“When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, so I answered: I’m at your service.” - 2 Samuel 1:7
“We must be more concerned with knowing Christ than with finding ourselves.” - Larry Crabb
Carla had been a member of the choir for a month before she quit. She’d joined the banner team and stayed for just one rehearsal. The puppet team and he drama group had also been graced by her brief visits. She offered to teach a creative arts class for children but dropped that after three lessons.
With much trepidation the music minister approached her when he learned that she wanted to be part of the handbell choir.
“Carla,” Steve began gently, “I’m not sure you understand the commitment you’d be asked to give this group. You seem to be having trhough finding a place of service in the worship arts.”
“I just wanted to be a part of something fun at church. I’m not looking to serve,” Carla replied.
“Maybe that’s the problem,” Steve said.
Lord, thank You for allowing us to sing songs, act in dramas, and play instruments in service to You.
“So we continued the work, while half of the men were holding spears from daybreak until the stars came out. At that time, I also said to the people, ‘Let everyone and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can stand guard by night and work by day.’” - Nehemiah 4:21-22
“Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” - Jacob Riis
Nehemiah persevered in his task of rebuilding the wall. He led all the workers to stay focused on their task. He made sure that they understood the seriousness of their responsibilities. Nehemiah helped them keep their minds on the purposes of God and off of all of the negative factors fighting against them.
An unknown author once wrote, “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.” Today, make a point to persevere for Him instead of settling for mediocrity.
The world is ever changing. What did we ever do before cell phones, text messaging, iPods, and the internet? I can’t imagine going back before all these things existed. I view the 80’s like others view the Stone Age.
Technology is changing. Education is changing. Jobs are changing. Families are changing. Societies, national governments, currency are all changing. With every decade, life as we know it has a new definition.
As the whole world changes, there are two places that every generation wants to feel safe — home and the church. For most, the church has become a close nit family. We like showing up at church with some clue of what is going to happen, seeing people we know and love, and singing praises to God with songs that we know.
Although this seems to be the recipe for a perfect church, therein lies a dilemma. As times are changing, what one generation wants is not what the other likes. Teenagers feel ignored and irrelevant in decision making. The senior adults feel like they are being pushed out. Baby boomers love to take control and fix the situation. Generation X doesn’t like what is going on so we leave, but no one even notices because so many of us don’t tithe, attend Sunday School, or volunteer.
Although music may appear to be the problem, it is only the battlefield of choice. Some churches create a blended worship service to please everyone, but no one actually is. Welcome to the 21st century. This is what most churches have become.
Let me introduce to you a new paradigm. What if we all came to church with a surrendered heart? “Lord, what is pleasing to You?” And we lay aside our own personal desires. What if we could invite members from every generation to sit down at the table together? What if our worship service wasn’t about the young verses the old but instead was about unifying, edifying, and encouraging each other? What if seniors could share their wisdom, youth could share their energy, and everyone in between shared their heart with their hands? Welcome to the first century church. Welcome to the family table. – Brian
This is a new song from Paul Baloche. I heard this song for the first time at the National Worship Leaders Conference. It was amazing.
Peter proclaimed this loudly “For there is no other name on earth which men can be saved” (Acts 4:12). For years I never fully understood this verse. Of coarse there is only one way to Heaven and that is by faith in Jesus Christ. But that’s not all. Not only is faith in Christ the only way to be forgiven, but through Him is the only way to be saved. There is no one else who can fix your problems. There is no one else! “Your name is a strong and might tower.”
A man filled with leprosy is healed at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus commands him to follow out the law of Moses and go see the priests, but tells him not to talk to others along the way.
Mark 1:45 “But as the man went on his way, he spread the news, telling everyone what had happened to him. As a result, such crowds soon surrounded Jesus that he couldn’t enter a town anywhere publicly. He had to stay out in the secluded places, and people from everywhere came to him there.”
People where not coming to Jesus because of how well the disciples sang. People were not coming to Jesus because of the Awansas program they started two summers ago. People did not come to Jesus because he was the closest Messiah around the block. Neither do these things truly attract people into our church or the Kingdom of God.
It is only the transforming power of Christ that truly attracts. When we sing, it is not so we can impress God or impress people to join the church, because we can do neither. Our worship is a reflection of what God is doing through our lives. We stand as a unified body that shows what Christ’s transforming power looks like.
Gal. 6:14 “what counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people.”
