At what point does Worship become Consumeristic?

Worship and Consumerism.

Visited a church recently on my holidays. They sang and sang about God showing them favour and for God to pour the Holy Spirit upon them more and more, and more and more. I was enjoying worshipping God in that large atmosphere, but then my mind kicked in...

There were no songs just adoring God; songs about the majesty, awesomeness of God. Rather ALL the songs were actually about US, and what we could receive from God. There's a fine line. I understand God says, "Ask and you shall receive", and "You have not because you ask not", but at what point do we begin to create some form of Christian materialism, where we merely consume from God and not worship the mighty one who created us (whether we receive a blessing or not).

See, God is so powerful, to me it is irrelevant whether he wants to bless us or not, or fill us with his Spirit or not. We should just worship him for his greatness. The amazing thing is, through the death and resurrection of Jesus we CAN 'receive' from God - salvation, power, peace, joy and many other wonderful things. Though if worship is predominantly and primarily about US, we have lost the focus of the true meaning of worship. We should not let personal blessing and power from God be the ultimate focus of worship, but rather the adoration of God for who he is. Any form of blessing and empowerment, to me, is an amazing privelege and secondary to the primary worship of Yahweh...

Your thoughts? Share

My Heart

Lately my heart has been aching. I'll be honest with you and diverge a little from my usual look at mission. My heart has been aching for the lost. We worshipped at Packenham lately and I cried so hard for those that don't know Jesus. We worshipped at Werribee recently and again I wept like a baby, thinking of the enormous job we have of reaching the multitudes.

I contemplate too much recently about my lack of involvement in reaching the masses. My life cries out to do something of significance. I find myself a fish in a tiny fishbowl, with little room to swim. I'm not attempting to critique those at College. I love the staff, and the cadets and everyone is working so hard to make things right...

But something needs to change for me. Maybe it's simply my attitude. Maybe it's more. Maybe my passion for meaningful engagement in ministry is greater than my passion for interpreting the book of Nehemiah. Although maybe this is deep, important theological content that I need in order to be effective for Jesus. Maybe God doesn't care.

My heart yearns for the lost. I take the opportunities when I find them. Or when I find time. My life seems so meaningless (I feel like the writer or Ecclesiastes), yet God has a purpose in their somewhere.

This is probably a blog that belongs in the private journal, but would you be inspired to pray for the lost, for those whose lives are broken and hurting? Would you do what you can, when you can, with all that you can in order to reach as many as you can with the message of hope found in Jesus? Share

Church Planting: The Foundation

What makes a Church, a Church? Some say it is simply: Worship, Discipleship and Mission

Church planting is an effective methodology for successful evangelism in the future. We can tire ourselves out in fixing churches that are on the decline, and some are gifted to do that (see Ezekiel 37), but Church planting births new growth, new expressions of worship, new expressions of discipleship and creative opportunities for mission.

Build a team that are willing to take the Word for God and their strong belief in Jesus as Lord, and allow God to use them to bring others to himself. We need more than just humility and servanthood, but we need strong leadership and a passion for God as well, to pioneer new worshipping faith communities.

The foundation for church planting is:

* A strong, united team of people, passionate about growing the Kingdom, and reforming society

* Worship

* Discpleship

* Mission

Lets put Church Planting back on the agenda. Share

What is Worship?

I led a small group the other day and we explored the idea of what is worship? Some said worship was singing music, but we know its deeper than that. We finally came up with the fact that it's about honouring God with our lives. This is a pretty good definition for now...

In the Old Testament, worship was mainly a ritualistic thing, with the Israelites observing worship rituals such as Passover, Day of Atonement, etc. When Jesus came along, he said, all these commandments are great, but the greatest two are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Deut 6:4) and to love your neighbour as yourself (Lev 19:18) (Found in Matthew, Mark and Luke).

Lets worship God with our lives. Let our love for others, our compassion for our brothers and sisters and our passion for God be evident in everything we do.

Today's thought: When you worship God, do so in the power of the Holy Spirit and the presence of Jesus Christ. Praise God!

Share

Worship that shakes the foundations

I remember a time, when on a Sunday night meeting, we were singing, 'How Great is our God' and we sang it over and over and over, each time the intensity rising. Ever been worshipping God in an atmosphere, where you feel like something is going to happen? My hands were literally burning with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The foundations of the place felt like they were going to shake!

Here's my thought... Passionate worship births effective ministry. Following this time of worship, my hands were hot, and I said to God, 'I GOTTA PRAY FOR SOMEONE!' I started chatting with a mate who owns a farm up in Horsham, and he was saying that things were tough. I said quickly, 'Can I pray for you!?' I prayed with an unknown passion, like a deep intercession that groaned in my stomach and heart for change to happen into the situation I prayed for. Passionate worship was birthing effective ministry. In this case, pastoral ministry.
I sat down, and my hands were still burning!! I sat at the front of the church after the meeting and said to God, the next person who comes to me, I'm gonna pray for... No kidding. A guy sitting up the back of the hall, immediately stood up and walked straight towards me! It was so weird! He didn't say much when he got to me, but I offered to pray and again, interceded strongly into this guys life.

What's my point... We need to encourage passionate worship, that will inturn birth effective ministry.

When's the last time you immersed yourself into God's presence when you worshipped?

Share