In the Presence

I really liked hearing the church sing "Holy Holy Holy". I was enjoying listening so much I forgot to offer the song up as praise.

"In the Presence" truly moved me. It's a song from the very beginning of my Christianity. I was singing that song to God with all my heart.

It made it clear that for me worship is almost all about which songs we sing. Every song has good Christian lyrics. It's when the melody is powerful that I enter into worship irresistably.

I don't suggest we actually do this, but from an data based engineering perspective, it would be extremely interesting to poll people after each service to see which songs elicited the greatest responses and why.

On a different note: I was born again into a Charismatic church that spent the first 45 minutes to an hour singing praise and worship songs. At times when the music faded for a bit, people would ask for prayer, give praise reports, and prophesy. It was wonderful praying the words of those songs to God.

Waiting on the Lord

That 4-letter word - wait. That was our theme this week. Did we wait on the Lord during our church time today?

Psalm 130:5-6 (New International Version)
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more
than watchmen wait for the morning.

I thought that we touched it a bit.

Here are some of the songs that we have used in worship over the past few months. If you had to pick the ten that were the greatest blessing to the congregation, which ones would you pick?


Title/ Author
Above All/ LeBlanc, Lenny\Baloche, Paul
Alleluia No 1 (Alleluia Alleluia Give Thanks)/ Fishel, Donald E.
At The Foot Of The Cross/ Sheppard, Tre
Beautiful One/ Hughes, Tim
Before The Throne Of God Above/ Cook, Vikki\Bancroft, Charitie Lees
Better Is One Day/ Redman, Matt
Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord/ Prosch, Kevin\Daniels, Danny
Breathe/ Barnett, Marie
By The Blood/ Jernigan, Dennis
By Your Blood/ Hamlin, Jeff\Grondin, Alan
Carried To The Table/ Mooring, Leeland\Hindalong, Steve\Byrd, Marc
Christ In Me/ Garcia, Gary
Come Now Is The Time To Worship/ Doerksen, Brian
Cornerstone/ Patillo, Leon
Draw Me Close/ Carpenter, Kelly
Enough/ Tomlin, Chris\Giglio, Louie
Everlasting God/ Brown, Brenton\Riley, Ken
For The Lord Is A Righteous God/ Jernigan, Dennis
Glory Glory Lord/ Fitts, Bob
God With Us/ Bryson, Jim\Cochran, Nathan\Graul, Barry\Millard, Bart\Scheuchzer, Mike\Shaffer, Robby
He Knows My Name/ Walker, Tommy
Holy And Anointed One/ Barnett, John
Holy Holy/ Owens, Jimmy
Holy Holy Holy Lord/ Scholtes, Peter
Holy Is The Lord/ Searles, Jeff
How Beautiful/ Paris, Twila
How Deep The Father's Love For Us/ Townend, Stuart
How Great Is Our God/ Tomlin, Chris\Reeves, Jesse\Cash, Ed
Hungry/ Scott, Kathryn
I Believe In Jesus/ Nelson, Marc
I Exalt Thee/ Sanchez, Pete, Jr.
I Give You My Heart/ Morgan, Reuben
I Love You Lord/ Klein, Laurie
I See The Lord/ Falson, Chris
In Christ Alone/ Townend, Stuart\Getty, Keith
Indescribable/ Story, Laura
Isn't He/ Wimber, John
It's Your Blood/ Christ, Michael
Jesus Draw Me Close/ Founds, Rick
Jesus Messiah/ Tomlin, Chris\Carson, Daniel\Reeves, Jesse\Cash, Ed
Lamb Of God/ Paris, Twila
Lead Me To The Rock DeShazo, Lynn
Lord I Lift Your Name On High/ Founds, Rick
Love The Lord/ Brewster, Lincoln
Majesty/ Smith, Martin\Garrard, Stuart
Make A Joyful Noise Unto The Lord/ Owens, Jimmy
Mighty To Save/ Fielding, Ben\Morgan, Reuben
My Redeemer Lives/ Willison, John
My Soul Followeth Hard After Thee/ Smith, Jeff
Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus/ Jernigan, Dennis
Oh Lord You're Beautiful/ Green, Keith
On The Third Day/ Byrd, Marc\Maher, Matt
Open The Eyes Of My Heart/ Baloche, Paul
Psalm 19/ Butler, Terry
Refiner's Fire/ Doerksen, Brian
Resting Place/ Rademaker, Daphne
Sanctuary/ Thompson, John W.\Scruggs, Randy
Shout To The Lord/ Zschech, Darlene
Sometimes By Step/ Mullins, Rich\Strasser, David (Beaker)
Step By Step/ Strasser, David (Beaker)
Take My Life/ Underwood, Scott
The Basin And The Towel/ Card, Michael
The Heart Of Worship/ Redman, Matt
The Lord Is My Strength/ Jernigan, Dennis
The Lord Is My Strength/ Gallio, Frank
The Trees Of The Field/ Dauermann, Stuart\Rubin, Steffi Geiser
There Is None Like You/ LeBlanc, Lenny
Trading My Sorrows/ Evans, Darrell
Unashamed Love/ Hiebert, Lamont
We Are Hungry/ Kilman, Brad
You Are The Vine/ Daniels, Danny\Rigby, Randy
You Never Let Go/ Redman, Matt\Redman, Beth
You're Worthy Of My Praise/ Ruis, David

Time for ministry

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The illustration of the child in the mother and whereever the mother goes the child also goes was really effective.

At the end of the sermon, rather than going to the offering, what if we had given opportunity for people to come up for individual prayer? I was sensing a time for ministry.

There were a lot of new songs for one service. I liked the way Brad handled it specifically inviting people to listen and join in if they felt comfortable doing so.

Spectator vs. Participant

As we were worshipping and hearing the Word today, I was thinking about God's desire that we be participants rather than spectators. How do we move from listening to words about our relationship with God to practicing that relationship?

From Ephesians 1 -

15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Let's keep not only talking about praying these things for each other. Let's keep praying it.

Welcome

This is the first posting for the Lamb of God Worship Blog. Our prayer is that this will be a tool that God can use to sharpen our focus, to affirm and strengthen things that are going well, and plant and nurture seeds of improvement for our worship life together.