Where is Worship? Part 3

I have finally sat down and kind of thought out what the next few points in my Where is Worship? series are going to be. Now I need to apologize for the lack of order or structure with this series. I believe the 2 points after this should have probably came sooner in this series but I have been going more for what was on my heart at the time that I wrote it. This part of this series is based on worship attempting to be an outreach for non-believers. Part 4 will be about Hebrews 4:12-13 which talks about the word of God. So that part will be about the Holy Word in Worship. Part 5 will be about Prayer and how it must be used in worship for worship to even happen. Now I have to admit that these next few parts may be a little more straight forward then I have been because I feel like I do not need to hold back as much as I have been. I want to drive these points home and make sure you get it.

So as I said this part is about an Outreach Worship service. I have had recently been thinking about the question, If you want Worship to be Outreach Minded and want to make it appeal to the masses by playing loud rock music and music that is not worship is it still truly Worship? I made a statement similar to this my facebook status recently and had some very interesting comments. My status was more about whether or not we should just call worship like this a concert. I am thankful for some great responses and I think one person hit the core of this point. He asked with all these "seeker" services being offered, is that biblical? Can a seeker really worship the way the Father demands "in Spirit and in truth" (John 4) or is worship something that only a child of God can do? This person then went back and answered their own questions and this was their response: For me the answer to my questions is "No." There is no sense in planning a "seeker" service because they cannot worship. Do we make them "seeker friendly" where they can follow along, etc... sure. But to plan a "worship" service around people who are lost makes absolutely no sense to me.

This comes to the heart of this piece. Worship is not happening because we are too worried about making worship for the lost. Those that are not followers of Christ cannot Worship God because they cannot worship in spirit and truth. This is because they do not have the spirit which is the Holy Spirit which comes from receiving Christ. And they do not have truth which is every word that Christ spoke because they do not follow Christ which means they cannot follow truth. So thus they cannot experience the worship that come from God.

This comes to me as a big problem because everywhere is cutting worship for this idea of an Outreach minded worship service. This could be on the dumbest things I have heard and this is the reason why worship is not happening anywhere. We decide to change worship everywhere. The church, campus ministries, and this is a huge problem. Have we ever thought that if true worship happened that non-believers would be more likely to respond to Christ? Imagine if Christ showed up in a way that just by entering a building you were hit by it and it brought you to your knees. I believe this is the kind of Worship that will make the blind to see, the dead to be raised, and the deaf to hear.

I find it hard to sit back anymore and watch this happen, to watch Worship be replaced with what probably to God looks like filthy rags. I pray for myself and for everyone reading this that their heart will be broken for true worship. That God will break through and reminds us that when the Holy Spirit arrived at Pentecost that Three Thousand were saved in one day and that is the type of Worship and holy spirit presence I believe God wants.

This is an interesting piece and the one that will probably get me plenty of talks to but I honestly want you to think about it. Can true honest worship of God by his believers make non-believers fall for Christ? I am not saying at all that we need to not seek out the lost but I think we need to reevaluate the way we plan worship because of them. I hope you continue to read my next parts in this series.

Where is Worship? Part 2

I was pleasantly surprised with all the good feedback from my first post on this topic. It is clear that people do want to get back to what the true heart of worship is. If you have not read my last blog I recommend that you read it before reading this one. That way you can know exactly where all of this is coming from and are not confused with what exactly I am talking about. Well here comes part two I pray that God speaks to you through these words and pray that these words are not my own but His.

One Sunday I was standing during the invitation at church and I saw people praying on the alter and what looked like they were really surrendering things to God. During invitation everyone knows that you get one full song and that is it, no more no less. The song had come to a close and there was still people praying on the alter. The pastor realizing this asked everyone to bow there heads for a moment but just like a stereotypical baptist I didn't. I proceeded to watch the pastor walk over the people who were praying and whisper into their ears. I am not sure what exactly he said but after he did they stood up and walked back to there seats. I could tell he wasn't praying with them because he only stood by them for about 5 seconds. And i could tell by a look of disgust on there faces they were not happy with him.

This event makes me think of one essential thing in thinking about "Where is Worship? and that is about how we Quench the Spirit. When believers do not allow the Spirit to be seen in our actions, when we do what we know is wrong, we quench the Spirit. We do not allow the Spirit to reveal Himself the way that He wants to." According to John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. So you can see from this verse that when the Holy Spirit speaks to you it is teaching you and reminding you of our Lord Jesus. Can you see why it would be a problem to quench that spirit?

