Monday, July 27, 2009

Pure Praise Week 4



Sorry this is a little later than usual, but better late than never.

Man, week 4 spoke to me and addressed one of my biggest weaknesses. Truth be told, I'm just not very good at listening TO God or FOR God. I think a lot of that stems from being a type A personality that likes being in control; coupled with the fact that I love to figure things out on my own.

Yesterday at church, Pastor Lee talked about Rehoboam and how he sought advice from other places instead of going to God first, and I can identify with that. I'll look in books, ask the wise advice of friends, and try to figure things out myself and then realize I haven't even asked what God would want me to do.

I loved The Contents of His Words on Page 65:
1. God's voice is consistent with the Bible.
2. God's voice might conflict with human wisdom.
3. God's voice will likely clash with our fleshly nature.
4. God's voice may challenge our faith.
5. God's voice will often require us to be courageous.

God, help me listen for your voice and act on it when I hear it. I need your help on this because this is not natural for me. I don't just want to talk to you, I want to hear from you.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Pure Praise - Week 3



This was such an important week in this study. The first two weeks were foundational material to begin to understand what praise really is: A RESPONSE to what we value most, and different ways we can praise God.

It is crucial that Moore now turns to talk about the object of our praise - God. Worship is always God-centered.

I'll admit up front that I need to work on a better balance in my life between viewing God with the reverance and awe he deserves, yet at the same time understanding that his is a personal God who longs to have a relationship with us.

In theological terms, God is transcendent (He is above, beyond, outside, all that He has made); and at the same time God is immanent (God exists is His creation, and he is still actively involved in our lives).

My life has been a roller coaster in terms of how I view God. Growing up I probably had more of a fearful/reverant view of God, thinking he was the great punisher in the sky just waiting for me to mess up. I knew very little of a God who wanted a relationship.

Then in my 20's the pendulum swung about as far back as it could, and I considered God as my buddy (as in the movie Darma), or like the t-shirts "Jesus is my homeboy." I lost almost all reverance, awe and fear of a transendent God.

I now have a better balance of the two views of God. I probably still find it easier to see God as personal rather than the all-powerful (from what I read this is very common for people to err on the side of immanence).

However, I'm working on focusing on God's attributes, and reading books (Tozer's "The Pursuit of God", J.I. Packer's "Knowing God") that help me see the whole picture of God.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Pure Praise - Week 2



Hey everyone. Lots of ground to cover this week, so I'll keep it relatively short and give you my two biggest take-aways from the week.

1. Praise is prevalent. What a great reminder that we were created to praise God and glorify him. As Moore said on page 25, "it is every believer's most natural response to God's power and grace."

Think about it, we're all wired to worship right. We go to concerts, ball games, broadway plays, and we stand and cheer, clap, shout, sometimes cry. We're just wired with an innate sense of worship. However, what happens to us is that we trade worship of the Creator for worship of created things. (Don't hear me say going to those things and cheering is bad, we just have to have priorities in place)

I said it last week, and I'll say it again, the best definition of worship is that it is a RESPONSE. Worship is our response to what we value most. That’s why worship is that thing that we all do. It’s what we’re all about on any given day. Because worship is about saying, “This person, this thing, this experience, this whatever is what matters most to me…it’s the thing I put first in my life.”

We were all created to worship, and we all worship something.

And this is why this is so important for us to get right…we become what we worship. Whatever you worship, whatever you put first, you become obsessed with. Whatever you become obsessed with, you imitate. And whatever you imitate you become. In other words, whatever you value most will ultimately determine who you are.

I pray that as a team, we put Jesus first. I pray that he becomes our obsession.


2. I had never heard about Perfect Praise before this week, and I still need to do some more thinking about it, but I truly appreciated his requirements for perfect praise: a worshipful and passionate heart, approach Him as little children, and have total dependence on God.

My confession is that every day I struggle to give God perfect praise, including days when I have to stand on stage and lead other people. I need to work on this, and want to come to a place where I worship him with a full heart, and a dependence, humility, wonder and awe that I see in children's eyes.

I'll finish with a quote from a guy named Bob Kaughlin. I'm reading his book right now, and he makes this statement that blew me away:

"I don't ever want people who see me lead worship publicly to be surprised by the way I live privately. It's not my songs that define my worship; it's my life." Amen.





Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Sunday, July 5

Corporate set for July 5:

Let God Arise
Marvelous Light
I Stand Amazed

Special Song Before Communion: Forgive Me by Rebecca St. James

Closing Sonng After Communion: Jesus Messiah

I thought the instrumentalists played great today. I have to admit though, the room felt pretty dead all morning. I don't know if it was because Sunday was the day after the 4th of July, or the gray rainy weather contributed, but it didn't seem like people showed up to worship? Just my take. I freely admit I could be wrong.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Pure Praise - Week 1



First, thanks for doing this study as a team. As I said at our meeting last week, my prayer is that we can all get into God's Word together so what we do in private flows out of us on Sunday mornings. In addition, I pray that we get to know each other better through this study.

Week 1 of this study is some pretty basic material that some of you may have heard many times. But it's always a good reminder to go back to what worship really is.

I think a lot of times we get caught up thinking that worship is music or singing, or what happens on Sunday morning. But it's so much more than that, and as we saw this week, worship is our whole lives - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Above all else, the definition that I would love for everyone to remember is that WORSHIP IS A RESPONSE TO GOD. I love Louie Giglio's definition of worship: "Worship is a whole-life response to God's greatness and glory."

So if worship is bigger than just Sunday mornings where we all help lead worship, then it is important that we're worshipping during the week too. We can't just show up Sunday morning and turn on a switch and begin to worship the God of the universe. It actually might work for a little while, but I think people would figure out that we're pretty fake.

One verse that stood out to me in the story of Jehoshaphat was 2 Chronicles 20:12, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."

That's probably the biggest lesson the Lord is teaching me right now is to keep my eyes on Him. In the midst of everything going on in my life, my home, my work and the world, I need to keep my eyes on Him - which coincidentally is worship.

Let me know what stood out to you this week.