We Were Made to Worship Jesus
Category: Religion and Philosophy

I would like to take you through a brief biblical examination of worship and why we must see the worship of Jesus as the center of our lives.  We were created to worship; it is innate in us.  We are to worship the one true God, who created us.  This God is Jesus the Christ who came as God incarnate, born of the virgin Mary, He suffered, died, was buried, He arose on the third day, He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, and He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

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"You are Amazing God"
Category: Religion and Philosophy

"From My August newsletter article"

You are Amazing God:
A Commentary on "Indescribable"

Last month I wrote a commentary on a beautiful hymn, "Praise to the Lord the Almighty." I encourage you, in your devotional time, to read the great hymns of our faith and the new contemporary songs being written today. You can go onto the internet to find the lyrics of songs we do in our contemporary service. Keep Sunday's bulletin, go to www.yahoo.com or www.google.com, type in the title of the song in quotes, and press search.

This month, I would like to give a commentary on a wonderfully poetic contemporary song, "Indescribable." This song's poetic lyrics are theologically sound and deep in meaning. "Indescribable's" lyrical content is straight from the book of Job and the theme is about the amazing things God can do. This song was written by Laura Story and Jesse Reeves.

Verse 1: No matter where you go on earth you can see the divine attribute of God revealed in creation (Romans 1:20). Every creature was created by God uniquely for the glory of God, and to glorify God (Isaiah 42:8-12; Luke 19:38-40; 1 Corinthians 10:31, Philippians 2:10-11). The eagle flies, the dog barks, the trees grow, their leaves fall, they bear fruit, the bee makes honey, the angels serve and worship, and the rocks uh… sit there, all for the glory of God. As human beings, we are unique in that we can choose to live for the glory of God or for the glory of ourselves. However, God created us to glorify Him. We need to remember that.

Chorus 1: Can you describe God perfectly? Can you contain God fully? Can you place the stars in the sky and know each of them intimately by name? No, we cannot do this, but God can and He did. God holds all power and you cannot control or tame God Almighty. Therefore, the Lord God is amazing. We are to fall on our knees and exclaim this, in an attitude of awe and humility, everyday.

Verse 2: How many of us stand outside when a storm is coming (when it is safe of course!) and watch as the lighting lights up the sky? Can you tell those lighting bolts where to go? No, of course not, but God can and He does (Job 36:29-33). Have you been to the place where the snow comes from, how about the rain, or the hail? No, but God has (Job 37:6; Job 38:22). Did you create the sun? No, God did and He gave it as a source of light and He takes it away and commands the night to happen (Genesis 1:3-5; Job 38:12). No one can imagine the power of God revealed in creation.

Chorus 2: Incomparable, God has no equal. The bible says this repeatedly. There is nothing and no one like our God! God's love for us never changes. He loves us the same even when we do not do His will. He can see what we are thinking, He knows what we are feeling, and He intimately wants to be there for us in our hurts, in our joys, and in all other occasions. Therefore, we should say "You are amazing God!"

Conclusion: What are we going to do about this? God is almighty and desires those who seek to worship Him with their whole lives (John 4:23). Are you prepared to offer your whole life as a living sacrifice? (Romans 12:1) Are you ready to tell God that He is amazing? Not only that but are you ready to serve this amazing God and bring Him glory by loving Him and loving others? The way we live will show God that we are serious about following Him and glorifying Him. Let us wake up and see the amazing possibilities God has for us in our lives. Let us walk through the doors He has opened for us and live abundantly in full service to Jesus and in full love for people. God is seeking us lets meet with Him!

Verse 1:

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealed in Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Chorus 1:
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untamable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Verse 2:
Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Chorus 2:
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

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Hymnody: Part One
Category: Religion and Philosophy

I have always enjoyed the beauty of the ancient hymns of the faith.  However I find myself increasingly overlooking the vast theological poetry within the hymns as I sing them on Sunday morning.  I appreciate their beauty! However, I do not, on my own time, try to really grasp the deep theology or understand the poetic form of praise that these hymns are trying to depict.  Therefore I see it fit to blog, seeing as how blogging is the thing to do, about these great hymns. 

Therefore, I begin my series of hymnody with the hymn "Praise to the Lord the Almighty" which can be found on pg. 139 of the United Methodist Hymnal.  The words were written by Joachim Neander in 1680.  The tune is LOBE DEN HERREN and was written in 1665 and the harmony was written by William Sterndale Bennet in 1864.  I will be paraphrasing the original verses written by Neander in the 17^th cent. 

This hymn is based off of Psalm 103:1-6 and is a call to worship.  The Methodist hymnal places it in the category of a hymn about the providence of God, which I believe is also the case.  However, this song makes a great opening hymn of praise or a call to worship.

Verse one is definately a call to worship:

 Praise God, because He created the world and rules over all things.  I will praise Him because he keeps me safe and saves me from death.  Everyone who can hear my call to worship draw into the presence of the Lord.  Join me in singing happy songs of praise to our God.

Verse three speaks of what God has done and how we should think about those wonderful things God has willed in our own lives:

  Praise the God who is the reason and cause of my success in life.  He gives me the strength to do my work everyday.  Moreover, He gives me the strength to do His will.  Think about what God can do in a fresh new way.  Think about what He has already done.  Think about how He has loved you and made you His friend.