In the end of Pauls letter to the Thessalonians he tells them to not quench the spirit. (1 Thess. 5:19) We can see that this must be important because Paul speaks against it but yet we still do it and I believe it is one of the things holding us back from true worship. Imagine going to a church service that put the whole service in Gods Hands. I service that said today I will let God run the show and not me. I can imagine the spirit just showing up in a way that no one can imagine. Worship would never stop it would be continuing. The pastor may never actually speak a word it may just be worship. If there is more then one service at your church, imagine the first service rolling into the second and no one stopped it.

This is a experience I long to be a part of. To be apart of something that says today we will not hold back the spirit. We will let it free and to live out the way it wants to. Even if the clock says service should have ended 10 minutes ago no one will care because God had arrived and when God shows up you better not quench Him! I truly believe God wants us to give up our set schedules to give up the idea that after an hour church must end or else mindset. He wants to be able to move without us holding him back at all.

This blog took a twist I wasn't ready for but it is important. One because as Baptist we avoid talking about the Holy Spirit and all that it can do because then we think we may become Charismatic. But you know one thing about the Charismatic movement is that they walk into church knowing they may stay for hours and worship. It is the same way in churches that are planted in other countries who never herd the word of God before. Their services go for hours because they want to be able to stay and worship God.

Before ending this I always want myself and you as the reader to take a look at yourself. Take a look at yourself and see what it is in your heart, and mind that is holding back the spirit from coming forth and for you to experience true worship.

I hope you all are blessed from this post and I cannot wait to read your comments, and I will be working soon on the next part....Where is Worship? Part 3

Where is the Worship? Part 1

So recently I have found myself slipping more and more into sin almost to the point where I can not recognize who I am anymore. Now of course everyone around me looks at me and think nothing is wrong and that is because I am very good at wearing masks and can hide things from people very well. But as God began to break my heart and like the shepherd from Matthew 18 run after me to bring me back to the herd I began to notice why it is so easy for me and many others to go astray. This is because true worship is not happening!!!

I began to notice this because when getting turned around I longed for intimacy with Christ and to honestly Worship him for all he has done. I am talking about the Lord of All, the Alpha and Omega, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Bread of Life, the Deliverer, the Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ!! The one and the only one who deserves to be praised but yet when worshiping it seems like we are worshiping the wrong things. We look to a band and say that they are our source for worship and all the band is about is sounding good together and to get everyone to jump around and go crazy versus experiencing Christ. It seems like we are not letting the Holy Spirit move in a mighty way and when the Holy Spirit does begin to move we quench it. We are more about singing a song then about falling on our faces in prayer and adoration to the Lord.

Before you start complaining and saying I am wrong and all that jazz I want you to stop for a second. I want you to take a deep look into your heart. When is the last time you honestly worshiped God whole-heartily. What I mean by this is when you worship is it just you and God or is it you and the band, you and the person next to you, you and wondering what is for lunch or how long the line is going to be at O'charleys. Or Maybe even wondering why the person across the room is raising there hands, or maybe you are the person who raises there hands even though in all honesty your mind is not focused on Christ at all.

You do understand that you do not have to have music to worship God right? Look at John 4:21-24 it says that true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth. This means we worship from the heart and the way God has designed. Worship can include praying, reading God's Word with an open heart, singing, participating in communion, and serving others. It is not limited to one act, but is done properly when the heart and attitude of the person are in the right place.

I look at these verses and notice a few things about worship. True worship is only acceptable to God. So many times we stand and sing songs but in all honesty our heart is not actually in it. For example we will sing the song Holy is the Lord. The words are :
We stand and lift up our hands
For the joy of the Lord is our strength
We bow down and worship Him now
How great, how awesome is He

How many times have we sang that song but yet not really even thought about the words? We sing a song saying that we will lift up our hands for the Joy of the Lord is our strength but yet we stand there and just sing the words but not truly read them. It says we raise our hands, if we sing these words and do not raise our hands are we in a sense lying? Understand I do this, i sing this song and stand still and don't actually think about what it is that I am singing. I also do this to the song We Fall Down.
We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus

I don't lay my crowns down to Christ, I like to hold on to things and not truly surrender it all over to Christ. I understand that song is looking at Heaven and what it will be like when we see Christ but currently I cannot even follow Him 100 percent so honestly can i truly fathom laying all my crowns down at the feet of Jesus?

Another point I see from John 4:21-24 is that, that true worship only comes from Jesus Christ. I think the reason why do not truly come into honest worship with Christ is because we are unrepentant. In my life personally I find it impossible to truly come before God in worship when I am holding on to sins or not wanting to repent for things. When we bow before God and repent and let God restore our hearts it is then I am able to truly worship him in Spirit and Truth. That is why i say that true worship only come from Jesus Christ. Because only He can restore ones heart and make a person whole again.

