Monthly Archives: November 2009

Time to Worship (Thanksgiving November)

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This is a follow-up to our leading songs this past Sunday. I was reminded and comforted by God that when we sing, when we work, when we serve, we serve and sing to God alone. Standing in front of a crowd of people makes me want to hide and this time, we were singing in front of everyone, exposing ourselves, our limited musical skills and our limited range… This was definitely a lot of HEAT I haven’t experienced in a long time. And boy was I sweating from this heat.

Even through the technical mistakes and the lack of any talent, I was reminded that my worship to God, whether in front of everybody or in my seat, is a personal thing that God desires for us to have with Him. We are worshiping as a congregation, but we are also worshiping as individuals. I realized how critical I had been in the past for the lack of worship by the singers or the music or maybe even criticizing technique (THORNS)… but it was only when I stood in front of everybody, when I was messing up in front of everybody and at points thinking, I really stink (THORNS), I realized that God desired something even greater than singing the right note or strumming the right chord.

He desires for us to come to him and to enjoy Him as we exalt him in song. He wants us to truly see the great disconnect that we have with him, the incredible need for his grace in sending Jesus to reconcile us to Him, and to enjoy a new type of fellowship through our worship and communion with Him. (CROSS) It was a very eye opening experience…

I may not have said it in the past, but I’ve always acted as though my offering had to be perfect or else I shouldn’t offer anything at all. But God reminded me that He will bless whatever we give and make it a blessing. Like the loaves and fish, like seed scattered, like Jesus offering of himself, God will multiply and bless the offering we offer to God. Amen to that (FRUIT).

Time to Worship (Mid November Update)

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Because of certain circumstances, my wife and I have the opportunity to serve in the music ministry this coming week. I’m pretty nervous but think it would be fun since we haven’t really done anything like this since our old bible study days and even the children church days.

Singing in bible study is pretty straight-forward, you could sit down and everyone just looks at their paper to sing. Children’s church is also pretty relaxed, since the kids don’t really care about how they sound, they just like being loud.

I’m praying for grace… Also a time to enjoy with my wife as we minister together in this manner. It really has been a long time.

We have three hymns picked out:

Come thou fount
Solid Rock
Grace greater than our sin

Three hymns we have been practicing together and meditating on. Along with some bible reading… we have talked much about personal accountability, marriage, finances, work, future plans… stuff I think only God will bring us into greater unity and conformity to his will.

Thank you God for this opportunity.

Time to Worship (November)

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As October ends, we continue in a pretty solid pattern. We have bible reading with the family around 9PM. Just about everyone is ready for bed and it is a good time to settle down. The occasional out day and bible study nights will push this later, but usually around nine and ten has been optimal for us to get ready for bed.

Our readings have been through our family bible and the children’s bible. We have been very blessed with both girls being very attentive to both readings. We are currently in 1 Samuel in our family bible, reading through David’s exploits and seeing the differences between David’s early career and Saul’s kingship, and comparing to later in life. Things get a bit crazy, as always. David is a hero, but he is also human. Sin does not discriminate. Saul struggles. We can see that, he seems to want to please God sometimes, but on his own strength he cannot and fails.

We see the description of the Success and Failures (HEAT) in both of their lives and one responds with THORNS and the other responds by going to the CROSS. It is only at the CROSS do we see FRUIT.

Our sonship class had to do with sharing the Gospel. We have struggled in the past with sharing and continue to see this part of our lives as being a bit weak. I do see however God motivating us or moving us in that direction lately. It has been on my mind to share more directly with people the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is continually reminding me to be faithful in the little things and he will entrust me with more. The parable of the Talents and C. Garriott’s book Work Excellence has been on my mind of late as well.

Finally, the theme of Shalom has continued to be with me since the start of my missions class. Seeking the Shalom (Peace and Prosperity) of the City… seemed to be the start of Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s goal… as we view our time at church and our time at our community, we have felt we never truly sought the Shalom of wherever we have been. This is a holistic shalom. Reconciliation between Man and God, Man and man and Man and self. Shalom is not only peace, but also includes prosperity, blessing… it is a restoring of what is wrong to what is right. I need to see this more, I need to live this more.