Expecting Big Things

Yesterday God showed up at church. It was evident.

Between the Sunday School classes praying and the impact of a testimony given, one that admitted sin and failure and turned to God, I believe God showed up yesterday. I saw His hand in the body of believers who's hearts were stirred to their covenant as church members. I saw folks surrendering to serve. I learned of Sunday School classes broken before God. God worked in the hearts of a couple who lost a child yesterday by miscarriage. Yet they posted "The Lord's way is perfect, and for that we are thankful!"

I saw God working even before Sunday. People were pursuing the scriptures. People were surrendering for service.

Every week can be like this. If we walk with God throughout the week with spiritual eyes and ears open, and a heart longing for Him we ought to expect Him to show up.

It is now Monday. I expect that every one of us whom made a commitment yesterday to be tested relentlessly today. But I expect God to show up today. For He is a God of compassion upon His sheep.

Let us abide in Him and bear much fruit. Let us therefore expect that when we abide in Him through the week we will meet with Him as a body on Sunday.

My Personal God Oriented Gospel Spreading Pursuit of Joy in Him Bucket List.

Last week one of our senior adults shared with the congregation that it was on her “bucket list” to encourage the church with what she had upon her heart for many weeks. I was thrilled at her accomplishment of this goal, as she had something meaningful to say, and it was edifying. This was a big deal for her, as it is for most people, to speak before a crowd. The introductions to the thoughts at hand were laid before us under the guise of a need in her life to honor God in this manner. These encouragements started my contemplation, “What should a Christian’s bucket list look like”, and “What should mine look like”.

Bucket lists are those lists of things you want to do before you die. This goal chart therefore says a lot about what a person values. It is quite easy to decipher the types of priorities that someone has in these lists. Sadly enough, bucket lists are many times often about a personal sense of accomplishment. Some have vast ranges. Many list out things solely based upon the advice or sensationalism that others have told of achieving. For example, some desire to go parachuting out of an airplane or bungee jumping to experience “the rush”. Years ago these activities would have been a consideration for me. But as I get closer to my own bucket I realize that I do not want to live with the sustained stresses that such athletic endeavors would wreck upon my frame.

Many have given their lives in pursuit of immortality as their bucket list. Throughout fame and history, many have expended themselves only to be forgotten. One notable “bucket list” of life is revealed that Caesar wept in his thirties when he realize that Alexander the great had accomplished so much more by age twenty five. We all want to leave some sort of legacy, to live a life of worth.

This leads me to consider my bucket, or better put my standing before God. I have been contemplating what my days will have to show as their result. I have had many adventures, experiences, and moments of grandeur. But putting this in perspective, truly the only things of value in this life are those actions of exalting God. Our purpose in existence is simple, we are created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. All else is really idolatry. So thusly the Christian has a purpose and a direction for their list. The list is not about us but about the Gospel. Our lives are to be sharing the Gospel in all matters.

Therefore, here in a mashed up way is my personal God oriented Gospel spreading pursuit of joy in Him Bucket List.

• To finish well and with more zeal and love than when I started this Christian journey. That I may hear “Well don thou good and faithful servant”.
• To see revival in our world where God is worshipped in spirit and in truth in such a way that no man can take credit for what is to be an undeniable work of the Holy Spirit.
• To produce a sustaining generation in my family for the glory of God.
• To start a work in an unreached people group.
• To establish a new church.
• To establish a church in a foreign land.
• To see a Muslim to faith and through discipleship.
• To see a Mormon to faith and through discipleship.
• To see a Hindu to faith and through discipleship.
• To see an atheist to faith and through discipleship.
• To see a Buddhist to faith and through discipleship
• To arrive at a mind that espouses more scriptural wisdom than my own opinion.
• To be a friend of sinners.
• To see that whatever assignment God has me in I am leading people to a jubilant love and commitment to Christ.
• To persevere.
• To live a life that bears the fruits of the spirit and has crucified the flesh.
• To live unashamed of the gospel.

