That’s My King!
Do You Know Him?
That’s My King! from Albert Martin on Vimeo.
So True
Dare you not to cry.
For those of you on facebook click through and watch the video.
Grace is unmerited favor, mercy is a disposition to be kind and forgiving.
H.T. Life is a Gift
The most important 48 minutes of your life?
When is the last time you heard a message like this?
It’s 48 minutes long and might be the most important 48 minutes of your life.
Please take the time to watch it. It put me on my face before God.
Bored With Contemporary Worship
I ran across this post from TheWorshipCommunity.com and thought it was worth discussing,
Bored With Contemporary Worship:
Musicademy caused quite a stir when they published this thoughtful post recently.
We don’t want to say it. It sounds like we’re consumers, wanting more entertainment, and we know that’s not the problem. Worse, it might sound like we’re tired of God – when we know we’ve only just scratched the surface of the infinitely creative, dynamically relational being he is.
Hence the collective sigh of relief in the London School of Theology Deep Calls to Deep conference when the outgoing Director General of the Evangelical Alliance, the highly respected and deeply passionate Joel Edwards, used the ‘B’ word without apology or caveat. ‘We’re bored in worship’. You could almost see tense shoulders sag and bright eyes perk up. We’re allowed to say it Our worship has become boring’ It was like permission, not to whine or complain or place blame people do that enough about worship anyway, but to admit the weaknesses in our contemporary corporate worship lives and to begin to address authentic, fundamental and God honouring change.
His full quote expresses it best:
“There is something about the charismatic movement which brought something new and fresh. It came out of something new God was doing.
I am thirsty for something new again. I have to confess to you that mostly on a Sunday morning I am bored And I wonder if one of the reasons why people are not singing is because they too are bored.
It may be a good thing to discover what you would write down if you spent two months noting what songs are sung on a Sunday morning. I cannot believe that so much of our repertoire has become so narrow. So predictable. That the formation of what we do on a Sunday is so utterly predictable. And I think to myself, how come the God who has formed the constellations and put the stars in place and has a new idea every second, doesn’t have something new for us for a Sunday morning? I wonder whether he might not be vaguely bored too.”
And so a conversation is stirring between worship leaders, pastors, songwriters, congregations, and radical thought the communities we are trying to reach, about how we might innovate our worship. No one person, movement or website has all the answers, but we’re pretty sure the questions begin with how we get out of this predictable, narrow, reality-dodging, inward looking spiral towards a creative, indigenous, multi-sensory, outward-looking expression of worship.
via Bored With Contemporary Worship : TheWorshipCommunity.Com.
The original post has some thoughts regarding the problem and solutions but I didn’t want to post them here. I wanted to hear what you have to say about the subject.
Are you bored with Contemporary worship? Do you long for something new and fresh? or are you very content with the way it is?
To Find Him Where He Can Be Found.
God speaks to me sometimes by sending the same message in different ways over a period of time and then I have what I call a coalescing moment where it all comes together.
I just had one of those when I received a my daily email from the Copelands and from a friend on Facebook from Zimbabwe. We have never met and I don’t know why he found me and asked me to be his friend. He has 6 friends and I am the only one not from Zumbabwe.
Since launching into ministry in January I have had an interesting ride. I am living the dream but have been plagued with fear and doubt shortly after making the decision. Building the kingdom has been in my heart for over 10 years. At a workshop for worship with Job Vijil I knew this is what I was born to do. God has always been faithful so why the worry?
I say He is my strength and my shield, my ever present help in time of need. I’m standing on the Word but I haven’t spoken in in weeks. Instead I have been speaking death. A couple weeks ago my amazing wife scolded me strongly for the way I’m talking and she is exactly right. She is such a blessing to me. The Word of God is the final word but I must put it to work by speaking it out.
I am reminded of a short prayer by Hans Ur von Balthasar I apologize if I’ve posted this before:
Harassed by life, exhausted, we look about us for somewhere to be quiet, to be genuine, a place of refreshment. We yearn to restore our spirits in God, to simply let go in him and gain new strength to go on living.
But we fail to look for him where he is waiting for us, where he is to be found; in his Son, who is his Word. Or else seek for God because there are a thousand things we want to ask him, and imagine that we cannot go on living unless they are answered. We inundate him with problems, with demands for information, for clues, for an easier path, forgetting that in his Word he has given us the solution to every problem and all the details we are capable of grasping in this life.
We fail to listen where God speaks; where God’s Word rang out in the world once for all, sufficient for all ages, inexhaustible. Or else we think that God’s Word has been heard on earth for so long that by now it is almost used up. That it is about time for some new word, as if we had the right to demand one. We fail to see that it is we ourselves who are used up and alienated, whereas the Word resounds with the same vitality and freshness as ever; it is just as near to us as it always was.
Hans Ur von Balthasar, Prayer. Trans. Graham Harrison (San Fancisco: Ignatius Press, 1986)
Today I committ to being in His Word and daily seeking Him in the secret place for His direction. I encourage you to do the same.
Blessings as you walk with Him.
10 Keys for effective worship leaders (4)
3. Preparation
Todays Key:
4. A Lifestyle of Obedience
What I’m talking about is obedience to God and His word.
