Last week I got a little ahead by talking about repenting, or so I thought. Pastor David will be taking us there this week. I was a little frustrated by the fact that I had gotten my weeks confused and had jumped the gun a bit. Then the Holy Spirit, that still, small voice of God said something to me. He told me that what I had written was what He wanted for that day. I trust that someone needed to hear that last week. I did not get any email confessions, but I did not need to.
You see the Spirit of God reminded me in those moments that He is sovereign. He took my words, about a topic still a week off in our prayers, and used them for His glory. He reminded me of that, then I had the choice to agree with Him or not. You know we all make similar choices every day. God shows us something about Himself, His purposes or His ways, then we have the choice. We will agree with God or not.
You might say, “Well, I can agree with God about something, and still choose to do things my way.” I would beg to differ. Allow me to explain. If you agree with God, then you are saying that He is to you Who He says He is. If you disagree, then you are saying He is not. I am talking about the difference between mental ascent and true confession. That is the difference between merely saying you believe something and living like you believe it. Does your way of living reflect that you believe Jesus Christ is Who He says He is? Does your lifestyle confess that your life is in Christ? Do you really agree with all that stuff we sing?
I certainly hope to can answer a resounding “YES!” to those questions. If you can not, then their may be a need to repent. Resolve now to agree with God about anything He shows or says to you. Let us confess with our lips and our lives that Jesus is not just Lord, but He is our Lord.
It comes back to “tuning” this way. We confess that what God says is true. We agree that He has “perfect pitch”. He never sings off key. He never misses a beat. He never misses an entrance or cutoff. He is the not only the composer, but also the arranger, orchestrator, and conductor. If it seems like you are not in unison with Him, He is not the One who is off. You are. But take heart, He can bring you back in concert with His original composition. As the arranger of your life, He can manipulate your “mistakes” for your good. He can orchestrate some incredible changes that you could not have anticipated. He can even conduct the affairs in your life in a way that makes a pleasing sound in His ear and yours.
It all begins with confessing that He can and that you want Him to. I look forward to hearing how He is going to do just that for each of you who confess His glory.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Turning
Tuning may require Turning. Last week I shared the parallel between tuning our instruments and tuning our hearts. When we fail to tune our instruments, it is difficult to make beautiful music through our playing and singing. Likewise, when we fail to tune our hearts, it is difficult to make God’s praise glorious through our living. We must adjust our lives to the “proper” pitch, or God’s ways.
It is that adjustment that I want to focus on this week. On Sunday, Pastor David challenged us not to be “Silenced by Shame”. When we begin to come to an understanding of who God is, we see ourselves more clearly. When this happens we find ourselves in the uncomfortable place of having to admit to God that our actions have left us feeling “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17) We are shamed, but we need not be silenced.
When God reveals Himself to us, we need to confess Who He is. Likewise, when He reveals ourselves to us, we need to confess who we are. We all hide in various ways, but are efforts are to no avail before God. We must simply agree with God about Who He is and who we are. Even then, we have only begun. In the analogy from last week we have at this point only admitted that God’s “pitch” is proper and ours is not. Next comes the adjustment, the tuning.
Tuning is adjusting to proper pitch. In our lives this will very likely require turning. The spiritual word for that is repenting. Repent basically means to turn. To make the conscious choice to stop heading in one direction and move in an entirely different direction. We admit that our lives were heading in one direction, our own, and that they need to head in another, God’s.
This is a pretty radical thought. We are no longer talking about making a small adjust. Now we are talking about wholesale change. A revolution of sorts. Pastor David will explain this is more detail Sunday, but maybe something has come to mind in the last few moments. Will you purpose to turn from that “improper” path and set your feet to walking in God’s ways only? Prepare your heart for this Sunday by considering, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, if there is some repenting for you to do. Then do it!
Turning to Jesus,
Pastor Scott
It is that adjustment that I want to focus on this week. On Sunday, Pastor David challenged us not to be “Silenced by Shame”. When we begin to come to an understanding of who God is, we see ourselves more clearly. When this happens we find ourselves in the uncomfortable place of having to admit to God that our actions have left us feeling “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17) We are shamed, but we need not be silenced.
When God reveals Himself to us, we need to confess Who He is. Likewise, when He reveals ourselves to us, we need to confess who we are. We all hide in various ways, but are efforts are to no avail before God. We must simply agree with God about Who He is and who we are. Even then, we have only begun. In the analogy from last week we have at this point only admitted that God’s “pitch” is proper and ours is not. Next comes the adjustment, the tuning.
Tuning is adjusting to proper pitch. In our lives this will very likely require turning. The spiritual word for that is repenting. Repent basically means to turn. To make the conscious choice to stop heading in one direction and move in an entirely different direction. We admit that our lives were heading in one direction, our own, and that they need to head in another, God’s.
This is a pretty radical thought. We are no longer talking about making a small adjust. Now we are talking about wholesale change. A revolution of sorts. Pastor David will explain this is more detail Sunday, but maybe something has come to mind in the last few moments. Will you purpose to turn from that “improper” path and set your feet to walking in God’s ways only? Prepare your heart for this Sunday by considering, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, if there is some repenting for you to do. Then do it!
Turning to Jesus,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Tuning
Last week we had our first crack at this and one thing I realized is that I need to be more precise in the way I articulate my thoughts. I have always been a “wordy” writer, and will try to condense my convictions for this communiqué. Thanks for bearing with me as I share my heart, and hopefully help you tune yours.