Elements of Worship For Baptist Children:Your Heart Attitude Matters To God

This is part two of a series for parents to aid in teaching our kids about worship. It is written from a Baptist theology yet has applications for every home. Parents may need to adjust from this writing for their children's appropriate ages.


Your Heart Attitude Matters to God

If someone is grumpy, stomping their feet, and fussy, do you think when they say “I love you” to a person that it is convincing? Did you know that the worship service at church is a time to tell God that we love Him? Think about this, the worship time at church is to celebrate Jesus just like we might celebrate someone’s birthday at a party. Now if we are a guest to the party we should not expect to be a welcome guest if we are misbehaving. If we go to church misbehaving or with the wrong heart attitude we may spoil the worship.

God wants to help us have the right attitude. He often will tell us that our attitude is wrong. If your parents tell you that your behavior is not right or your attitude is wrong God then is speaking through your parents of your need to regain a happy heart.

Does Sunday morning seem to always be hard to get ready for church? Maybe your family is late sometimes because someone is not ready? We can honor God by getting ready as soon as we get up. We can get our clothes ready the night before. Do you ever have trouble finding your Bible or shoes? If you find them the night before you will not have as many problems and it will help everyone’s attitude. This honors God. It shows that we respect God and our church family. It helps us to worship.

One other thing you can do before leaving for church, especially if mom and dad are still getting ready, is read to your bible on your own. Perhaps you have a younger sister or brother, you can read to them. This can be good even if it is only with a picture book

On the way to church it can glorify God if you list the things you are thankful for. You also could sing with the radio songs about God and His cross. These activities help our minds and heart attitude be ready for church time.

Elements of Worship for Baptist Children

Our church has had a long tradition of the pastor hosting a children's sermon each Sunday. It generally is a time of teaching doctrine. Both adults and children seem to benefit from it greatly. These often have been what people comment on the most. Lately we have ventured into the need to teach children (and adults) about worship. Several have requested this publication of what is being taught in these lessons. I hope you will benefit from the following installments.

Elements of Worship for Baptist Children

A Note to Parents

When it comes to worship, every element of the “worship service” is to bring us to look unto God and the glory of His gospel. Too often we take the worship apart and think of it as parts rather than looking at the whole of worship. This mindset leads us to think of the music as worship, the giving as giving, and the preaching as preaching. It does not articulate that there may be something greater going on.

The goal of these articles is to help us see the parts as being a function of something greater. We need to look at the whole of the service, and to do that we will first look at the parts.

When properly done, worship begins at home, comes to church, and returns to our home, school, and workplace through out the week. And that is the wish of this writing, to help us all to be God centered worshippers, to get the most out of life, to fulfill the chief end of man. May we glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

As I write I write to children. Now I do not know of any child who reads a blog. So the presupposition is that as a parent you will read these articles, think them over, and use them in devotion times at home.

Devotions at home can play a significant part in the child accepting the Gospel as truth. Parents that participate in some form of honoring God only on Sunday will create a dichotomy for children. They will be apt to put “God in a box”. Rather as Deuteronomy 6 says,

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deu 6:6-9)

In this way magnify the glories of God in every aspect of life. At the dinner table create discussions of God and His blessings and the scriptures that go with such love from God. When you drive home from the service, point out the interwoven glories of God. You may even want to hum or sing a song from that morning. When you pray with your children use scriptures from the sermon.

By making worship a part of the home life you make worship a part of your child’s life. Apart from this application the children will just not receive it. Thus the worship service at church is a great strength. Corporately the people of God worshipping at church illustrate the glories of God. This will guide you to live accordingly throughout the week.

Worship Begins at Home

Dear children, did you know that God created you to be in love with Him? He made you so that you could enjoy Him. He made you so that when you glorify Him you would be filled with the most joy you can have. It has been said that “The main reason people were made is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”.

So in this book we are going to talk about how we worship God at church.

