Panem nostrum cotidiànum da nobis hòdie

Give us today our daily bread.

I recommend reading John 6:22-59 before proceeding with this post. Here is a quick link for you. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/

Enough: This past Sunday evening we sang together a song called Enough. Many of you have probably heard it before. I used to have a problem with the words. "All of you is more than enough for all of me..." I thought the text just did not do justice to the depth of the Almighty's provision for us. But, when did our words ever truly capture the overwhelming magnificence of the King? He is more than enough. If He was only just enough, that would be enough. You see? He is all we need because we are completely dependent on Him.

Draw Near: In John 6 Jesus teaches that He is the living bread. No one who comes to Him will ever be hungry, none who believes in Him will ever be thirsty. To truly be fed we must come to the Word that became Flesh. That dwelt among. That laid down it's life for those welcomed as friends. "This teaching is hard," said some of His disciples. It is also encouraging I say. The daily bread is free. Just be drawn to your King and let His glory fill you. He is enough for you.

Personal: While I am largely thinking towards corporate worship, this is the place where our daily, personal worship is challenged. If you worship daily in word and deed, your corporate worship will be more faithful because your relationship with the Triune God will be more complete and in right standing. Call on the Name daily. Honor the Name daily. Bless the Name daily. Sing a new song daily. Let praises ring from your heart and lips daily. Worship with a smile. Remember: Spirit and Truth.

All glory, laud, and honor to the Bread of Life.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

Proverbs 30: 7 "Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:

8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.

9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.

Will

"Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

What is God's will? How do we do His will? If God is all-powerful, won't His will be done regardless of our actions? In worship, it is God's will that His people worship Him faithfully, honoring His name as holy, being the Kingdom, worshiping in Spirit and in Truth, singing New Songs, singing Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, worshiping the Lord with gladness, worshiping Him with loud cymbals and stringed instruments, with trumpets, with our voices, with our whole beings (with run-on sentences).

Most of all, it is God's will that we worship Him with our lives; "Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12) This may be the clearest instruction of how to worship in all the Scriptures. Worship of the Almighty is more than a song. Again I say to you that our lives are demanded to be faithful worshipers as citizens of God's Kingdom.

How can we worship with a song if we do not first worship with our lives?

God's Will? John 6:38-40 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise them up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." Christ is quite clear as to what His Father's will was for Him. If we are to be conformed to Jesus' image and in being conformed, exalt the Father as He did, then our worship should (and will) point others to the Way of salvation through Christ Jesus. This is a natural occurrence that we do not have to force when we worship faithfully. This is because faithful worship lifts high the Name of Jesus and the Truth of His life of love.

Until every knee bows, let us not be silent. And if the rocks cry out, let us sing even still! Amen and amen.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

Allegiance

In the second subject of the model prayer we encounter the phrase, "Your Kingdom come..." What does it mean for the Almighty's Kingdom to come? The first thing we take from the mention of kingdom is the kingship, or, kingliness of God. An American society seems not to cope with a king well. We love the right, the freedom, to vote and to feel like we take part in decisions made. We have some sense of control over our lives because we have a right to our own opinion. But this does not seem to fit into a kingly politic.

Do you ever stop to ask yourself where your allegiance lies? Have you ever thought about your worship as it relates to the Kingdom of God? If we were to juxtapose God's Kingdom with our earthly government we would realize that both demand allegiance. Both demand something from us. America has given us a contract that says our taxes buy us protection, some health care, and citizenship... God's Kingdom has offered a covenant. The covenant says that the Kingdom would send forth it's ambassador. The spotless Lamb. The Lamb would lay down His life, and take away the sin of the world. Free. No taxes. Citizenship in this Kingdom means we live an abundant life of magnification, service, and sacrifice. The great Love poured out through the Lamb demands devotion of our whole being. Small price to pay for the benefits of being a citizen of the Kingdom of God.

"Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."

In our worship it is important to magnify the One God alone. Does the magnification of an earthly kingdom have any place in the Church's worship? We are citizens of two governments; earthly and heavenly. With which does our true allegiance lie? Render unto Caesar what is his. God wants our devotion though. God is jealous of His glory. He alone is worthy of it. Next time you approach the Throne in worship, think of yourself as a pilgrim on a journey home. You are here, you obey the laws of the land you are in, but your true allegiance lies with the King of glory. The Almighty. The One who was, is, and is to come.

Oh Lord, come quickly.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

The Faithful Ones

This morning in worship, a friend and I sang The Lord's Prayer which is a musical setting of the Model Prayer found in Mathew 6. I've heard this prayer one thousand times at least (not exaggerating). The staff at our church has been doing a lot of thinking about said Model Prayer and it's implications for our supplications. What implications does it have for our worship? We'll come back to that.

I got to thinking this evening about what is necessary in our corporate worship (the Preceptor can be so thought provoking). Our church played hostess to a most wonderful group from Benton, AR. called Pure Energy. All teenagers, 112 of them, they sang for us and led our congregation in glorious praise. Our students chimed in as well. It was magnificent. When 130 teenagers are singing in one voice to the glory of God it is hard to ignore. It felt great. I'm sure you're thinking, "Wow, The Lord's Prayer in the morning service and a choir concert in the evening, those folks have got it going on!" Well, perhaps we do have it going on. We're sure feeling good about it too. What is necessary in our worship? Certainly all this glorious music is. Surely a wonderful choir anthem each Sunday morning is required. The drums most certainly should not be heard. A nice instrumental number for the weekly offering. A quarterly observance of the Lord's Supper (don't want it to become monotonous, and please do not call it Communion or Eucharist). We need a good long and loud sermon with some warm and fuzzy illustrations (hope preacher man makes us laugh this week). A scripture reading. A prayer (not a corporate one though, it feels too...umm...liturgical?) And our music leader better play the guitar, because that looks good these days. And, MOST IMPORTANTLY, it BETTER make ME FEEEEEL GOOOOOD!

