GREENE STREET LETTERS: Worship 101

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Worship 101

John Wimber
"It isn't enough to be biblically literate...........we must be biblically obedient also."

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

As a Vineyard pastor, I believe that our number one purpose in life is to honor and worship God.
We do this through our daily lives. My very life....my walking around, eating, sleeping, working, playing life is to be lived in such a way that others see Jesus in me. My life is worship unto God. Sounds boring doesn't it? It's not. It is the most incredible high you could ever want. Now I'm not talking about that when I give my life to Jesus everything falls into perfect harmony. That everyday is sunshine and lollipops.....dogs love you.....kids love you.....old folks love you....Guess what? Life still happens. You get flat tires. You'll want to quit and run away to Australia (right Vicki). But because you are living under a mandate from heaven, and you are very much aware of the price that was paid to free you from your old life of sin....you just fall in love with Jesus. Isn't that what the Bible talks about? Loving Jesus? Loving God? Loving those around us as we love ourselves? From this unnatural place of love which the world looks at with disdain and a jaded eye, I worship.

Worship- The act of freely giving love to God.
Such a behavior forms and informs (through His Holy Spirit speaking to us) every activity in the life of a believer.
I have learned that what happens when I am alone with the Lord determines how intimate and deep my worship will be when I come together with other believers.I want to be transported through my worship, into the very presence of God. If you think about it, worship here and now on this side of heaven is merely practice for what is going to transpire once we die and stand in the presence of God. How cool is that going to be?

Some people have a hard time with this next part.
Singing is not the only way to worship. As we sing, it is important to remember that our bodies should be involved in what our spirit's are saying. In Scripture this is accomplished through bowing heads, lifting of hands, kneeling and even lying on our faces before God. I remember the first time I was in a service and I saw someone lift their hands during worship. I was offended at first...."How dare they try and draw attention to themselves...don't they know that this is God's time." That was how skewed my understanding of what real worship was about. But I also remember thinking, as I watched this individual worship, how free they seemed to be. Lost in the song and oblivious to everyone around them, they worshipped. I wanted what they had. Why? A result of worshipping and blessing God is being blessed by Him. We don't worship God in order to get blessed, but we are blessed as we worship Him. He visits His people with manifestations of His Holy Spirit.
Enjoy the video....
Worship today....

God on you....
mb

(thoughts for today's blog posting comes from Worship: Intimacy with God by John and Carol Wimber.

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Worship 101

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD