Worship is a Group Activity

"Worship is a group activity and the meaning of worship must be learned"
                                                      - Robert Webber, Worship New and Old 

We gather together for Church on Sundays.
We gather together for Bible classes on Sundays.
We may gather together for a service during the week.
We may also gather for a small group during the week.

Within the Church body there are many gatherings and everyone looks different. When the body meets together for these gatherings they perform some type of group activity and since worship is in every breath we breathe, Worship is considered a Group activity.

There is so much emphasis put on the idea of meeting together and coming together to worship. However, as the body performing the group activity there are things that must be done when we come together to worship. Every person shouldn't just come, but come expectant. They must come in anticipation of meeting God and blessing Him.

"The senses must also be engaged in worship. In drama we see, hear, smell, and even taste. So it is in worship"- Robert Webber. As we come expectant to meet with God every part of our senses should be in tune with what is going on. If we gear our senses to something that may seem unpleasant to us, Webber states, then worship will be disturbing and unfulfilling.

If we focus on God during these times then it can only point us to Him.

It will remind us of the reason we have group activities in the Church.

"Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts" Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

I Didn't Even Know It

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 3:16)

"He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, ad on the sabbath day he went into the synagogue, a was His custom.." (Luke 4:16)

"And when they had sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." (Matthew 26:30)

I like to put together verses that show kind of a path you can follow. These verses pertain to any Christians life and as I put them together, they pertain directly to worship. I like simplifying worship so that I can fill in the spaces after it. My rough definition is to attribute value to something, or give worth to something. After this I ask myself the question what do I give value to most, or give worth to the most?

A few weeks ago I realized I wasn't praying as much, or seeking God as much in my quiet time. A few weeks ago I realized I wasn't going to the same church every week, or really getting fed spiritually by a church at all. A few weeks ago I realized I haven't sang a song to the Lord in a long time.

I wasn't giving worth to praying, going to church, or singing. So by definition, I wasn't worshipping in these areas. This seems harsh, but it makes sense to me. Fast forward to the present and I have begun to pray more, attend a church regularly, and sing to the Lord more. This time was different though, because these verses only popped up in my head tonight. Usually I would have been slapped in the face by them a few weeks ago, but the lesson came later.

" He appointed the twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons." (Mark 3:14-15)

The first thing Jesus said to all of them was "that they might be with him". While they were with him they learned from him and became like him. As I was searching for God those few weeks ago I was also with him and in doing so, became like him. As I became like him I began doing what he had done and in this case it included praying, going to church, and singing. Very simple things, but powerful. I also realized how valuable they were to me and it formed into worship, without knowing it.

We must constantly look at Jesus' life and model ours after it. We must constantly be with him and be intentional about applying what he shows us.

God Wants The Worship Of The Inner Person

"God wants more than ritual. God wants the worship of the inner person," Robert Webber, Worship New and Old.

From the beginning of creation and to the end, God has been pursuing His people. In the Old testament God made a covenant with Israel, "That they would be His people, and He would be their God," (Jeremiah 32:38). We know that Israel failed many times and it wasn't until the New covenant was made through Jesus Christ that the old one had been fulfilled. In the new covenant we are able to worship God in our inner most being, because we became the temple.

When I think about that first statement from Robert Webber and the idea of God pursuing me at all times, I can't help but be thankful and want to do so from my inner most being. I have to make sure that i'm not only expressing this from the outside, but that when I do so from my heart it is real and genuine. My God has done more than I could ever imagine for me and He continues to do so even now.

God wants the worship of the inner person and as you begin to do this it can only make its way to the outside. Let God continue to work in you until it comes from the inside out. This is a simple statement, prayer, thought, or whatever it may be, but the Lord works through the simple in order to do the complicated.

As I enter into this new season in my life I want to be purposeful with my time in the Lord's presence. My hope is that others would be encouraged to do the same.

Freedom in Worship

I haven't posted in quite some time, but I got the urge to do so as it gets close to 1am. I'm not sure why I told you what time it is, but I often get inspired late at night.

Anyway....

One of the things I'm passionate about as a Worship Leader is seeing the people of God experience freedom in worship. I want them to feel safe and secure in God's presence while they worship, so they can express themselves freely. It doesn't matter if they are lifting their hands, dancing, screaming or kneeling before the Lord. It only matters that we do so with the right heart and that above all, God is glorified.

Why are we able to experience this freedom:

  - Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1)

 - There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1-2)
       
 - Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)
           " We worship God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit."

I long to see the day when the body of Christ in all areas of the world can feel freedom while they worship. I want the body to be able to express whatever they have been feeling about God on any given Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday, or whatever day there is a Worship Service at Church. One of the things that can help is if we come with confident expectation before the Lord when we meet together (Hebrews 4:16).

What would it look like if the body came before the Lord every Sunday excited and ready to worship Him? Excited and ready to share what the Lord has been showing them. Excited and ready to lay themselves down before the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

"God I pray that we can experience this kind of Freedom in the Church. That the body would not hold back because of the way things are, but that Your presence would allow people to sense that freedom as they worship You. Lord I know this will come and I thank You now for the amazing work of Your hands!" Amen.

Passion

Recently we had lecture series and David Pierce from Steiger International came to speak to the student body. David started Steiger (an International Ministry) in hopes to reach non believers around the world. Although David spent most of the time recruiting for His ministry that I don't feel called to there was something else I saw in Him, Passion.

You can tell by listening and hearing Him speak that David is passionate about God and passionate about the ministry he is called to. Passionate people can be infectious and God is using David in this way. I admire his passion for his ministry and God.

It made me think about my own ministry and where I am called to be. As a worship leader I have to have passion for leading Gods people into worship and  a passion for their hearts. However, I need to have passion in my own relationship with Christ first. I can't lead people into God's presence if I'm not passionate about pursuing God in my own life.

Ministries can be built with passionate people, but we can never forget that unless we have an undying, passionate relationship with Christ then surely those ministries wont be started on the right foundation.

Thoughts?

Simple Lyrics

I have been struck by this song i'm doing in a worship set this upcoming weekend. The song is called "Set A Fire" by the United Pursuit band and it goes like this:

No place i'd rather be
No place i'd rather be
No place i'd rather be
Then here in your love, here in your love 

So set a fire down in my soul
That I can't contain, that I can't control
I want more of you God
I want more of you God

I love writing songs that have big ideas and recently, a lot of lyrics. This isn't too bad, but sometimes my songs can get wordy and start to not make sense. This song is a nice cry of the heart. It has simple lyrics and can be used easily in a worship set.

I love the phrase set a fire down in my soul, because it makes me think how many times I pray that. When a song can make you think past the lyrics or the melody, then you know its powerful.

Thats it for now, God bless!

Why Write A Worship Song?

Instead of talking a whole lot about why writing worship songs is good, i'm going to make the reason simple: Because God deserves it. God deserves the outpour of our heart and the glory due to Him through songwriting. Last class we shot out ideas of why we write worship songs and these included catharsis, testimony, money, and others. The real why was simply because God deserves it and by doing so we are obeying God. I don't write a lot of worship songs because they never end up how I want them to, and then I just throw them in the trash. The more important idea is that when I do write i'm doing it because God deserves it rather than writing without reason.

Psalm 96:1 "Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth."

This verse doesn't say sing a new song followed by to the Lord, but rather it says sing to the LORD a new song. When we sing that new song we are doing it because the Lord deserves all the glory and honor from it.

Why write a worship song?

... Because God deserves it.