Brian's Blog

True Worship

// July 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Study Thoughts, reflections

Do you ever stop to think about your reasoning behind certain activities?  It’s easy for us to get into a habit of doing something and then do it without thinking about it’s significance.  Worship is one of those things, it’s easy to get into a routine, especially on Sunday, and forget to really think about what it is you are doing.

So what is true worship?  In His encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus tells her that those that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and Truth.  What does that mean?  How does a person worship God in Spirit and truth?  The amplified bible puts the word “reality” after the word truth in this passage. 

What is reality?  Is it what we see, hear, feel, taste?  Those things are our earthly reality, but not our spiritual reality.  God is Spiritual Reality!  As I was looking at this passage I looked it up in the message version, I like the way he’s translated it:

John 4:23-24 (MSG) But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. "It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

The last line is the key here, “Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."  Our worship needs to flow from our very core, from that person that is in love with Father-God and can’t help but adore Him.  True worship isn’t a song, but it can be expressed through a song;  true worship isn’t words, but it can be expressed in words.  True worship is anything that conveys our deepest love for Him. 

True worship is a spiritual connection with our Heavenly Father, it is the place where our relationship with Him grows.  True worship can be in studying His Word, meditating on Him, talking about Him to others, singing songs from the heart, and many other ways.  Too often we put “rules” on worship; how, where, when, none of these really matter.  True worship should be an unending flow from a heart in love with Him.  It should show up in every aspect of our lives.

We don’t worship to get, we worship to give, otherwise it’s just manipulation.  We don’t get the gifts of God because we worship Him, we receive the gifts because he loves to give them to his children.  I believe that it’s in the place of true worship where God begins to pour out those gifts.  When my kids are in relationship with me I want to give them everything I can, I don’t want to hold anything back from them.  Father-God is the same way, except that he has no limits, He can give us anything He wants to!

Psalms 91:14-16 (NLT) The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them.  I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Notice He says He will do these things for those who love Him, I think we put too much effort into pursuing the gifts of God instead of relationship with Him.  When we truly begin to worship Him, His gifts will naturally begin to be released.  Learn to Love on Him with no more expectation than spending time with Him and everything else will flow from there!

Watch!

// April 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Study Thoughts

John 12:26 (NLT) Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.

I was in Seattle one time with a group of men for a conference, I was one of the drivers.  We left our housing to go to the Kingdome (yes a few years back), on the way the person I was following suddenly switched from the middle lane, crossed the right lane and went up the exit ramp.  I was talking with the other guys in the van and by the time I saw what was happening it was too late to get over.  We ended up going another exit north which ended up being downtown Seattle.  It took us a while but we finally got to the conference and reconnected with our group.

I did a quick count in my NLT bible this morning, and in the Gospels Jesus uses the words “follow me” 20 times.  Sometimes in my spiritual life I think I am following and then all of the sudden I realize that He has changed course and I failed to notice.  It’s pretty easy to into a routine, put ourselves on “auto-pilot” and forget to keep an eye on His lead.  Just like on the freeway, sometimes it will take a bit of work to get ourselves back “in line” behind Him when we’ve gotten off track.

1 Corinthians 16:13 (NKJV) says, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.”  Notice the first word there, watch!  It is important that we keep our eyes on Him! He is always leading, but we need to take care to keep our eyes on Him.  Situations can change quickly in our lives, God may call us in a certain direction for a short season.  I don’t always understand why God chooses to do things the way He does, but it doesn’t matter whether or not I understand, I just need to purpose in my heart to follow knowing that He knows the best way.  When dealing with people, there is always free will, meaning that people have to choose how to handle the direction that God is leading.  In other words, sometimes the choices of others can affect our ability in a given situation.

That doesn’t mean that God removes his call on your life, in fact, Romans 11:29 says, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  This means that God doesn’t remove his call on your life, but He may have to change the method in which He makes it come to pass.

This is why it is so important to keep our eyes on Him, if we get our eyes off of Him and on the situation we may miss His leading in a different direction.  We can come up against a wall and, knowing that it is in the way of our call, try to tear it down when God is standing off to the side trying to show us a way around it.  Other times he may be standing there holding the sledge hammer for us while we are trying to find a way around.  We must stay focused on Him so that we know His will and purpose.

I can be a pretty stubborn person sometimes, just ask my wife!  Sometime that stubbornness can serve me, but other times it can cause me to lose time and momentum.  I am doing my best to keep my eyes on Him, to know His direction.  Remember, seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, THEN all you need will be provided.  Seeking means watching, looking for, and pursuing. I follow Him and He provides everything I need to accomplish what He has put in my heart.