In John 14:15 Jesus says if you love me you will keep my commandments. It’s a comment about fruit similar to saying if your healthy you will have a temperature of 98.6 degrees. John 14:15 is talking about obeying the the Word. those things that are known, written down.
In John 15:14 Jesus says you are my friends if you do whatever I command you. He is referring to hearing His voice. Do what I tell you to do.
If we are going to be effective in ministry of any kind we must have a lifestyle of obedience both to His Word and to His voice.
Blessings,
Number five is here.
Abundantly Blessed
I truly love living in Colorado Springs.
The winters are usually mild and the summers are perfect. Not much for water sports but a small price to pay. The first day of spring was 15 days ago, last week was spring break, and we have had one storm after another. It is currently 30 degrees outside with sleet and a stiff wind. I hope my trees make it through.
As I sit here this morning looking out the windows drinking coffee. I am considering how blessed I am. God has allowed me to pursue what I love while partnering with the two best pastors I could have hoped for. My beautiful wife is flourishing in her job and I couldn’t be more proud of my two boys. They are smart, talented, and well mannered. It’s been such a blessing to have them play for worship with me.
Ephesians Chapters 1 & 2 talk of God’s great love for us and how He had planned from the very beginning to adopt us as sons,
Side Note:
Sons is not a statement of gender. First born sons are the inheritors and that is why the Bible calls us all sons.
give us an inheritance and in the age to come can point to us as an example of His grace and goodness. Just stop and consider this for a minute.
There are some things you just have to settle. The most important one is “God is a good God”. When you read something you don’t understand start with the premise “God is a good God”. When something happens either to you or someone else start with the premise “God is a good God”. When someone is taken from you understand God did not need someone else in His choir. He is good and has good things for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 and Jeremiah 29:11.
Enjoy your Saturday and spend the day remembering how much you are blessed, loved, and set apart for a great purpose.
Blessings,
Gary
Remembering All The Aspects Of Ministry
It’s been awhile since I’ve been in ministry to this degree and I’ve forgotten some of the things that go along with it.
Last weekend was great.
I had the privilege of spending a few hours on Saturday with faithful leaders from a church about an hour south of Colorado Springs. We talked about creating a culture of recognizing, calling out, equipping, and releasing the gifting of those entrusted to us into the body. Truly equipping the saints by investing in their lives naturally. Not a system or a program. If the future of the church is in the hands of these faithful few I feel good about the future.
Then I was back in the church we’ve been serving for the past several weeks on Sunday morning. Teaching at 9:00 and then leading worship at 10:00. Another great core of faithful people.
My heart is to serve a church for a season until we raise up teams and leaders then go on to the next place. Hopefully maintaining relationships and continuing to walk with them. On Sunday I thought to myself “moving on will be much harder than I expected”.
I’m beginning to fall in love with these people.
There is no doubt about my calling and I will be obedient to it. However It will be much harder than expected. Leaving should be hard. It means there is meaningful relationship happening.
Then Monday.
After feeling encouraged and energized by the ministry over the weekend . Feeling like the experiences and education I’ve been blessed to receive can be valuable to the kingdom. I forgot how Monday can be.
I was tired and allowed myself to be irritated and angry with very small things. Thus the status on Twitter and Facebook; “has a bad attitude”. Thank you, by the way, for the encouragement. Doing life without you all would be horrible. Your such a blessing.
So today I’m doing what I should’ve done yesterday. Today I will find strength and refuge in the Lord. Recharge with the Word and get ready for another great weekend. Continuing preparation for Easter. The best weekend of the year for Christians, and not just because of the hot cross buns.
Please pray we will communicate clearly the price Jesus paid for us all and get out of His way at the same time. It’s always the challenge.
Bless you all. Don’t grow weary of doing good and remain steadfast in the love of the Lord.
Do We Need Revival, Reformation, or a Return?
Recently I was having lunch with a pastor and as we talked about our belief that the church must look different going forward I wondered out loud if we just needed to return to the foundational principles that Jesus used when He was “God with us”.
Recently I heard someone say “we’ve been praying for revival for 8 years”. I wondered (quietly) maybe it’s time to get off your knees and start serving your neighbor.
I also heard someone say “we don’t need revival we need a reformation”. As much as I’m all for fresh revelation I don’t know that what we need is a new doctrine. If we were living out our current doctrine we wouldn’t be in the mess were in.
I intend to write more about this subject but Glenn Packiam posted an article at NEUE today entitled How Liturgy Can Save Your Soul and it stirred me up.
I would love your thoughts. First go and read Glenn’s post then come back and tell me what you think the church needs?
A Blanket of White
I love living in the mountains. The windows in the back of our house look out at the front range and every morning I thank God for allowing us to live here. This morning there is frost and snow covering everything. Though I don’t want to be out in it it’s beautiful.
I am reminded of Lamentations 3:22-24:
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, Therefore I hope in Him!
His mercies are new every morning, His compassions do not fail, His faithfulness is great, so tell your soul; “The Lord is my portion, and my hope is in Him!”
He is the source and the substance of everything you need. Every need you have is found in Him. not with Him in Him. So whatever your need is press in, stay in His presence, because only there are our needs are met.
Bless the Lord, o my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5 NKJV
Have a blessed day.
My Songs