When we get to church we most likely do not automatically worship God. Worship is a condition of the heart. It is not an automatic response like switching on a light. Worship involves our thoughts, our emotions, and especially the condition of our heart. If we have sin in our heart it is hard to worship God. As a matter of fact, how we live at home has a lot to do with worship. We can begin to worship God on Sunday by making sure the night before we are prepared.

Just think, so you ever have bad dreams after watching a scary movie? What if you don’t sleep well? Have you ever gone to bed angry and woken up angry? You see the things we put in our mind before going to bed can affect our attitude the next day. It can affect our sleep. If we are tired we may be grumpy. Being tired does not make us have the sin of grumpiness, but it does open our hearts to sin easier.

What would Sunday worship be like if the night before we worshipped God. One thing you can do to get ready to worship God is to worship Him the night before. Your family can help you. After setting out clothes for church, so you can be on time, you should gather together. When your family is together you can sing, share praises, and pray. Remember how I said sin in our heart makes it hard to worship God? Well, you should take time to confess and repent of any sins you know about. This will let God clean your heart for worship. One of the best things you can do is share the stories of God in the bible. These are all things we do in worship at church that we are also supposed to do at home. You can read about this in Deuteronomy chapter 6.

My Songs of Perseverance

>My Favorite Songs of Inspiration to Persevere

As I look to perseverance I find that songs that are consumed with scriptural truths tend to be the most powerful. It seems most of the best ones were written several decades ago. Currently I am finding some contemporary songs that wow me too. Tomorrow I hope to share with you a great source for God centered contemporary music.

My music tastes are varied, but to inspire they must be God centered. I personally dislike “In the Garden”, and “Love Lifted Me”. Both seem much of a self centered aspect of I am special above all others tone. Self esteem is promotion of self over God (Remember deny self, take up your cross, and follow Jesus) But this blog entry is not meant to be a critique.

Now, please keep this in mind. I find that we need Christian music for two purposes. One purpose is for pure entertainment. Why should we listen to AC DC, Big and Rich, MC Flavor of the week, or any other “artist” who fails to glorify God but stands opposed to Him? There are times in the car or cleaning house where music is a good background for what we are doing. Mind you the entertaining Christian music we listen to ought to be theologically sound. One contemporary hit has great melody and guitars, but one line talks as if the cross was motivated by a desire to save me alone. That is so wrong, I don’t know where to begin. The cross was all about God showing His nature, not my merit or worth. (I digress)

Then there is the need for music to draw us to the cross. As a caveat, a few months back I attended St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida. This is where R. C. Sproul pastors. As we walked in a small orchestra, strings, horns and an organ played selections from Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. Never had I been so moved by such orchestration. My heart leaped with anticipation for worship. This music was different than that of the general world. It was pregnant with otherness. Music that is soli Deo Gloria ought to be other.

So music ought to draw us to the cross. It should remind us of who God is and who we are in that perspective. Often it should be just like the Psalms, here am I a wicked sinner, I plead for you to hear my prayer. Great worship music ought to have an otherness, but that is not to say it can not include guitars, drums, and choruses. It also should not be solely about how it makes me feel but how does it lead me to look at God?

That being said, here is my list of songs that motivate me to persevere….

And Can it Be, Charles Wesley

Amazing Grace, John Newton

Holy, Holy, Holy, Reginald Heber

Silent Night, Joseph Mohr & Franz Gruber

A Mighty Fortress is our God, Martin Luther

Blessed be Your Name, Matt and Beth Redman

In Christ Alone, Keith Getty & Stuart Townsend

Mighty is the Power of the Cross, Chris Tomlin, Sean Crain, & Jesse Reeves

There is None Like You, Lenny Leblanc

The Wonderful Cross, Isaac Watts, Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves and J D Walt

Tomorrow I hope to share a source of some new music that hs been greatly lifting me since January!

Awesomeness of God- To Do List

I love lists. SO here is a list I am working on at present for a study guide I am preparing for my church. In this guide I am looking for ways to get us to renew our mind and see the Awesomeness of God. Please do not copy this list without first gaining permission, thanks.

