Worship

A message on worship that I preached a few weeks ago! In the message, we learned that Bezalel was chosen by God! Not only chosen; but God gave him the Holy Spirit, gifts, wired him, and gave him a mission to worship Him! God does the same for us! We were made to worship.

How do you disciple someone?

A question that I have gotten many times! I believe that we have made this question harder than it should be. Let's be honest; there are so many ideas, books, methods and models. We have made discipleship a complicated process, which I believe many times scares Christians from doing it...

Discipleship at its purest form is a simple process. You take what you are learning about God and what God is teaching you, and then you share that with another person! 

So here comes the application: 

1. What are you learning from God? What is he teaching you?

2. Find a new believer or a younger believer or a lost person or just find a person! Ask them if God has been teaching them anything and share what God has been teaching you

3. Listen and ask great questions with that person, try to see where the Holy Spirit is leading the person. If a issue comes to surface, or a passion for learning something. Then do your research and maybe come back and ask them to do a book study or take a few passages of Scripture to study with them. Work with the Holy Spirit! 

When I study Jesus and how He discipled them; he didn't make it a hard process. He lived life with people, taught them what He knew and had them teach others. I have thought of my life and I couldn't even come close to mention everyone that has come into my life and discipled me! I am where I am because of those who chose to take time and teach me what they knew! Who are you going to choose this week to disciple?

Created and Wired

Why do I stress? Why do I care so much about ministry? Why do I always have to do it better? Why do I critique myself so much? Why do I spend so much time? Why? 

I'll tell you why! I have realized that God created us! God desires our worship and devotion!

He has also wired us differently! God desires us to use what He has gifted us to the best of our abilities! 

I am in love with a God who spent so much time creating us and wiring us, that I refuse to give half-hearted effort!

I refuse to be boring, I should not be boring people with God's Word because His Word is far from boring! I should be creative and find ways to reach all people with the Gospel! Each event, program, lesson; I feel needs to be built off and become better. Knowing that there is always room for improvement! Most events, I plan way extra and so that I will never fall short of what was needed for the event. Give me a crowd or give me one individual; and I desire to invest as much as I capable to! I can continue to grow, get better, work on my strengths, defeat my weakness, share God's love and worship an amazing God!

God has created and wired us to His superb best; we have been created with potential because we were created in God's image, we can give our superb best!

Thoughts on Worship

"For many, church has become all about me-what I'm learning, what I'm seeking, what I'm desperate for, what I need, how I've been affected, what I can do. We see ourselves as isolated individuals all seeking personal encounters with God, wherever we can find them. 

Sadly, this reflects our individualistic, me obsessed culture. Rather than seeing ourselves as part of a worship community, we become worship consumers. We want worship on demand, served up in our own way, at our own time, and with our own music." Bob Kauflin 

Wow, great thoughts! Worship is not just about music, it's about our hearts and worshipping an awesome God! When we focus in on my needs or wants, we miss out on worshipping God. When we say, 'I can't worship because of ...' we miss out on connecting with God who we came to church for. We should and do worship God through music, our tithes, prayer, reading God's Word, Bible study though preaching, and community (being part of the church). It is what we go to church for. What should we do? We should put away what I want and focus on what He wants! To say I am okay if I don't get anything out of the service, but did I give God worship and/or did I invest in others and help them to worship God in a positive way? Let's get rid of the "me" obsessed culture and be a "God" obsessed culture!

Mission Trip

I had to blog a little about the trip, and take a few minutes to reflect. We has an amazing time in West Bend, Wisconsin. Amber and I took four teenagers; and left on a Saturday evening. Upon getting to the church we were staying with, we were able to meet the other groups and get to kno them. We spent time Saturday evening in training and we learned a new evangelizing way through the evangelizing cube. 

On Sunday, we worshipped and had a meal with the church family. Then we packed up supplies and headed out to a park so that we could invest in the community. That afternoon, we spent three hours doing a block party. We built lots of relationships and through registration we collected a lot of contacts for the church plant. 

Monday through Wednesday, we did work projects. We spent time clearing the woods, laying mulch down for paths, painting and removing weeds. The city's officials were impressed with our group, and we got done way more than they thought. It was hard work, but we made an impact! 

Throughout the week, the teens did a great job of making friends and spending time together. Trey Turner did a great job of training us in the morning and evenings. His stories were great and learned that we can share our story and Bible stories with others. The teens grew from the trip and they bonded even closer in their relationships.