Dear Worshipers,
Let us continue on our journey through our Worship Ministries Vision Statement and allow it to remind us what it is that we are trying to accomplish through this ministry of worship that we share. We will do that by unpacking another section of the vision statement for our Music and Worship Ministries. This is what you are committing to in becoming a member of this team. Here is the statement:
Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle
characterized by sincere responses to God’s self-revelations.
Last week we looked at the first line and discussed a little bit of what it means to live our lives as worship by defining worship and then putting it in the context of a response to God that is whole-life. This week I am going to take a look at the next phrase “characterized by sincere responses”. Next week we will finish with the final phrase which is really the foundation of everything we are talking about, “God’s self-revelations.” But before we go there, so that your memorizing is not put out of order let us look at what it means to respond to God.
To respond means to make a reply, to answer, or to act in return. Each of these is instructive as we consider our response to God, but the crucial part of the definition is that it is the reaction to something. A response is not a first strike. Even an immediate response has a precursor, something that elicited it. God is the Great Elicitor. We are only and ever responding to Him, whether favorably or not.
This brings us to the adjective describing the response, “sincere”. This qualifies our response as being genuine, without hypocrisy or pretense. The intent is that we would carefully consider God’s revealing Himself to us and then make a careful, authentic and appropriate reply. The fact that we desire to see lives that are characterized by these kinds of responses instructs the activity of this ministry. It is more than music. It is life. And life made up of many smaller acts in return to God for showing Himself to us.
While there are any number of passages that teach this principle, allow me to take you to a couple from the writings of Paul. If anyone lived a life of response to a revelation from God it was this man. From that moment on the road to Damascus and stretching forward through the remainder of his life, Paul’s living was characterized by sincere responses to God’s self-revelations.
In Romans 8:31 he testifies, “What shall we say then in response to this? If God is for us, then who can be against us?” This comes at the end of one of the greatest discourses on God’s self revealing. It culminates earlier in the chapter as Paul writes about the life through the Spirit, and the future glory of the believer. After the phrase above, Paul climaxes with the more than conquerors passage. What a response!
That is Paul’s instruction on how the life we live should be characterized. But lest you think he was just a philosopher, remember his words in Galatians 2:2. “I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.” Here Paul indicates that his trip to Jerusalem was a response to a revelation from the Lord. Paul had a number of similar events in His life and the general practice should be evidenced in our lives as well. When God shows us something of Himself, we should adjust our lives to respond to it.
Next week we will look at Ephesians 1:17 which was one of the key verses that God used to reveal this vision to me. You can look ahead if you like, or you can wait until next week. Either way, make certain that you are living your life as a response to what God has already shown you about Himself. It is an amazing journey.
I want to ask you to continue to memorize our vision statement. Do it in little bite-sized sections so that over the next couple of weeks you will have it. Then as God brings it to mind, pray for the worship life of our church that it will transcend Sunday morning and truly become a through-the-week event.
Assignment for the week: Memorize: “[Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle-last week] characterized by sincere responses…”
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Worship as a Lifestyle
Dear Worshipers,
As we start another year of ministry let us take a couple of weeks to remind ourselves what it is that we are trying to accomplish through this ministry of worship that we share. Allow me to do that by unpacking the vision statement for our Music and Worship Ministries a section at a time. This is what you are committing to in becoming a member of this team. Here is the statement:
Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle
characterized by sincere responses to God’s self-revelations.
I will divide it into three workable sections that will allow us to finish this examination before the end of the month.
Worship in its’ simplest form means to ascribe worth to something. In our context, we understand that we are to ascribe worth to Jesus Christ. Our worship ministries exist to nurture or cultivate that. Not to make music. Not to produce musicals. Certainly not to entertain. We want to do whatever we can to help facilitate the growth of true worship in the lives of the people of our church. We want to foster worship as a lifestyle.
While there are any number of passages that teach this principle, allow me to take you to one that I pray will help you see it. In Ecclesiastes 12:13 a very wise man boiled down his years of research and striving for contentment into this short but powerful phrase, “Fear God and keep his commandments.”
ChristianAnswers.com defines the first part of this summation as follows:
The fear of the Lord is, in the Old Testament, used as a designation of true piety (Prov. 1:7; Job 28:28; Ps. 19:9). It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather filial reverence. (Compare Deut. 32:6; Hos. 11:1; Isa. 1:2; 63:16; 64:8.)
At the end of the definition we see a word that is more commonly used as we consider our approach to God, that is reverence. But more so than our approach, we should remember that we have been called to live “IN CHRIST”. We must abide in Him (John 15). So clearly, mingled with love and hope we are to live with a fear of the Lord that informs every word, thought and deed.
Out of that fear [love and hope] we keep His commandments. This is a little more obvious to us. We should do everything God has commanded us to do, and nothing He has commanded us not to do. This instructs the way we live, our lifestyle, and if we obey will allow us to worship God with our entire lives. We live to make much of God, our Worship Ministries should aid that process.
