August 2011 Front Page

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them”-Dietrich Bonhoeffer-Life together

How many of us listen to each other?  Really listen.  We might hear what someone else is saying to us, but do we hear them, or do we think we know what they said?

Most of us will hear 3 – 4 words of someone speaking to us and then start formulating what we are going to say.  We will hear where a sentence starts and then begin working on our come back, what we will respond with. In doing this, you are no longer listening, but are paying attention to yourself.  This is one of the first things I work on with couples that I am working through premarital counseling with.  Communication is the basis for every relationship, and if you are not communicating there is no basis for a relationship. This is why we pray, to communicate with God.  Part of this should be silence to listen for what God has to say to us.  We need to listen not only to get to know the other person, but we need to listen, because that is what we have to do in order to communicate.  In order to know what to really say we have to listen, and hear what is said to us. Then and only then can we respond with a response that is one that will build the relationship. It may not always be what the other person wants to hear, but it will build the relationship if it is spoken in love after listening and hearing what was said. If we listen and hear, then we will get to know more about the person and grow deeper in relation to them.

That is what Bonhoeffer tells us in the quote above.  We owe it to others to listen to them. We need to hear them and to love them by being quiet and not formulating a response while they are talking.  To hear them as we hear His word.

So the next time you are listening, listen and hear. Grow in relation to others.

Jesus Bring the Rain – Mercy Me

Bring The Rain lyrics

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I’ve gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It’s never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what’s a little rain
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

Listen!

“The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them”-Dietrich Bonhoeffer-Life together

How many of us listen to each other? Really listen. We might hear what someone else is saying to us, but do we hear them, or do we think we know what they said?

Most of us will hear 3 – 4 words of someone speaking to us and then start formulating what we are going to say. We will hear where a sentence starts and then begin working on our come back, what we will respond with. In doing this, you are no longer listening, but are paying attention to yourself. This is one of the first things I work on with couples that I am working through premarital counseling with. Communication is the basis for every relationship, and if you are not communicating there is no basis for a relationship. This is why we pray, to communicate with God. Part of this should be silence to listen for what God has to say to us. We need to listen not only to get to know the other person, but we need to listen, because that is what we have to do in order to communicate. In order to know what to really say we have to listen, and hear what is said to us. Then and only then can we respond with a response that is one that will build the relationship. It may not always be what the other person wants to hear, but it will build the relationship if it is spoken in love after listening and hearing what was said. If we listen and hear, then we will get to know more about the person and grow deeper in relation to them.

That is what Bonhoeffer tells us in the quote above. We owe it to others to listen to them. We need to hear them and to love them by being quiet and not formulating a response while they are talking. To hear them as we hear His word.

So the next time you are listening, listen and hear. Grow in relation to others.

What is Worship?

What is worship?  I have been pondering this question for a while…  The reason I think about this now is I just preached a sermon 2 days ago on the mark of discipleship of weekly worship.  Notice that is weekly not weakly worship.  I have read a lot about worship and leadership of worship, but I always wonder what others think worship is…

Is worship the one hour (as long as your pastor is not long winded!) you get recharged for the 167 other hours in the week?  Is worship something you do only in the walls of the church, or with other members of your congregation in a gathering on Sunday morning? or if you are part of a radical church maybe you gather on Saturday night or some other night or time to worship…

Is worship something we do only as a gathered body, or is it something we do on our own?

I wonder about this, because I also have an interesting interpretation on what the church is.  We tell our children on Sunday morning that we are getting ready and going to worship, and we can not go to church.  Why is it we can not go to church? Because we are the church.

There is a song by Richard Avery and Donald Marsh that goes: “I am the Church, you are the Church, we are the Church together. All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes, we’re the Church together. The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a people.”  We can not go to church because where ever we are, we are the church!  So we go to worship.  But can we go to worship?

Yes worship is the gathering we do as a community to give praise and thanks to God, and it is the service we do as the people (Liturgy – literally means the work of the people).  We in service praise God together and commune with each other and God. But is this really what worship is? Just one hour out or the week…

I believe worship is a lifestyle, and a way of life.  We were not created to worship God, as if God needs someone to worship him to make him complete!  Never.  We were not created for worship to God, because this again points us to God not being fully complete in and of himself and needs his creation to somehow complete him by worshiping him.  This does not mean that God does not desire us to worship, he does not need us to worship him and there is a big difference between desire and need!  I believe, as is pointed out in Mark Driscoll’s blog post (found here), and is said by Harold Best in his book Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts, we were created worshipping and are continually worshipping every hour of every day.  Our lives our pouring out to something all the time.  We are giving something worship – we are giving something worth and value and placing it as the most important thing in our lives at that point in time.  So we are constantly worshipping.

No matter who we are, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Athiest we are all constantly worshipping.  We are giving something value, which is the meaning of the word worship, Worth and state of being…

So what do you think? Is worship like pray a consistant daily thing?

Welcome to the 1st Century…Again « Thoughts from Paul Hill

Welcome to the 1st Century…Again « Thoughts from Paul Hill.

Interesting thoughts on what it means to be the church now in this time…

How can we let go of the past and move forward in what God has called us to be, knowing that we are not leaving anything behind, but maintaining the richness of our heritage and boldly going where only God can take us…

Who is in control…

Sometimes it seems like the wheels are spinning so fast and there is no traction and you wonder if this thing will ever move, and then you realize that if the wheels take hold you are going to go spinning off so fast that there will be no way that you can control this thing…

We face life day in and day out and think that we are in control of things.  We have the free will to choose the things we do, but who has ultimate control?

Who is in control of your money?  Who is in control of your spending? Who is in control of your job?  Who is in control of your family? Who is in control of your home? Who is in control of your congregation?

If you can not faithfully and quickly say God to all of these, then there is sin and idolatry.  God is the center of our lives and we need to acknowledge that…

So let go of the worry and allow God to have the stick and fly yo to places you have never dreamed of.