Songs from yesterday:

Most High God (a new song off of Worship Leader’s SongDISCovery)
Hosanna (Baloche)
Offering (Baloche)
Give Us Clean Hands (Hall)
Breathing the Breath (Redman)
Lord Have Mercy (Merkel)
Your Name (Baloche)
The Heart of Worship (Redman)

Yesterday brought some new members and a baptism, which is always very exciting.

The music was a bit more subdued, which I think was very fitting.  Pastor John talked about coming back to the heart of worship.  He spoke on Jesus saying “these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

How often, as worship leaders, do we do that?  I know I am guilty.  So many Sundays my heart is focused on whether or not the music is going to go well, whether or not people are going to get “into” the music.  My lips are singing God’s praises, but my heart is worrying.  Yesterday was a big conviction in that area of my life.

The awesome thing is, yes, I need to work on these problems, but God will give me the strength to do it and I’m very excited to see where He will lead me.

Let us continue to honor God with a heart of worship, and not give Him just our lip service.

Sometimes I wonder why we are afraid of being bold in our faith.

Why are we afraid to worship without hindrance? Why are we afraid to raise our hands, drop to our knees, or show emotion during worship? Why are we afraid to be vulnerable?

And, why are we afraid to proclaim Jesus Christ?

Pastor John’s message was so fitting for our world today. It seems like so often, we can’t ever offend anyone, but if a Christian is offended, it’s okay. In the text John read, Jesus asked the statement, “Does this offend you?” And it did offend many, and they left Him. But those who stayed declared, “Where else is there to go? You have the words of eternal life.”

How true is that statement. Is offending one person by procaliming Jesus Christ worth having one person end up following Him because of the seed you plant? Absolutely.

Is being vulnerable in worship and with our emotions worth it even though it might be uncomfortable to us? Absolutely. How else are we to let people know that we need help, if not by being vulnerable?

I hope we can all stand up for Jesus in every area of our lives. This is true worship.

Do we hear the voice of God? Are we in tune with our Savior enough to be able to be still before Him and listen?

Elijah was hiding in a cave, and God came to Him. God didn’t come in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, but God came in a small whisper.

God whispered to Elijah, “What are you doing here?”

Are we just sitting and waiting for God, or do we need to be asked the question “What are you doing here?” It’s time for us to get outside the walls, stop waiting, and bring God’s Good News to the world who needs it so badly.

Well, here I am again, not posting after several days.

Wednesday’s topic is usually “How to be an offering.” I need to apply this to my own life as well, and I think the number and frequency of my blog posts attests to today’s thoughts.

Laying myself bare to anyone reading, I have realized lately that I, in general, am inconsistent. God has called us (especially those of us in leadership positions), to be full of integrity, vision, and purpose. God has called us to offer ourselves fully to His work. I’m struggling with all of the above. It is exciting for me to feel God working in my life, but it is also hard to wholly surrender my life and my job to Him. I would ask that anyone reading would pray for me, so that my love for God’s work, and my consistency in what I do would be a pleasing offering to Him.

We serve an amazing God.

Yesterday’s service had one point that really hit me…but I’ll get to that later.

The songs we did were:
Bread of Heaven (a modern version of the hymn, “Guide me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah)
Forever
Hope of the Nations
Shout to the Lord
Jesus, You Are My Life

One thing that we must always be aware of is to never assume anything. I assumed that the guest pastor would remember to switch his mute button on his microphone, so I left it muted. I then told the sound tech that he would have to mute the pastor on the board when he wasn’t speaking. Unfortunately for me, I assumed wrong about the pastor remembering to switch his mute button.

We had no volume on the pastor through the prayers, confession, and words of insititution. Thankfully we have a small sanctuary so that it wasn’t a huge disaster. And thankfully he told me afterword that he appreciated me catching him during the offering and letting him know his mic wasn’t on.

But…getting to the point. During the sermon, Pastor Helling spoke of all of the things we try to satisfy ourselves with. Only one thing can satisfy: Jesus, the Bread of Life. I hope I can remember those words throughout the coming days.