IWI Day 2 - Evening Worship

Tonight's worship was led by Tim Hughes. You know, "Here I Am To Worship". Yep, he wrote it. I loved how he was absolutely not polished. Don't hear me wrong. It was incredible! Very simple. God came in an amazing way! Ross Parsley, former worship pastor turned senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, led the teaching session. Here's what he had to say. Once again, forgive the choppy train of thought. Lot's of scripture...good stuff...take it in & let God speak to you. Without further adieu.


Ross prefaced his message with a very sincere thank you for the many prayers lifted up on behalf of New Life Church. For those of you that have been under a rock over the last year, their former Sr. Pastor Ted Haggard, stepped down due to moral failure. As Ross made abundantly clear, through it all, God's grace is sufficient!

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:3

What a contrast...the poor WILL be rich. We want God to do what only He can do. We, in America, want to prove that WE are in control, instead of acknowledging that we are really unclear about how God controls it all.

“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul” -Matthew 16:26

“The blessedness of possessing nothing”. -A.W. Tozer

Are you willing to give it all up to gain everything? You can't receive the fullness of Christ until you are willing to be emptied of yourself. The kingdom of God works on a whole different set of rules.

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility, consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others”
-Philippians 2:1-4

“And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all”
-Mark 10:44

We are all called to be slaves instead of masters. Our attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ. He HUMBLED himself...even through ALL he went through. You want to be a leader? Leadership is not a gift, it's a price to be paid. We need more worship leaders who have more innocence & are not cynical from years of working in the church. “The kingdom of heaven is given to children”.

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” -Luke 14:11

We will all be mistreated in our lives. The question is, how will you react to it, with “how dare they” or humility? Humility is never chosen. It sneaks up on you.The very idea of worship is the humbling of self & the exalting of God.

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
-2 Corinthians 12

Boast in your weaknesses & see God's power revealed! Bring forth your SERVANT HEART!

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full
extent of his love

The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

-John 13:1-5

'NUF SAID! I hope God speaks to you like He did me. Now...Go & serve!