Day 5 - True Worship Changes Us

[fmckinnon]

Today is the final day of Week 1.
The lesson is entitled "True Worship Changes Us"

Isn't it fitting that we conclude this week in our Daily Surrender, asking God to "show up and show out" in our weekend services?

Share your thoughts on today's lesson, and the First Week overall.

[Klampert]

This was an interesting section today.
Hoonestly Fred's little blurb threw me off because I was expecting something different. Note to self do devotional and then read Fred's blurb.

I think every time we enter into a worship setting we need to come with the expectation that we will be affected by Christ.

However there is a little pet peeve I have with the verbage "I hope God shows up" or "lets pray God shows up"

He was is and an is to come. He was in the church building before you turned the lights on and he is with us daily.

We are affected by him when we worship but we don't always get that warm and fuzzy feeling.

We have to be careful not to walk out of worship and go "man...God almost showed up" or "we almost had it"

What is it...when we praise the name of jesus demons shudder.

Bible says where two or more are gathered He is in our midst.

There are times as worship leaders that we think we aren't effective.

We are effective when we are faithful. God does the rest.

A song that I always come back to is Facedown by Matt redman.
It is simple and it expresses humility and reverence. Coming before the king not because we want to get something out of it,but because He is worthy.
Getting effected by it is just an awesome by product.

these words really speak to the true heart of worship.

Welcomed in to the courts of the King
I've been ushered in to Your presence
Lord, I stand on Your merciful ground
Yet with every step tread with reverence

And I'll fall facedown
As Your glory shines around
Yes, I'll fall facedown
As Your glory shines around

Who is there in the heavens like You?
And upon the earth, who's Your equal?
You are far above, You're the highest of heights
We are bowing down to exalt You

So let Your glory shine around
Let Your glory shine around
King of glory, here be found
King of glory

that last part is an awesome prayer to pray every time we come to lead worship

[fmckinnon]

Joel,
You are so right ... I think when we hear an expression like "God showed up", we're more referring to his "manifest" presence - not so much His "omnipresence", but his "revealed" presence ... at least, that's what I always mean.

[ErikaMichelle]

Joel, you must have gotten in my head this afternoon b/c that is just what I was going to post. . . So you said it better than I ever could have so all I will say is "Ditto!!"

Isaiah 6 hit me today. I was immediately brought to a place of reverence as I read that chapter today. Our unholiness is always exposed when we are in the true light of God's supreme holiness . . . BUT . . . Our Great King does not focus on those things. It is almost as if He says, "All have sinned and come short of my glory. You are forgiven, now get over it and let's create something together FOR my glory".

If we stay focused on our sin, on our unholiness, the Lord cannot move through us. We have been forgiven, the old nature is dead and we are alive in Christ. If that can be our focus in our times of corporate worship, how mightily the Lord will manifest His presence. When in the unity of the faith we move toward one goal - Glorifying the Lord!!!

[Wrapped in Jesus Love!]

Okay - I'm having problems today. I've typed this three times and it logged me out and it was really good. So I will try to recreate it. I am copying it this time before I post.

Isaiah 6: We are forgiven if we ask for forgiveness. We ask and He forgives! We are the ones who then create the problem. We ask for forgiveness - He forgives us - then we hold on to that sin or problem. We need to realize that when God forgives - He then forgets, if we ask with repentence. Then we need to learn to let go of the sin or problem.

I like the part of asking God to "show up" at our services. I agree that God is always there and we really don't need to ask. But our human side sees it more clearly if we put it into words. When we ask God to "show up" we are preparing our hearts for worship, and hopefully that will spill over everyone else.

Music speaks to me in a distinctive way. I love to sing a song that tells something. One of the songs that means a lot to me is Matt Redmann's "When the Music Fades. When everything else is taken away and you stand before God what will God see in your heart??? Worship is all about Him - not us.

When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worhip
And it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus

[MidlandFlute]

Okay - I'm having problems today. I've typed this three times and it logged me out and it was really good. So I will try to recreate it. I am copying it this time before I post.

Isaiah 6: We are forgiven if we ask for forgiveness. We ask and He forgives! We are the ones who then create the problem. We ask for forgiveness - He forgives us - then we hold on to that sin or problem. We need to realize that when God forgives - He then forgets, if we ask with repentence. Then we need to learn to let go of the sin or problem.

