He is Faithful, Bryan and Katie Torwalt (ITUNES LINK)

O The Blood, Gateway Worship (ITUNES LINK)

How He Loves, David Crowder Band (ITUNES LINK)

Freedom Reigns, Jason Upton (ITUNES LINK)

Have a great week. These are all songs we’ll do again in the future so I’d encourage you to spend the $4 to buy them. They’re good tunes and you’ll be more equipped to worship when we gather together on Sundays.

Cole

SONGS:

One Thirst, Bethel Live – (ITUNES LINK)

I Stand Amazed, Chris Tomlin – (ITUNES LINK)

Our God, Chris Tomlin – (ITUNES LINK)

Healing is in Your Hands, Christy Knockles – (ITUNES LINK)

TEACHING:

Last fall, my family and I had the opportunity to go back up to Ga and visit family. And because we have so much family up there, we stayed pretty busy. And especially for my kids, it was just event after event after event. From pool to lunch to grandparents to birthday parties. And in the midst of all that my daughter Skyler starting constantly asking: “What’s next.”  As soon as we got to my in-laws house, she was thinking and asking “What are we doing next?” We’d get to the pool to go swimming and even before she got in the water she’d be asking, “What are we doing after this?” And after a while I had to sit down with her and say Skyler, “We are here right now, enjoying our friends and family. Lets just BE HERE right now”  

We come to church with this mentality to often don’t we?  We walk in the doors and we’re thinking, “What’s next?” or “What’s for lunch.”  And while some of that is innocent and harmless, when we allow it to dominate our thoughts during worship and the teaching of the word, we’re missing what God has for us NOW. So next time we gather together, I’d invite you to get rid of your “What’s next” mentality.” Let’s ask instead, “What is God doing NOW”

*What do you think? Am I totally off? Do you do this? Do you not? How do you keep your heart focused on him amidst all the business? Lemme know what you think in the comment section below

For All You’ve Done, Hillsong (ITUNES LINK)

Jesus Paid it All, Kristian Stanfill (ITUNES LINK)

Stronger, Hillsong (ITUNES LINK)

When I Say I Do, Matthew West (ITUNES LINK)

I Will Rise, Chris Tomlin (ITUNES LINK)

Hope you had a great Easter. Because He lives, we live!

Walk in the promise

GO

Our God is Love

Stronger

I Breathe You In God

Healer

Come to Me

I Will Exalt

Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)

Never Once

The Lost Are Found

One Thing Remains

(CLICK HERE for a grooveshark playlist of some of the stuff we do on Sunday mornings)

Battle, Chris August (i-Tunes Link)

Stronger, Hillsong (i-Tunes Link)

Rescuer, Johnny Parks Band (i-Tunes Link)

If you have any questions, feel free to drop a comment of shoot me an email.

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh   -Phil 3:3

I don’t worship by my flesh. I worship by the spirit of God and I glory in Christ Jesus.  This seems like it’s detached from what we do in America, but I don’t think it is. Paul is saying that those who are of the circumcision think they have some extra access to worship God because of their physical circumcision. This is just funny to think about. They think because the end of their penis doesn’t have the extra skin from birth, that they have extra favor with God. Weird. But to give them credit, it made sense in their day. It was a sign of a covenant between them and God. But what about now? Paul says that WE are the circumcision(the people who have a covenant with God) because we worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.

It’s all about who is “special” to God. Who gets his attention. Who he notices more. Who he favors. Who’s “in”.

And we are still concerned with this today. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to be near to God and wanting his favor.  It’s how we go about getting it that can get twisted. See, the jews of the day followed all the religious laws and thought that they were earning favor with God.  What about today?  What do we do to earn favor with God?

The first thing that comes to mind (because I lead a worship service every week) is church clothes. There is nothing wrong with signs of honor, I do it everytime I go on a date with my wife, but there IS something very wrong when we genuinely believe God sees or favors us more because of our clothing.  We are coming before the God of the universe. Do we really think that a collar on our shirt or a crease in pants is going to earn us enough points to enter into his presence.

No way Jose. Ain’t happenin’.

He’s God. He’s holy. You can’t come before him just because you cleaned up a bit. And without the blood of Jesus, you would be utterly consumed in His presence (and not in a good way).  Thinking our clothes or hair is going to somehow earn us favor or even saftey in the presence of God is like jumping into a shark tank with your “briar proof” jeans. It just ain’t gonna cut it.

But “It is we who are the circumcision [figuratively], we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh” that can enter into his presence freely.  James 4:6 says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. That’s why that 20 something that just came to Christ (you know the one, he doesn’t know that the “F” word is not an acceptable adjective anymore) encounters God in incredible ways while the prideful, albeit nicely dressed, church folk seem to struggle to hear from God at all.

So in the end, it’s not about dress or not dress. That’s just an example. We strive to earn God’s favor in countless other ways: work, language, good deeds, being nice, etc.  But what God is after is a heart change. A humbling before the incredible work of his son Jesus and a realization that only be His sacrifice do we have access to God.  And only by the Spirit of God can we worship the father at all (remember John 4?).

So, today I don’t want to feel like I need to measure up to come before God.  I want to worship by the Spirit of God. I want to glory in Christ Jesus, not myself, because, lets face it: I don’t have all that much to glory in on my own. Oh, but in Jesus, nothing is impossible. He can use me and mold me and give me an incredible destiny. Thank You Jesus.

