A unique voice...

While praise is at the heart of what we're learning as a church...I thought this post by Mark Batterson was timely. Check it out HERE.

you use your tongue...

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." -James 3:9

As I read through James this week, it is fitting God would bring such needed truth in the midst of this series we are going through. I spent 7 minutes in praise, then read this. Uh oh... Problem- We join in singing with all creation of our God and King with the same mouth we use to gossip, slander, curse, and lie. James expounds the truth...salt water cannot come from a fresh water spring...olives cannot grow on fig trees. How can the mouth of a worshiper spew out such nonsense so often, when there should only be praise.

Next time you or I say anything...we need to ask ourselves...what kind of spring am I? What kind of plant am I? Do the words that fall off my tongue match? If not, I think it's time for a heart check. Don't be a "Part Time Praiser."

Sunday reflections...

Don't Forget the Lyrics: week 2

What stood out:

• creation is in constant praise and adoration of our God...and we are invited to join in!
• praise is to worship Him for who He is and what He has done...without selfish ambition or hope for more from Him...but just because He is worthy.
• 7 on the 7's praise challenge...at 7 o'clock each day for 7 minutes for the next 7 days...stop and give Him praise

What we sang:

• sing to the king- candi pearson
• for who you are- hillsong
• glory to god- fee
• great is the lord- elevation worship
• lift high- fee
  

Empty my hands...

This has stuck with me since we saw Chuck Swindoll at Catalyst. He shared some wisdom that he’d compiled over the course of his fifty years in ministry. One of his many points was that “God’s way is better than my way.”

He says that “our problem is that we are too capable.” We are too talented, too skilled, too knowledgeable, and too busy doing it all. We have no room for God. No need.

He said that “God can’t pour His riches into hands that are already full. So...empty your hands… We must empty our hands of our own clippings, ideas, dreams, and philosophies. God does not exist to make our dreams come true. We exist because HE DREAMT US!

Empty your hands of everything you.

Do it without complaining...

I do not like the word "complain." I am so turned off by complaining and whining and striving for selfish agendas. Gotta be honest...it just rubs me the wrong way...and now I know why. Philippians 2:14- Do everything without complaining. But still, I do it. It's hard to not complain. Try it for one week...heck...one day. Go ONE day without complaining and see how hard it is.

Anyway...THIS LINK HERE was a timely post for me and I love the idea of countering complaints with converting it to something constructive.

songs, songs, and more songs

I absolutely love our current series, because it focuses on music, lyrics, songs. Can you imagine a world without MUSIC? or SONGS??? That, my friends, would be sad.

So, as Pastor Kirk suggested, here are some songs to check out. You can find the youtube links (and just deal with the cheesy pictures) or purchase them on itunes or walmart.com

These are songs that will be sung the first 3 months of 2010...in case you want to get ahead.

happy day- tim hughes
majestic- lincoln brewster
freedom is here- hillsong
we have overcome- elevation worship
your grace is enough- chris tomlin
great is the lord- elevation worship
the time has come- hillsong
revelation song- jesus culture
jesus paid it all- kristian stanfill
mighty to save- hillsong
glory to god- fee
you alone can rescue- matt redman
stronger- hillsong
the broken and the tired- elevation worship
turn your eyes- vicky beeching
amazed- jared anderson
you are holy- elevation worship
hosanna- hillsong
humble plea- fc grapevine
lift high- steve fee
healer- hillsong
let your kingdom reign- elevation worship
a mighty fortress- christy nockels
before the throne of god- shane and shane

These are a few suggestions emailed to me from other people in our church...

sweetly broken- jeremy riddle
here i am to worship- tim hughes
amazing grace (my chains are gone)- chris tomlin
please forgive me- the crabb family
once again- matt redman

Sunday recap

Don't Forget the Lyrics: week 1


What stood out:

• Great testimony by James, one of our drummers, on repentance!
• Bringing back the ole' school with the band playing Worlds Apart by Jars of Clay. That is a classic for my generation.
• Repentance is a present action of turning from the past and pressing on toward a future in Christ
• Absolute blast playing Don't Forget the Lyrics, but hopefully next week someone can give a stronger guess with the lyrics :)

What we sang:

• o happy day- tim hughes
• you alone can rescue- matt redman
• humble plea- fc grapevine
• give us clean hands- charlie hall