PULSE #2 - DRIVE

Worship determines our actions, becoming the driving force for all we do.
-Louie Giglio

True or False? Worship is the #1 responsibility of every believer everywhere. Let's go even one step further. Worshipping the Lord is your first and foremost priority. Feel free to pause a moment & reflect. WOW! How intense is that. You mean to tell me that EVERYTHING I do should be worship. Yes Margaret, that's exactly what I'm saying. Let's just hope that our worship is pointed in the right direction.

Do you know why this is sooooo hard? One word...Selfishness. We're selfish. How can we be expected to take our eyes off of us long enough to focus on anything else, much less the creator of the universe & oh yeah, me. Remember, we were created to worship!

Psalm 148: 1-13

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
2 Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
3 Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
4 Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
5 Let every created thing give praise to the Lord,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
His decree will never be revoked.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you creatures of the ocean depths,
8 fire and hail, snow and clouds,
wind and weather that obey him,
9 mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all livestock,
small scurrying animals and birds,
11 kings of the earth and all people,
rulers and judges of the earth,
12 young men and young women,
old men and children.

13 Let them all praise the name of the Lord.
For his name is very great;
his glory towers over the earth and heaven!

Can you see it? Do you get it? All things were created to worship Him, at all times. Here's another question for you. Out of all of God's creation, who has the superior brain...yet, seems to create more problems than anything else? Was that ever a loaded question. Of course the answer is US! You see, we have a little thing that the average Oak tree doesn't have. It's called FREE WILL. My sincere apologies to all you tree huggers out there. We will talk ourselves out of worshipping our Creator. All the while, the rest of creation is singing His praises. Some days, wouldn't you rather just be a piece of bark? I guess that's another topic all together.

Okay, here's the point. Worship isn't about you. It's about Him. We worship as a gift to our Heavenly Father who deserves all we can give Him. Let everything you do be for Him; waking up, going to work/class, brushing your teeth. As a good friend once put it, "tying my shoelaces causes me to worship", because I know that He created the molecules that make up that shoelace. GOOD STUFF!

So, we've established the why & when of worship...because He is all deserving, at all times. What is the one thing for you that is the death of true worship? Wrestle with that for a while. For me, it is wrapped up in one, two syllable word...ROUTINE. As many of you know, as a musician, I'm a bit of an anomaly. I'm organized. Often times, you could set your clock by when I'll be at a certain place doing a certain thing. It's pathetic really. but nevertheless it's the joy that is me. My routine can become so, well, routine, that I don't take the time to give credit where credit is due. Because I'm a visual person, it helps me to put things in my path that will cause me to go vertical to God. Find out what your stumbling block is. Then, do something about it.

Worship, ultimately, should be THE priority in our lives.

What drives you to a deeper encounter with God?

Discover that & discover Him!

Until next time...

PULSE...Your Rhythm. God's Heart.

Last week I started teaching a new series on worship called "Pulse...Your Rhythm. God's Heart.". Imagine that, a worship leader teaching on worship. And no, I don't mean singing! That's just the point of this teaching. Worship is so much more than just the uttering of words (that may or may not ring true) out of one's mouth.


As many of you know, I have really been struggling lately with what it is that God has for me at this moment in time. More specifically, my role in the Creative Arts here at FBC. Although I don't yet have my finger on it just yet, I am beginning to feel as though this could be the biggest year of things to happen off stage. Take this teaching on worship for example. We have fixated, and yes, even gained a new "tradition", on worship being what happens on the platform Sunday morning. Now don't get me wrong, I love, even thrive on corporate worship. But that could be sooooo much better when we begin to get it off stage. That is why I am teaching this class! I really believe that God has big things coming, "behind the scenes" if you will. Not to sound prideful (because we all know that without God, this whole thing goes to pot), but God has blessed us & for the most part the on-stage stuff is being done well...need I say...excellently.

So, it's the off-stage (heart) issues that I believe will see the biggest growth this year. For those of you that won't have the chance to come to the class, I am going to be posting some of the key points here on the blog. To give credit where credit is due, I should say that this teaching originated from Lamar Boschman, the founder and president of the International Worship Institute. I am merely the facilitator (with a few opinions). We are two weeks into it now, so I had better stop rambling & get to it.


WEEK 1 - WIRED



We are all wired to worship. We were created to worship. The question is, what are you worshipping?

"Worship is a universal urge, hard wired by God into the very fiber of our being-an inbuilt need to connect with god" -Rick Warren

As stated earlier, God created you to be a worshipper. You don't need to be trained in worship. It comes naturally. Now, back to the question, what are you worshipping? Come on, let's be honest, the Razorbacks! Being from Texas, I'm not a fan. But around here, that's an easy one. People worship the Hogs. If that's not an idol, I don't know what is. I know, I know, I'm meddling. My apologies. What else? There's the obvious...movie stars, singers, athletes. What about the not so obvious...our kids, ourselves, worship. Yes, I said worship. You can get so wrapped up in the "expressions" of worship & miss the boat completely on the object of our worship.