Things to do to see the Awesomeness of God

Prepare the heart.
Pray
Honestly look for God over all the world
Remember God’s plans throughout history.

Much of what we are doing here has to do with pausing and thinking, and looking long and insightful enough to see that which you have never seen. The awesomeness of God also causes us to express worship of God. Paul when writing about the cross and what Christ has done for us would break out into doxologies, such as found in Ephesians.


Stargaze. Get up early and watch, think, reflect.
Capture a sunrise on film.
Study a map of the world, especially where missionaries are, and the unreached.
Use a microscope
Use a magnifying glass on paper, leaves, an insect.
Observe animals in the wild.
Try to take an interesting photograph that displays the beauty of creation, see how many details you recognize for the first time.
Swim in the wild.
Study biology. Even dissecting a frog will reveal wonders.
Roll dice and look at the odds of simple things happening. Try to see how hard it is to get a dice to roll sequentially from one to six
Observe a drop of water on a window. See its ionic properties and its reflectiveness.
Take a walk examining rocks and bark. Look at the details again.
Study the biographies of people who experienced tragedy and hardship but rejoiced in God, Paul, William Tyndale, David Brainerd, Richard Wurmbrand, Brother Andrew, Corrie Ten Boom.
Write to missionaries and seek what life is like for them. We have adopted a pastor in Kenya, it has been a great experience.
Sing. Sing what ever comes to heart.
Make a list of the wonders of God.
Create a blessings book or journal to write out the blessing of God in your life and keep a list of answered prayers.
Set up a terrarium, or a “wildlife” exhibit in a fish tank. Add seed and watch the root system grow, and add bugs, turtles or frogs. Take time daily to see the symbiotic relationships.
Observe the fingerprints and skin texture of both sides of your hand. How does it know when to change, how do the cells know exactly what to produce?
Consider the ant, watch a colony at work.
Listen to the sounds around you.
Read missionary magazines.
Engage in time with children, have them tell you Bible stories.
Spend time with a lonely elderly person, let them tell stories of God.

What Worship Do You Offer

What worship do you offer?

As our church has been reading through the Bible in a year, I find myself pondering the minute details of scripture. A pattern emerges to my sight of the constraints of worship. This then coincides with a common wondering of my heart as to why the church lacks power today. Maybe its because we don’t worship properly? Worship is to be done through all our acts as unto the Lord, but that communion with God we call “the worship service” is seemingly more about us than God.

Today I was prompted to look at the story of Cain and Able worshiping God. It is found in Genesis 4: 1-7. In the past I had had it explained to me that the problem was that one offered vegetables and the other blood. This has a connotation to it, but as I looked at the text I saw that God reveal to us some evidence that it wasn’t the sacrifice itself that was rejected, but the offerer.

Both men offered what came from their livelihood. And we know in the later chapters of the Bible that there are offerings of first fruits. These being acceptable. However, blood was required for the sin offering. All offering were a foreshadowing of the Christ who was to come. But here they are different in these regards. It says Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground, a simple portion of what he had. Able however brought the firstborn, he brought the best and the first. Think of it, here is the first of what he got from his hard labors. And he chose to give it to God. I wonder what joy he had in his heart of thankfulness and awe of God that made it better to give unto God this treasure than to keep it for himself. He did not sniff at the things of God, nor did he sniff at God. He wanted the best possible offering for His Lord.

We see evidence of what God saw in the next few verses. God had regard for Able and his offering. Wow, when was the last time that I could say that God was truly pleased with what I offered Him. That would incorporate my offering, my attitude in giving it, my attitude afterwards, my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength, my whole self. How do I know by the evidence of God and not man made fabrication that my worship was acceptable to God?

We see that God had no regard for Cain. Cain saw it too. He did not seek God in this failure, he simply got angry, his face fell, and eventually it festered, even after God warning him, into murder.

