of the visitor to Abram (Genesis 18), the burning bush (Exodus 3), cloud and pillar of fire (Exodus 13, 40:34), the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25), the tabernacle (Exodus 26), and then culminating in the Temple’s Holy of Holies (1Kings 5-6). Those manifestations were indeed specific locales that the Lord displayed his presence. Keep in mind specifically the locale of the Holy of Holies where God’s presence was in the Temple, we will revisit this thought soon. But to say that God’s presence was only in terms of manifestations in the Old Testament would be false. David knew this very well in Psalm 139:7-10, the omnipresence of God:

“Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there your hand shall lead me,

And your right hand shall hold me.”

In the New Testament, you see the presence of God in an amazingly new way in the person of Jesus Christ, “Immanuel, God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Jesus was indeed the Word of God, made flesh (John 1) and dwelt among men. He was fully God and fully Man. God’s presence was thus again a locale in the person of Jesus Christ. Then the most significant of all historical and spiritual things happened at the death of Jesus on the Cross. When he said, “it is finished,” the wrath of God was satisfied and the curtain in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn in two, revealing or opening the then symbolic presence of the Lord (Luke 23:45; Mark 15:38; Matthew 27:51). With Jesus’ proclamation to believe in Him and Him who sent Him as the Savior of the world, the torn curtain now symbolized that man was reconciled unto the Holy and Almighty God of the universe; His wrath was taken on by Jesus in our place, as believers, and his presence is now not a locale, but a REALITY for the believer. This is made all the more solidified for the believer that God is present to them at Pentecost (Acts 2) where the promised Holy Spirit came and empowered the disciples and believers now into all of history.

The reality of God’s overwhelming and constant presence for the believer is ONLY made possible because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ making atonement for our sin. To say that we, as worship pastors, or worship leaders, “lead” people into the presence of God is a feat that we are not worthy of nor have the ability to do. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man and HE is the reason why we experience God’s presence in an overwhelming way (1Timothy 2:5). My friend Joel Brown, a contributor for The Resurgence, comments on this issue with the ultimate answer being one that is the necessity of Christo-centrality:

You want to bring your congregation before the throne of God? Great. Show them the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) and by faith, the Spirit will take them there. The Holy Spirit is the conduit through whom we experience God’s presence, and Christ is the place whereby we are made most aware of his presence.[1]

As a worship pastor, our job then is not to lead them into the presence of God, it is to proclaim to them the glory of Christ, which is the gospel, and lead them in responding to it. Worship is a response, not a style of music, nor a raised hand or simply the beginning time of a church service. When we lead as worship pastors, we are to lead a congregation in responding to the greatness and overwhelming presence of God, and ONE method we do this is in the Sunday morning Church service and planning for that strategically and prayerfully. But the reality of worship as a response, and the biblical mandate we have to worship, is that genuine worship has no contextual barriers. In other words, if the worship pastor or senior pastor references or speaks about Sunday morning as “our time to worship Christ and give Glory to God,” they are inadvertently putting forth an assumption that that it is the only time of week that this can happen. Again, this is an extreme over generalization; many church leaders and worship pastors say this not meaning or intending an assumption. But if we are to cultivate a genuine culture of worship in our congregation, we should speak and discuss in a way where true and biblical worship is not limited to the confines of the church walls!

Here is a biblical definition of Worship that has its foundation in Romans 12:1-2 but is consistent to all scripture in terms of the “act” of worship: Genuine worship is the logical response, physical, emotional, and spiritual, of an overflowing heart, gripped by the greatness and overwhelming presence of God.

I use the word “logical” on purpose in this definition and it reflects directly from the text in Romans 12:1. The word used in the ESV as an adjective to worship is “spiritual.” It says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Spiritual has a few meanings, but to go back to the Greek root of this particular word translated “spiritual” we get the Greek word logikos. In the English, we get our word “logical” from this word. Some translations of the bible will actually translate this as “rational” as well. Regardless, the point is the same: presenting our bodies as “living sacrifices” is our rational or logical worship. Worship is a response and it is a rational one. To what? That makes all of the difference.

Rational and genuine worship is not a response to good music or an amazing light show, rather it is a response to the greatness of God and the realization that he is present. In the context of this particular passage in Romans 12, the Apostle Paul is culminating a major thought. If you look at Chapters 1-11 of his epistle to the Romans, you see some of the most extensive and deep theology of the salvation by God to those who he has chosen out of his mercy and grace through the sacrifice and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. Paul spends 11 chapters on this! He culminates with the first two verses of chapter 12 which at this point you shouldn’t necessarily even need to have said: “in view of God’s mercy and grace and everything I’ve just written to you about how awesome and great he is, how do you think we should respond to this?” He not only says it, he “appeals” to the people saying in essence, “People! Please recognize what God has done for you! It was according to his mercy! He was not obligated to save you, but he did! Don’t you think that your logical response to this would be to be 100% sold out for the cause of Christ and the Gospel!? Sacrifice your fleshly desires, sacrifice your worldly pursuits and present yourself before the Holy God Almighty in humility! This is your spiritual worship; This is your logical response to the greatness of God.”[2]

The term ‘worship’ is misunderstood if it gives the impression that the major element is what human beings do or offer to God. Biblical religion is primarily concerned with what God does for his people (Mk. 10:45). This is particularly evident in the NT, where words expressing the human activity of worshipping God are surprisingly rare in descriptions of church meetings (Heb. 13:15f.; 1 Pet. 2:5). Worship is human response to a gracious God, and it needs to be placed in this context if it is to be properly understood.^[3]

[1] Joel Brown, Gentlemen, We Are Not Mediators. (Seattle: The Resurgence 2010). Blog Post: www.theresurgence.com: December 29, 2010.

[2] Emphatic paraphrase of Romans 12:1-2

D. R. W. Wood and I. Howard Marshall, New Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 1250.

Worship Pastor as Prophet: Protecting your flock with biblical foundation, function, and forms

2011-07-20T11:23:00.000-04:00

So quickly we could get into a discussion on different elements done or attempted in worship services all over the world, but would find ourselves no closer our Savior. How often does this conversation happen? “Hey man, what kind of lighting and production equipment are you using? What you did with the lights was SO cool! If only my church had something closer to this lighting setup, our worship would be so much better.” I have been in countless discussions about the next “big thing” or “relevant thing” being done in worship. “oh, we need to have up-lit aluminum trusses standing randomly all over our stages.” Or “I bet people would be more engaged in worship if we had more stimulating LED displays.” Or one of my favorites, “Maybe people would think we were taking the focus off of ourselves and on God if we setup everything backward onstage and they saw us lead worship as “a part” of them and not singing “to” them?” Let me just answer that one real quick. No, the focus is still on you in that case, just now it’s your backside and that doesn’t sound so appealing to me. How many of those things come to mind to you? We have all experienced many different elements of what many churches call “worship” but how many times do you remember experiencing the presence of the Lord so tangibly it was almost as if he was in front of you having a conversation? What if that was the goal more than the latter “hip” or “relevant” elements being performed?

The worship pastor as a prophet is by no means a declaration of the man’s ability to tell the future. In the distinctions of a biblical leader being Prophet, Priest, King, the prophet distinction is in terms of 2 Timothy 2:15 where he can “rightfully handle the word of truth.” A prophetic distinction for a worship pastor is thus the biblical and theological backbone of a ministry dedicated to the proclamation and authority of God’s word and using it to protect his congregation from false teaching or theology. So as a prophet, the leader does not fore-tell (future) but rather, consistent to the biblical distinctions, he forth-tells; in other words: preaches. Declaring and proclaiming the word of God without apology and with authority while protecting the flock is not just the senior pastor’s responsibility!

The worship pastor has many, or perhaps more of the responsibilities of the service planning. In the typical worship service 45 of 90 minutes is owned fully by the senior pastor, the rest is usually left up to the worship pastor to figure out. This is 50% of the service! I would hate for half of the service to be thrown away by a worship pastor who thinks that his job is to fill 30 minutes with music that people like making sure that 15 minutes are left for the “very important” announcements and an offertory. His responsibility rightfully handle God’s word and utilize it in the logical construction of a worship service that is true and spirit filled (John 4:24).

With this said, the worship pastor who leads prophetically is in with and seeks to learn more and more about God and how He relates to his people. This is a necessity, not an option. Kauflin goes as far as to say this,

A worship leader who barely knows the Bible can’t be a faithful worship leader…That introduces two words many Christians are uncomfortable with—theology and doctrine. Sadly, doctrine and theology rank fairly low on the popularity scale these days. But biblical worship is impossible without them.[1]

Therefore, I want to propose to you a biblical philosophy of service planning for a worship pastor focused on cultivating a genuine culture of worship in his church.

[1] Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway 2008). 28.

Mystery Motivated Worship: Breaking through the walls of the church

2011-07-19T11:19:00.000-04:00

Mystery Motivated Worship

That mystery leads to worship in the case of our grand and glorious creator God. Paul gives light into this at the beginning of Ephesians in 1:3 but also more notably here in 3:20-21:

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. ^[1]

God is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or think! We just will not be able to conceive or comprehend the full work of the Father in Jesus Christ. That should not lead us to contempt or confusion, but rather to worship. It should lead us to worship and to obedience in Christ. Paul emphasizes this:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, ²⁰ giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. ^[2]

New life in Christ is a direct result of His work in the life of the believer; therefore a response ought to be generated. That response is imitation. The believer is challenged to imitate Christ. This takes the context of “worship” outside the walls of the church. When the motivation is pure and focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Sunday morning church service acts more as a re-energizing charging dock, not focused on music or pithy feel-good messages, but a genuine worship-inspired challenge to the people to respond to God’s grace in the gospel daily and take it outside the walls of the church. This motivation must start in the leadership, particularly in the worship and senior pastors. When the leadership is committed to this motivation in their respective responsibilities, the end result is the cultivation of a culture of worship focused on giving glory and honor to God by lifting high the name of Jesus Christ as their Savior.

²²The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 3:20–21.

²³The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 5:18–21.

The Worship Pastor's Motivation (Part 5) Adoption

2011-07-18T11:18:00.000-04:00

Let’s dive in with the adoption concept in mind. When a child is adopted, do they have say or a choice? In other words, can they do anything to stop the adoption? No. Granted, in very rare cases when the child is older who is being adopted, their desire or preference may be a factor, but in most cases and for the purpose of this analogy, the child to be adopted is at an age and state where they are helpless. A baby is helpless and abandoned when put up for adoption, and when it is chosen by a family to be adopted, that family is stepping in and doing all the work. Thus at the end of the day, that child IS a part of that family. What a great analogy in terms of what the Father has done for us through Christ in adopting us as sons! We are also given a little more insight into the mystery of the Gospel and the motivation of our worship. After saying that the believer is adopted through Jesus Christ it finishes the statement with this, “according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (1:6)” It also precedes the adoption statement with “In Love…(1:4)” These two divine expressions, grace and love, are insights into the mystery on which the Gospel is founded. Why would God choose to adopt anyone, let alone sinners, through the sacrifice of His son? The adoption was motivated, but not ultimately answered by His glorious grace, and love. Again, I emphasize that these are not the ultimate answer to the mystery because the question still stands: what motivates His grace and love? And indeed, we are still left speechless, because our Holy God was not obligated to express those two attributes, BUT He did. The application to this insight will be given later in this study. In the meantime, it is imperative for the reader to understand that God has chosen some in Him before the foundation of the world and has adopted us as sons.

Having poured the foundation for the work of Christ in the believers, being predestination and adoption, the first gift and work of Christ to discuss now is faith. Faith, as eluded before, is a gift. Paul could not make it any more clear when he says,

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ^[1]

Notice that the terminology used here is not that faith is a gift of God, it is the gift of God. Romans 6:23 refers to the wages of sin being death, where as “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” John 4:10 gives a more personal identity to the gift, “Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’” ^[2] The important thing to understand about a gift is that there was nothing done on the receiver’s end in the making of that gift. There is nothing contingent on the believer’s end on whether or not the gift of God, being salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, is real. In other words, nothing I can do can diminish the gift of God. Thus, receiving the gift of God is entirely GOD’S doing through Jesus! This was an eye opening experience for the two high school students I referred to earlier. Although they were confused on whether or not initial trust in Jesus Christ is a “work” or not, the realization of it being a gift that can only be received sunk in. Being chosen by God the receiving of the gift is HIS doing and not ours, why? Ephesians 2:9 answers this, “so that no one may boast.” No one, who has received salvation, may boast in saying that they had any part in it. This substantiates the humility of the recipient and maximizes the glory due to the Father for offering such an amazing and gracious gift.

