The End and the Beginning
I’m a little late to these 2 announcements, but Here it goes:
7|22 — the Tuesday night singles Bible study originally started by Louie Giglio in 1995 — has come to an end after 12 years.
And Louie Giglio is planting a church in the Atlanta area.
Welcome to the Silence
Hi. Welcome to the silence.
Life is so loud sometimes and just being still even for a few minutes can powerfully rearrange everything that’s assaulting our minds and our hearts. Especially when God is in view. After all he’s the one who said “be still and know that I am God.”
So we’ve turned the volume down as we start what we hope will be a beautiful and raucous night in the hopes that the things we need to hear most will become really, really loud.
God knows who you are. Where you are. And he knows what you need in this moment. He is not looking at a massive crowd but the eyes of the one who so easily spoke galaxies into their places are looking right at you. Amazingly he knows your name and the color he painted your eyes. And he knows what makes you laugh and what makes you cry. He is not distracted by what you think about him. Or what you want him to think about you. He knows what he thinks about you and how he feels. And he wants to say something to you in the silence.
“I love you.”
Let that sink into the silence and the stillness and the soil of your heart.
God loves you. Oh don’t believe the words on the screen or the words of somebody. You don’t have to take it from a third party. No. The Father has spoken directly to you. The God of all creation is engaging you in a pretty stunning conversation. And as is always the case God is speaking first. Not waiting for your proposal or assessment of where you feel you are. Or if you’ll ever be as amazing as something deep inside tells you that you were meant to be. He isn’t waiting to hear about all your screw ups or your great deeds to make it up. No God is eager to share his take on you. (more…)
Look Up
“Unless we see God, we cannot worship Him. Worship is what spontaneously flows out of us when we come face to face with Him. It’s the natural response to all of who He is. Our grateful response for all He has done. Sure, we get a massive amount out of the experience of worshiping Him. But at its core, worship is all about God. It’s for Him. Our worship is to Him.
Source: Louie Giglio. The Air I Breathe: Worship As a Way of Life. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006.
It Doesn’t Start with Us
The key word is “response.” Worship is our response to God. In other words, we don’t initiate worship; God does.
He reveals; we respond.
He discloses; we respond.
He unveils; we respond.
He chooses to show us how amazing He is; we say “God, You’re amazing!”
Our whole relationship with God works the same way:
He loves. We love in return.
He calls. We answer.
He leads. We follow.
Source: Louie Giglio. The Air I Breathe: Worship As a Way of Life. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006.
It’s Something You Do
Worship is a verb – at least that’s what author Robert Webber says in his book by the same title. I think he’s right. Practically speaking, worship is always a verb. Worship is something you do.
Worship isn’t something you watch, contrary to the thinking of many of us who attend church. That may be hard to believe, given that in most churches the rows of seats (or pews) are arranged with sight lines in mind. The lights also point to the stage. And to help you with your viewing pleasure, you’re handed a program at the door – a line-up card for what’s happening up front in today’s “show,” if you will. After all, it’s all put on for you, is it not? A few ministers even act like actors. Some singers and musicians seem to perform. In many cases you can even watch the whole thing on a big screen. Often there’s even a matinee or evening performance for the non-morning crowd. (more…)
Who, Not Where
God doesn’t require ornate or elaborate expressions. The worship He’s looking for is spiritual and true. Genuine. Authentic. Worship from the heart. That’s how Jesus put it in a conversation He was having with a Samaritan woman one afternoon while resting beside a common well. Soon into their talk, Jesus was disclosing His knowledge of her private affairs. (After she mentioned that she was unmarried, He pointed out that she’d actually had five husbands, and the man she was now living with wasn’t one of them). That immediately tipped her off that this guy had some kind of special wisdom. She might as well tap into it. She quickly posed a question that evidently had been bothering her for some time. Her people (the Samaritans) worshiped on one mountain, His people (the Jews) on another. Who was right? Which mountain was better? Where should she worship? For a total stranger who knew everything about her past, this simple “where” question shouldn’t be too hard. Right? But as we’ve come to expect, Jesus took the subject to another level, answering a basic “where” question with a riveting “who” answer. Here’s His comeback: (more…)
What God Wants Most For You
“God loves you very much. But God also loves Himself, because to do anything less would mean not being God. More than any of us, God knows how valuable He is. He knows He’s God. He knows He’s central. As a result, He values Himself most.
No, He’s not egotistical, thinking more highly of Himself than He should. He’s the only God, thinking of Himself as He truly is. But God’s centrality hasn’t stopped Him from loving you with the greatest love known to man. And through the death of His Son, God has made a way for you to return to His loving arms, washed clean and forgiven because of the price He paid at the cross of Jesus Christ. (more…)
Worship is a Global Thing
Psalm 67
Make Your Face Shine upon Us
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!6 The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!
We talk a lot about worship being a corporate thing. A personal thing. A lifestyle thing. A modern thing. A musical thing. A prophetic thing. But we must not forget that worship is also a global thing. By that I mean that we cannot be immersed in the presence of God without our hearts eventually turning to the lost peoples of the world.
In other words, it’s another way of saying that true worship may bless us, but it never ends with us. Authentic worship in the presence of God always compels us beyond the walls of our lives, leading us outward to the waiting world. For if God is as awesome as we say He is, and if He alone does the wonderful things we attribute to Him, then we will soon find our hearts inextricably linked to His, longing for every single soul on planet earth to sing His praise.
If that’s not where our hearts are today, chances are we have not truly worshipped. (more…)
Defining Worship
This morning, I started a week-long “j-term” class. I am taking The Worshipping Church, and as it says on the syllabus, the course is “a study of Christian worship, its biblical roots, its historical development, the impact of the Reformation and the liturgical revival; a comparative study of denominational worship patterns, the selection of worship materials, planning orders of worship, inner-staff participation in worship in relation to preaching, evangelism, music, and spiritual growth in participants.”
For the next couple weeks, I’ll be discussing worship / church music related issues on my blog here. Before starting at Southern, I had been leading worship for… let’s just say a long time. I have always enjoyed the corporate singing of His praises, and the joyful responsibility of leading people to recognize their position in Christ. I do miss leading corporate worship, but since being called to the ministry of the Word, I still find myself yearning to spread a biblical theology of worship. (more…)