Psalm 135:15-18 (New International Version)

15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
made by the hands of men.

16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but they cannot see;

17 they have ears, but cannot hear,
nor is there breath in their mouths.

18 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.

So what should be the object of our worship? That's a great segue into this week's teaching. Shall we...

WEEK 2 - AIM

"Aim at heaven and you will get the earth thrown in: aim at earth and you will get neither.
- C.S. Lewis

God didn't create you to worship simply for the sake of worship itself. Worship has a purpose. None of the expressions of worship are for your own enjoyment (although, done with the right heart, they bring personal joy), you do it for the Lord. This week really opened up my eyes to the mystery of God. I love the fact that He is mysterious. However, God's word unlocks many of those mysteries for us, if we have eyes to see. We must get to the point that we "aim" our worship for the bulls eye & are not simply content with just hitting the target. Let me explain. In God's word, He has been gracious to offer to us many of His attributes. Once again, this allows us to get more specific & not deal in generalities. Let's list a few:

Self-existent - Exodus 3:14

Eternal - Psalm 90:2

Infinite - Romans 11:33

Unchanging - Malachi 3:6a

All-knowing - Isaiah 40:13-14

Wise - 1 Timothy 1:17

And the list goes on. In fact, I'm not sure that all of His attributes will be fully revealed until we are worshipping Him face to face. Oh, I CAN'T WAIT!!

I hope this helps you to tighten your focus when worshipping. I want to leave you with a quote from a great theologian J.I. Packer:

"What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God."

BLESSINGS!

Joy in the journey -or- *%&@#$)&!

Day 2 on the Night of Worship recording. Yes, I said day 2! I'm just now finding the time to actually get to it. I know that I know that I know that I was not meant to be a record producer. I love to put my two cents in on what I think sounds good, but actually doing the editing is, well, challenging to say the least. Props to all you producers out there in cyberspace. Making something sound good is flat out HARD!

This year we bought some new equipment to multi-track. It worked really well. Now, if I can just get through this post-production process (say that 5 times fast) without totally destroying the original recording, I'll be AMAZED! You see, I'm a trial & error type of student. However, recording equipment sometimes doesn't leave much room for error.

I've learned something else. Well, I already knew it, but let's just say that the problem is multiplied on a recording. THE CHOIR MICS PICK UP EVERYTHING! Thus making the drums sound like they are in a can.

I say all this to say, you are my blogofriends (new word), and I covet your prayers for patience, perserverence & time management mainly. In the end, It will sound GREAT! It's just the getting there that I'm concerned about.

Here's a link to a file for the first song "Psalm 40". I thought you might be interested to see how it's coming. Keep in mind, this is a rough copy, not the master. Let me know in the comments if the link doesn't work. Once again...trial & error.

http://www.mediamax.com/maedingt/Hosted/01%20Track%201.wma

Ahhhhh...The joy in the journey!

WHATEVER

Finally Brethren, whatever things are true,...noble,...just,...pure,...lovely,...of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things...... Philippians 4:8

My friend Meeshelle came up with a great idea for a blog of psalms, prose & poetry. No, that's only part of the idea. The great part is that although it is her brainchild, it's not her blog. IT'S YOURS!

The blog's address is: http://whatever-is.blogspot.com

Here's the idea. First you go to the following website: http://www2.blogger.com/home. Once you're there, simply type in the following:

Username: ctr33599@centurytel.net
Password: FBCA2007

Once you're in, click on "New Post", type away, click publish & you're good to go. It's that simple.

Remember, this is a blog dedicated to glorifying our Savior Jesus Christ using the creative gifts that He has given us. It's not meant to be a place to get on your soapbox! Feel free to start your own blog to do that.

The book of Acts, chapter 2 speaks of living together in community. Consider this the cyber-community. TO THE GLORY OF GOD!!

Thanks Meeshelle!

New Year's Resolution #267 BLOG MORE

For some reason it has lost its new car smell. It's not that I don't enjoy doing it. On the contrary, I love writing, commentating, creating, etc... I loved driving my brand new red Jeep Cherokee (even though it went through 3 engines in 3 years), but as the wise saleslady told me..."the new will wear off in a few days & you'll still be stuck with the payment. Come to think of it, I think she might have been one of the only sales persons in history that tried to talk me out of buying something.

Anyway, I feel much better now that that's off my chest. Consider this the official, I'm back in the blogosphere, post.

Ciao!