Worship Without Ceasing

So I am going to try to get back to this blog and try to capture some of the goodness that is going on in our Thursday night worship team time. This week we are going to be singing "Revelation Song" as part of our worship service. So tonight we had a little discussion on Revelation chapter 4, which describes the four beasts (living creatures) and the 24 elders and their activity in heaven. There are two main themes to take away from this chapter related to worship:

(1) This activity of worship is continual. It does not stop. It is ever-present. It will continue forever. As frail human beings we just don't understand this concept of worship-without-ceasing very well. We try to think of worship as a discrete thing that has a beginning and end. But for these heavenly personages, this is a continual and continuing activity. Paul exhorts the church at Thessalonica to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thes 5:17). What would our lives look like if we worshipped without ceasing.

(2) The content of how the creatures and elders praised God is revealing. The four beasts proclaimed the holiness of God. The elders spoke of God's worthiness and His power over all creation and all things. That's it. God is Holy. God is worthy. God has power over all things. There is no flowery language about how beautiful God is, or how majestic, or how wise. God is Holy. God is worthy. God has power over all things. Simple.

Live from Worship 2.1!!

LIVE FROM GREEN VALLEY, IT'S FRIDAY NIGHT!!!!
(A few messages left during the night by God's people that gathered to Worship Him in so many different ways. A fresh fragrance unto You Lord.)


Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna in the Highest!!

Lord, the more I seek You the more I find You!!! How great!!

Lord you are the giver of hope, may it overflow in me
Lord you are the giver of peace, may I rest in you
Lord you are the giver of life, may I live it to the full
Lord you are the giver of words, speak to me
Lord you are the giver of thought, may I think of you always...

"For thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.'" Ezekiel 34:11

Here I go Lord, I'm getting ready to climb a huge mountain. I'm so thankful to have to as my light, leading me into what I do not know, blind. Thank you.


What are you doing to advance His Kingdom?

where else can i go but to the LORD ! masterG


SWEET SWEET SPIRIT !masterG

He's coming back...He's coming back for you! for me! He's really coming back...in a very little while is the end of all things! It's all TRUE. He's coming. He's COMING! HE'S COMING! Lord Jesus, Come! May it be today!



What an awesome night! Praise to You alone Lord Jesus! You are good and Your love endures!

Amazed by Him,
W2

Worship 2.1: Fresh Fragrance

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
Ephesians 5:1-2

So Ashley came to me about a month ago and wanted to share a night of creative worship and hopefuly expose us to some new ideas about what it means to worship God, and how we do that. How we express our worship. So the idea for "Fresh Fragrance" was born. The idea here again is not so much that we are trying to do something new, as that we are trying to create an environment where the possibility of something new exists. Maybe you've never thought about using play dough as an expression of worship to God. Maybe you've never really danced before God. Maybe you'd like to try.

I had the opportunity to attend a worship training conference in Laurel a couple of weeks ago with a few of the worship team crew, and there was a great session there about creativity in worship. The session was led by Michael Gungor. (BTW, if you havn't heard me tell you about getting his album "Ancient Skies", you need to stop reading this post and go buy it. It is easily my favorite album that I am listening to right now.)

Anyway, there were some really great ideas there, but one of the things that he talked about was how all creative expression is just a reordering of creation. This is an idea that I have seen in many places, that all artistic expression is just our own way of trying to share the beauty of what God has already created. The point is that maybe creativity in and of itself is worship, in that it reflects the goodness and character of our creator. The other point that he made was that each church body is unique, because its expression of worship as a group is uniquely created by the personalities that reside in it. There cannot be any other group or individual that can create the same expression of worship as we can. This was something that was clearly demonstrated at "Fresh Fragrance", when you looked around and saw what we had created. Our worship to the Lord was a unique expression of creativity.

I can't wait for Friday night, when we get to try this little experiment again. I hope that you will come. But more importantly I hope that you will come with a blank slate and let God motivate you to create an expression of worship that you may not have expected.

Amazed by Him,

W2

ABANDON

So I have been stuck lately on a single word: ABANDON. For me right now, this is what genuine worship is about. Allow me to lay some dictionaritication on you:

abandon
–verb (used with object)
1.
to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert: to abandon one's farm; to abandon a child; to abandon a sinking ship.
2.
to give up; discontinue; withdraw from: to abandon a research project; to abandon hopes for a stage career.
3.
to give up the control of: to abandon a city to an enemy army.
4.
to yield (oneself) without restraint or moderation; give (oneself) over to natural impulses, usually without self-control: to abandon oneself to grief.

or how about this one:
--- give up with the intent of never claiming again; "Abandon your life to God";


The real question is, what are we doing when we worship God? Or, more appropriately, what are we supposed to be doing when we worship God? I believe it has something to do with this last definition. We are to give ourselves over to Him, without entertaining the notion of reclaiming control. What is it that we find ourselves doing though? Do we try to find a safe place, a comfortable place, to worship Him? Are we establishing some safe places that we can fall back to if things get a little out of hand?

I don't think that is the kind of worship that David was exhibiting as the ark of the covenant was returned. I don't think that is the kind of worship that God wants from us.

I have been thinking a lot about the story of Jesus calling to Peter to come to Him on the water. I think that even in the midst of the storm that was raging, the boat probably seemed pretty steady, pretty safe. But that's not where Jesus was.

Worship is abandon.
-W2