Finally, lets be people who can truly say as Paul did, “follow me as I follow Christ.”

Treasure Hunt

// October 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Youth Service Messages

This week we started a series on the treasures of God, this first message is about what it takes to find those treasures…

Jeremiah 6:16 (NLT) So now the Lord says, "Stop right where you are! Look for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’

The word translated as old is a word that means: old, concealed, hidden, perpetual, eternal, timeless, from eternity. Maybe the path that we are on is not the one that was created by God, but a path that was created by man. We need to look to the Word of God and see that the roads we are on on the right ones.

Jeremiah 18:15 (NLT) [My People] have deserted me and turned to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways of good, and they walk the muddy paths of sin.

God never intended for his people to live in sin.  It’s time for us to stop accepting mediocre Christianity from ourselves.  It is time for a generation to take up the call of God to find the old paths, and the way that we find the old paths is by using the road map, the Word of God.

Ignorance is no excuse! We need to begin to dig for the truths of the Word and apply them to our lives.

Church should not be about just meetings, it is about being a movement.  Don’t be someone who comes to church and gets touched by God, but not changed.  We need to be people that come to church to get fueled up, then go out and use those experiences to touch others and share the love of God with them.

A movement is something that impacts a society, such as the civil rights movement, these were people who were no longer willing to live life the way “it’s always been.”  They decided to challenge the rules that suppressed their rights as equal human beings.  Our movement is not about breaking human laws, but about challenging the spiritual world around us.  Our movement is about destroying the works of the devil. 

If we want to be a movement, we need to find the treasures of God. Those treasures are the gifts that God has put in our lives, and those gifts are not there just for our own benefit, but so that we can reach others with the Good News!

Matthew 13:44 (NLT) "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field—and to get the treasure, too!

When we were kids we dreamed of finding a map to buried treasure and what we would do if we found that treasure.  As Christians we dream of the gifts of God, but we never get out our map and uncover the treasure.  God has treasures for us, but we get caught up in our earthly treasures.

Matthew 6:21 (MSG) It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

If your treasure is in relationship with God, then that is where you will find yourself wanting to be.  What are the treasures in your life that are more important than God?  What things end up distracting you from spending time with Him?  One of the devil’s greatest tricks is to get us busy with stuff.  He gets us distracted by all the busyness of the world around us and we end up at the end of our day realizing that we failed to give God any of our time.

We need to begin to look to the Word first for our instruction. The Word is the map to the treasure; the treasure is the Word working in our lives.  We must follow the map to the treasure then do the necessary work to uncover it.  We need to value the treasures of God more than the treasures of this world, or we will never reach them.

This generation wants to experience God, not just hear about Him, but they will only be reached by a generation that has the willingness to work to uncover the treasures of the Gifts of God. We need to get desperate to see the gifts of God in our lives.

Matthew 5:3 (NLT) “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

The word poor here means like a beggar, We need to be like beggars coming to the table of God.  We need to be desperate to find everything that he has for us, and we need to be unstoppable.

Luke 16:16 (NLT) "Until John the Baptist began to preach, the laws of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and eager multitudes are forcing their way in.

Matthew 11:12 (NKJV) And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

If we begin to press in and cry out for more, God will give it to us.  We need to stop looking at ourselves as a Church meeting and start being a movement.  We can’t be a movement if nothing moves.

Trusting God through the Circumstances.

// October 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Slovakia, Study Thoughts

James 1:2-8 (NKJV) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

The Greek word for joy here means, “A calm delight.” We should remain happy and calm when we are faced with tough circumstances.

Jesus always calms the storms of life. The storm is not the situation you are facing; it is a distraction from the enemy to keep our focus off of God. We can “delight” in knowing that God is control, delight leads to expectancy, an excitement to see God’s answer.

“The testing of your faith produces patience.” Patience is cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy.

Every difficult situation holds the possibility of increased endurance in our life. Endurance is the ability to remain strong in adversity, every trip through adversity adds to the solid foundation of faith in our lives.

“Let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Patience is working in us, allowing patience to have control is allowing God to complete His work in us. When I allow patience to work, allowing God to do what He wants, I receive everything I need.

When I am impatient, I am taking control of the situation, not allowing God to do what He wants, but rather doing what I want.

“If any of you lacks wisdom”

Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge. We have only to ask for wisdom, God loves to give! He gives without reproach, even if you squandered it in the past; God never holds our past against us!

Bottom line: God has a plan for our lives. It doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past, or what others may do to us, God will succeed if we allow him the time and opportunity.

If I want to “lack nothing”, I must be patient, I must wait for God!