Earlier we went through a few examples of different motivations that worship pastors and church leaders can succumb to. Each one of those motivations tends to elevate man. Music as a motivation elevates man’s ability or fame. Inclusivity as a motivation elevates man’s security and respect for himself or their program. Emotionalism as a motivation elevates man’s sense of self-awareness or perhaps even their pride in feeling “more spiritual.” The reason why the mystery of the gospel acts not as a good, but the BEST motivation for the worship pastor is in the forced humility it brings upon proper understanding. God was never obligated to save us, BUT he did. There is nothing about man, in pride, in fame, in ability, in self sufficiency, in self confidence, or in right standing that is elevated when faced with this mystery; ONLY the glory and awesomeness of God is elevated, and rightfully so. We are put in our place so that Christ can be elevated by HIS work, not ours.

Bob Kauflin shared a story in his book Worship Matters about how he was pressured with his own fleshly motivations in leading worship that lead him to the tough road of anxiety. He approached his pastor with his problem expecting to be encouraged with pithy statements somehow referencing Romans 8:28, but instead he was faced with a slap in the face. His pastor said this, “I don’t think you’re hopeless enough… If you were really hopeless you’d stop trusting in yourself and what you can do and start trusting in what Jesus accomplished for you at the cross.”[3] THAT is our motivation as worship pastors, it would do us well to wake up every morning and remind ourselves with the truth of God’s word, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”[4]

Bryan Chapell emphasizes this point well; he says,

The corruption and weakness of our natures make it vital that we preach the gospel to our own hearts every day. Reminders of grace are not dry cereal for the soul; they are daily bread, blessed manna, and needed meat. For those in whom the Spirit dwells, grace is the fuel of obedience and the foundation of hope. Without its regular support, we quickly resort to self-dependence or private despair. The maturest believers most appreciate regular nourishment from the truths of God’s love… While the gospel’s power can become lost in canned and stale recitations, its sincere and authentic expression is a never-ceasing source of the joy that is strength for God’s people. Worship that keeps the gospel before God’s people serves their deepest needs and highest aspirations, enabling them to feed on God’s grace while praising him for it.[5]

The worship pastor must keep this message so fresh on his pallet that it would seem that his heart is overflowing with this truth. That is worship in itself, the overflowing of the heart gripped by the greatness of God in the gospel. There is a danger that a worship pastor, or any pastor faces if they are not careful: Apathy—boredom. If the gospel becomes boring to the worship pastor then an immense disservice has been done in the attempt to lead or facilitate a worship service and that pastor ought to repent. A puritan prayer that I’ve read recently had a verse that models this repentance:

“Give me to feel a need of his continual saviourhood, and cry with Job, ‘I am vile’, and with Peter, ‘I perish’, with the publican, ‘Be merciful to me, a sinner.’ Subdue in me the love of sin, Let me know the need of renovation as well as of forgiveness, in order to serve and enjoy thee forever.”[6]

The gospel is a message of fervency, not apathy. A fervent message is one that carries the full weight of the issue and one that the speaker is clearly on fire for. Fervency pushes out of the realm of “heard it, understand it” to “can’t stop bringing it up, tell me more!” Imagine what would happen in a congregation lead by a worship pastor who is so on fire for the gospel of Jesus Christ that everything about him exudes his pursuit of giving God praise, honor, and glory? Now, imagine a congregation that follows. This is a “culture of worship” that we should seek in our churches today; one that stretches beyond Sunday morning and “oh that was good music,” to Monday-Saturday all day and “oh what an amazing Savior!”

I believe strongly that the gospel becomes boring when the believer becomes arrogant. In other words, when the mystery of the gospel is forgotten, the motivation for worship is significantly lessened; not destroyed, just lessened. See, the glory of a gift is in the preparation or the desire of the giver more than the actual giving of the gift! You’re wife would say, “It is the thought that counts.” If the gift of salvation is emphasized more than the giver the deep-rooted sin of pride can quickly slip into the heart of the believer. Why? Because the focus becomes self centered, “God saved me!” If one were to focus not only on the known aspect of salvation, being that it’s available, and forget the mystery of why it’s available, then it’s no different than a child taking a birthday present without saying thank you to the grandma who gave it to him. God was not obligated to save, but he did anyways. It is the reason behind the Father presenting His Son as the perfect sacrifice for sin and saving a lost people that is the mystery. The only reason that could be given to give partial answer to the mystery is that God saved out of love for His creation, but as was stressed before, there still is mystery surrounding the reason for God’s love. Why did God choose to love? We may never know, but we can praise Him all the more, now being struck with awe and wonder over that very mystery!

¹⁵The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 2:8–10.

¹⁶The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Jn 4:10.

[3] Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway 2008). 24.

[4] Romans 5:8

[5] Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic 2009). 117.

[6] Arthur Bennett ed. The Valley of Vision: A collection of puritan prayers and devotions. (Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust 2009). 6-7.

The Worship Pastor's Motivation (Part 4)

2011-07-17T11:14:00.000-04:00

I recently had a conversation with two high school students regarding the question, is it works or faith that salvation is founded on? The answer was quickly given, “faith, of course.” Then I asked them, “isn’t faith something you do? I mean you had to say a prayer right to receive Christ, and as part of your testimony you did that to be saved right?” Sadly, that stumped them. See, the concept of salvation by faith has a very common misconception in modern “Christian” America, and perhaps throughout the world as well. It is this notion that saying a particular “prayer of salvation” is the seal for the deal. All too often, though ignorantly perhaps, this misconception is preached from the pulpits and the most common thing heard in an altar call, but where is it in scripture that teaches a salvation by prayer? It is not.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe a prayer, as a conjunction with someone’s genuine faith in Jesus Christ, is a very God honoring thing. And I believe, in most cases, those congregations where the altar calls are given with the prayer of salvation, the pastor is not intending to give the idea that the prayer itself saves but rather it is a proclamation of what was already realized in the individual praying. The problem creeps in where there is too much emphasis is put on this prayer of salvation. This results in the potential for the gospel to be clouded with confusion, when indeed it is simple.

The first work of Christ, and a gift of the mystery, is that of His choosing us before the foundation of the world and the implications of that.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ^[1]

The idea of predestination has with it a lot of controversy. And again, it seemingly all comes back to the mystery of the Gospel. Why would God choose some but not others? It is very important to understand that this question is a humanly question, not a godly question. What I mean is, the way the human mind thinks, this is unfair, but by the concept that is argued in this study and represented so well in scripture, we have already determined that God was not, according to his nature and holiness, obligated to “choose” anyone! So where we think it is unfair that he wouldn’t choose some, it really turns out, however, that it more rightly is not fair that He would choose anyone to begin with; not to mention that he would choose “before the foundation of the world.” Support for this is overwhelming in scripture as well as in the evangelical world.

Many people find the idea that God chose those whom he would save very difficult. It jars with our innate sense of how things should be. Moreover, many Christians vividly remember making a decision to follow Christ, and the suggestion that this choice was predetermined by the will of God seems to undercut the reality of their experience. Nonetheless, predestination is the clear and unambiguous teaching of Scripture (see e.g. John 6:37, 44; Acts 13:48; Eph 1:4-5; Roman 8:29-30). This is one of those instances where Christ’s sheep are distinguished by their willingness to follow his voice even when his words are contrary to human wisdom.[2]

Likewise, it is important to note specifically what was indeed predestined and what we were chosen to be before the foundation of the world. In Ephesians 1:4-5 it touches on the fact, and it is indeed fact, that we were chosen “that we should be holy and blameless before Him…” Well, we know elsewhere in scripture (Romans 5:18-19 as an example) that the only way for someone to be holy and blameless before the Father is because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross as the substitutionary atonement for our sin, where sinners, who believe, become justified in Christ before the Father. A term is used in this particular passage that provides an understandable analogy to this justification that believers have through Jesus Christ: Adoption.

Wait…

Maybe I should interrupt here quickly and diffuse a thought that might be creeping into your head, “Wait, I am a worship pastor, not the senior pastor, this is a lot of theology. I’m not the one preaching!” My friend, if you don’t know by now that theology leads to doxology,[3] you are doing your job poorly, or are humbly in store for God’s word to change your outlook. And I pray that it is indeed the latter. The fact that God saved you without obligation NEEDS to be your foundational motivation to make anything we talk about later in this study at all beneficial! To add a little gas to the flame, God gives such a great picture of what he did in adopting us and it still leaves us speechless as to why. I urge you to continue on in humility and with the perspective that God has in fact adopted you as a son or daughter unto himself.

¹³The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 1:3–6.

[2] Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach. Pierced for Our Transgressions. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007.) 270-271.

[3] In other words, knowing more about God leads to a greater appreciation and glory given to God by the response of the believer.

The Worship Pastor's Motivation (Part 3)

2011-07-16T11:10:00.000-04:00

It is given multiple times in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians that Christ’s work in the lives of the believer are out of an outpouring of God’s grace. Those who trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ then become the objects of God’s mercy motivated by grace (4:7, 2:8). The Holman Bible Handbook affirms this thought referencing Ephesians 2:4-6.

By His grace He has granted new life to believers (2:4–6). The basis for the new life is God’s great love and mercy. Believers have been united with Christ in His resurrected life. Formerly people apart from Christ were dead, enslaved, and objects of wrath. In Christ believers are now alive, enthroned, and objects of grace.^[1]

To get a better understanding of the work of Christ, it is best to understand the person of Jesus Christ outlined in this epistle. In the Trinitarian relationship between the Father and the Son, the Father has willingly exalted the Son as ruler and authority over all things, particularly the church; the body of Christ.

…according to the working of his great might ²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²² And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. ^[2]

Christ is exalted and reigning as the head of the body (5:23), and because we are members of his body (5:30), he (the Father through Christ) graciously blesses us and gives to us all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, choosing us as his own, so that we may be holy and blameless all for the glory of God the Father (1:3-6). Christ is the chief cornerstone that holds everything together (2:20 cf. Ps 118:22, Isa 28-16). Because Christ is the glue, if you will, that holds all things together, the people that are drawn together in His one body, the church, are peacefully aligned. The worship pastor would do well to take that bit of information and chew on it at length. In fact, as a ministry staff, the idea that Jesus is the glue holding the church together ought to be meditated on and kept as the foundation of any endeavor that that team pursues in their ministry. In Ephesians 2:14 it says that He “himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility…” Where Jew and Gentile were thought never to coincide, Christ brings together in unity. Can you see how this very truth is what makes an argument about any sort of style or form futile if in the context of church growth?

It is only in response to the cross of Christ (called faith in 2:8) that peace exists vertically between humans and God and horizontally between humans. This new society, called the church, is depicted at the end of chapter 2.

The church is pictured as a nation (“fellow citizens,” 2:19), a family (“a household”), and a “building” (2:21). This new building is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (2:20). The purpose of the church is for believers to be “built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (2:22).^[3]

As the head of the body, Christ is the master (6:5-9). It is such terminology and understanding of Christ as master, that James, in his epistle, addresses himself as a “servant (James 1:1).” Having this mindset motivates a believer in a life of obedience, seeking to honor their master with their actions. In fact, Christ, is referenced in Ephesians as the “light” and “teacher.” He is the “light” that exposes sin in the life of the believer (5:10, 13-14), encouraging and teaching the believer then in the truth as motivation for purity and righteousness in Him (4:21, 6:4). So the view of Christ as a “Slave master” in contemporary connotation would be negative, but in the gracious nature of our Lord, it is the most positive of terms. See, Christ is THE loving master, both in terms of a ruling authority, but also a gracious and merciful healer and encourager to the believer who has a constant struggle with sin. Christ acts as the light to expose that sin, and then the teacher to instruct and lovingly admonish the believer on the track towards righteousness, that is sanctification IN Him.

It is the person of Jesus Christ, as “light,” as “master,” as “ruler,” as “teacher,” and as the embodied “peace” that unites all believers, that is implicit to His works. Ephesians 2:18 says, “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” Those who have access to the Father, in the Spirit, and through Christ then are gifted with every spiritual blessing through Christ (1:3-14)! Why? Again, this is the mystery of the Gospel and the chief motivation of the worship pastor charged with cultivating a biblical culture of worship. Why would God choose to love, freely give mercy, reconcile unto Him, through Christ’s sacrifice, those who were lost and hopeless through the receiving of the gift of faith in Jesus Christ? There is no answer that man can comprehend, but that doesn’t stop us from responding accordingly to the truth of it.

⁹David S. Dockery, Trent C. Butler, Christopher L. Church et al., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 714.

¹⁰The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 1:19–23.

¹¹David S. Dockery, Trent C. Butler, Christopher L. Church et al., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 715.

The Worship Pastor's Motivation (Part 2) True Motivation

2011-07-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

I’m sure we all, including myself, as we have read the descriptions of the fallen motivations, we feel convicted in one way or another with our own struggles in what motivates us and how we respond. I know we have seen or been in churches before and seen these results in some way or another. If you view the above scenarios as symptoms, the ultimate disease at their root is what I like to call motivation idolatry. Because of sin and the temptations of the world or culture, we sometimes find ourselves giving into and responding to motivations that are not only off track, but act as idols. Greed, fame, fear, acceptance, image, style, excellence, technology, you name it; if we aren’t careful we allow an idol to slip in silently to motivate how we respond as a worship pastor in our church.