God gives us and Cain a clue. “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” So somewhere it was not about what was offered, but the heart with which it was offered. Notice again it was simply fruits of the ground. The text does make distinction between the two offerings. Cain’s seems to simply be just whatever he had on hand. It wasn’t special. It was not reflective of who God is, but rather a expression of how he regarded God. We need to pay special attention to this in our own lives.

This of course prompts me to think through aspects of worship and my heart.

• How do we treat worship of God, not just our tithe?
• In worship, or Bible study, do you expect to meet with God?
• Do we take special care to have our hearts enamored with God before the worship time?
• Why am I even at church? Is it my job or my treasure to serve God?
• Why do I sing the chosen songs? Have I looked to see if they are focused on me and my abilities or upon the majesty of God?
• Must I always sing happy songs, or am I brought low as the Psalmist is by the recognition of unworthiness and despair?
• In worship do I look to be entertained?
• Do I disdain parts of worship because they do not appeal to me?
• Am I more concerned about who is there or about if God is there?
• Have I taken time the night before to cleanse my heart in repentance?
• Do I live during the week with my self preservation in mind or knowing that I will face God on Sunday?
• Am I even thrilled to be in God’s house?
• Do I dress as if God matters, or am I comfortable to head to my next “adventure” afterwards?
• What are the plans for my day before and afterwards? Do they incorporate a reflection and commitment as to whatever God may bring to us that day?
• Am I only concerned with worship on Sunday, or do I look to abide soli Deo Gloria all week?
• Do I look to rest in God? Is it Sunday or a Sabbath? Is it a break in my time before doing other things or is worship what I have longed for all week?
• Am I growing? Do I find God more awesome every week, yes every week?
• Am I giving of myself? What sins are fleeting away?
• Is scripture a beheld treasure of mind and heart?
• Is it all about God?
• Have I met with God? Not a pastor or friends, but have I met God?
• Emotional work up or worship in Spirit and in truth?
• Intellectual framework of theological exercises, or passionate love of God that shows emotions in spirit and in truth?
• Morality and law or Grace and covenant?
• Do I cherish the covenant?
• Do I cherish my baptism?
• Do I long for the Table of the Lord?
• How do I handle criticism of others?
• Have I loved my enemy?
• Where have my eyes been?
• Has my mind been renewed to the glories of God?
• Has my life this week been God and….?
• How have I regarded others? Do I celebrate when they excel me?
• Have I come to Him as a little child?
• Am I trusting in riches?
• Is anyone in need and I turned them down?
• Do I give others partially what they need, holding back for myself.
• Have I celebrated the cross by sharing Christ this week with someone?
• What has entertained me?
• Have I made the most of my time or put God off?
• Am I ever aware that the days are evil and that I must abide in Christ seeking wisdom to overcome it all?
• Do I know the will of the Lord or am I often baffled?
• What am I drunk with? It may not be wine but whining. It may be home improvement projects. It may be my stock portfolio. Maybe its success or being the best.
• Am I filled with the Spirit? How often, how deep?
• How deep is my understanding of the scriptures? How long has it been this way? When was the last time I had a spiritual growth spurt?
• Do I greet others with Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual songs? Do I gossip and complain?
• Do I come to the alter and know that I need to make things right with a person?
• How did I treat my wife this week? Did I love her as Christ loves the Church?
• How did I myself submit to authority this week? Did disdain them? Did I slander? Did I speed past posted speed limits or break other “minor” laws?
Did I pass the test of abiding in Christ according to the sermon that was preached the week before?
• Have I loved God so much that I have trained up my children this past week, or ever? In my rising up and lying down, in the path that I go am I taking my children to the depths and heights of knowing God?
• Have I lied or bore false witness?
• How is my regard for the name of God? It is Holy unto me?
• Do I have a low view of sin?

Now this list is certainly not exhaustive. Nor is it to be a legalistic mold of laws for us to be conformed to. True it’s a list of things that need to be in our lives, but the heart, the substance of who we are must change by God first. Here we find grace. Let us live by the grace of God and offer acceptable worship from the heart in Spirit and in truth.