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Came across this site http://www.worshipcentral.org/. It’s a school of worship from Alpha International, led by Tim Hughes and Al Gordon whose vision is to encounter God, equip the worshipper and empower the local church. In the site you will find lots of helpful articles, tutorials for instruments and vocals and also you will be able to listen to the latest songs by their artist. There is even a iPhone app that lets you learn the new songs and follow up with whats been happening in the site.
It’s pretty cool so check it out when you have the time ya! I thank God for artist like them cause they don’t charge for the songs or chords and they do this to empower the local churches!
Mark 2:1-17 - A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . .” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
This passage tells the story of four friends whom wanted to bring a paralytic to Jesus, for they believed that Jesus would be able to heal him. The room was filled to the brim and even over flowed all the way outside. Imagine the place packed like sardines. Everybody is standing shoulder to shoulder trying to squeeze to the front just to hear Jesus or catch a glimpse of Him.
Now imagine you being one of the four who was carrying the sick man. What thoughts would be racing through your mind? Should we come back another day when there are lesser people? Should we just give up, there’s no way we are going to be able to get to Jesus with that many people in the way? I would be the first to admit that I am a pessimist, sad but true. I tend to dwell on the negative, looking at my circumstance instead of looking at what God can do if only I would trust Him. That is about to change with the grace of God!!
And that is the first lesson that we can learn from the four of them. They didn’t turn around and give up when faced with a problem. They persevered and thought of solution. All that was on their mind was how can we get closer to Jesus. Same goes for all of us, in times of trials don’t even think about giving up but focus on how you can get closer to Jesus, cause Jesus IS the answer and the solution.
What they did next was totally out of the box, they climbed onto the roof and proceeded to tear it apart. I am sure they tried other means to get to Jesus before deciding to do that stunt. Again their persistence in not giving up is shown here. To carry the man up onto the roof, dig a whole large enough for a man to go through, build a rigging to lower the man safely to the floor. It was hard work and yet they never give up.
What made these four man so persistent? It was their faith, faith in Jesus that He would be able to heal the paralyzed man. The faith of these four men brought the sick man all the way to Jesus. And when Jesus saw this demonstration of faith, He told the sick man “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
I pray that we will be like the four man. Who’s faith to carry their sick friend all the way to Jesus even through there were obstacles. We are more than just a team of musicians, more than that we are a family in Christ.
My hope is that we will begin to keep each other in prayer, to stand together and encourage one another. All of us can identify with the paralytic, we have sins that we struggle with. Maybe for some of us our walk with God has become stale, like the paralytic who cannot move, we feel that we havent been moving in our walk with God. First and foremost there are steps to take, repentance and forgiveness, spiritual discipline to walk right with God and so on……
But one other facet I want to bring to the forefront is for us to identify with the four men so filled with faith in knowing what Jesus can do for their sick friend. Would we begin to pray and intercede for one another, that Jesus will begin to heal and move in each others lives. I believe we will grow stronger as a team as a result of it. Will you pray?
God has always been interested in winning our hearts over for him. The biggest battle fields rages on in our hearts and minds, the forces of “good” vs “evil” clash daily in which we are faced with decisions to live for God or live for self. When somebody at work accuses you for something that you didn’t do, a friend just broke his promise, a poor aunty asking for a little money during lunch, clients being totally unreasonable or your family nags at you all the time the moment you reach home, there are a ton of things that can happen through out the day that will cause us either to respond or react to the situation. After all is said and done when we finally calm down and look back than we realise, like standing in front of a mirror, the events that had just unfolded shows us a reflection of our hearts and the condition that it is in…..
Hebrews 4:12″ For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword,it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joint and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
God’s word is not meant to just be kept in a book. When we read or learn about the word of God, we have to understand that there is power behind every word. We have to allow God’s word to live and be ACTIVE inside of us. The word active means to be in a state of habitual or vigorous activity. Are our lives in a state of continued change from the input of God’s word? Each day is a chance to grow, each day a chance to become a little more Christ like, each day brings a deepening of our understanding and relationship with God.
God’s word is there to divide, to separate us from the things of this world, from the mindset of selfishness to one of Christ likeness. It’s hard to submit, to be humble and have a mindset of a servant, it’s hard to be generous to people who are stingy toward us, it’s hard to love the very people who irritate us, it’s hard to live a life where putting other people first is more important than worrying about your own self and this is where the word of God begins to cut and it cuts deep.
And even thought sometimes outwardly we can still put on a nice front, the verse doesn’t let us off easily. God looks past our actions and looks into the thoughts and heart attitude of each and every one of us. That’s why it’s so important to begin to guard our hearts and minds, pray for God’s peace to be with you that you might find strength in the midst of all your troubles
Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
Has our christian life remain unchanged? Have we been singing the same melody for sometime now? Living the same lifestyle, doing the same rituals, still having the same attitudes, practicing religion but never pursing the God behind the religion and allowing him to mold our lives. It’s never and over night thing in fact it’s a life long journey.
Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”
My prayer is that we will become more aware of the imperfectness of our lives and in that revelation begin to understand what our perfect God is offering us when he ask us to offer our life (mind, body and soul) in exchange for His. May His word continue to be active in our lives and shape us to be who He has desired us to be.
Just some thoughts I want to share with you guys
I recently got a msg from my reservist friend telling me that he’s got a recall order for IPPT next week on the 28th Jan. Thats PNSF for ya! Giving you 10 days notice to go for IPPT and they wonder why the passing rate is so low. What’s more the commander of KINS (Which is the division I am from) decided last year that he want to bring up the passing rate for reservist IPPT and implemented a new system, in which everybody who fails have to come back for 1 month training – something like what the army is doing.
Of course knowing that, I do not intend to fail but given the short time to train up I am not too sure if I can do it. So I started running yesterday. Got out my 1-year-old running shoes which is still pretty “new” and hit the road last night. Now I am fully aware of my physical condition which would be bothering on “weakling” right now so I figured a 2km run for the first round would be a good start. Just the normal tour around TCS and back nothing more than a 10-12min run to get the blood pumping and muscles working again.
Everything started out good.. until 1 min into the run. Than the pain started to kick in and the legs started to go on strike. I spend most of my time behind the screen and hardly walk in comparison to most normal people so I could understand the muscles screaming at me to stop this foolishness and walk home and get a nice cup of coffee and maybe something sweet to go along with it. However! The thought of having to go back for the extra trainings for a month kept me running. I told myself to just “suffer” for the next week in training rather than suffer for the entire month under the command of some trainer who doesn’t really care if I pass or not but just going thru the schedule that somebody made up or worse still… going down for the whole month and not doing anything which is notoriously common for reservist folk.
So anyways I am running for 10mins now and I havent completed the circuit yet and about 3/4 way thru the route, I came to a point where everywhere was hurting and my heart was screaming STOP RUNNING! and guess what… thats what I did! I stopped.. I couldn’t even complete the 2km run woohoo! I spent the next 5mins slowly walking back to the house thinking how I am going to pass this coming IPPT and of course kicking myself because months ago I told myself that I want to stay fit and lead a healthy lifestyle, sound familiar?
So during the part where I was walking it dawned on me that my relationship with God is very much like me training for an IPPT. My attitude towards my physical health is based on a test that comes every 6 months during which the fear of failing causes me to want to start running again with a passion that other wise I would not have.
When I thinking about this and look at our ministry -5stones just in case some of you are wondering what I am talking about. I wonder if we have this test attitude? The way to keep a healthy body is to excercise, eat right and have enough sleep – in a nutshell. However most of us would not be faring too well in all 3 departments. Most of us would not be getting the 7-8hours sleep that is required for our bodies to rest properly, we eat “rubbish” and call it food and walking to work,lunch,dinner than home is probably the most excercise we get. If we can’t even take care of our physical bodies how much harder is it for us to take care of our spiritual bodies?
Just like how I am struggling to pass my IPPT, I am planning on running like mad the next 10days and pray and hope that it will be enough. Do we server God in the same manner? When its time for us to play on an instrument or lead a song, its like getting the letter from the government recalling you back for IPPT. There are some who wont bother to train for IPPT and just go there and prepare to fail or for some who are physically blessed with better fitness(these are the people who can pass without training at all!) just turn up and pass the test. But for the most part. If you wanted to past the IPPT you would have to train. Better yet you have been training and keeping fit all this time so you would have to suddenly start running because of the IPPT. Ultimately IPPT is about wanting us to maintain a healthy body and it’s just a PROGRAM to help people stay in shape at least in theory.
And that is what I hope you guys will catch. Do we treat 5stones like a “program”. When its our schedule to be up on stage and when the songs are sent out, we pick up our instrument or start listening to the songs. If so, like me right now training for IPPT - its is an endless cycle and an uphill battle each time because the moment the IPPT is over I go back to my normal lifestyle of not exercising until the next letter comes and I will struggle all over again.
Now what if I had a change of mindset. Everybody wants to be healthy but not everybody is willing to take the steps to get there. We as christians want to have a healthy spiritual life do we want to make steps to have a consistent connection with God and continue to nurture the talents that God has blessed us with?
5stones is not a program and neither is church or any other ministry for that matter. It’s not something we prepare for so that we can “pass” a test. We server in ministries because of the overflow of God’s grace and mercy in our lives, because HE has called and chosen us for such a time as this!
I don’t want to have to keep dreading IPPT and go thru the process of training up my body each time I get the recall other.Instead I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle and enjoy the run and benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle and that includes the spiritual side too!