What if instead of music, emotions, inclusivity, or any other motivation the worship pastor was motivated by something that was intangible? A “mystery,” if you will. What if the heart of the worship pastor were not driven by a man-made or fallen-nature concept? What if the worship pastor had the perspective not from the world up, but from heaven down? I propose that the foundation of the “worship pastor” is a motivation driven purely by the greatest mystery of all time. Allow me to explain.

The word “mystery” is a buzzword. It is a term that, in secular society, science tries to strive for an answer, and in religious society, can spark contention and debate. There are entire ministries and organizations whose purpose is combating the world’s views towards particular perceived “mysteries” that may indeed not be a mystery. Take for example, the world’s perceived mystery of the creation or age of the universe. Secular science (i.e. naturalistic science) stretches its limits trying to find solution after solution for this “mystery.” On the opposite side of the fence, this is not a mystery to a person who believes God’s word in Genesis 1.

What about a mystery that has no answer and is truly, by definition, a mystery? The only controversy here is that as a human, the mind just cannot fathom a correct answer to the question brought up. Take the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the subject of discussion and the foundation of motivation for the worship pastor.

In Paul’s epistle to the church in Ephesus, he provides a dismal view of the status of humanity in chapter two.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ^[1]

This chapter begins with what would seem to be a hopeless humanity facing certain doom. The mystery of which this study is focused on appears as the first two words of verse four: “But God…” It is an amazing thing that in amidst the fallen and hopeless reality of humanity God would step in and provide a means of mercy as a gift of His own doing. It is a mystery that God, because of His nature and holiness, demands judgment of sin and even though His holiness does not demand Him to give mercy, He freely gives it anyways! Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach emphasis this thought this way:

…for God to punish sin means he upholds his own goodness and truthfulness that were manifest in creation in the beginning. By contrast, for God to fail to punish sin would mean denying his own truthfulness and thus exacerbating the very problem of decreation to which he must respond.

Having outlined the problem that faces humanity, we can begin to discern the shape an adequate solution must take. The disastrous consequences of our false faith must be put right. Salvation must be and act of illumation, for we have changed the truth about God for a lie, worshipping idols instead of the true God. Salvation must be an act of liberation, for we are captive to the delusions of our false faith, and cannot save ourselves. Salvation must be an act of divine grace, God’s work from the beginning to end, for the desires of our hearts are set against God – we do not even want to save ourselves.[2]

The question and the focus of the mystery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and motivation of any worship pastor is this: Why would God choose to give mercy to a hopeless people? And what form was that mercy given? See, the mystery of the Gospel is foundational on the fact that Christ, God’s only son, the second person of the trinity, was the gift of mercy to a hopeless people, namely the Jews, and including the Gentiles. It is essential here to reference God’s Word through Paul in the third chapter of Ephesians,

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. ⁶ This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ^[3]

Again, the mystery IS God’s gift of mercy, not only that, it is His faithfulness to His covenant people, Israel. But, God also made His mercy, as an open door as such, to stretch into the realm of those not included in the Old Covenant distinction:[4] the Gentiles. The questions that now forms is, why did God choose to give mercy to His people Israel, as prophesied over and over as the “messiah,” but on top of that, why then would He be gracious enough to include in that mercy those outside of the original covenant: the Gentiles? It is God’s love that motivates His gift of mercy that is Jesus Christ (John 3:16). But what motivates God’s love? Why did God choose to love a fallen humanity leading Him to provide mercy and redeem and reconcile them through Jesus Christ, His only son, the spotless lamb, the perfect sacrifice? H.D.M Spence puts it this way:

According to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself. The whole phraseology denotes that, in this transaction, God was not influenced by any external considerations; the whole reason for it sprang from within. The threefold expression brings this out: (1) according to his good pleasure (see ver. 5); (2) he purposed, or formed a purpose; (3) in himself, without foreign aid, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” (Rom. 11:34).^[5]

¹The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 2:1–3.

[2] Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey, and Andrew Sach. Pierced for Our Transgressions. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007.) 125.

³The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Eph 3:4–6.

[4] The Old Covenant refers to the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15, identifying Israel as God’s chosen people. The Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7 solidifies that out of God’s chosen people, particularly the line of King David will come a king that will be eternally established over God’s kingdom.

⁵The Pulpit Commentary: Ephesians, ed. H. D. M. Spence-Jones (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2004), 4.

The Worship Pastor's Motivation (Part 1) Fallen Motivations

2011-07-14T11:00:00.000-04:00

Different things motivate different responses. For diehard sports fans, a goal, point, a basket accomplished by a favorite team sometimes causes people to suddenly forget their context and scream at their televisions or jump up and shout, spilling their beer and popcorn. For the man who is sitting in the waiting room hearing from the doctor that his wife’s surgery was a success, that news motivates his emotional response, breaking down and crying for joy feeling like that thread he was holding onto turned into a tree trunk.

You can look at a random sampling of churches all over America and see plenty of extremely different results to different motivations by their leadership. The sheep follow the shepherd. Walk with me, if you will down a humorous, but serious, over generalized stereotype of motivations that we see in American churches. My purpose for this exercise is not to get people angry about calling out any specific church or type of person, but show, using an argument called “reductio ad absurdum,” how different motivations can facilitate different responses and results. Put on your humble cap with me and think in your own context if you relate to any of these.

Music:

If the motivation is music, the result will be a worship pastor who is technically far superior with more chops than a Japanese sushi master. These churches will have an extremely high-grade musical experience and will probably feature different musicians for solo spots during a song. They will most likely incorporate hired musicians who are in a union and held to an extremely high standard, Christian or not. The end game is not good but GREAT music that needs to say at least some Christian things. They may even incorporate some secular music in their service to appeal to a younger more musically tasteful crowd. A musical motivation for a worship pastor will result in a culture that is very in tune with the new latest and greatest worship song that has the best melody and instrumentation. This worship culture will push, demand and support the music business. The worship pastor will find his time spent on trying to fulfill the demands of his congregation wanting more and more of “his music.” He will be charged with putting out at least one new original worship album a year with a Christmas album every other year. He will struggle with the greed of growing fame, and will rarely allow anyone else to have leading platform during the worship set or planning. The worship pastor might see the measure of his worship experience based on how similar the crowd looks in his congregation to that of a U2 concert if he is simply motivated by music.

Emotionalism:

Say the motivation was not music, but emotions. An emotion driven worship pastor is one that will most likely cry at least once a week for seeing a sappy commercial or from visiting an animal rescue shelter. They will be very in tune with style and culture and have an insatiable longing for people to experience how hard life is but how great God is in always forgiving. Their services will probably start out slow and ramp up to a slow ending with songs that speak of God being so amazing for not leaving while they are depressed. The end game is not good music, but an emotional response of the congregation. The worship leader, if not seeing emotional responses from the congregation may interrupt the worship set with a time of intense reflection on the suffering or injustice in the world. They may lift their hands because they are “reaching out to God” or be crying and swaying because God has “done so much for them.” The emotionally driven worship pastor, when leading a worship set, will probably never open his eyes so as to model how to create a comfortable context for people to cry without other people looking at them. The worship pastor might see the measure of success by how many people are visibly displaying their emotions. How is sin dealt with in an emotionally driven church? Is it? Or is it unfortunately covered up and covered up and covered up?

Again, not calling out any specific movement or churches, just throwing out some gross stereotypes. But since we’re having fun, let’s do one more.

Inclusivity:

If the motivation isn’t music or emotions, what if it is inclusivity? A worship pastor driven by inclusivity will not be focused on good music, but making sure that Tammy, who plays the penny whistle, is incorporated somehow into their worship service. They are typically very accepting of people, and of EVERYTHING. In a worship band setting, they look more like Arcade Fire or another eccentric hodgepodge band, but sound close to horrible! In relation to the congregation the worship pastor has an immense fear of man and becomes the direct avenue to the senior pastor for a strong willed congregant to get platform or move his own agenda. The inclusivity motivation will lead this worship pastor to not only be a participant to the worship style wars, but will inadvertently be fueling the fire of it in his congregation. Churches led with this motivation will have multiple services with smaller separate congregations in each of them that vary in style, time of day, and varieties of coffee. In the end, success in the worship culture of this church is measured by how few complaints about volume, style, service elements or song choices are received per week.

"You're the music guy right?" An introduction.

2011-07-13T11:00:00.000-04:00

“You’re the music guy right?” I hear from behind me after a morning worship service at our church. In effort not to get into title particulars, I politely answer back while turning to greet him, “Yea I guess. That was me up there.”

“Oh dude, you are an incredible piano player! I haven’t heard music this good in church since [insert name of late 80s/early 90s Christian artist here] came to town in concert. In fact, you kinda sound like him! Has anyone ever told you that?”

Trying as hard as I can to force a genuine smile, but resorting to a fake one, I replied, “ Well I appreciate that. Praise God. I’m glad you enjoyed it”

“Hey, if you really want to get some good worship going in this place, you should start playing more music by….”

If you’re a worship pastor, worship leader, or music director of a church, you have had this conversation in one form or another. The people who approach you after a worship service certainly are not intending to deflate your “spiritual high” or self worth, but that’s exactly what happens isn’t it? Very heated statements and questions start firing away in your mind, “He thinks I sound like who!?” “What the heck is he talking about, ‘get some good worship going…’ pshhhh like he knows anything about good worship music.” “Did he not worship!? Why did he focus on my piano playing more than seeking to draw near to God?” “This is his first time visiting and he thinks he can prance in here and tell me what music I should do in my church!? Really?”

How many times have we allowed pithy or petty statements from one congregant, visitor or not, to become a foothold for the devil to use in seeking to steal glory from the Lord? Let me remind you what The Lord said to Cain when he gave a half-hearted and thoughtless offering to the Lord, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”^[1] Also let me encourage you with Peter’s exhortation in 1 Peter 5: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.^[2] Granted the suffering he is speaking on is a little more severe than a disrespectful or hurtful comment, but we can be encouraged nevertheless.

We have options. We can play the comparison game, and get worked up very quickly when people engage in the style wars with you about the music that you do at your church. We can write seething and harshly pointed argumentative emails and letters explaining why it is ok to have drums in church or the scientific proof that someone can listen to 92 decibels for 6 hours straight before any sort of hearing damage. The point is, if our goal as a worship pastor is simply to do a full court press on a style of music or for cultural relevancy, we are seeking to please men, and not God. Our goal ought to be to exemplify a heart overflowing in truthful worship in and outside the church and training our people to do the same.[3] The worship pastor is NOT the music guy. Music is just a small facet of the job description for Sunday mornings, that’s it.

The worship pastor practicum is a study devoted to the motivation and biblical application of the worship pastor as a missional leader in a church body charged with cultivating a “culture of worship.” First, we will see how the worship pastor must be biblically motivated by a mysterious gift that challenges an immeasurable task. Second, we will explore the worship pastor as a prophet with the charge of rightly handling the word of God and encouraging biblical response to it. Third, we will look into the personal life of the worship pastor and his charge as a priest to his team and church body. Fourth, we will discuss the practical implications of a worship pastor leading as a king. And finally, we will culminate this study looking toward Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the worship pastor’s worship pastor, and he truly is the source of our genuine worship.

The goal of this study is to equip worship pastors, worship leaders, and music directors with the biblical and logical tools to lead and effectuate biblical worship in spirit and in truth among their church body. The hope is that the job of worship pastor is seen not just as the music guy, but a leader who is able to handle God’s word effectively and use it to cultivate a culture of worship in their context. A culture that is not limited to Sunday mornings, but one that forms a body of believers charged and equipped to respond to the great commission by our Lord Jesus Christ when he said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”^[4]

Preliminary Note:

The worship pastor is obviously not the senior pastor, but the two should be so closely intertwined so as to come up with a vision for their local church context where people are leaving their doors knowing they are entering the mission field of their work place, their schools, their neighborhood, their marriages etc. The goal is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is continually in the front of their minds, burning their hearts and on the tip of their tongues. Likewise, the worship pastor, following and submitting to the senior pastor and elder board, is charged with equipping the body of Christ with the necessary means to promote hearts to overflow with thanksgiving and humility that leads to life-transformation through the word of God and not merely just an emotional, or perhaps musical, experience.

God’s presence is not a place; it is a reality in Christ, and how quickly we forget this! The challenge is great, and based on the title, the job description for a worship pastor is simply this: Lead them in recognizing the reality of God’s presence ALWAYS. Many trip, many fall, many fail. It is time for the worship pastor to be more than just the music guy and become a shepherd leading God’s flock, training them to respond to God’s glorious grace.

^[1] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ge 4:6–7.

^[2] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Pe 5:8–9.

[3] John 4:24, Romans 12:1-2

^[4] The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt 28:18–20.