I want to ask you to memorize our Vision Statement. Do it in little bite-sized sections so that over the next three weeks you will have it. Then as God brings it to mind, pray for the worship life of our church that it will transcend Sunday morning and truly become a through-the-week event.
Assignment for the week: Memorize: “Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle …”
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
As we start another year of ministry let us take a couple of weeks to remind ourselves what it is that we are trying to accomplish through this ministry of worship that we share. Allow me to do that by unpacking the vision statement for our Music and Worship Ministries a section at a time. This is what you are committing to in becoming a member of this team. Here is the statement:
Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle
characterized by sincere responses to God’s self-revelations.
I will divide it into three workable sections that will allow us to finish this examination before the end of the month.
Worship in its’ simplest form means to ascribe worth to something. In our context, we understand that we are to ascribe worth to Jesus Christ. Our worship ministries exist to nurture or cultivate that. Not to make music. Not to produce musicals. Certainly not to entertain. We want to do whatever we can to help facilitate the growth of true worship in the lives of the people of our church. We want to foster worship as a lifestyle.
While there are any number of passages that teach this principle, allow me to take you to one that I pray will help you see it. In Ecclesiastes 12:13 a very wise man boiled down his years of research and striving for contentment into this short but powerful phrase, “Fear God and keep his commandments.”
ChristianAnswers.com defines the first part of this summation as follows:
The fear of the Lord is, in the Old Testament, used as a designation of true piety (Prov. 1:7; Job 28:28; Ps. 19:9). It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather filial reverence. (Compare Deut. 32:6; Hos. 11:1; Isa. 1:2; 63:16; 64:8.)
At the end of the definition we see a word that is more commonly used as we consider our approach to God, that is reverence. But more so than our approach, we should remember that we have been called to live “IN CHRIST”. We must abide in Him (John 15). So clearly, mingled with love and hope we are to live with a fear of the Lord that informs every word, thought and deed.
Out of that fear [love and hope] we keep His commandments. This is a little more obvious to us. We should do everything God has commanded us to do, and nothing He has commanded us not to do. This instructs the way we live, our lifestyle, and if we obey will allow us to worship God with our entire lives. We live to make much of God, our Worship Ministries should aid that process.
I want to ask you to memorize our Vision Statement. Do it in little bite-sized sections so that over the next three weeks you will have it. Then as God brings it to mind, pray for the worship life of our church that it will transcend Sunday morning and truly become a through-the-week event.
Assignment for the week: Memorize: “Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle …”
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
To Be Like Jesus [in 2006]
Dear Worshipers,
A New Year. A new beginning. A fresh start. A clean slate. The potential is almost overwhelming. With all that promise, I am certain that over the past week you have worked to say goodbye to some things and hello to others.
Maybe you want to lose a few pounds this year. Exercise more. Spend more time with the ones you love. Or maybe your thoughts are more lofty. Start a new career or business. Remodel your home. Travel abroad. Get out of debt.
Here’s one for you to consider: To Be Like Jesus. I mean after all that is the resolution of our soul. It is the one we made when we first bowed the knee to our Lord. It is the one that all resolutions should ultimately serve. Now before you dimiss this as just another pastor trying to get you to think about “spiritual things” read on.
Have you made any resolutions for the New Year? If so, how are you doing. Have they helped you to leave any old habits or lifestyles behind, or have you already left the resolutions in the past. Each of our resolutions serve the goal of ushering in what we feel would be a more enjoyable life. A life filled with health and hope. An abundant life.
Sometimes we think that living for Jesus means giving up so much. So many things that you may want to do may have to take second place, or be removed from the list altogether, if you choose to live solely for the One who is altogether lovely, altogether worthy. That is a misconception we must set aside.
Jesus said, “I came so they can real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10) Isn’t that the life you are longing for? Let me rephrase that, “THAT IS THE LIFE YOU WERE CREATED FOR AND LONG FOR!” It can only be found in Jesus.
The enemy of your soul wants to steal, kill and destroy the hope of that kind of life. Do not let him. Jesus gave his very life to secure it for you!
In 2006, let us strive for the life that Jesus died to give us. Abundant, more and better than we could have ever dreamed, and not just here and now, but forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
A New Year. A new beginning. A fresh start. A clean slate. The potential is almost overwhelming. With all that promise, I am certain that over the past week you have worked to say goodbye to some things and hello to others.
Maybe you want to lose a few pounds this year. Exercise more. Spend more time with the ones you love. Or maybe your thoughts are more lofty. Start a new career or business. Remodel your home. Travel abroad. Get out of debt.
Here’s one for you to consider: To Be Like Jesus. I mean after all that is the resolution of our soul. It is the one we made when we first bowed the knee to our Lord. It is the one that all resolutions should ultimately serve. Now before you dimiss this as just another pastor trying to get you to think about “spiritual things” read on.
Have you made any resolutions for the New Year? If so, how are you doing. Have they helped you to leave any old habits or lifestyles behind, or have you already left the resolutions in the past. Each of our resolutions serve the goal of ushering in what we feel would be a more enjoyable life. A life filled with health and hope. An abundant life.
