Below is an article that i believe is important for not only worship leaders but also worshipers. I have also attached a link to the paul potts video. I know most have seen it but it is inspiring. Please share your thoughts on this. To read the article either click on the image or right click and save image.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEo5bjnJViA
In July we celebrate freedom and independence. It has been talked often in church that we have freedom in our worship. Each Sunday should be a celebration for us as a body. We are celebrating our freedom in Christ! Our worship should reflect that as well. It does not end in the walls of the church but should explode beyond the walls each Sunday into our own individual moments of worship with God. Remember to prepare your heart for corporate worship this week. Also come expecting God to move in our hearts through worship and the Word and also remember that we are to worship in truth. Analyze what we are singing sand proclaiming to the Lord.
Listed below are the worship scriptures for the month of July. Please read through the scriptures before each Sunday and prepare your hearts and minds for worship.
July 5 – 1 Chronicles 16:8-10 (Today’s New International Version)
Give praise to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
July 12 – Psalm 18:46 (Today’s New International Version)
The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!
July 19 – Psalm 86:11-13 (Today’s New International Version)
Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths,
from the realm of the dead.
July 26 – – Luke 1:68-69 (Today’s New International Version)
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn [a] of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
Please feel free to share your thoughts or read more on the worship arts blog: fbcworship.wordpress.com
June 21 – Job 22:21-22 – Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart
June 28 – – 2 Samuel 22:1-3 – David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:
“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—
from violent people you save me.
For the next two Sundays I am going to be out of town on my honeymoon! I am very excited to have some time enough and even more excited to give others in the church the opportunity to lead. The worship scripture for this week tells us to submit to God and be at peace with him. Take some time before service to do that. Truly submit to him your life and find peace with Him.
June 21 – Matt Parks is going to lead us in worship. He and the worship team have practice and sound great. I know that God will be flowing through the worship. Lets keep in mind as a church body that regardless of what team or who is leading worship…we are in service to truly serve God. We should not have the mindset of, “what can i get out of worship today?”, but rather, “What can I give God in my worship today?”.
June 28 – The youth praise team will be leading. They have already practiced as well and sound great! Thanks to Zach for leading the team and also taking care of the sermon slides for the week. The 28ths worship scripture focuses alot on protection and salvation. I am sure we all have stories about how God has protected us and saved our lives. Feel free to share these stories online. Also bring this stories with you and share them with God as a thanksgiving in worship.
Remember that sundays are not about “Serve Us” but service. God Bless!
Jon
According to mythology, June was the sister and wife of Jupiter, the queen of heaven, and the goddess who presided over marriage. She corresponds to the Greek Hera.
Imagine my surprise when i read this today. She presided over marriage and i am getting married on June 20th! Of course we all know that this was truly a myth and that our God presides overall! I can’t help but think of the gifts God has given us and desires for us to still “unwrap”. I know there is so much more in worship that God has in store for me and us as a church.
Pastor spoke about the Holy Spirit this past Sunday and it reminded me of the mystery of the Spirit. Sometimes we can put God in a box that helps feel like we can understand Him better. We will never truly understand His greatness…that is why we worship! There is no other who can even come close to comparing to our God. We can put our worship in the myths of an ancient civilization or we can put our worship in the ANCIENT OF DAYS!!!
The youth are leading us in worship this weekend and I am so excited to see how God uses them. Please take time to worship with just you and God this week and get prepared for worship with fellow believers!
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. – Romans 6:4
We live a new life in Christ! Thanks to the place we live that life is free! We don’t suffer oppression like many others in the world do. We have the privilege and honor to worship together in a church setting and on our own throughout the week. This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. At FBC, we will be worshiping with freedom in mind and declaring that we will be light unto the world. I encourage you to check out a song called Life Light Up by Christy Nockels: myspace.com/christynockels. We will be doing her song on sunday. Get prepared for worship this week by thinking about the freedom we have in Christ. Give thanks to God! Come ready and excited to see what God is going to do on Sunday morning and in our lives beyond Sunday! Worship Him in truth by honestly thinking about what we are singing.
One Thing I Can Do This Week:
Go outside…it is supposed to be in the 80’s…walk around. Check out the freedom of the birds in flight, the breeze, the sun, the beauty of God. We are free to live in Him and be surrounded by Him!
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
All of creation sings to the Lord. Yet, somehow, we sometimes are not in the mood to “worship” in song. Creation has no voice and yet they still proclaim his praises. Even if we are not in the mood to sing we can still give praise to God in our words, actions, prayers and lives. I want to challenge everyone to take some time this weekend before Sunday to spend some time alone with God and maybe even seclude yourself in creation just to appreciate the Lord’s beauty before we worship corporately (as a church) on Sunday. Thanks everyone!
Recently Kris and I met to discuss what the vision God was giving me was for worship arts at FBC. Three things came out of that meeting that i would like to share with you.
1) Preparedness – What if our worship teams and our congregation came into a Sunday worship experience prepared to worship? This means that throughout the week we have been worshiping personally with God. So when we come together on a Sunday morning to corporately worship our hearts were already in a state of worship. God will move when we come prepared to be in his presence.
2) Excited/Expectant – This is a direct result of being prepared. If we have been worshiping throughout the week we should have an excited expectation of what God is going to do corporately on Sunday mornings. Instead of a mentality like “here we go again” we should be have a mentality of “what can God do today?”. If we are awaiting his presence to move…the SPIRIT WILL MOVE!
3) Truth – This is something that hit me hard. The scripture says to worship in spirit and truth. If we are not thinking about honestly declaring the lyrics of the songs to God, are we singing in truth? This is something we should ask ourselves in our personal and corporate worship. Am I going through the motions or am i honestly meaning what i am singing or saying or even praying?
As a result of this meeting, Kris and I decided that these things should be shared and responded to by the body. Some may have noticed the worship arts article in the newsletter. This is there to help you get prepared for Sunday. The worship scriptures are listed for you to check out before each sunday and to prepare your hearts. This is one small element that we hope can impact our people.
Feel free to respond with ideas and comments about this article. Thanks so much for reading!
Psalm 27:4 (Today’s New International Version)
4 One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
As we prepare for Sunday’s worship think about the attributes of God. The scripture above says to “gaze upon His beauty”. We have an opportunity to come into his temple every week and see him face to face in worship! How exciting is that? Some things i have been challenged to ask are: Am I prepared to worship, Do I expect God to move in worship, and is my worship truthful? If we are just singing words and not meaning them or do not sing with truth are we really worshiping God?
The youth will lead this weekend and they will be doing songs that focus on God’s amazing love and grace and the salvation we find in Him. Take advantage of the prayer time this Sunday before service and prepare your hearts to worship the Lord!
During the month of May we see many changes happening all around us. The psalmist declares in Psalm 19:1-4: “The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world.” (NLT) We see God in creation as we see the changing of the seasons. Let’s prepare our hearts each Sunday for worship so we may also be changed.
Listed below are the worship scriptures for the month of May. Please read through the scriptures before each Sunday and prepare your hearts and minds for worship.
May 3 – Isaiah 40:28
May 10 – Psalm 27:4 – One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
May 17 – Psalm 19:1-3 – The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
May 24 – Romans 6:4 – We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
May 31 – Psalm 63:3-4 – Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.
Please feel free to share your thoughts or read more below.
So i sent you all two articles about worshiping in todays economic climate. I would like to open our blog as a platform to discuss these articles. Give your input. Do you agree or disagree with these authors? How have you adjusted in your worship during this time?