Tuning. Let me make clear as we begin what it is I am talking about when I speak of tuning. To tune is basically to adjust to proper pitch. When we think of tuning our instruments we are conceding that there is a proper pitch and that each of us will adjust our instruments to sound that same pitch. In orchestra we do this most of the time. Our guitarists do this every time, either with a tuner, a machine designed to tell them how to adjust their strings, or from a note on the piano. We tune because our instruments have a tendency to go “out” of tune, or away from the “proper pitch”. When we fail to tune our instruments to that pitch things sound terribly wrong, even painful.
The same is true in our spiritual lives as in our musical ones. We must “tune our hearts to sing [God’s] grace”. In so doing, we concede that God has established that “pitch” (Himself, His purposes, and His ways), and we adjust our lives to it. Tuning once in a while is not enough. We must tune often because our lives have a tendency of matching other pitches we hear, and joining in with other songs. If we want to make music of our lives that is a pleasing sacrifice to God, we must realign ourselves to Him, the Tuner. When we fail to tune our hearts to His, things often feel terribly wrong, even painful.
So my word to you today is this. When was the last time you allowed the Tuner to make some adjustments in you? When did you last listen closely for the “proper pitch” in His voice and tune your life to it. Amid the clamor of other sounds, it can be difficult to hear it so it is important to begin each day in tune. That can only happen if you take the time to quiet yourself, listen to Him, and then Him make the adjustments that need to be made so you can go through your day singing His grace. If you failed to do that this morning, take a few moments right now to tune, and determine that tomorrow you will tune before you attempt to make any music to the praise of His glorious grace.
Constantly Tuning to Jesus,
Pastor Scott
Tuning. Let me make clear as we begin what it is I am talking about when I speak of tuning. To tune is basically to adjust to proper pitch. When we think of tuning our instruments we are conceding that there is a proper pitch and that each of us will adjust our instruments to sound that same pitch. In orchestra we do this most of the time. Our guitarists do this every time, either with a tuner, a machine designed to tell them how to adjust their strings, or from a note on the piano. We tune because our instruments have a tendency to go “out” of tune, or away from the “proper pitch”. When we fail to tune our instruments to that pitch things sound terribly wrong, even painful.
The same is true in our spiritual lives as in our musical ones. We must “tune our hearts to sing [God’s] grace”. In so doing, we concede that God has established that “pitch” (Himself, His purposes, and His ways), and we adjust our lives to it. Tuning once in a while is not enough. We must tune often because our lives have a tendency of matching other pitches we hear, and joining in with other songs. If we want to make music of our lives that is a pleasing sacrifice to God, we must realign ourselves to Him, the Tuner. When we fail to tune our hearts to His, things often feel terribly wrong, even painful.
So my word to you today is this. When was the last time you allowed the Tuner to make some adjustments in you? When did you last listen closely for the “proper pitch” in His voice and tune your life to it. Amid the clamor of other sounds, it can be difficult to hear it so it is important to begin each day in tune. That can only happen if you take the time to quiet yourself, listen to Him, and then Him make the adjustments that need to be made so you can go through your day singing His grace. If you failed to do that this morning, take a few moments right now to tune, and determine that tomorrow you will tune before you attempt to make any music to the praise of His glorious grace.
Constantly Tuning to Jesus,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Tune My Heart to Sing Thy Grace
Dear Worship Ministry Member,
For a couple of years now, I have wanted to communicate with all of you a little more regularly. My intention is that my words to you would be informational, but also motivational, and hopefully and ultimately transformational. Our primary focus being on hearts before hands. Accordingly, I am going to try to begin a Worship Ministries contingent to Pastor David’s THURSDAY THOUGHTS. It should have some concepts that will aid you in tuning your hearts to sing God’s praise 24/7, followed by helpful information about the upcoming week of ministry, and beyond. We will not call this the inaugural run, but instead a trial period to see if it is as helpful and useful as I hope it will be. Yours prayers in this matter would be appreciated.
TUESDAY TUNINGS
As I considered what to call this ongoing project, I wanted to pattern it after Pastor David’s in as many ways as possible. The day of the week on which it will be generated and a summation of the actual body of work were foundational to this concept. I wanted a different day of the week, and preferred earlier so as to come before rehearsals on Wednesday, and give more time to ponder before Sunday. I am not in my study on Monday, but Tuesday also meets the aforementioned demands while also providing time to reflect on the previous Sunday while it is still a fresh memory. Thus, TUESDAY.
Then in addition to the summation of the work, THOUGHTS for Pastor David, I liked the whole alliteration thing. Actually, I got hung up on it for a time, until my Lord delivered me. I am certain you all can understand what I am talking about as you consider your own personality strengths, which can become weaknesses if not managed well. Anyway, as I was reflecting on the name of this project about a year ago, the Lord brought the text of the hymn “Come Thou Fount” to mind. Particularly the first stanza.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise His name-I’m fixed upon it-Name of God’s redeeming love.
The Holy Spirit quickened my mind to the first phrase in particular. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; My prayer through considering this ministry communication tool was indeed that God would use it (Come) and prepare our hearts (Tune) to communicate the fullness of Who He is. In those moments, I believed the Lord clarified this vision, through the words of the hymnist. I am certain a similar thing has happened to many of You. {Thank You, Lord for speaking to us in a variety of ways.} I want God to tune our hearts to sing of His matchless and glorious grace, and I will do whatever it takes for me to help you in that, in obedience to my Lord’s command. Thus, TUNINGS.
As we begin and continue this journey together, may our Lord Jesus, come and tune our hearts to sing loud songs of praise like the angels above to the glory of His grace and His redeeming love.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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