Day 1: Week 8 (Impress Them)

[russhutto]

Impress Them

1) Central Passage(s):

• 1 Samuel 16:7
• 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
• Acts 6:10
• 2 Chronicles 20:18-22

2) My Daily Praise:

• 1 Chronicles 15:25-29
• Practice your praise dance before the Lord! A great exercise in humility!

3) My Daily Surrender:
Ask God to help you lead to "impress" people in the correct way as you lead them in worship.

[russhutto]

1) Central Passage:
This might be one of my favorite days of this study so far.

Coming from a "performance" musician/music composition standpoint I've always been of the mind that it's almost to legalistic to say that we, as worship leaders/musicians, are to never perform.

Granted, I understand the desire to keep our hearts humble and to stay away from the area of selfish promotion and prideful performance, but I feel like at the very core of being a musician/composer is a God-given desire to move people. Or as Dwayne would say, to "impress" them.

I love this.

I think as long as we keep God and His people as the aim of our desire to impress, we're safe. The second we begin to look to others to puff up or to elevate our own personal status through their approval.

There is a line between seeking the approval of others to fill some sort of selfish void inside us and seeking to move and impress people for the service of our God and the work of His Kingdom.

That being said, I LOVE that this is the LOWEST priority of the 5 that we will be studying this week.

2) My Daily Praise:
I tend to dance a lot anyways so this is pretty comfortable for me. Great exercise though!

3) My Daily Surrender:
Lord, help my heart always be tuned to your melodies. The ones that lead me to serve others. The songs that bring glory to your name. The tunes that cause others to be awed at who YOU are. Amen.

[WorshipVanguard]

Central Passages
I’m really glad Moore made the distinction between the human belief of “impress” and the godly belief of “impress.” I’ve seen for far too long a huge effort to impress people on a human level as a means to evangelize. We really need to seek the Lord about doing his mighty work through us so that others are naturally impressed. When we look at the Book of Acts, people spoke in tongues, healed the sick, raised people from the dead, etc. Unbelievers were impressed with GOD’S POWER, not the wise words of men. Thanks for making the vital distinction, Dwayne!

Daily Praise:
Lord, I had a big grin on my face when I read today’s “Daily Praise.” I danced before you in the kitchen the other day. ☺ The boys even joined in! Lord, I find it so wonderful that as we worship you in whatever means, others see the joy you placed in us, and they immediately want to join in because they see YOU at work, and they can’t help but desire the same for their lives. You are an AWESOME God!

Daily Surrender:
Lord, even though my husband and I are not part of a local church yet, we may have found a place where your Spirit is actively sought. As far as we can tell, people have a deep rooted passion to get to know you better which is drawing us to look more into this local church. The members of the worship team seem to have a passion for worship and leading others into worship. Lord, one thing you are teaching me is to be an intercessor for worship ministries. As we continue to attend the services, I pray you will anoint their song choice, empower the words they sing, and "impress" those in attendance to draw them closer to you. I pray that everyone maintains the holy posture that our faith is not based on human wisdom or instruction but by your power alone.

[Wannabe a Worshiper]

Central Passages
It would be very easy to jump to the wrong conclusions about the lesson, until you read it.

It snowed here in SC on Christmas Day. When I walked in the snow, my feet made an impression in the snow, and footprints were left that showed I had been there. The kind of impressing today's lesson talks about is like the footprints in the snow. The footprints did not honor me, but they did change the appearance of the snow. So, our leadership should be part of the catalyst for change in the lives of those we minister to.

Ideally, when others look at us, we should be as a mirror reflecting Jesus back to the viewers. When we stand on stage, or in the check-out line, when people look at us, converse with us, they should see Jesus. This is a high standard to meet, but it is the standard given by Christ.

Beyond that, there is also the idea in the lesson, that we have a very short time in front of people before they make up their mind to listen or to shut us out. We should always strive to make our appearance, demeanor, and speech such as would make them want to listen and participate.

My Daily Praise
Dwayne, you were kidding about dancing, weren't you? I grew up in a home that taught that dancing, because of its connection with the world, was sinful. So I have never danced, even though I no longer hold to my childhood understanding of dancing. Nevertheless, when I am alone sometime today, I will make a fool of myself and dance while praising God. At least He won't think I am making a fool of myself.

My Daily Surrender

God, though I'm not the Worship Leader at my church I am a worship leader, because I stand in the choir loft where people can see how I worship, if they choose to look at me. So, let my praise be genuine and my worship real. When I raise my hands or shed tears, or whatever I do in worship that is visible, let it be done ONLY for your glory, and not so people will see how spiritual I am.

[InHisName]

Central Passage

I love that Paul said, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power." That really hit me. That we are only the vessel through which God's power moves. We're not relying on my wisdom, but on God's! PTL! He knows what He's doing!

I think this is one of the most important lessons, but also the most...dangerous? Is that the right word? There's such a fine line between performing for God and performing for ourselves. After all, human pride, especially for those of us in the creative arts, is always ready to pop up. Sometimes human approval is so much more tangible, to me, than God's approval. I think we really need to be deep in prayer and growing in our spiritual walk when trying to impress God on other people. There is a way, of course, to perform and to have authenticity shine through. Prayer and practice, I suppose.

Daily Praise

I love to dance, and I often dance with the girls. But I don't remember the last time I danced for God!! And since I'm in bed now I don't think it will be tonight...but when I do I'll get the girls and my hubby into it too! (He doesn't dance!) It's so much easier with young children; their willingness to jump for joy and praise Him is so strong. Lord, give me the heart of a child, with no reservations, only the desire to dance for joy and to praise you.

Daily Surrender

Lord, help me to impress people in a mighty, moving way when I lead. I pray for my church, for other leaders, also, that we may impress those who hear. May our words be yours. May our music glorify you. May we make a lasting, authentic impression...not about how we played, or sang, or "rocked" onstage, but about your power and your glory. Amen.

[bkwestman]

1. Central Passage
- What a great way to look at it! We lead others in the worship of God; others look on the outside, but God looks on the inside. So, we're not leading God, we're leading others. We need to be concerned with our "outsides" because otherwise we'll fail in our jobs. Seems logical. We need to impress people, by God's power -so that they will want to follow us into God's presence. But how do we impress them - certainly not with just our musical ability or pizazz Our humility and sincerity, passion and enthusiasm, confidence, excellence and preparation, and authority. Those are great things to keep in mind and have as goals. As I thought about those in relation to our ministry - it was glaringly obvious - our strength is in excellence and preparation and out weakest would be passion and enthusiasm. I've been sensing that for a while, but this helped to see it. We work so hard on the music and technical aspects that people get to bogged down with that and lose their excitement and passion.

2. My Daily Praise
- Dancing! You're really pushing a good Baptist boy here, Dwayne!

3. My Daily Surrender
- I do pray, Lord, that you empower our team to affect the people that we lead; not just impress them in the performance sense, but to impress your power and glory on them so much they enter in and join us in worshiping You!