Always - Hillsong United Video

Saviour King - Hillsong Video

Your Grace is Enough - Chris Tomlin Video

WHEN WORSHIP IS A ‘10’

How many different ways are there to worship God? Probably as many ways as there are people who worship him, because worship is primarily a relationship shaped by who we are. Worship is the shape of your life lived in awareness of God. It is uniquely your – a reflection of your personality, your gifts, your needs, and your passions. Your worship has your own stamp on it.

We are so used to thinking of worship as a corporate, unified thing that we reduce it to a shared experience of songs, liturgies, and orderly services. This, of course, is a part of worship, but it is not the whole thing. It isn’t even the half of it.

Worship is ultimately a state of mind. In its broadest sense, it is the totality of our relationship with God. It involves talking to him, listening for him, and looking for him behind the scenes of things. It is being aware of his presence and acknowledging and evaluating his purposes in all we do. It is chatting with him – reacting to the world around us and imagining his reaction. It is getting familiar with him through his Word so that we begin to know how he thinks and feels about things. It is, in its simplest form, a God consciousness that permeates everything we do.

In an interview once, a pastor asked me to put my relationship with God on a scale of one to 10 – 10 being warm, close, and in fellowship. I thought about the apparent arrogance of putting this at a 10, but then I realized 10 was the right answer, not because I had arrived at some superior spiritual status that warrants it, but because I live a life of such quiet desperation that I am constantly in relationship with God out of necessity. I am conscious of God all the time because I have to be or I fly apart at the center. I have nothing to hold onto without him. I know myself well enough to know that if I am not living my relationship with God at a “10,” I am living in some form of lie or denial. My need for him is the bedrock truth of the matter.

If some of you find this alarming, then read Psalms, because I have just described the essence of David’s sentiment as expressed in his prayers and poems. Over and over again, his soul cries out to God, he is in a dry and thirsty land, he waits patiently for the Lord, and the Lord hears him and brings him comfort.

You don’t have to be perfect to be a “10” in your relationship with God, holding on for dear life will also do the trick.

GOD IS JUST

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! (Isaiah 30:18)

Sometimes, unfair things happen. A relationship doesn't work out, or a friend betrays us. Maybe you worked really hard, but you didn't get the position you deserved. Life is not always fair. The good news is that even though life is not always fair, we serve a God who is fair. He is a God of justice. He sees every wrong that's ever been done to you. He sees every person that's ever hurt you, every unfair situation. If you will stay connected to Him and not get bitter, God has promised He will pay you back for every injustice that's ever been done to you. He said He would take what was meant for your harm, and He'll turn it around and use it to your advantage. And the great thing about God is if you keep the right attitude, if you'll wait for Him, He'll not only bring you out, He'll bring you out better off than you were before! God wants to make the enemy pay for bringing that injustice into your life. Be encouraged today that God is for you! He is working behind the scenes on your behalf. Praise Him for showing His justice in your life today!

Everlasting God - Lincoln Brewster Video

Lead Me To The Cross - Hillsong United Video

Hosanna - Hillsong United Video

GOD - THE ORIGINAL STORY TELLER

In the beginning GOD…

You know we are going to be talking about the stories of God for the next few weeks. We are going to retell some of these wonderful stories. But before we do that we have to lay the proper foundation. These stories come from The Story Book.

The Bible, the truth. Not just conceptual truth but it is living truth. The Bible that has the power to make these stories come alive in our lives. As a matter of fact, that is how the Bible is described. The Word is living and active. So we just don’t read information in here we partake of the life that can manifest through us.

In fact when Jesus was here, ‘The Word incarnate’, he declared the same truth in John 10:10 “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” That we may have and enjoy LIFE more fully.

Now, not only do we have this book which is not like any other story book on the face of the earth but we need to know something about the story teller.

We have a God out of His design and out of His nature decided to communicate with us or we would know nothing of Him. He is a self revealing God and we are going to see how He reveals Himself through these stories and the heroes of faith within these stories but first I want to spend some time on God Himself.

Why? Because our faith is not really a religion as it is a relationship. And every relationship has its stories. Sometimes when we get mixed up in all of the individual details and information about our beliefs we miss the pivotal truth of the story. Relationship.

I heard a story onetime about the devil and some demons were walking down the road and they saw a man somewhere up the way from them and the man bent down and picked up something shiny and he was looking at it. The demons looked up at the devil and said ‘what’s he got? What is that? What did he pick up?’ The devil said he found a piece of truth. Then the demons said aren’t you afraid? Doesn’t it disturb you that he found a piece of the truth? Then the devil said “NAH, I’ll just coax him to build a religion out of it”

Everything we have that has gone wrong in this world is because we have focussed on a piece of something rather than on thee person that is the author of all of the pieces and the one in whom all the pieces come together.

In the beginning GOD. Now, most people when they read those verse go real quickly – In the beginning God created. I don’t want you to do that because most of us when we go to God we don’t go to Him, we go to Him for… There is a huge difference. When we are praying most of us start out with “God would you” or “God I need”, “God they need” “God if you could” and we miss the most important part of the prayer.

God Himself.

In the beginning GOD. Why? Because all of this world, all of this universe is much more intimately connected than we suppose to the Story Teller God Himself.

WE SHINE - FEE

GUARD YOUR MIND

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” James 1:6

In many, if not most cases, temptation enters through the doorway of our minds. When Satan wanted to lead the first man and woman into sin, he started by attacking the woman's mind. That is why Paul warned the Corinthian believers, "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3).

We need to protect our minds. This is where the enemy will hit us, because we can reach into the past through our memories and into the future through our imaginations.

When the children of Israel were in the wilderness, their first step into trouble was looking back. God had miraculously delivered them from Egypt. He fed them with manna from heaven every day. Granted, it was manna every single day. They had tried all of the recipes in Moses' cookbook, 101 Ways to Eat Manna. But they remembered the food they had in Egypt. Isn't it interesting that they thought it was a lot better than it really had been? They let their imaginations run wild as they remembered the scraps of food that were given to them by the Egyptians and then magnified those scraps into feasts.

That is how the devil will work against us. He will make a few good times we had seem like the greatest times we ever had. But he is a liar. Jesus said, "No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). So don't look back.

Temptation starts with a thought, and the tempter needs cooperation from the tempted. That is why we need to guard our minds.

WHO CARES?

The value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized.


Anyone can criticize.


It takes a true believer to be compassionate.


No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands.


So when the question is asked 'who cares?' a response is required if you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

Our world is yearning for expressions of daring compassion, acts of love that are unpretentious, unselfish, and unexpected.

Compassion is love in Action.

The opposite of love is not hate but apathy, lack of action.

Daring compassion breaks the cycle of resentment and hostility that plagues our world.