This past weekend I was priviledged to be involved in a men’s weekend with a handful of guys from Living Word.  It was so good to talk about life, God and His Word.  It was so good to worship God together and hear the sound of men’s voices singing to the Lord.  It was good to fellowship together.  I’m really looking forward to next year.

The funny thing is, I’m recharged spiritually, but it’s definitely taken me a few days to catch up on sleep and get back into the swing of things!

Bob Kauflin had an interesting post about vocal solos during worship times.  Tomorrow I’d like to explore it further and talk about instrumental solos during worship times.

Pastor Wade will be on vacation for the next couple of weekends, so I get the privilege to preach on August 5th at Living Word.  I want to teach about what leads to death (from James 1) and then what leads to life (confession, repentance, obedience).

We have a pretty good grasp on leading ourselves to death, often without even realizing what we’re doing.  I want to help people avoid those steps.  Sadly, though, we don’t have a good grasp on what really leads to life.  Hopefully the hope of the Gospel and the hope of God’s call to obedience will help people struggling with spritual death come back to life!

This morning’s staff devotion was such a huge encouragement to me. We were reminded that God is still who He says He is. God is still our refuge, strength, helper, protector and provider. God is still loving, forgiving, encouraging, and sustaining. But I think we often forget that God is still jealous, just, holy and perfect. The God of the New Testament is not a different God than the God of the Old Testament. God’s holy standard still needs to be met, and we still fall short of it and always will.

Human solutions will never fulfill God’s promises. But praise God for the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, that is the only thing that could have paid the price for our sin. God’s standard can only be met by Himself, so Jesus being fully God and dying paid the price that God demanded, and Jesus being fully human, yet without sin, lets Him offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice that God’s standard demands. What an incredible plan! As Pastor Wade said yesterday (and you brought it, by the way!), “It was a scandal.” I couldn’t help having a song by one of my favorite bands, “The Choir” running through my head:

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

On the hillside you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross justified
And your spirit restored
By the river that pours
From our blessed Savior’s side

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned by his blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

Miraculous night

What we have to remember though, is that even though Jesus paid the price that was demanded, and we are forgiven and set free, God is still God and still demands for us to live for Him. Let’s give our lives in response to His grace, and live with obedience this week.

Well, the FLY Convention has come and gone, and it was amazing. It’s still taking a bit to recover from, but I’m getting there slowly but surely. I’m looking forward to getting into the habit of posting more training and teaching posts on here, so look forward to that.

A bit of wisdom that was shared with me today from a precious time with my new pastor and great friend and mentor (who will be starting his own blog as soon as I get the new website up, right Wade? 🙂

• Don’t let cost compromise vision, ever. If you’re at a point where you’re compromising your vision because of lack of funds, the vision wasn’t thought out well enough. Hang on to vision at all costs. I’ve heard this before, but it was great to have it reinforced this morning.
• Keep it simple. Even if you think something small that someone asks you to do won’t really matter, it probably does. Stick to what you should be focusing on and don’t waver from it. Be okay with saying no.
• Passionate people need encouragement, or they’ll become frustrated very easily. I hope I can always be an encourager.

And praise God for the amazing weather and fantastic waterfall that we sat by and prayed under. I could feel Him near to me today, and I have been refreshed. Leaders, I have never realized the importance of spending time with those under your charge until someone has done it for me. Make sure you are investing in people and showing them how much you care.

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.” Psalm 73:28

By the way, there is a fantastic series of posts on mentorship that begins here.

This week has been absolutely incredible.  It’s been so awesome to hear the testimonies of so many of the youth that are here.  It’s been awesome to be able to lead worship and see the people responding and entering into God’s presence.

Last night I was blessed to join Living Word’s group for a time of reflection.  Some highlights from some of the youth:

• Hans  – Has now begun to really worship God during the music, instead of just singing to sing.  He is excited to be able to enter His presence and glorify Him.
• Kurtis – Mentioned that if God’s Word is powerful to change a terrorist and a persecutor of Christians into a Christian, there’s nothing it can’t do.

I definitely hope I get to experience this week again the future.