I like the part of asking God to "show up" at our services. I agree that God is always there and we really don't need to ask. But our human side sees it more clearly if we put it into words. When we ask God to "show up" we are preparing our hearts for worship, and hopefully that will spill over everyone else.

Music speaks to me in a distinctive way. I love to sing a song that tells something. One of the songs that means a lot to me is Matt Redmann's "When the Music Fades. When everything else is taken away and you stand before God what will God see in your heart??? Worship is all about Him - not us.

When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worhip
And it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus

Thanks! I believe there is NOTHING as clear as When The Music Fades!
Thanks and what a way to end Week 1 of our study Pure Praise!

[Wannabe a Worshiper]

Well, it happened to me, too. I wrote 3 paragraphs, then it just disappeared.
So I'll try again. Maybe I wasn't suppposed to write what I wrote.

I am grateful to God for inspiring Dwayne Moore to write "Pure Praise," for leading The Worship Community to organize this group study, and for prompting all of you to contribute your insights, scriptures, prayers, praises, and tears. The book alone would have been profitable to me, but the added blogs and fellowship with new friends is making the study life-changing.

It is hard for me not to envy those of you who serve in churches where authentic worship is practiced. Many of us serve churches where most of the people think worship is either the music or the sermon. The concept of a 24/7 life altering worship is a foriegn concept. I believe God has put me where I am, partly so I can teach the church what genuine worship is, but first, I have to know what it is. (That's why I'm here.)
I know without a doubt that God is present in our services. I know He speaks to people, and that He changes hearts. So, even though there are rarely any bells and whistles, I know That God is there.

It seems that this is the day to post words to songs. I downloaded a song a while back, and I don't know who wrote it, or who sings it. I have never heard it anywhere else, but it has been going through my head all day.
It is called "Jesus In Me." The idea of it is, What will people say about me when I'm gone?

Will they say they saw Jesus in me?
Will they say I reflected His love and His mercy?
When I draw my last breath, and I sing my last word,
Will they say they saw Jesus
Did my life show them Jesus?
Will they say they saw Jesus in me?
I pray they saw Jesus in me.

Can I make a suggestion for the weekend?
Go back over each day's study, then that day's comments from us. I think it will help to reinforce what we have learned this week.
God bless.

[Wrapped in Jesus Love!]

I know why mine disappeared. I sometimes take too long to think about what I want to type and then it logs me out. So I'm trying to get into the habit of copying before I send. But I forgot again, and typed this so now I'm retyping once again.

Wannabe's song reminded me of a poem by Linda Ellis called "the Dash". We had used the poem for a church directory and with the author's permission I used the poem on a page with the picture of the lady who passed away. The poem talks about the dash between your birth year and your death year. What will people say about how your spent your dash?

Here are some websites:

http://www.lindaslyrics.com/thedashpoem.html

Here is a movie clip of her poem, with the words on the screen with music and pictures.

http://www.thedashmovie.com/linda/

Her poem was made into a song. I was having trouble downloading it but here it is in case you can get it.

http://www.lindaslyrics.com/The_Dash_Song.htm

Check out "The Dash" poem at the websites listed above.

[MandoRon]

I’ve really enjoyed the study so far. I feel like God is revealing a lot to me. Very little of what he's revealing seems to deal with “worship”, but it probably affects my ability to worship Him fully. Fred – thanks so much for putting all of this together.

I found the story of Isaiah interesting. People really can be touched while watching us worship. Before I read today’s study, I had read a friend of mine’s blog. He wrote about physical worship. http://codyknutson.wordpress.com/200...sical-worship/ His post has the story (Youtube video) of Brian “Head” Welch (formerly of Korn). He saw people worshipping and waving their hands in the air, and figured they were either crazy or had something that he needed.

Now that’s not to say that we’re supposed to put on a show. The Bible is very clear about that. But our worship can be a witness to others, if our heart and motives are pure.

I also used a song in my daily praise… ”Majesty” by Lee McDerment has been on by mind a lot lately.

The chorus goes…

Holy, Holy. God Almighty. Majesty.
Holy, Holy. God Almighty. Christ the King.

[Wrapped in Jesus Love!]

Here is another song that depicts what worship really is all about!!!

I Can Only Imagine

Go to this website to see a really neat video with pictures, singing and lyrics.

http://www.andiesisle.com/icanonlyim...highspeed.html