I appeal to you therefore, brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. – Romans 12:1 ESV
Thomas Hawkes was born in Essex, England and later entered into the service of the Lord of Oxford. Upon the death of Edward VI, rather than change his religious beliefs to that of the Queen Mary’s. Hawkes left his service and returned home. After returning home Hawke’s wife gave birth to a son. Hawkes refused to have the boy baptized according to Catholic tradition and was reported to the Earl of Oxford. He was sent by the earl to Biship Bonner of London where he answered to the charge of contempt of the sacraments. On February 9, 1555 he was condemned as a heretic.
Days before Hawkes was to be burned at the stake he agreed with his friends that he would lift his hands over his head if the pain was tolerable and his mind was at peace. When he was engulfed in flames and most people thought him to be dead. Hawkes suddenly raised his burning hands above his head and clapped three times. Those who understood this gesture broke into shouts of praise and applause as Thomas Hawkes sank into the fire and died.
The Old Testament sacrifices were killed at the will of their masters. They had no will of their own. When it came time for the fire to consume them they didnt object. The same applies to a true worshiper, however, this sacrifice is alive.
A true worshiper offers himself to the Master as a holy sacrifice. He is dead to his own will but alive and submitted to the will of his master.
The ultimate expression of lov ei sthe giving of ones’s life for another. Laying down of one’s life for another is the relinquishing of the right to have one’s needs met in order to meet the needs of another. A true worshiper has no life of his own. He has been bought with a price. He has died to the right to have his needs met in order to meet the needs of his Creator. In other words, to do the Creator’s will. The true worshiper does not exist for himself, He exists for his Maker. A living sacrifice has at its’s core the greatest of commandments: To love the Lord your God with all your hearts, soul, mind and strenght.
Have you surrendered you will to the will of the Father? Do you love the Father with all of your heart, soul, mind and strenght? Ask the Father to reveal to you any part of your life that you have not surrendered to him. Pray that prayer even now as you are reading this. Ask him to give you grace to love him even unto death.
Scriptures of meditation
John 15:13 Ephesians 5:2 1 Samuel 15:22Came across this today on the net. A new meaning for A.S.A.P
Always Say A Prayer (A.S.A.P) There’s work to do, dealines to meet you’ve got no time to spare, but as you hurry and scurry, always say a prayer. In the midst of family chaos, “quality time” is rare. Do your best, let God do the rest Always Say A Prayer. It may seem like your worries are more than you can bear Slow down and take a breather Always Say A Prayer. God knows how stressful life is, He wants to ease our cares and He’ll respond A.S.A.P Always Say A Prayer
I feel that this is a beautiful reminder that though there may be a ton of things that demand our time, may we endeavor to offer up a little prayer to our heavenly Father through it all. Good times and Bad
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. Psalm 116:17 NKJV
The act of thanksgiving in worship has been around for many years. In fact, God made provision for it in the Levitical law. There were three types of peace offerings; thank-offerings, offerings for vows, and free-will or voluntary offerings.
James M. Freeman in is his book Manners and Customs of the Bible writes, “The offerings were accompanied by the imposition of hands and by the sprinkling of blood around the great altar, on which the fat and the parts accompanying were burned.”
Another aspect of the peace offering was that parts of the offering were waved and others were heaved. According to Jewish tradition the parts of the offering were laid on the hands of the offerer. The priest would put his hands under that of the offerer and move them horizontally for the wave offering and vertically for the heave offering. This action was intended to be a presentation of the offering to God as the supreme ruler of heaven and earth.
The tradition of offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving continued with King David, King Solomon, King Hezekiah and later with Ezra and Nehemiah. The importance of giving thanks has always been a part of the church age. Jesus gave thanks. In his epistles the Apostle Paul exhorted the churches to give thanks.
In modern day worship services there is a popular trend of lifting and even waving hands. Dare I say many people who express their worship in this manner do so without a clue as to what it represents. You see, the offerer of the Old Testament sacrifice could have waved his hands, but without the blood sacrifice it would have not been acceptable to God. Therefore, the waving or lifting of our hands to God in thanksgiving is not acceptable to God if, through Jesus, we do not offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. So, as we enter God’s gates to come before his presence with our hands extended in thanksgiving, let us remember that we do so, not only in gratitude for his mighty acts, but as a presentation of our bodies as a living sacrifice in covenant with him, acknowledging that he is supreme ruler of heaven and earth.
- Are you a grateful person?
- Is your gratitude based on circumstances?
- Ask the Father to reveal ingratitude in your life. Ask him to give you an attitude of gratitude.
Scriptures for meditation:
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Philippians 4:6
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1 Thessalonians 5:18
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Colossians 3:17
Feel free to leave your thoughts on this with the comment function.