I think this one can be summed up in 2 words: BAD MIX

I’ve been in traditional Easter services where the Orchestra is pushing 110 Db and the entire senior community is present and loving it!  So, I think we can say with confidence that when people complain about a 4 piece band running 95Db that the real issue isn’t volume, it’s the mix*.

I have run sound enough to know that when the average person complains about the mix, they generally don’t say things like, “I’m suffering from listening fatigue” or “The cymbals seem harsh, can you roll back the highs a bit” or “The vocals are way out front. Anyway to get them back in the mix.”  Nope, it’s will almost always, “This music is too loud” or, more specifically, “The drums are too loud!”

So, if your a senior or worship pastor:
Invest in some great FOH engineers. Acoustically treat your room. Isolate your gear(you can’t run your rig like The Edge unless you have 10,000 people in your venue). Invest in good equipment. And I promise you this: it will go a long way in unifying your church in terms of music.

If your a congregation member:
Administer some grace, churches aren’t run on elaborate budgets (at least yours probably doesn’t), and it’s likely your leaders are doing their best.  And in the meantime, feel free to offer constructive,  heartfelt, criticism and loving, authentic encouragement. (And try to do more of the latter than the former).

What do you think?  Do you agree? Do you disagree?

*This is a general statement. Sometimes, it’s just TOO LOUD!

“God gets it, we don’t have to sing the same thing over and over”

“There isn’t any depth to these new songs. It’s just the same words over and over”

“The older music is where we learned our doctrine as a kid. What are kids learning these days with these songs?”

My wife actually brought up the best response I have heard to these objections: “The angels are incredibly repetitive, no one ever criticizes them.”  In case your not familiar with this scripture, she’s referring to Revelation 4:8-11 where it says that the living creatures and the elders before the throne sing essentially the same thing ALL day and night.

Wow. Talk about repetitive.

Would we say to those creatures before the throne: “God gets it. Move on?”  Of course not. The reason they sing isn’t to help God understand his Holiness.  And it’s not even to help THEM understand something about God. Get this:

Their worship is ENTIRELY based upon his worth.

They’ve never been healed, restored, freed or delivered. Never have they had a prayer answered or a request fulfilled.  The nature of God’s Holiness and Glory dictate their unceasing worship.  It’s as if every line they sing isn’t enough to express his worth.

And so for us, should we sing the same thing ALL day and night?  Of course not.  Would he be worth it?  Absolutely.  In the same way that there is nothing wrong with long, theological songs, there is nothing wrong with long, repetitive songs. We have examples of both in scripture. Why in the past 20-30 years have we seen the worship culture become saturated with repetitive music?

We’re inundated with information.

I get information fed to me from my computer, my phone, my friends, the newspaper, my tv, and advertisements just about everywhere I go. This wasn’t the case when the great Hymns were written. It was an event to get the local paper. People we looking for ways to carry information and songs were amazing mediums.

Today, I think we have a generation that is so inundated with information that when they go to music, they aren’t looking for more information, they are looking for passion and experience.  Which brings us to next week’s issue: “It’s too emotional”

*feel free to post thoughts in the comments section

1. These are generally complaints that divide our generations in worship, which is not God’s heart. At all. As Bob Kauflin has said: “When we segregate our worshippers because of music, we perpetuate the idea that music has more power to divide us than the gospel does to unite us.”  Very challenging

2. If we never address these things, countless believers will continue to walk into church with a heart to worship and walk out discouraged or upset. This shouldn’t be so.  I think misunderstanding and communication are at the root of our problems here.

3. Unity has always been the precursor for outpourings of God. Look at the church right before pentecost: unified. And in Acts 4, even after persecution: unified. It’s almost as if unity is the vessel that allows the church to host a mighty move of the Holy Spirit. And I think that is what most of us really want.

4. I’m hearing some of this in my own congregation and I would love for those of you reading who are a part of riverside to be able to hear my heart, even if we haven’t gotten a chance to talk personally.

So that’s it. I’ll have a new post up in the next few days.  I’d love for this to be a conversation, so feel free to comment. Good or bad.

Cole

“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of You.” – Phil 2:17

Mind you, I am no expert on the Jewish sacrificial system, but a drink offering was essentially a liquid (typically wine or oil) poured out on an altar before the Lord as a sign of thanks and worship.  And I love the picture that Paul draws here, not just between himself and God, but between everyone involved: Paul, the Philippians, and God.  Paul says that he is a drink offering and that the sacrifices/service of the Philippians is the alter. How amazing that Paul’s discipleship is an offering to the Lord. How beautiful that the fruit of those disciples is an offering as well.  I long to model this in my life. That my life would be an offering to the Lord, poured over the fruit of those I disciple.

Today, no matter who you are, can I ask you this?  Where are you pouring yourself out? Work? Sports? Money? Retirement? Hobbies? Those things are fleeting.  Pour yourself out for what matters. Pour yourself into discipling your kids and loving your wife.  Find a person younger than you and speak into their lives and their walk with the Lord.  Befriend that neighbor and pour yourself out to see them come to know our precious Jesus.  How our world would be changed if we poured ourselves out for others!

Cole