So i have never wrote this much before on a blog and my thought process is not over, So i will call this Where is worship? Part 1. I long to hear your thoughts on this but please understand this is not an attack on anyone so if you are reading this and for some reason think this is attacking you calm down, it is not. Part 2 will be coming soon.

NUMB

I feel like myself and the world around me have gone numb to all the Sin around us. It seems like we can play with sin and be in it but since we are so numb to it then it does not bother us. SO much I hear from people that want to start a Revolution for Christ. I have said these words myself. I wonder if the reason why this Revolution has not started yet is because we are so numb to the sin we actual commit. God is not going to lead hypocrites into starting a Revolution in his name. If that happened his name would just be dragged through the mud like it is currently. To start this revolution we need to make sure we are praying and pleading to God to break us for the sins we have become numb to. Then we need to not compromise but actually flee from it and follow hard after Christ. Then I believe Christ will start a Revolution in us.

Cant think of a title...............

I sit here pondering what it is that we are missing. No one strives to be like Christ anymore, no one wants to give up whatever they have in order to gain a life that is better then any other. Then we have those who claim to follow Christ but are so wrapped up in there own pleasure that they do not even remember what it is like to truly hear from God. Understand that I am guilty of this just as we all are, but that is not what Christ wants from us.

Christ wants perfection from us, and he says that in Matthew 5:48 "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." But yet we are fine with sticking with our sinful nature instead of pursuing perfection. We say it is impossible to reach perfection and that there is no way for us to get out of our sinful nature. It is true that we will not be perfect till we are with Christ in Heaven but yet we can get out of the Sin that holds us back. Look at Paul who went around killing Christians but yet when Christ came to him he gave it all up and pursued Christ and perfection. He followed so hard after Christ that he said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to follow his example as he follows christ.

Why can we not follow Christ in this way. The way where everything we do points directly to Christ and not to us. Why can we not trust Christ and stop thinking we know better. If this world had one person who was willing to step up and just say alright God all i have is yours. No matter if I have to give up a decent paying job or the house I am living in I am willing to lay it all down at your feet and follow after you. The person who steps up to the plate and even though they do not know what will be thrown at them they know God will be with them always. They understand that God will protect them in the way that Paul talks about in 2 Timothy 4:17-18

"But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom"

I hope that I step up in the way that God call us to. To let His light shine through me in such a way where every thing I do they see Christ and not me. I do not want to be like the ones who claim to live for God but stand still and do nothing in His name. This world can be changed with one person and I want God to start that in me. No matter what is thrown at me and no matter if I lose a Job or anything I want all of Christ and not this type of Christianity I see lived out all around me.

Matthew 6:1-4

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.²"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."


I read this and it makes me think a lot about myself and people in general. How often do we do a good act that pleases God but yet we run around and make sure that everyone knows that we did it. As I read this I think about humbleness and start to think that I really am not that humble. If i do something I want to shout it from the roof tops so that everyone can know what I, Brent Phillips have done. The more I think about that, that alone is wrong. I am nothing, nothing I do should give glory to me but it should all point to Christ. If people begin to notice me and not Christ is when i am living more for myself than my Savior that I claim to love.

I just wonder what people would think if we did things with much more humbleness. What if we did a good deed for someone and didn't go off and let everyone off to know as if to gain approval. I wonder if more people would see Christ and want to know more about him if we did something out of our love for God and not for ourselves. Not just for another mark that makes people like us or respect us more.

Just a thought

I think where getting it all wrong............

The more and more that I read and learn about God through the bible I feel like we are getting it very wrong. It seems like everyone has different opinions of what the bible is saying. The thing is most of these thoughts are being sent down from teacher to student for many years. Every book that comes out has an authors opionion of what they think scripture means. But if you are to find the person who taught them they agree with everything they have said in there book. No one has any of there own views of scripture they just have what they are told to believe.

It is like the people who are Calvinist are taught a Calvin doctrine from who they consider to be there teacher or pastor. The same goes for those who have Arminist beliefs. But how many of us have sat down with our bible's and looked at it with an open mind, forgetting all that has been told to us. And we searched it out for answers and its true meaning for ourselves. Some of you may be reading this saying well i have a quiet time so i do this but most of us sit down with a devotional or something that someone has told us to read so we can talk about it later.

I really just wonder what will happen if we sit down and study the bible without anything else to help us. What if we found the answers for ourself instead of just realying on what someone else says or one verse of scripture that agrees with there point.

I think we should try it, and I wonder what will happen. I think for one a deeper love for God will come and a true honest understanding of scripture. And who knows what you believe after looking it up may be completely wrong and you have to make sure your following what God says and not what someone else says.

I do not know if this is making much since at all and I may get in trouble for this but I am wondering what will happen. Who knows maybe someone who follows a very Arminist doctrine will follow more of a Calvinist one. Who knows just try it......