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters – 1 Corinthians 7:19 NKJV
When Abraham was ninety-nine years old God commanded him to be circumcised as a sign of his covenant with Abraham. Abraham circumcised all the males in his household and from generation to generation Jews have continued this rite.
Circumcision was so important to God that he sought to kill Moses as Moses journeyed to Egypt because he had not circumcised his sons. Circumcision was equally important to the Jews. Anyone who was not circumcised was considered unclean. This assertion became a point of contention when the Gentiles were converted to Christ.
Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem by the brethren at Antioch to seek the counsel of the apostles on the matter of Gentile circumcision. The council’s decision was that the Gentile’s were under no obligation to be circumcised and keep the law.In his writings Paul defines the meaning of true circumcision. He says that true circumcision is not made with hands but the putting off from the body the sins of the flesh. In Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is important but a new creation.
Many of the Jews based the confidence of their salvation (and ultimately their worship) in circumcision. Circumcision became their idol. Sadly today, many in the church base their salvation (and ultimately their worship) in religious activities. However, true worshipers put no confidence in what can be accomplished in the flesh, but only what can be accomplished by the Spirit of God. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life have been cut away from their hearts. Their glory and exultation is in Christ Jesus.
Is there something in your life that you have exalted above Christ? Has religious activity replaced an intimate relationship with Jesus? What or who have you placed your confidence? Ask the Father to reveal to you if there is something in your life that has replaced him as the center of your worship.
Some Scriptures to meditate on
Psalm 65:5
Proverbs 3:26
Philippians 3:4-11
Last Sunday Pastor Isaiah shared a story where during a funding raising ceremony two men where asked to recite Psalms 23. The first was a professional narrator and he recited the Psalm with all flare and emotion putting all his professional experience into the piece. The crowd could not care less, some even jeered at him for they thought little of Christianity. The second man was a frail old man. A pastor of many years. With a stammer the old pastor began to narrate the Psalm. Within moments the crowd began to quieten down. The room was silent when the old pastor finished and he slowly walked off the stage. The room was soaked with awe and wonder.
The question soon came – what was the difference between the two people who narrated the same Psalm? The professional narrator replied “Anybody can narrate Psalms 23, however the old preacher LIVED it!
Brings us back to the question do we live what we preach? While being in the worship ministry, what is going to touch the hearts of the people will not be great music or good vocals but from within us the heart of worship most surface. Let us examine ourselves today, if we have begin to “narrate” our christian walk let us ask God to turn our hearts back to him than we can LIVE it out.
For your personal time with the Lord dwell on Psalms 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
Lyrics
Capo: 4 Verse 1 G You called my name, reached out Your hand C Am7 Restored my life, and I was redeemed D The moment You entered my life Verse 2 G Amazing grace, Christ gave that day C Am7 My life was changed when from my shoulders D Fell the weight of my sin Chorus G So it’s with everything I am D I reach out for Your hand Em7 The hope for change C The second chance I’ve gained G On You I throw my life D Casting all my fears aside Em7 How could greater love than this C Ever possibly exist Verse 3 G Consume my thoughts C As I rest in You Am7 I’m now in love with a Saviour Am7 C Bearing the marks of His love Chorus (x2) Pre-Bridge Am7 D Bridge G So I’ll wait upon You now D With my hands released to You Em7 Where a little faith’s enough C To see mountains lift and move G And I’ll wait upon You now D Dedicated to Your will Em7 To this love that will remain C A love that never fails
I like the lyrics to this song and it reminds us that indeed in Christ we all have a second chance at life. Most song like this speaks about giving our lives away and surrendering to God. I have been trying to write songs of late but have reached a “writer’s block”. One of the things that I feel recently about the many songs that we have been singing is that it is alot of “I” focus. It touches us on an emotional basis. Well nothing wrong with these kind of lyrics, however I have been wanting to write songs about God without the focus on “I” which I hate to admit has been difficult.
That leads me to wonder why is that? Have we been caught up so much about how things make us feel? Do I feel good after a worship service or what do I get out of the Sunday sermon. Maybe for me I am wanting to draw back to the basic where everything is about God and less about how it makes me feel or what I can get out of it.
Anyway went abit of topic but what I wanted to share in regards to the song above. Great lyrics and great melody but to take it one step further, when we sing lines like “with everything I am, I reach out for your hand” and “on you I throw my life” after singing about that do we take time to think about what the song has been trying to convey? When I sing with everything, I need to search my heart and give and honest account… it is really everything or are there some things that I am holding back from God. Some things in my life that I chose to keep it separate from God? When I say I throw my life down, am I willing to back it up with action?
These are just some thoughts but I have that as we continue to worship God with all the songs that we sing, lets take it a step further and think about the lyrics and how it applies to our lives. We don’t just want to give God lip service, God looks into the heart and unless we mean what we are singing it will never touch the heart of God.