Worship Pastor Series

2011-07-12T16:30:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I understand it has been awhile since I've blogged. In fact, it's been awhile since I've had a somewhat normal, non-chaotic routine in life. Let me explain. In the last year, by the grace of God, I was able to accomplish these things:

June 2010: moved from Chicago to Spring Lake MI answering God's call to plant HBC Spring Lake.
July 2010: Apply and commit to pursuing a masters degree in one year through the Resurgence Training Center.
August 2010-July 2011: Travel to Seattle, WA 9 times to accomplish masters degree in Missional Leadership.
July-November 2010: Preparation and execution of Church Planting and working with Portable Church ministries in doing a "church-in-a-box" situation
September 2010: Found out we were pregnant.
October 2010: became a home-owner and bought and moved into our house in Grand Haven, MI.
November 2010: Planted our church portably inside The Trillium. Also started in the design process of our new building.
December 2010: found out our baby was a girl!
January 2011: Came up with a thesis topic for my masters.
February-June2011: Researching and formulating my thesis, amidst daily and weekly Church responsibilities
May 2011: we welcomed our little daughter Annandale Lyn to the world!
May-June 2011: Writing process of masters thesis.
June 2011: Presentation and submission of final thesis and Graduating from the Resurgence Training Center.

You know what's really impressive, my brother-inlaw Calvin Wisen (also pictured) did all of the above with the exception that he had twin girls instead of just one baby girl and moved from Orlando instead of Chicago. Crazy huh!

I literally look back into my last year and praise God for a patient wife, a loving family, and an awesome church family. I truly believe that the grace of God was just surrounding me every step of this last year. Now that most of my last year culminated in my graduation from the program, I'm finding myself in a weird spot. I don't have 2000 pages due by the end of the week, and my focus is put more and more on my specific ministry calling: the worship ministry of Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake. I knew that I would get to this point eventually and I wanted to do what I could to ahead of time to prepare for it. In order to do that, I decided that the topic of my final thesis would be the duties and mindset of the "worship pastor" in cultivating a biblical culture of worship in his church.

I also wanted my research and work to be available to the greater body of Christ to resource and equip those who have the same calling that I do, in a different context.

So, in the next handful of posts, I'm going to present to you my thesis. What is a "worship pastor?" How can a worship pastor effectively and thoughtfully seek to cultivate a culture of worship in his church? The worship pastor is so much more than just the "music guy," and I hope to be challenged by this and hope that it challenges those who read this and share my calling.

So starting tomorrow, follow along as we walk through together the motivation and work of the "worship pastor."

Annandale "Annie" Lyn Moeller

2011-06-01T10:20:00.000-04:00

It has been almost three weeks since I posted on this blog. The last post was on the fact that I was waiting and waiting and waiting for my little girl to arrive. Well, She has, and she is growing at an amazing rate. Annandale Lyn Moeller was born Friday May 13th and has already stolen her daddy's heart. We have chosen her life verse to be this:

[13] For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
[14] I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
(Psalm 139:13-14 ESV)
Pretty soon she will be all grown up. I hope it doesn't go as fast as everyone says it does.

Waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting...

2011-05-11T10:56:00.000-04:00

We are waiting and waiting and waiting for our little baby to come into this world. I would venture to say that our baby closet is ready for her ;-) I feel like I can't wait any longer!!

I would guess that at least, um, I don't know, 100 times a day in the last week I prayed this prayer, "Lord, please let little Annie be born today, my wife is so uncomfortable and I want her to be comforted!"
Then last night, I thought my prayers would be answered when we were awakened on the hour with some major contractions. I took the class and know my job and the questions I'm supposed to ask, "Can you talk through them? How far apart? Did you feel a gushing feeling? Is it sharp or dull? Is it sustained or did the baby just move? Can I get you something?"
But then... the contractions stopped. And she slept the rest of the night and we woke up this morning with no baby, and no signs that she is coming as quickly as we thought she was going to be coming last night.
Discouraged? Me? No!!! I'm supposed to trust the Lord and soak in this expectation and hope that the baby stays in her even past due date right?! (ya, right) No, I was discouraged because I was so ready to jump up and carry my wife down two flights of stairs to the car in the middle of the night so that we can see the grace of God in action when my baby comes into this world!

My wife, who is way smarter than I and in tune so amazingly with the heart of God, casually reminded me of this passage the other day Romans 8:18-25

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time nare not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for othe revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation pwas subjected to futility, not willingly, but qbecause of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that rthe creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that sthe whole creation thas been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have uthe firstfruits of the Spirit, vgroan inwardly as wwe wait eagerly for adoption as sons, xthe redemption of our bodies. 24 For yin this hope we were saved. Now zhope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, weawait for it with patience.

My friends, God is teaching me a lesson in patience. I would like to think that I live expectantly for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, however, I have prayed for and longed more for the coming of my child than for my savior in the last week. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to hold my baby in my arms. I think though, that through this the Lord is teaching me through His word that the christian life models the ultimate pregnancy, if you will.

When the Lord enlightens us with the faith by which we are saved through Jesus Christ, the hope we receive is very much like the hope in finding out that you are about to have a child in 9 months, except exceedingly better. For the hope of the coming King brings about an emotion that in inexplicable and an inner longing, even a painful longing for the glory to come in Christ Jesus, our Hope. We may not see it, but we are CERTAIN that the due date is coming soon, and we are starting to feel the warm-up contractions, and we know the labor contractions are coming soon! Until then, we wait in patience, trusting that the Lord is sovereign over all.

Maybe this means we should finally get the confidence in Christ to tell a co-worker about him? Maybe this means we should stop complaining about the little things in this world that rub us the wrong way? Maybe this means we should quit feeding our bitterness and forgive someone (you know who). Waiting in patience doesn't mean we sit twiddling our thumbs. My wife and I spent a LOT of money and time and effort preparing for my baby's coming making sure that she'll be coming home to a nursery that is well stocked with everything (and i mean everything!). How are you waiting in patience for the Hope of the coming King?

Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake: Camp Harvest and How God WAS and IS at Work

2011-03-30T10:43:00.000-04:00

Harvest Bible Chapel Spring Lake: Camp Harvest and How God WAS and IS at Work: "This video is a fantastic example of how God is at work even when we may not know it or ever expect to see an answer to our prayer. He..."

Shame

2011-03-04T13:04:00.000-05:00

This has become a shameful place. Forgive us Lord for the injustice that is being done in our midst!
The video clip speaks for itself. God's Word then speaks powerfully in situations like this.

Psalm 10

[10:1] Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

[2] In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
[3] For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the LORD.
[4] In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;
all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
[5] His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
[6] He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
[7] His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
[8] He sits in ambush in the villages;
in hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
[9] he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
[10] The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
[11] He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”

[12] Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
forget not the afflicted.
[13] Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
[14] But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless.
[15] Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
call his wickedness to account till you find none.

[16] The LORD is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
[17] O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
[18] to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
(Psalm 10 ESV)

Psalms for the Simple: Part 6 of 150. "box of tissues anyone?"

2011-01-19T15:54:00.000-05:00

Have you ever been so broken by sin that you've cried? Like, not just a tear or an emotional raising up of the hair on the back of your neck or flushed face, but actually a genuine weeping over the sins of your life, past and present?
This is a hard pill to swallow, but we are sinners. If you are reading this blog and don't think you are a sinner, it isn't with delight that I inform you of this OBVIOUS truth. Sin sucks. It absolutely is the reason for all evil and strife in this world and our pathetic lives. This is the sad truth, and yes, it can and will lead many to tears.
I remember vividly going to a conference and in the middle of a powerful worship song, the Lord revealed in the most loving way what was hindering me from drawing near to Him. I wept like a blabbering idiot! At that point though, I could have cared less about those around me because the Lord was the only one I was concerned with about my tears.
More and more, as I'm getting older, I'm finding myself more and more torn and broken about sin in my life. In case any of you thought sanctification is an easy process, let me inform you of another hard pill to swallow: it's not. I'm so thankful though that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. Christ's blood shed on account of my sin is both a joyful and horrific realization. Joyful that I'm saved, horrific to know that even if I were to only sin one single time in my life, I caused him to die that awful death.
Here's where we get into Psalm 6. Read it and tell me if you think David was broken about sin in his life? It is clear right from the beginning that he is broken about some sin in his life, even though it is not mentioned. He is broken and repentant. Why repentant? Because he asks for rebuke. It would do the reader well to understand that true repentance is a complete turning away from that sin BUT ALSO accepting and working through the consequences.
Choose to sin, choose to suffer. Though we are saved from the ultimate eternal penalty of sin because of Christ, we are not saved from the earthly consequences of our actions. True repentance isn't a courtroom settlement it is a plea of, "guilty as charged, I beg for your mercy!"
One thing we will see, and already have in the life of David is that he knows what true repentance is. We certainly have seen that he has sinned but has faith in God who is his salvation knowing and believing his Savior to come.
It is ok to be broken over sin, even to the point of being a babbling idiot of a cryer. David is probably considered one of the most manly of men in history, and says himself in verse 6 "I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping."
Starting at verse 8 through the end of this Psalm, David clings to the only thing he can: The Lord's ear. God is quick to hear a repentant heart and if you are truly repentant over sin, you can be assured that He hears and FORGIVES you because of your savior taking that penalty. David knows this and it is very evident in Verse 10 that he has his eye on the big picture: God is not mocked, his fame will NEVER be diminished and NO ONE can ultimately stand as an enemy to the Almighty God.
And to think that he reaches out and extends us the gift of eternal life and forgiveness in Christ Jesus? PRAISE GOD!
Some of you need to hear this today: Repent with the big picture in mind. Choose to Sin Choose to suffer. It is ok to be broken over sin, but remember the goodness and the greatness of God in his free gift of salvation to those who receive it by faith in Christ.

Do you have anything to repent of today? The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Don't continue on always thinking everything is fine when you may know it is not. Cast your cares and acknowledge your weakness before the Lord and watch Him come in and lift your heart reminding you of Jesus taking that sin away and motivating you and giving you the power in the Holy Spirit to turn from it. Praise the Lord!

Do we as worship leaders usher people into God's presence?

2010-12-31T09:43:00.000-05:00

My friend from Re:Train wrote this blog for the ReSurgence on Wednesday Dec 29. His name is Joel Brown, the pastor of Worship Arts at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I've got to have many meaningful conversations with this dude and his insight is very humbling. I know that too often I have thought of myself, as a worship leader, doing to job of "leading people into the presence of God" but that would be giving myself too much credit! I know I, and many others I know, mean well when they say that statement. We understand that there is only ONE mediator between God and man and that is the God-Man Jesus Christ, but what is the job of a a worship leader if it isn't leading someone "into" somewhere? Simple: Show them, or remind them, or sing about, or proclaim, or lift high the name of the guy who does: Christ Jesus.

Here is his blog post (here is the link to the actual blog post if you would rather read it from there)

Gentlemen, We Are Not Mediators
Anyone who’s been a worship leader at a church has heard, at some point, “Your job is to bring the congregation into the presence of God!” Or maybe, “Take them into the throne room!” Grab the latest magazine on sacred music and you’ll find the idea of worship leader as presence-usher littering the pages. But where does this idea come from? Is it even biblical?

Presence isn't a place
The word "presence" appears in Scripture 173 times. About half of those are referring to the physical place where God dwells. This was particularly true in the Old Testament, where God shows up in places like the tabernacle or the temple.
The New Testament teaches us that in Christ, God has wonderfully chosen to bewith us. Emmanuel came (Matthew 1:23) and ever since, his presence is no longer made manifest by a specific location (John 4:23-24, Acts 17:24-25) or mere mortal (Hebrews 4:14-16; 9:23), but God’s presence on earth is in the life of every believer through his Holy Spirit.

Jesus, the mediator
Because Christ is perfect, and by his blood has reconciled us to God (2 Corinthians 5:18), he can appear before a holy and righteous God on our behalf.He is the mediator, not us.
You want to bring your congregation before the throne of God? Great. Show them the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), and by faith, the Spirit will take them there. The Holy Spirit is the conduit through whom we experience God’s presence, and Christ is the place whereby we are made most aware of his presence. In his book, Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God, Bob Kauflin says it this way: “Christ is how and where we meet with God”.

But in heaven, we'll sing in-tune

God is present in a special way when we sing together—we are in a sense practicing for heaven, and nowhere else can we collectively see and hear one another worship Christ at the same time. But God’s presence is not a place we go.It is a Spirit we welcome.