Someone once said to me that they did not feel like we should have the Lord's Supper each week. I told this person that I did not feel like I took part in true worship unless I did take Communion. My friends, God is not concerned in the least with how we feel about our worship.

In the discussion of style in worship there are many sides to take. As a worship leader one must make many decisions about what to sing, read and pray each week. As a worshiper there is but one decision to make: Will my worship be faithful or unfaithful? God calls us to be faithful. He expects and accepts nothing less.

The first part of the Model Prayer says, "Your name be honored as holy." The Psalms repeatedly command us to bless the Name of the Lord, Yahweh. The Name, the Name, the Name. Job blessed the Name of the Lord in his anguish. God does not just take the blessing of His Name seriously. It is necessary for Faithful worship.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. O Lord, help us to honor Your Name as holy. Help us not to take Your name upon ourselves vainly, rather, teach us to carry it with honor and love. Put within us a passion to see Your name glorified, high and lifted up and exalted above all blessing and praise (Nehemiah 9:5). You alone are worthy of Your glory.

May we be found as the faithful ones.

Grace and Peace,
Joel

Lift Up Your Head, O Worshiper

The phrase, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so," has been in my mind a lot lately. I got to thinking about the old song that many of us know that repeats the words over and over again. Its funny how childhood works it's way into our adulthood.

Psalm 107:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. [a] 4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.


We all come before the Lord thirsty and hungry. Each one of us is filled with the Cup and the Bread that satisfies our whole being for all time. Each one that partakes. Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name. It is in the nature of the redeemed to worship the Redeemer.

Before the rocks cry out,
Before the rocks cry out,
Lift up Your head, O worshiper,
The King of Glory comes.

Grace and Peace,
joel

Once Upon A Time

Growing Pains: Just a couple of years ago (when I was much younger:) I had a strong opinion about my calling for ministry. I felt strongly that I was not supposed to work in a local church. In fact, I believed my only connection to the local church would be one of support from the church, without me doing anything in return (other than attaching my ever so prestigious name to it). I'm sure many of my motives were pure and honest. I know many of them weren't. Its hard to get famous leading worship in the same congregation each week. The Preceptor sat and waited patiently, for years really, for me to 'grow up' (my own words). Thinking about ME two years ago makes me scared of what I'll think of the current ME two years from now.

Conversion: Before I married I took a position as a worship leader in a part-time capacity at a church. I married during my time there. My wonderful wife and I spent a lot of time frustrated with "church." Things just didn't gel. It was supposed to be glorious. It was meager at best for our paradigm. But subtly a shift took place inside of me. I started to lose my thinking of how church is 'supposed' to look. The global Church became more important to me. I started to see the local church as part of the global Church. All Creatures Of Our God And King, Lift Up Your Vioce And With Us Sing. What I've found is that the more I care for the global Church, the more important the local church is to me. The Body is made up of many members: great and small.

God-Sized: I get tired of these hook-phrases. Some friends of mine and I were on our way back to the Rock from Hot Springs after driving to a church, only to find that the worship event we were supposed to lead in had been canceled. All of our gear was in the back of a Ford f-150 pickup, no tarp, it was rainy. We were thrilled to say the least. Out on I-30, between Malvern and Benton we were passed and splashed by a huge RV pulling a large trailer. The trailer and RV had matching flashy paint jobs with some fancy, new-wave Christian symbolism (definitely not against symbolism, just let me finish the story). The text on the side of the RV read: "Doing God-Sized Things." As you may imagine this started a bit of a discussion in the cab of the truck. The rain kept coming. The gear was fine when we got home though. Thanks be to God.

• A water jug
• Five loaves, two fishes
• Gideon's army
• David, before he was king
• Moses'/God's rod
• Thorns and nails
• Pierced flesh
• "Let the little children come unto me..."
• A young virgin
• A carpenter
• Saul/Paul
• A cross of wood
• The early church
• St. Patrick
• Lottie Moon
• St. Francis
• Zacheous
• A heart, willing to worship in obedience

I am having to learn to lay aside what I think is God-sized, and learn that in God's Kingdom, and in God's hands, the weak are made strong through His power and for His purpose.

Grace and Peace,

joel

O lux

This evening I attended a Ouachita Singers concert in Arkadelphia, AR. I had a lot on my mind as I made the one hour drive from Maumelle to Arkadelphia. I was torn inside with disappointment, joy, anxiousness, conviction (that from the Spirit), and my lunch from the Chinese buffet. I'm learning to never ask the Lord to teach me patience. It's too unnerving.

After arrival, greetings, introductions, secret cringes and tears, I sat down with a dear friend to enjoy the concert. During the first half these words kept appearing and re-appearing: O lux. The first song, O lux beatissima, is one that I sang when I was in Singers. I had forgotten it until the first note. Then I was lost in it. O Light most blessed, fill the inmost heart of all Thy faithful. Without Your grace, there is nothing in us, nothing that is not harmful. "Nothing that is not harmful." I thought about all that is in me, and that which has come from me, that is nothing but harmful. Blessed be the Light that gives us grace. I recieved the Father's grace tonight.

The only song on the program that wasn't performed is called, O nata lux. I really wanted to hear it. Here's why;

O born Light of light, Jesus redeemer of the world, mercifully deem worthy and accept the praises and prayers of Your supplicants. Thou who once deigned to be clothed in flesh for the sake of the lost ones, grant us to be made members of Your Holy Body.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for the Lost Ones.

grace and peace,
joel