Verse five is a close to this call to worship.  It is solidifying the message that all creation should praise God:

Let me praise God with everything that I have.  Let my whole being, my whole body (which was created by and in the image of God) bow down in worship to our amazing God.  Everything that has breath, sing to the lord.  God gave you breath in order to praise His holy name.  Let all God's children sing praises together in harmony.  Everyone sing joyful praises to God forever.

This hymn is a powerful call to worship.  Let us think about this hymn, and as we read these words in a fresh new way let us think about what great things God has done in our own lives.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
By: Joachim Neander

1.            Praise to the Lord,

               the Almighty, the King of creation.  

               O my soul, praise him, 

               for he is thy health and salvation!  

               All ye who hear, 

               now to his temple draw near; 

               join me in glad adoration!

3.            Praise to the Lord, 

               who doth prosper thy work and defend thee; 

               surely his goodness 

               and mercy here daily attend thee.

               Ponder anew 

               what the Almighty can do, 

               who with his love doth befriend thee.

5.            Praise to the Lord!  

               O let all that is in me adore him!  

               All that hath life and breath, 

               come now with praises before him!  

               Let the amen sound from His people again; 

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Michael W. Smith Concert
Category: Blogging

Last Night I got to meet Michael W. Smith.  He is a cool guy.  I was really inspired by his music.  I have never been an extreme admirer of his music until I saw him in concert last night.  Moreover, I have come to the conclusion that his music has tested the times and been successful where other artist's have failed.  My wife even said to me that even though some of the music was from the 80's she thought it was "sounded good"
Anyways… I was inspired to get back on the piano and begin to play again.  The same thing happened to me after a Chris Tomlin concert.  I believe that Tomlin is one of my greatest influences.  David Crowder Band is probably my greatest influence.  I love their style.  It is unexplainably unique… (I realize that when I wrote the word unique I contradicted the previous word "unexplainable; I thought it would be okay, considering that most of the postmodern epistemology allows for something to be and not be at the same time).  Now I am just rambling but I guess that is what people do in blog entries.  Exciting times… if you had the patience to make it all the way to here you are getting a glimpse of what is going on in my head right this second… lucky you.  I have digressed… what was I talking about.  Oh yah… I was inspired by some of the live concerts I went to… (here is the part where I tie the subject back into the reason I began this blog entry) The Michael W. Smith concert has inspired me to rethink some of the way that I am leading worship.  I think that I want to start leading worship more from the piano.  I definitely want to hone my piano skills.

Just another side note if you will bear with me… "Microsoft Word" does not recognize the word "blog" in the English dictionary.  Microsoft needs to get with the times and see that internet is not a fad… Just joking.  Anyways, if you have read all the way through this blog entry you are amazing and deserve a reward for your great capacity for patience and your innate ability to follow the random thoughts which reveal the nature of my psyche

Lastly, I am going to try to blog more so for the 48 people so far who have visited my blog site and have been disappointed to only find one blog this will change.

Thank you for reading to the end your great.

Ross

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Worship as a Living Sacrifice
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Taken from a newsletter article I wrote

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God---this is your spiritual act of worship"

Romans 12:1

As I am settling into my ministry position as Pastor of Worship Arts I have had numerous opportunities to reflect on what worship is.  When we as the church discuss worship and its nature, we must keep an open mind to the many faces and forms true worship can take on in our lives.  Thus said, I chose the bible passage above, as a backdrop for this article.

            Paul says that we should "offer our bodies as living sacrifices."  When someone says the word sacrifice we immediately think about death or images of things being taken away.  These negative connotations have aided in our view of how we should sacrifice.  However, Paul says "living sacrifice."  This language is opposing the idea of a dead sacrifice the Jews offered in the Temple.  A living sacrifice has positive connotations.  It is supposed to bring images of life rather than death and bringing forth rather than taking away.  Think about this idea of sacrifice as worship.  How radical is this idea. 

            I have been thinking a lot about worship on Sunday morning.  This has lead me to think about worship on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  What are we doing during the rest of the week?  This is why Paul's words above are so important for us.  It would be easy for us to keep our worship limited to Sunday morning.  However, if we do this then it is impossible for us to completely and honestly follow what Paul is urging us to do when he writes "offer your bodies as living sacrifices."  I am not saying that what we do on Sunday morning is not worship, because it is; what I am saying is that there is more to worship than the weekend gathering.  Moreover, Sunday morning equips us to go out and for the rest of the week be a living sacrifice through our daily lives.  Imagine this idea put into practice.  Yes, we worship through music, fellowship, tithes and offerings, and hearing the word on Sunday morning.  However, come Monday we enter into a time where God is opening doors for us to bring our living sacrifices, for us to bring our service, for us to use our gifts and talents, and for us to reflect the character and nature of Jesus.  For example, there are people you will meet (divine appointments if you will), serve them, show them the love of Christ.  God will give you the opportunity to help someone.  Do it, this is your "spiritual act of Worship."  In your jobs you will have the opportunity to show that Jesus is your savior, not through proselytizing necessarily, but through the way you work, talk, and handle the situations that arise. In conclusion, worship is not limited to what you do on Sunday morning; your life worship is to carry on into the week and be reflecting a living sacrifice, bringing what you can to God, serving people, and showing the love of Jesus to the world. This is worship!

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