“Sometimes when we sing, the power of music and truth combined can dig deeply into our hearts to make us realize that God is with us, but it wasn’t the singing that made him appear. He was there all along.
”

Everywhere we go, the Spirit of the living God is with us—leading us, guiding us, and allowing us to be in the presence of God without being blown to smithereens.
When it comes down to it, if music could take us into God's presence, "God would have sent us a musician rather than a saviour." –Vaughan Roberts

Does Your Blood Ever Boil? (Psalms for the Simple: Psalm 5 (5/150))

2010-12-09T11:53:00.000-05:00

There is a "church" in our area that claims to be an "inclusive spiritual community." It is a church that has thrown out the truth and replaced it with a lie that all paths lead to God and no one should claim that their "path" is the only way. It's called universalism. This church's leader has defamed the name of Christ in the pursuit of inclusivity and creating a large social gathering where he can stand up in front of them and teach that there is no penalty to sin, and that anyone who says there is or claims an exclusive "way" is the culprit of religious "brutality" and is the reason why there is pain and suffering in this world.
There is a whole heap of wrong in this teaching based on it's logic alone, not to mention that it is directly opposing to God's word. Their largest argument is that God's word is handy but not anything more than that. Well, for those of us enlightened and unblinded by the Holy Spirit, God's word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119). You can seen then how difficult it would be for me to feel "welcome or included" when from the pulpit every weekend is a message attacking what I believe and cherish and know as absolute truth. Instead this church has felt the need to "educate" the community that exclusive claims, but more specifically, Christian exclusive claims are brutal and shouldn't be making anyone feel guilty anymore.
They don't just limit this to the pulpit, they utilize what other churches are typically made fun of: their church sign statements. My favorite cheezy church sign was always the one that said, "Sign's broken, message inside." This church doesn't have cheezy statements, they have very offensive statements that specifically bash Christian teaching. For example: "God is a verb, YOU are the noun" (excuse me while I throw up a little...)
All this to say, my blood boils when I see the Word of God spit on, and when the name of Christ is defamed. I get so angry sometimes thinking, "is there something I should do to stop this!?" I want to take a sledge hammer to their sign sometimes, but that would only give them "material" to bash Christianity again. It is not worth minimizing the Glory of God for my own selfish and fleshly want for retaliation and vengeance. Psalm 5 is God's way of saying, "you may have your bullies, but I am God, remember?"
Verses 1-3 ( and also Psalm 4 which precedes this) act for David similar to what I just did above. "God, please hear me because my enemies are overbearing... hear my groaning, I'm so tired of how they take my honor and your name and make it to be shame."

But notice what David writes after this (God's inspired word through David):
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
⁵ The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
⁶ You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
⁷ But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
⁸ Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
⁹ For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
¹⁰ Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
¹¹ But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
¹² For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.

It is almost as if David stopped himself, talking himself down, if you will, by proclaiming that evil and wickedness cannot be in the presence of God. God looks out for those who he saves, who he has poured our his abundant love on. The bullies; those who replace the truth with lies, they have it coming to them, it is just a matter of time. David knows that they have chosen to rebel, and he knows what happens to them based solely on who God is and his holiness.
David finishes with a great bit of encouragement in 11 and 12. We, who take refuge in the Lord are covered with God's favor and his shield. God blesses the righteous and we are righteous ONLY because of Christ Jesus and believing in Him and his atoning sacrifice on the cross.

So next time you feel like getting revenge or retaliation on the bullies in this world who are trying (yes TRYING) to defame the name of Christ. Sit back and relax. It's like you are holding pocket aces and they are sitting across the table trying to beat you with a 2 and 7 off suit and bluffing. They will spit and sneer and try to get you to fold, but you know that it is just a matter of time before the cards are played and they lose miserably. (please don't read into this analogy too much, it's meant to be a simple way of saying that they can't win)
The truth is, it really is just a matter of time. As followers of Christ in the face of the world, we are called numerous times to "wait" on the Lord and he will renew our strength (Isa 40:31). We combat injustice and untruth with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5): Patience, and Self-control being two key fruits pertaining to this. It really is just a matter of time when we will be in the presence of the Lord and Philippians 2:9-11 will play true even to the leader of this truth killing church: even he will bow the knee someday and recognize that Christ is Lord. In that day, it will be too late for him, but it is not too late now. I pray that for him and for the people who are following his teaching that they quickly realize the error of their teaching and repent, recognizing Jesus Christ as the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, and the ONLY life, but encompassing all of that: HE IS OUR ONLY WAY TO BE RECONCILED TO OUR HOLY GOD, if we receive this gift of his sacrifice for our sins by faith. Have you done that?

Lord, please work a miracle in this community. We know that your fame will be superior and that you will not stand to see evil prevail. Work in us Lord and empower us to show the Love of Christ so powerfully that the message coming from false teachers will be muted. We ask this in the only name that has authority, the only name that has dominion over all, the only name by which we are saved: Jesus Christ the Lord, amen.

Immanuel, "God with us"

2010-11-30T10:47:00.000-05:00

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isa 7:14

"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel” Matt 1:23

Did you ever have one of these manger scenes growing up? Or do you have one now? The nativity scene is very recognizable, but sometimes that's all it is.

The Christmas story seems to have become so well known that even the pagan knows it or has heard it at least. Ask anyone the question, "what happened that we remember on Christmas?" Chances are, they will spout out the fact that "well Jesus was born, duh!" Most people know this. "The true meaning of Christmas is that Christ came to this earth to save us." The unfortunate thing is that though it may be common knowledge, it most certainly isn't common belief. That is a terrible problem. Do the majority of people realize that they need to be saved and thus truly believe and have faith that Jesus is the Messiah prophesied about all over the Old Testament who has come to save us from our sins!? Or, instead, do they simply know that he came to this earth as a baby, and for all they know, maybe he just grew up and was killed because of injustice. Here's the point, the Gospel Message is just as important in the Christmas Holiday as it is every single day of our lives.

Christmas is meant to be a reminder that Christ came, yes, but more importantly there is something far greater than the fact that this man was born. The crux of the issue, which is a matter of life and death is in the prophecy in Isaiah 7 and referenced in Matthew 1: this term "Immanuel." Jesus came, yes, but who IS Jesus. He is IMMANUEL, which translated means, "God with us." Why is this the crux of the issue? It is because if Jesus were not God with us, if he were not indeed Immanuel, we would indeed NOT be saved from our sins. This term is used only 3, possibly 4 (debated) times in the whole bible. Yet the truth of it is referenced and implied more than we can count: Jesus is GOD. And because he was the God-man; God who "became flesh and dwelt among us" being fully God and fully Man, we can truly be fully saved from our sins.

See, sin cannot be in the presence of the almighty HOLY God. God's wrath, because of his righteousness, is rightfully poured out on sin (Romans 3:5-8). BUT God's righteousness has become "manifest" in the person of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-26), "God with us," So that when we believe, God is justified in sparing us from his wrath against our sin because of Christ being our substitution. Only Christ, the sinless, spotless, lamb of God, God himself, could cover our sin because that is only something that God can do! I love the way my senior pastor puts it: We owed a debt that we could not pay, God stepped in and paid a debt he did not owe, so that we may be reconciled unto him forever because of having faith in Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God WITH us.

I hope this makes Christmas more meaningful for you this year. I hope you take the truth of God's word that God himself came to save sinners and tell your friends and family the true meaning behind the story they probably already know. Immanuel: God with us. Let us never gloss over this!

Hope you are having a blessed start to this Christmas season!

Remember that Discussion about Form over Function?

2010-10-26T14:55:00.000-04:00

The idea is NOT to have the "form" over the "function." Here's a humorous example of form over function. And if you are wondering, "what is he talking about" click here for the blog on "form over function."

Psalms for the Simple: Psalm 4 (4/150)

2010-10-19T11:35:00.000-04:00

It has been sporadic in the posting of these blogs. In this case, that is a good thing. Currently I'm in process of planting a Harvest Bible Chapel in Spring Lake, MI. We are opening in 3 weeks and the final buttons being buttoned up are taking up a lot of my time and energy. Again, this is a good thing. I'm so blessed and excited to be apart of where God is moving, and He IS moving in a powerful way right now in the process of this church plant. I'm sure there will be more on this later, but in the meantime, I want to experience Psalm 4 with you all.

In my bible, the title of this psalm is written: Answer me when I call. To me that sounds a little brash. It sounds like David is a little angry? Who is David that he should demand the Lord to Answer him? Isn't that rude? We get a little insight to why he uses this kind of "demanding sounding" speech when opening this psalm in vs 1.

"Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!"

When David seems to demand an answer, he's rather declaring what he has experienced and knows God to do in the past and is declaring it to his future and present situation! When, in the middle of that verse, he says, "You HAVE given me relief..." the word "have" is a past-tense AS WELL as a present tense word. If I have a car, it implies that I've had that car for at least as long in the past as it took before I was able to say that I currently "have" it.

Apply this now to David and his circumstance. He is not saying, "Answer me Lord right now or else..." Rather it's as if he was saying, "I know you will answer my prayer because of how faithful you are to me all the time, and it will be no different for this circumstance in my life, so i'm going to declare it and say, "Answer me when i call.""

I might be thinking that I'm trying to pull too much out of this, but it is a great principle even applied to our lives! Think of it this way. When striving and pursuing the heart and will of God, we know in Romans 8:28 that ALL things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. If we understand that, we should know well enough to know that God WILL be faithful, and answer our prayers. His answer to our prayer may not be what we expected, but in hindsight, have you ever seen how God answers prayer in a way we didn't expect and it ended up with greater benefit for HIS purpose in our lives? If we know that God is truly faithful, which HE IS, we should know that we can thus declare His forthcoming answer to our prayers knowing that it is truly for our ultimate good and for His glory!

The rest of this Psalm is packed full of truth that can be applied to our lives. Let's look briefly at vs 2-8. It starts with David's question, (paraphrased in my own words, read it for yourself) "How long will what I know is right be looked on from the world as foolishness?" You will find that in your walk with Christ as head in your life, the world will look back at you and say, "what a fool..." We're given a little more insight into this fact in 1Corinthians 1:18-19 "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, (quoting from Isa 29:14) "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.""

If you are truly living in a matter worthy of the call of Christ Jesus, expect to be ridiculed by the world for it. But at the same time, be encouraged by David's words and response to when this happens, (back to psalm 4:4). "Be angry, and do not sin;" and goes on to say "trust in the Lord" and THEN goes on to say something that is AWESOME and true: "You have put more join in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound."

Briefly, holy anger is defined in this passage: "be angry, and do not sin." It's vague, I know, but for a reason. Paul uses this same verse in Ephesians 4:25. We can be upset about the injustice in this world, because it is the holy anger of the Lord in us against sin that we are feeling. But we MUST remember to put our trust in the Lord and realize that vengeance is HIS not ours (Heb 10:30-31).

Lastly, Joy and Peace are a result of what we just discussed. If we are to declare the Lord's faithfulness to our situation and trust him in the midst of our trials and circumstance, then vs 7 and 8 become a reality. We will not look upon those with wealth and money and think they are more joyful, because the Lord puts more joy in our hearts than money or wealthy could possibly even scratch the surface of. And immediately following that: Peace! We are given peace and a confidence of safety (vs 8) because the Lord is who we put our trust in and he preserves his children in faithfulness.

I don't know what you're going through right now, but maybe this was a word from the Lord to you: "Be angry, but DO NOT SIN, allow me to take the vengeance, and yes, there will be vengeance. I am faithful and you need to trust in me and I will bless you with Joy abundantly and peace to get you through your days."

Prayer:

Father, we are humbled again as you break down our pride when we try to seek our own vengeance on our situation. Help us to declare your faithfulness and your forthcoming answers to our prayer of deliverance! Keep us pure and worthy of the call you put before us in Christ Jesus. Guide us in your truth and keep us on the path of your righteousness! Thank you for the Joy you've put in my life, and help me to embrace it. Thank you for the peace you've given me to last in the midst of what we go through. To YOU be honor and glory and power and strength; not me. We bless you and pray for strength and endurance in the pressures and hardships of this life. We pray, empowered by your Holy Spirit and in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen!

Psalm 3: Our God Saves (Part 3 of 150)

2010-09-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel like everyone is against you? I mean, it is not hard to find an enemy. Though this most likely isn't the case where "everyone" is against you or there is an enemy all around you, but sometimes it feels like it. Isn't it great to know that we serve a God who is not our enemy and though our sin makes an affront to His holiness, because of Christ, He is always there welcoming with open arms? He is truly a gracious God. I'll post a study I did in Ephesians soon about the the mystery of what motivates God's grace and love to provide. This mystery has been to my spiritual life what gas is to a fire. God demands judgment on sin because of His holiness, but his holiness does not demand mercy to be given. The mystery is, what would motivate God to choose to give mercy steeped in grace and love? It's one of those mysteries that cannot be answered and that is ok. It is that mystery that motivates God to ALWAYS, at any hour, in any day, be available with open arms, ready to forgive and heal. Psalm 3 is an assurance of this very point.
David wrote this when his own son was trying to overthrow him for the kingship. There's a slap to the face if you ask me. The worst hurt is typically from an offense from the ones you love, and David knew that really well. There is no more lonely feeling, I could imagine than when your own family is trying to overthrow you. This motivates David's first two verses of this short psalm. Take time to read the whole thing right now.

So David is hurt, feeling alienated from his own blood, but never forgets who he can turn to for the renewed confidence of his calling: the Lord. "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head." This is so true even when people try to tell you otherwise, why? Because God's word says so.