Sometimes we think that living for Jesus means giving up so much. So many things that you may want to do may have to take second place, or be removed from the list altogether, if you choose to live solely for the One who is altogether lovely, altogether worthy. That is a misconception we must set aside.
Jesus said, “I came so they can real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10) Isn’t that the life you are longing for? Let me rephrase that, “THAT IS THE LIFE YOU WERE CREATED FOR AND LONG FOR!” It can only be found in Jesus.
The enemy of your soul wants to steal, kill and destroy the hope of that kind of life. Do not let him. Jesus gave his very life to secure it for you!
In 2006, let us strive for the life that Jesus died to give us. Abundant, more and better than we could have ever dreamed, and not just here and now, but forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
What Has God Done for Us?
Dear Worshipers,
TO everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die…
A time to weep
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance…
A time to gain,
And a time to lose…
I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before him. [Ecclesiates 3:1-2a, 4, 6a, and 14]
We West Virginians have had the extremes of emotions the last few days. We have gone from dancing in the end zone, to watching others dance in theirs. We have watched loved ones laugh with the joy of a promised return, only to see them weeping over the loss of that promise. We have watched the birth of a new era in Mountaineer football led by some talented hard-working young men, but all the while cast against the backdrop of the death of 12 men knew the meaning of hard work even better and probably were more Mountaineers than any of those who recently traveled to Georgia.
In the aftermath of the tragedy at the Sago mine, we are forced to ask some tough questions. A man in the crowd at the church there angrily asked of the pastor as he tried to give them hope, “What…has God done for us?” As I wrestled with the answer to that question set against all that we have experienced in the last few days, I found myself in my daily reading in Ecclesiastes 3. While the opening of the chapter casually explains that there is a time for all we experience, the latter verses explain no only what God has done for us through all that, but also, and more importantly WHY.
God has sovereignly ordained the circumstances of our lives. He superintends those plans working out His purposes. He does this, as we see again and again in Scripture “that men should fear before Him.” We need to take a close estimation of our lives and consider them before God. Doing so will rightly fill us with an awesome reverence for Him. We must then ask, “Are we prepared to meet Him?” We all ask ourselves that question at one time or another. After all, verse 11 reminds that us “He has put eternity in their hearts.”
As you talk with your family and friends about these circumstances, seize this opportunity. Do more than dismiss it with a trite “It was the Lord’s will” or “God knows what He is doing”. Go the extra mile and prepare them for eternity. It is in their hearts, but have they given them to the Lord.
Let us pray for the families of these miners that the God of mercy will give them grace for this time of trouble. May He receive glory through this difficult circumstance, as He works His sovereign will. Pray for the one miner that has survived for a complete recovery. He told his wife every morning something like “God is with us”. May they know that now as never before.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
TO everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die…
A time to weep
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance…
A time to gain,
And a time to lose…
I know that whatever God does,
It shall be forever.
Nothing can be added to it,
And nothing taken from it.
God does it, that men should fear before him. [Ecclesiates 3:1-2a, 4, 6a, and 14]
We West Virginians have had the extremes of emotions the last few days. We have gone from dancing in the end zone, to watching others dance in theirs. We have watched loved ones laugh with the joy of a promised return, only to see them weeping over the loss of that promise. We have watched the birth of a new era in Mountaineer football led by some talented hard-working young men, but all the while cast against the backdrop of the death of 12 men knew the meaning of hard work even better and probably were more Mountaineers than any of those who recently traveled to Georgia.
In the aftermath of the tragedy at the Sago mine, we are forced to ask some tough questions. A man in the crowd at the church there angrily asked of the pastor as he tried to give them hope, “What…has God done for us?” As I wrestled with the answer to that question set against all that we have experienced in the last few days, I found myself in my daily reading in Ecclesiastes 3. While the opening of the chapter casually explains that there is a time for all we experience, the latter verses explain no only what God has done for us through all that, but also, and more importantly WHY.
God has sovereignly ordained the circumstances of our lives. He superintends those plans working out His purposes. He does this, as we see again and again in Scripture “that men should fear before Him.” We need to take a close estimation of our lives and consider them before God. Doing so will rightly fill us with an awesome reverence for Him. We must then ask, “Are we prepared to meet Him?” We all ask ourselves that question at one time or another. After all, verse 11 reminds that us “He has put eternity in their hearts.”
As you talk with your family and friends about these circumstances, seize this opportunity. Do more than dismiss it with a trite “It was the Lord’s will” or “God knows what He is doing”. Go the extra mile and prepare them for eternity. It is in their hearts, but have they given them to the Lord.
Let us pray for the families of these miners that the God of mercy will give them grace for this time of trouble. May He receive glory through this difficult circumstance, as He works His sovereign will. Pray for the one miner that has survived for a complete recovery. He told his wife every morning something like “God is with us”. May they know that now as never before.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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