We need a bigger story

People need a big story to live within.   

Our lives our so jumbled and often disconnected that we need a bigger narrative in which all the assorted puzzle pieces of our lives make sense.   We long for transcendence, purpose and meaning; and this is the message the Church has to offer the world: that God, through Christ, is redeeming our stories and is giving meaning to our lives within His story.  

So here's my question: what are the places and times that you experience this kind of connection with a "bigger story" than the subplot you're living?  

Spirit and Truth - Part One

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know;we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  JOHN 4:21-24 (NIV)

In this section of a wonderful exchange between a Samaritan woman and Jesus, something critically important to everyone shines through.  The fact that God the Father is actively seeking a certain kind of worshiper.  If we were to grasp the import of this concept, what would it mean to the way we approach worship?  It seems explicit in this passage that there is a right way to approach the LORD in worship, and because of this, there is a wrong way to approach the LORD.  This truth is borne out through the Scriptures, and for Christians, the concept of correct-worship is tied directly to the requirement for Spirit and truth in worship.  

Take some time to think about this question: if there is a kind of worshiper whom the LORD is seeking, do you want to be that kind of worshiper?  What's it worth to you to cultivate proper and powerful worship in your life?

National Worship Leaders Conference notes

Hello all,

It's been too long since I last wrote, so I confess my sins of busyness and inattention to the important act of writing.  I am in KC this week at the National Worship Leaders Conference.  I'll have much more to share in the days ahead, but for now, I'll tell you the theme is Spirit and Truth.  I've had some great and challenging insights and I look forward to sharing them in the days ahead.   In the mean time, spend some time reading John 4, and think about the importance of what it means to be a "true worshiper" whom the Father seeks.  

Sean

Are you ready to worship?

Worship Matters

Are you ready to worship?  It’s probably not a question that many of us ever ask ourselves, but it’s a question of critical importance to our worship together every Sunday morning.  The Lord of all creation is awaiting our undivided attention and He seeks to pour out His presence upon us as we sing and pray to Him, and as we engage with His Word; however, we all too often walk through the doors of the Sanctuary rushed, distracted, or unprepared to meet with God in a significant way.  Seeking the presence and power of God with a heart to honor and glorify Him is the purpose of our times of corporate worship, and He longs to meet each of us there in life-changing ways, each week.  The question for each of us is: are we ready to worship?  Do we come expecting to hear a message from God in our times of praise and teaching?  Do we come expecting answered prayers and healing for broken spirits, bodies, and families?  Do we spend time each day before the Lord in preparation for all that He longs to do in us and through us?  

So, here’s a challenge for each of us this month - at least once per week, preferably more, spend time in very specific prayer for the upcoming times of worship.  Pray that God will be honored in our praise and that we will have open hearts to receive the Word of truth that He has for each of us.  Pray that we will passionately pursue God in all that we do, say and sing, and that our worship will be more than something that happens for an hour each week; rather, that our worship will become our “lifestyle” as we submit to the love and leadership of our Lord each day.     

Grace and peace, 

Sean 

God's Providence in the Midst of Pain

I am a big "providence" guy. Though it's probably not the most popular theology, I believe that the circumstances and situations of our lives, even when painful, are either given by God or allowed by Him for reasons that are often beyond our understanding. Does this mean God brings about evil? By no means! Yet, he does permit tragedy in our lives. If we don't believe in a God who chooses to permit difficulty in our lives for our growth and for His glory, then we come to believe in a more theologically disturbing alternative: a God who is too weak or unwilling to help.

What brought this to mind was my study of Stephen's defense before the Sanheidran in Acts 7, particularly hen he mentioned Joseph and his family going into Egypt and eventually becoming enslaved for hundreds of years until their rescue by God through the leadership of Moses. What struck me was the necessity of slavery in order to move the people of Israel into the land of Promise. For, if the Hebrews enjoyed a prosperous life in the Nile Delta, why would they ever leave to pursue a land they had never seen? Moses' call to follow him out of Egypt, into the desert and into armed conflict with the inhabitants of their new real estate venture might have gathered a dozen people. Instead, God's providential timing and His plan for blessing in the midst of pain brought the entire Israelite nation out of Egypt as one! The years of pain and degradation left the Hebrew people longing for anyplace other than there.

You may be going through a trial today, as well. I will not call evil "good" or in any way dismiss the tragedies you may face; however, I do believe that no matter what, God is in control of your life and your circumstances. And that is cause to worship Him, whether your are in Egypt or the Promised Land.

The Supremely Happy God

I believe God is the most supremely happy being in the Universe. He has never lacked in anything, and He has always been completely satisfied and fulfilled in His triune-relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has never been in want or in need. He is ultimately satisfied in Himself and he is the only one who can do so.

He lacks nothing and He is always joyful.

Yet, is it possible for God to become even happier? I believe so; for just as he is grieved by sin and the damage we do to one another, and our rebellion against his good rule, he is overjoyed when we turn to him in faith, love, an repentance. There may be no clearer image of God's joy than in Luke 15, when Jesus describes the courts of heaven at the return of a sinner to relationship with God:

"Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10 NKJV)

I've always read this passage and imagined that it was the angels rejoicing before God, but that is not what the passage says. It states there is "rejoicing in the PRESENCE of the angels". So then, who is the One in the presence of the angels? Who is the One rejoicing? It appears that the God who made you and me, though we rebel against Him by nature and by choice, celebrates and rejoices before the Host of Heaven whenever we repent and return to Him.

When you return to your Heavenly Father through faith in His Son, you fill the halls of Heaven with happiness.

Worshiping the God Who Trumps Religion

And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" (John 5:9-11 ESV)

I love the way this verse so powerfully illustrates the 'newness' of following Jesus. Christ's healing of the lame man on a Sabbath and his command to pack up his bed and walk blew away the legalism that surrounded him. It shows following Jesus is more than adding more religious baggage...it's following a person. The healed man didn't have a new religious system...he had a Savior.
Jesus turns religion and worship on its head. Instead of doing our best to check the blocks and impress God with our goodness, we simply need to respond to the One who has come to us in our lameness and inability to heal us. When we encounter Jesus as He really is, we stop worrying about other's criticism, and we point with confidence to the One who told us to "get up an walk."
The power of Jesus and His word trump EVERYTHING else.