Let's stop here quick. The truth behind that statement can't just be glossed over. "Because God's word says so" is a statement that is not a "cop out" statement. The world would say otherwise because what empirical value does God's word have? In other words, the Bible is the book, and the only truth that the world turns to for answers is science. So when they say, "because science says so" they are utilizing the same rhetoric that the believer is in our statement about the bible, but with one difference, the world holds science higher because it is apparently tested true. It doesn't take long to foil the argument there. Many scientific findings are true, and hey, guess what, they aren't conflicting with the bible. But, where atheistic science is trying to prove the randomness-creating-order motif they are creating new findings day in and day out. Unfortunately, isn't truth told in time not just experiment? Science is changing day in and day out, but the Word of God has stayed the same for THOUSANDS of years. "if it's new it's not true, if is true it's not new." Simple? Yes, but truth is simple. The Bible is true because God himself who reveals it's truth to the believer in the Holy Spirit says it's true. And oh hey, history proves it true with it's preservation in such perfect way for thousands of years. Don't be afraid to say, "because God's word says so." It is the only statement worth living by.

Anyways, David had probably one of the closest relationships with the Lord. And in 2Sam 7 when the Lord made a covenant with David that the throne would never leave his line all the way to Zion, David doesn't need to worry about his enemies because he knows the Lord is on his side. The Lord is a shield, and in those times where we are, in our human nature, worried, He is the "lifter of our head." He is the sustainer and the owner of salvation of which he gives freely to those who believe in Christ (the very word of God made flesh (Jn 1:1)).

So when you are feeling like everything around you is out to get you, look to God's word and be encouraged by His truth.

Prayer: Lord forgive me for not remembering you in the times when I'm desperate. You are indeed my shield and the lifter of my head, take the opposition away from me if it be your will, but leave it there Lord if you are refining me. You alone know your ways and I thank you for even considering me. I praise you for your glorious grace that you've given me in Christ. Thank you for saving me! It is in your holy and precious son's name, Jesus, that I pray and seek you. Amen.

Psalm 2: Hope in the Messiah (part 2 of 150)

2010-09-07T17:01:00.000-04:00

Psalm 2 is, at first glance, one of those psalms where you are like, "hold the phone, what is going on here?" Given that the psalms are poetic and not in a narrative form sometimes there are those psalms that are referring to something else in a poetic manner. The cool thing about Psalm 2 is that it not only refers to something and someone else, but it is one of those many passages that prove that the Old Testament stands as important as well. I say this because common today, especially in the church, is this notion that the Old Testament is outdated and perhaps not as useful anymore now that we have the New Testament. I mean, how many times do you go to church and the pastor is preaching a series in the Old Testament? Not impossible today, but not too often either.

Psalms 2 is a great example of how the OT can be reference and great foundational support to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Wait, Jesus in the OT? Yes, this is what we call prophecy ;-). In fact, I go as far as to say that every book that is in our modern canon of which we call the Bible is in there for the purpose of pointing to our "messiah" our "savior" Jesus Christ. Why? Because God's word, by definition, IS Jesus Christ, the "word made flesh." (John 1:1). This is very common and something that should be understood and cherished by someone who is seeking spiritual nourishment from God's word on a daily basis.

Reading Psalm 2 for me makes me think a lot of our situation as Christians in today's realm and modern times. Verses one and two sound very familiar to modern times: "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?" Does this sound anything like today? Let's go on with some clarification in verse two: "Where the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed..."

Many nations around our world right now are rising against Christianity, particularly muslim nations, and saying what would be similar to verse three in this passage: "let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us."

In this modern "age of tolerance" Christianity is under attack. From the Psalm here I can say "Christianity" because of the fact that this word "anointed" is used. David, who wrote this, knows this as well, even though he didn't exactly know the way we do the man Jesus Christ. See, God made a covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 that in his genealogy, his "line," the throne would never depart. In Isaiah 11 we are given some more insight of the "branch" from the "stump of Jesse" (David's Father). All this to say, the "anointed" in this passage is referring to the ultimate one anointed in the line of David, that being Christ, the Messiah. Though in David's context, he also is the "anointed" of the Lord, and I believe he was writing this both in a personal standpoint, where nations were rising against him, as well as a prophetic one referring to many generations and centuries of nations rising against Christianity and the gospel.

He actually, starting in Verse 4 and going through verse 9, prophesies and writes as if the Lord was speaking and commenting on the situation, (which he is, it's his word through David remember). The Lord is depicted as being in heaven almost chuckling, saying (paraphrased) "pshhh, no worries, i've established this throne and my kingdom: Zion. Nothing can destroy it." The rest of this psalm is about how the everlasting kingdom of the anointed cannot be moved or destroyed and will in fact rule over and judge all other nations, and mightily so. The psalm ends with a call of warning basically saying, "align with the true KING and you will be blessed."

That true king is Jesus. And his kingdom is being built day in and day out as people are coming to know him as their savior from their sins. This Psalm acts as encouragement to all believers in the fact that the ancient truth is still true today: don't worry, if you have your allegiance with the truth King, take hope in him and do not let the "nations" who rise against you bring you to dismay, rather "take refuge in him."

Prayer:

Lord, sometimes I allow my circumstance and the busyness of life to crowd in and get me down and doubting of your provision. Forgive me for doubting, and help me to believe in you more by faith. give me strength to stand proud of my relationship with you and know that even if I face persecution, I can hope in your kingdom to come in Christ, where there will no long be pain, or suffering, or weeping, or hardship, but rather joy, peace, and rejoicing for what you've done for us on the cross. You are worthy of my praise and I submit my life to you. In Jesus name, amen.

"Psalms for the Simple" Part 1 of 150

2010-09-02T17:31:00.000-04:00

That title probably scares you as much as it scares me. "part 1 of 150?" is he serious!?
Yes I am.
I've been reading through the Bible cover to cover, something I'm trying to do fairly regularly in my own personal study of God's word. And guess where I just turned to? Yep! Psalms.
I have titled this series "Psalms for the Simple" because it is part of my goal as a pastor and worship leader to show people that you don't need to have a prestigious degree or know greek to read and benefit from God's word! One of the things that makes me most sad is that some people leave church thinking, "man i'm glad he knows what he's talking about because I have no idea how he got that out of that passage." When biblical lines start getting shady, when pastors preach heady and intellectually above the congregation, a person is drawn away more than drawn to wanting to study it casually on their own. That is a shame.
So to do my part, being a simple brain, as I usually say, I'm going to blog my way through the Psalms and give you simple and personal insight. There is a place for intellectualism, a good place, but the sake of this study is going to be on finding joy in reading God's word and benefiting from what he has given us, knowing how it has been preserved over thousands of years.
Here we go:

Psalm 1 (go ahead read it!):

First thing I gather from this Psalm, even right from the first sentence, is the main theme of the whole thing: There is no blessing in wickedness.
Blessing comes from obedience and delighting "in the Law of the Lord." "Meditating on it day and night" (verse 2)
This is describing a person who actually WANTS to play by the rules. Now, hear me out, never once will you hear me say that salvation in Jesus Christ is by obeying all the rules. Salvation in Jesus Christ is ONLY by grace THROUGH faith. But there is also a phrase that is biblical and I like it a lot: "Choose to sin, Choose to suffer." See, there is consequence to sin, ALWAYS. Whether it is immediate or many years from the offense. There is always consequence to sin and it isn't pretty. It is messy, it hurts, it's SIN! Blessed is the man who "delights in the Law of the Lord." This man recognizes consequence to sin and thinks to himself, "hmm.. instead of doing something that is offensive to God and will inevitably hurt me, I'm going to purposefully do what is right, even when it doesn't seem favorable to me at the time." That is meditating on the Law of the Lord.
Blessed man in this passage is described like a tree by streams of water. If I were a tree, I wouldn't want to be in a desert right? The BEST place to be is by a constant and never worrying-about-it flow of water! The connection is drawn in this Psalm to delighting and meditating on the Law of the Lord, God's Word, and streams of water. Jump forward to the New Testament, when Jesus is talking to the woman at the well and he refers to "living water." God's word is like a stream of living water in us, constantly shaping and growing us into the image of Christ. Why is that? Because Christ is the Word made flesh (John 1:1). All this to say, when we are living a life like the blessed man in this Psalm, our focus is on pleasing the Lord, avoiding sin, with the result that we are bearing fruit and prospering (cf Gal. 5 & 6).

The rest of the Psalm finishes with how the wicked man is for a moment; ultimately has no real purpose because he will be driven away like chaff blown away from wheat. The wicked man suffers, "he will not stand in judgement." (verse 5) That doesn't mean that he won't be judged, it means that he won't get through judgment. He will never stand in the congregation of the righteous and ultimately perishes. Wow, the line is very clear here: Blessing for the righteous and the wicked will perish.

Prayer:
God, you are, as you say you are the one who truly knows the way of the righteous (vs 6). You know our hearts, the good and the bad. Forgive us Lord for the sin in our lives that cause us not to bless you, but defile you. You are the God who blesses the righteous. Protect us from a life of wickedness and guide us in your truth, in your Word. Lord give us motivation and strength, as we are human, to delight and meditate on your law. Help us not to follow it with an ill-conceived notion that we have to, but instead follow it because we want to. Only you can give us, as fallen as we are, the power to please you. Give us strength and give us endurance to pursue righteousness. Thank you for your mercy. In Jesus name we thank you and praise you. Amen

A challenge to the Men in Church

2010-09-02T14:14:00.000-04:00

This Church Had a Man Crisis

ReTrain 2010 First week: Leader as Disciple

2010-08-12T23:11:00.000-04:00

This last week I was in Seattle, WA for a week long of classes from 9am-5 sometimes 6pm. The most accurate description that I heard from a colleague about this week was, "kinda like using a fire hose as a straw." I best describe this week like this: Having a bachelors of science in Biblical Studies, I feel like I was given the puzzle pieces and the picture, and now I'm getting the chance to put it together. It has been an amazing and challenging week of these masters classes.
http://retrain.org is the program that my brother and I are going through this year. It basically is a masters degree in one year in the field of "missional leadership." This particular week was under the leadership of Pastor Bill Clem on the topic of Leader as Disciple.

Previous to this course, I would have said that evangelism and disciple-making were separate entities. Clem put into biblical perspective that they are to be one in the same. "Disciple" by definition is a follower. If our purpose is to make followers of Christ a decision is one thing, but a changed life is another. A true conversion to Jesus Christ is a starting line of the race of new life through the Holy Spirit, not a lobby or waiting room to heaven. Disciple making therefore doesn't start after conversion to Christ, it IS Conversion that transforms someone into bearing the identity of Christ.

Becoming a true Disciple of Christ is better described as accepting God's loving offer of being apart of His story of salvation through Christ, as opposed to making Jesus apart of our story. In doing so, we pick up and respond through the Holy Spirit to his call to "follow me" and we are imparted his righteousness and, before the father, are reconciled.

As a disciple then we are to seek to mirror Christ. In mirroring Christ, He, through us, is creating disciples. It is therefore not programs that make disciples, but Disciples that make disciples. Discipleship is best described then as Life on Life, not a class. How has Christ transformed you? How is your relationship with Him evident to the outside world, so that all someone has to do is be in your vicinity to notice Christ in you? Being in community, showcasing the Christ transformation in your life, will draw people toward following you thinking, "wow, something about him/her is different, they are patient, they are kind, they are honest, and overall they just seem like they actually enjoy life, what is that?" When people start following you, they aren't following you, but Christ in you. And when Christ in you ministers to them through you, discipleship happens.

There is a reciprocity in discipleship because what happens is this, Disciple A, more mature in their relationship with Christ, is "discipling" Disciple B who is perhaps younger and less mature in their walk with Christ. As disciple B is being ministered to by Christ through Disciple B, they are becoming more and more like Christ (that is sanctification). When Disciple B becomes more and more like Christ, Christ starts ministering through Disciple B to Disciple A, and the result is an eternal growing relationship in Christ just as two mirrors facing each other create an infinite reflection.

As a disciple grows in Christ and mirroring Him, they are able to withstand hardship and trials. Why? because they have the power of the Holy Spirit in them sanctifying them into being more and more like Christ. A true disciple endures, A true disciple trusts, and a true disciple bears fruit in the process.

A disciple could then be defined like this: A follower of Jesus Christ whose faith endures no matter how they feel or what circumstance they are in because God promises a good return.

That ultimate return or blessing of God is eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." To believe IS to be a disciple, not to have said a prayer. Praying to receive Jesus Christ is to become apart of the salvation story and reflect Christ to others where forgiveness and not going to Hell are icing on the cake.

So where evangelism and discipleship are combined, talking to a non-believer is a conversation centered around Christ as the transformer of lives in following him, and not a "get out of hell free card." We are saved from hell, but our motivation for following Christ is unity and reconciliation with God. In Christ we are then able to find victory over sin's control, supernatural power of the spirit in bearing fruit in suffering, and an overwhelming sense of worship that is not just in church, but evident in all aspects of life, so much so that the lost are found following Christ mirrored by you.

This is a concept that I'm going to be chewing on for the rest of my life. What I do know is that I'm so humbled that God would have chosen me to partake in the fullness of life in Christ Jesus and that someone as sin-broken as me could be used by Him as a light to shine into the darkness of the world the light of Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith.

What do you think? Is "disciple" a bigger concept to chew on for you? In Matthew 28, what does it mean to go and make disciples? How are you seeking to fulfill the great commission? And how can we work together in doing so?

To Celebrate Life in Death

2010-08-03T16:06:00.000-04:00

It is difficult when you go through the death of a loved one. There are many emotions that result after someone near and dear to you is seemingly taken away too early. The thing we must always turn to in times like this is the cross of Jesus Christ. It is truly in the shadow of the cross, the work of Christ in defeating death for those who believe, that comfort is found.

A month ago, my grandma passed away. Last week, my wife's grandfather, who was in every way like a grandpa to me, passed away unexpectedly. It has been an emotional roller coaster for me in the last weeks. But one thing is certain, I strive to cling more and more to the cross of Christ. I'm angry that it is because of Sin that there is death to begin with. I'm filled with a righteous anger against sin and disease as a result of a fallen existence that is taking our loved ones away. But not for a second should I consider the Lord's ill will on us nor do I question his control. My grandma and my wife's grandpa were believers in Jesus Christ and are now with their Savior.

I was asked to give the Eulogy at my grandma's memorial service. I wanted to convey more than anything that believers have nothing to worry about in death. And when it comes to losing a loved one who is a believer, we should celebrate their current situation being one who is experiencing their Salvation in Jesus Christ in a finalized and perfected way. Below is what I challenged those at my grandma's memorial service:

"In Memory of My Grandma"
It is with great honor that I would have been asked to speak today at this celebration of the life of my grandma Mary Joan Rietdorf. I have always had it on my heart to have a part in this celebration by means of music, but to bring God’s Word to you today is not only a privilege, it is a blessing. To bring to you, this day, the thing that my grandma cherished most, even more than Boogie (my grandpa), that is, God’s Word, is the reason why today is a celebration and not a funeral.
Funerals have such a negative connotation in today’s world. Going to a funeral means more of a burden than anything else. You got to dress up, but not only dress up, dress up in colors, or should I say, the lack of color, that you don’t typically dress in, that is unless you’re Johnny Cash. Funerals start with crying and end with crying and even have a side of crying. Crying, because of the loss of a loved one. Crying and sadness because of “never seeing that loved one again.” Sadness and mourning because of the last thing that someone said before this person died, Sadness because of death. See the world has such a skewed view of death. The world views death as the end, the last line, the closing curtain with no curtain call. The worldly funeral is meant to be sad, it’s meant to be somber, and it’s meant to be “closure” to the situation. It is a time where people can say their “last remarks” and then leave it at the grave site.
I am so blessed not to be of the world today. See; today is NOT a funeral. Today is not an extended time of sadness. Sure, there are tears, there will be lumps in throats, and there is a cloud of somber in the room right now; but if you knew my grandma, she would come in here and say, “What’s the matter with you, don’t you know that I’m fine! Get up off your fan-dan and cheer up… have some fudge.”
Today is not a funeral; today is truly a celebration. It is a celebration because of the life of my grandma, that, by the way, she is STILL living. I want to talk to you and encourage you, and maybe even challenge you with that today. If you could please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15 starting at verse 50.
(READ 1 Cor 15:50-56)
The phrase “passed away” is today’s politically correct way of saying “died.” But there is so much more to that phrase. “passed away” doesn’t really sound like dying to me, it sounds like the continuation of life elsewhere. This passage, among many many others in God’s Word, is a passage that provides the true believer in Jesus Christ the Assurance and comfort in the last days on this earth. It was actually this passage that came to mind when I was standing next to my grandma the day before she passed away and telling her I loved her and would be seeing her soon. It is this passage that makes my heart well up with Joy, but it is also this passage that makes me well up in a holy anger against sin.
I remember that same day when crying in my Aunt Kari’s shoulder I told her, “I’m not crying because I’m sad, I’m crying because I’m so mad at the devil and mad at sin for doing this.” See; death is a result of the fall of man, sin, of Adam and Eve. And that death would have prevailed if our gracious creator God wouldn’t have provided all the way from the beginning a means of redemption and salvation. This is the “mystery” is referred to in this passage. This passage particular speaks on the mystery as it pertains to the second coming of Christ, but is the same mystery that Ephesians 3 speaks on. Ephesians 3 refers to the “mystery” of Christ, that is, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why is the gospel a mystery? Well the gospel is not a mystery in that it happened, it indeed happened, the mystery is in the reason. WHY did God allow a means of redemption from our sin? Why would he do that? We know very well that we don’t deserve it. Everyday in our thoughts, actions, and words we sin. Isaiah 64:6 says that even our most righteous of deeds are as filthy rags before the Father. Why would God allow a means of salvation?
Grace is the answer to that question. God’s grace, by definition of the term, allows the answer of this question of “why” to be as simple as “because.” I am a simple man, and I love when things are made simple enough for me to understand. Why does God, though not having obligation, choose to allow a means of salvation and redemption from sin? He just does. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life trying to figure out the mystery, except as it says in Ephesians 3, that the basic of it is revealed to me in the Holy Spirit: Christ has saved me, and I don’t deserve it, but I BELIEVE it.
My grandma is a prime example of this truth. Not a person in this room who knew my grandma could say that they didn’t know that she was a believer in Jesus Christ. This truth seemed to bubble out of her! Her faith in Jesus Christ was so evident that even in her last days, when she didn’t remember anything else, if you were to ask her to pray she always started, “dear Jesus.” God’s grace in allowing us to believe in Jesus Christ and have it counted as our righteousness and eternal life is THE REASON why this is NOT a funeral today, but a celebration, and a challenge.
Back to the passage real quick:
Starting at vs 54,
(Read 1Cor 15:54-57)
The reason why my grandma did not “die” is because of the truth of God’s Word. She had an amazing faith through amazing grace of God IN Jesus Christ and that allowed her to “put on” the imperishable and “put on” immortality; Immortality, not in a worldly sense but in the Heavenly sense. Grandma is with her Savior Jesus Christ right now, not dead, but alive. “Death is swallowed up in victory!” That victory is the saving work of Jesus Christ, being crucified for our sins, being buried in the tomb, and defeating death once and for all by rising from the grave. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
My grandma no longer lives in the sting of death, which is sin, as the passage describes. My grandma no longer lives with a cloud over her memory because of the effects of sin. My grandma now lives purified and perfected but only by the grace of God through her savior Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that she has experienced now this victory over death, and victory once and for all over sin, and she can and IS standing before the Living Creator God and has heard the words, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Do you see why I don’t want to call this a funeral but a celebration? Do you see why our tears are not endless but temporary.
Many in this room know exactly what I’m talking about. But some of you in this room would be hearing these words from me and remembering a time when my grandma would have asked you the same question, “Do you know Jesus?” Do you know and believe that Jesus is the ONLY way, the only truth, and the ONLY life.
Common today is this notion that “all roads lead to Rome.” In other words, all religions are true and can save you. I’m here to tell you in the name of Jesus Christ that that is so false. The Bible says in Matthew 7:13-14, “wide is the road that leads to destruction, but narrow is way that leads to life.” John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life, NO ONE comes to the father, BUT by me.” In other words, religion cannot save you. Your good deeds cannot save you. Only Christ can save you. Romans 6:23 says “for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” This has nothing to do with religion. Salvation and redemption is in a relationship with Jesus. A relationship starts with faith.
Only Jesus can save you from the penalty of your sin. Will you receive him today, letting my grandma’s example be the start of your motivation? She would want nothing more at her memorial service than to see someone come into saving faith in Jesus Christ. Do you believe that you are sinful and need a savior? Do you believe that Jesus is the only redemption from that sin? Have you ever made that step of faith?
If you’re sitting there thinking, “I’m not sure” make it now. The Bible says that “today is the day of salvation.” And salvation is a gift. The only way a “gift” works is if you “receive it.” Do not leave here today thinking, “that’s great for them, but I don’t need that.” The bible says, “The word of the cross is folly for those who are perishing.”
I would want nothing more than for you to know today, maybe for the first time, or maybe as a reminder that God loves you. It does not matter what you’ve done. You can receive forgiveness by the grace of God today if you believe that Jesus saved you from your sin.
Grandma knew this so well. Grandma now KNOWS this so well. In her life on this earth, it was her faith that gave her so much peace. My grandma was such a peaceful woman, and patient! Fishing for me is a tremendous pain in my side. It’s because my patience pails in comparison to hers, and I’m learning. You can ask anyone in here who knew my grandma if she ever seemed afraid of anything. She had experienced the peace of God because she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would be with him someday in heaven. In fact, she would always sing that song,
“heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glorious grace, I’m going to see my savior’s face, oh heaven is a wonderful place.”
Wow, is she singing that song louder than ever right now.
Do not be grieved over my grandma, rejoice that she has finished the race. Let us celebrate the life that she lived here on this earth but more importantly the life she is NOW living that will never go frail, never deteriorate, and never die. Celebrate today that if you believe in Jesus Christ, you will not only get to see grandma again, but you will get to see Jesus Christ face to face.
If today was the first day that you truly believed in Jesus Christ, please don’t keep that to yourself. Will you tell someone after this service? Will you honor my grandma and tell one of her family that it was because of her testimony that you now believe and that we can come along side of you and help equip you on your new life in Jesus Christ?
Let us celebrate the life of Mary Joan Rietdorf today because there is truly victory over death in Jesus Christ.

The Message of the Cross: Speak it Boldly

2010-06-29T14:26:00.000-04:00

In my life, sometimes I find myself too comfortable in my faith. That comfortableness, if you will, is almost always associated with a lack or fear of sharing the good news of Christ. I will admit, it is scary to share Christ with a complete stranger. But, I will also admit, it is NOT hard to do so. Wait, but it IS hard if it is scary, right? No. Those two things can be in the same boat, but are not limited to always being together. Fear and Difficulty have a Biblical relationship, pertaining to who that fear is directed towards. Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." We know that the pursuit of knowledge is difficult, but with the fear of the Lord, difficulty becomes do-ability. We also know that a good and growing fear of the Lord makes other "fears" seem like mice: Romans 8:31, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Because fear of rejection drives our ability to evangelize and tell the good news of Christ, it makes the simple and easy thing of sharing, hard. The truth is, the message that we are sharing, if done right, is one that the world rejects, and those drawn by the Holy Spirit receives. If we more and more grow our fear of the Lord, we will realize that God does the work of Salvation, not us, but he allows us to play a part by offering His gift that people can receive freely. If they reject it, they aren't rejecting you, they are rejecting the Lord. Our fear is that this complete stranger will think mean things about us! My response to this, which is still a work in progress in my own life, but there by the grace of God I can say, "who cares, no big deal, I don't seek their approval, I just honored the Lord by sharing His good news..."
Soon, I believe, fear of rejection will actually be fear of persecution. We are nearing more and more a world that has, in the name of tolerance, NO tolerance for the message of the cross, because it is exclusive and doesn't allow for other religions to be recognized as truth as well. Here is a video of a great friend of mine and now my senior pastor David Wisen on national television defending this very point:

The thing that makes David compelling in his defense of the cross is something called boldness. There was no sense of "well, to me I think the cross..." or "It is my understanding..." There was the sense that David knew with confidence what TRUTH is (God's Word) and the other guy, unfortunately not only doesn't know the truth, ISN'T EVEN PURSUING the truth! He, in the way he is running his universalist church, is saying, "there is no truth" and by doing so, no one is convicted of sin, no one is lead to think deeper about reality of falleness, and the "worship" service is focused around worshiping one's ability of loving themselves more and apparently "being a better human, relating to other humans." By saying that I believe a Buddhist or a Muslim needs to repent and come to Christ otherwise facing certain damnation is not being a good human because I'm causing another human offense by saying, "I'm right, and sorry, you're wrong."

But our message does not end there. The message of the cross does not end at "I'm right and you're wrong..." It ends with, "repent and receive this free gift of eternal life and truth upon faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior of our sin!" See, the message of the cross is actually the ONLY true INCLUSIVE message, because ALL can accept and believe and confess in it.

So when an opportunity arises to share your faith with a complete stranger, so far for me some of the best opportunities have been at the oil change place sitting in a lobby with strangers, share the message of the cross boldly and with no fear about what they think of you or if they reject you.
If you look at every instance in the book of Acts where the apostles are sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, notice on if they were trying to be shallow with it or not. In fact, knowing that they faced certain persecution, they were more bold all the more! But even in their boldness they were convicted and prayed for more. I want to close with this prayer that they prayed:

Acts 4:23-31 says:

23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, [1] said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’ [2]—

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants [3] to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

10 random thoughts after a year of marriage

2010-06-13T01:59:00.000-04:00

It's about 12:24am and I'm fighting to keep my eyes open. I was at a wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner tonight and got to thinking about marriage. I am just over 2 weeks away from my 1 year anniversary of being with my amazing bride. So far, here are some random thoughts after my first year of marriage:

In no particular order:

1.) I am a selfish human being that is slowly but surly getting better.
2.) I am a spoiled man. If any of you know my wife, enough said.
3.) A Christ-centered marriage is worth the work.
4.) There is now new meaning and worth to the imagery of Christ being the bridegroom of the church.
5.) Money stresses me out, but God always provides.
6.) God's word is buying more and more real estate on my time.
7.) My wife's forgiveness gives new worth to Christ's forgiveness in my life.
8.) My wife and I are a team, and other couples are our competition.
9.) The clothes hamper is more of a target than a destination.
10.) I am so glad that we don't have a "gaming" system connected to our tv.

There you have it! 10 quick thoughts on my first year of marriage. All in all, if Jesus is not the hero of my marriage, I, as the spiritual leader, am failing. I'm praying that God continues to give me the grace and wisdom to keep Jesus in the forefront of my walk, as well as my wife's.

What are your 10 random thoughts so far in your marriage or wherever you're at in life?

Do you believe in Aliens?

2010-06-03T21:59:00.000-04:00

Aliens! from Moellerd on Vimeo.

Sometimes you just need to interrupt life's seriousness and insert something funny and completely off the wall. God has a wonderful sense of humor, and I love to embrace that gift of humor sometimes. Being in transition from one ministry to another, I've had a bit of time on my hands to enjoy this wonderful machine that I call Mac. (my macbook). Mac and I have made this wonderful video for your enjoyment and also, for no extra charge, you may view the original video that inspired all of the above, below. Hope you like it!

I went to the store today from Moellerd on Vimeo.

HBCSL Launch to have Burlock Family!

2010-06-02T12:38:00.000-04:00

The Burlock Family from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.

I believe I've shared a video of this wonderful family before, a long time ago on this blog. Nevertheless this family has blessed me beyond my words with their testimony and singing.

This last weekend (May 30th) was officially my last weekend at Harvest Bible Chapel in Crystal Lake :-(. I'm going to miss that place! They are a wonderful people and God is working in amazing ways at that campus. I was privileged to talk with my friends, the Burlock Family, and they happily agreed to share their gift with the people of HBCCL this last Sunday. Between services, my wife and I got to share with them what our plans are in planting a Harvest in Michigan and they were like, "WE WANT TO BE THERE!" They agreed on the spot for us to promise them to call them on the specific date of our launch to come out and sing for the grand opening! I'm like... Yes!!! So, Lord willing, HBC Spring Lake will welcome the Burlock Family Singers this coming fall! Stay tuned for more details about our church on this blog or my friends Calvin's Blog, and Kristen's Blog.

Oh, and here is a video of their testimony!

Enjoy!

John 5:46-47 ~ Jesus and Moses, and the JEDP people

2010-05-27T17:19:00.000-04:00

Isn't God's creation beautiful! This picture was taken recently at Camp Harvest in Newego Michigan. You know creation points towards God (Romans 1:20).
I've been reading recently the blog of a dear friend of mine, Kristen Wisen ("Nike Musings" Click here and start reading). Her recent posts have been on the subject of creation and taking God's Word literally in Genesis 1 and 2.
If any of you know me outside of this blog, on a scale of 1-10 on my passion for this subject what would I be? Uh, correct: 1 million. I am very passionate about the subject of creation because I believe that God's Word is true and I believe that he wrote it in a way that is accessible for all people. I don't believe that you have to have a formal educational degree to fully understand the main theme of the Bible. I don't believe that stories in the Bible, unless otherwise stated in the passage (i.e. parables, some prophecies etc.), are to be taken metaphorically or allegorically.
In the case of Genesis 1 and 2, there is no scriptural reference anywhere that is to persuade us to take those metaphorically or allegorically. I believe that what is in the Bible is what God was intending people to understand about Him. I don't believe that God excluded things from the Bible that we "need" to know or fully understand (i.e. what did God do before the creation of the universe?; explanation of why he predestines some and not others; How he has just always been and was never created or will ever die. etc.) With all that said, Genesis 1 and 2 are to be taken literally and at face value, with no tricks up God's sleeves, and with no hidden textual translation ambiguity. It points towards a young earth literal view of creation.

All that to give a foundation for what I want to bring up to support my friend Kristen in her blogging on the literal truth of God's word.
Ever since the theory (and it is a theory only) of evolution started seeping into the church world, theologians have been trying to find more and more ways to fit the Bible into the mold of what this theory says so that, with good intention, the Bible is able to be current and congruent with modern scientific findings. I truly believe that these theologians and people who are "theistic evolutionists" have good intentions for believing what they do. They are trying to make the Bible relevant to a people who are being swayed by science.
The unfortunate side effect to this compromise actually the opposite of their good intention; it is the crumbling of Biblical accessibility. So when you fit the bible into the scientific mold of evolutionary history, then it is relevant as long as you say that Genesis 1 and 2 were simply just "poetry" with the one important theme of "well, it doesn't matter how God created, as long as you believe that HE did it."
That belief snowballs into, "well if Genesis 1 and 2 which don't look like any other clear poetry in the bible, are indeed poetry and not meant to be taken literally, how many other places in the bible is this true?"
That belief snowballs into, "man, this is confusing, I better just leave the study of the bible to the people who have degrees to study it and navigate through all of the poetry/non-poetry vs. literal vs. metaphorical texts."
The ultimate point to all of this snowballing is people being swayed away from reading and diving into God's word because they apparently aren't "smart" or "educated" enough to do so. So instead of reading it, they need to listen to sermons by the preachers who are claiming and preaching the compromise of Biblical history with Evolutionary science.
People, even though there were good intentions behind this equation, it is pushing people away from Christ. It cheapens the bible from being the Word of God meant to draw people into saving faith in Jesus Christ to being a book by human writers that contains good wisdom for how we should live our lives.

One such compromise that I want to speak on is the JEDP theory of the authorship of the Pentateuch. This theory, to be brief, states that no one man (Moses) wrote the Pentateuch because it would be impossible for one man to have had the knowledge or the insight to write accurately what happened before he was alive and even a little bit after he was alive. So instead there were many different writers over MANY MANY years (fitting into evolutionary old earth theory) that wrote different sections of scripture that were pieced together. The earliest section of scripture was by authors who referred to God as "Jehovah" and the second earliest section of scripture by those who referred to God as "Elohim" and then there were authors responsible for deuteronomical texts of God's law, and then finally those authors responsible for "priestly" writings about the temple and sacrifices etc. Long story short, this theory is purposed to try to fit the bible into a worldly, perhaps modern scientific, lens.
I was taught this theory as fact when I was at a Christian school at the collegiate level. I sat in the classroom and something just didn't sit right in my soul about it. I was like, "what about Moses! I thought he was the writer for the Pentateuch? Why is my professor making this too complicated?" If Moses didn't write it, then who did, and how do we know if we have all of the writers inputs! Could there be some sections of the priestly texts that we don't have and we have been worshiping all wrong this whole time!!?? AHH... I just didn't like the thought of taking the writer title away from Moses. I believe this was the Holy Spirit in me saying, "you now understand what is blinding people in this world and turning them away from the Gospel, you need to stand up for the truth!" Weird huh? Sometimes it's little, but when the Lord stirs your soul to stand for the truth, your fear of Him grows and you understand the truth more and more (Prov 1:7).

Why is it not a good thing on the textual level to compromise with modern, perhaps scientific, findings or perceptions? It's because it cheapens and complicates something that is meant to be accessible to all, not just those who have degrees.
The JEDP theory, something that some bigwig theologian spent many years on, is refuted in 2 VERSES in the New Testament, and that's just two of many many verses. Not only is it refuted, these two verses challenge the reader to believe FULLY in the truth of God's word, not just believing in what modern science can fit into it's scheme.

John 5:46-47 is Jesus talking to a Jewish audience. The context of this passage is in verse 18 "This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God." Verses 46-47 conclude the whole chapter with this powerful and challenging statement from our Lord:

"If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" (ESV)

In these two verses you have Jesus, God himself, saying that Moses wrote the Pentateuch (also there are other passages where Jesus quotes Moses from each of the 5 books a couple being Mark 7:10, Mark 10:5, Mark 12:26, Luke 5:14, Luke 24:27, John 7:19, John 7:22, John 7:23... and there are more).
On top of that Jesus challenges the reader that if they don't believe in what Moses wrote, how could they believe in His words? That's a slap in the face of the JEDP people. That's a slap in the face to those who say that Genesis 1 and 2 aren't meant to be taken literally. That's a slap in the face of a theistic evolutionist who says, "I don't believe that God created the earth the way it says in those two chapters, but only believe that He 'created' and by the way, created with this major leading theory developed by esteemed scientists who unfortunately happen to be Atheist, but praise the Lord we can redeem their findings eh!?"
Listen, God wrote a book, and he meant for people to read it and understand it. He didn't write it overly complicated. He wrote it so that everyone in EVERY VERSE can be drawn to Himself through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the hero of the Bible.

If we compromise God's word with modern evolutionary science or any other worldly schism, we cheapen the bible into a book of wisdom with a nice story about Jesus somewhere toward the end of it. Let's stand for the truth and reveal to people the fact that this amazing Word of God is accessible to even them!

One last thought. Why did Jesus have to die for the penalty of our sin IF there was death (survival of the fittest) before Adam and Eve in the evolutionary compromise of Genesis 1 and 2? I may just write a whole other post about this. In the meantime check out Kristen Wisen's blog on some other incredible and great insights of the TRUTH of God's word being Literal and relevant even if it doesn't correlate with evolutionary science. After all, we look at the world with a biblical lens, we SHOULD NOT look at the bible with a scientific/worldly lens. Just like everything in our journey here on this earth, we double check things according to God's word, not the other way around. Stick to that biblical model and start to see how Christ's Sacrifice for you becomes SOOOOOO REAL that nothing else really matters.

Question: How should we give?

2010-05-25T12:35:00.000-04:00

Answer: Cheerfully! (2 Cor 9:7)

You remember these? I grew up in a church that had these round brass collection plates with the little fuzzy padded bottom to them so that the coins wouldn't clang as they were passed. I don't remember many people overly enjoying the offertory time of the church service. If anything, the offertory special music was placed there so that there would be something enjoyable for the people as they gave their money to the church. It wasn't until I started attending Harvest Bible Chapel when I learned and saw the importance of the offertory being a joyful and cheerful time.
It was one of my first Sunday's as a visitor at Harvest when the pastor stood up in the front and said, "Harvest, it's time to give our offering!" and then people actually cheered and clapped! My first thought was, "these people are kinda weird..." but then, being the good Bible student I was, I corrected that thought with this thought, "well that's cute..." But now, 3 years later from that particular instance, I've come to the realization that our giving should ALWAYS be cheerful and never out of grumbling. Our gifts to the Lord and His house is vitally important. 10%? sure, why not %20? In whatever amount, our giving should be with a joyful and cheerful spirit. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7). That whole section of scripture (2 Cor 9:6-15) gives great insight into God's blessing of the cheerful giver. Vs 6, "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
Now, let me stop there before you think I'm going to become Joel Olsteen. This passage is not purposed to tell the believer that if they give as much money as they can to a ministry, that they'll become richer exponentially to the ratio of their giving. "Reaping bountifully" may be a financial bounty, but don't be sad if it is a spiritual bounty, or a relational bounty. We should not expect that our giving to the Lord should only be blessed by his giving to us more money. Our giving to the Lord should NEVER feed our fleshly desire for wealth. Our giving to the Lord should ALWAYS motivate our reliance upon our Lord and faith that he provides for our NEEDS, and not necessarily our wants.

Let's finish this particular passage before moving onto another passage. Vs 7-15:
"Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things and all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written,
"He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever."
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon You. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"

Most, if not all of this passage speaks for itself, not needing much additional commentary about why we give cheerfully. But the most important thing that I want to hammer even more in this passage is the last sentence. We give cheerfully because we are so thankful for the amazing and undeserved gift that God is given us! "his inexpressible gift" is Jesus Christ. That gift, there is nothing that we could do, say or give that would come close to "paying back" if you will. But it is our pleasure and honor to be able to give whatever we can joyfully so as to honor the Lord for his gift of salvation to us!

I want to close by bringing you to 1 Chronicles 29:9, "Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly." This was their response after giving A TON of wealth to the house of the Lord, being the temple that Solomon would be building soon after David's death. I mean TONS! If we were to give in the amount that the people of Israel gave during that particular time, it would be easily into the billions of dollars equivalence. They gave "freely." They didn't grumble, they didn't hesitate, they gave and it was genuine because they knew the Lord delivers. Take some time to read 1Chronicles 28-29 and see the example of cheerfulness that we should have in giving back to the Lord.

In all things, we need to recognize that nothing is really ours. God has blessed us with everything. It is only when you realize this, that you can start to let go of your hard grip on your wealth or weekly paycheck and open your palms in worship by trusting the Lord in His provision. God LOVES the cheerful giver. Don't hesitate to give back willingly and with a whole heart, and see how the Lord will bless you!