Unbroken Circle of Blessing

In a real sense there is an unbroken circle of blessing involved in worship.  God blesses us - we bless Him - we bless others and they in turn bless others and bless Him . . . and on it goes.  The circle of blessing begins and ends with Him!  

Psalm 67 brings this out.  In v. 1 - God blesses us and makes His face shine upon us.  Why?  . . . so that His way and saving power will be known among all nations. (v.2)   The entire Psalm emphasizes the praise, singing and worship of all people and how that blesses others and blesses Him.

As we have seen in other places in God's Word our worship is not complete unless it informs, inspires, and includes others seeing and fearing and trusting in Him.  

We have the wonderful opportunity during this Christmas Season of gathering as the body of Christ and worshipping the Lord . . . blessing Him with our worship and blessing others by sharing Christ through witness, praying, and giving sacrificially to missions so that others may be blessed by the Blessed Redeemer and we might be a part of all that He is doing in the world around us as He seeks to reclaim all who were lost.  As our Pastor said, "We are blessed so that we can bless others so that He will be blessed and glorified!  May we be a part of the unbroken circle of blessing during this special season.  mjm

Thanksgiving/Thanks-living/Thanks-giving

There is a hymn, written just a few years ago by Terry York, that expresses what I am wanting to say better than I about our worship next week: 

Our life and its sustaining breath and life that's promised after death come from God, our heavenly Father.

He gives us freedom from our fears; food, friends, and purpose thro' the years.

All the words of our Thanksgiving fail to say what we can show by our Thanks-living.

A life of living thankfulness moves lifeless words to willingness; willingness to serve our Father.

That service, born of love, demands our hearts, our minds, our strength, our hands.

All the words of our Thanksgiving fail to say what we can show by our Thanks-living.

Our deepest love and highest praise in both routine and festive days sing of You, our heavenly Father.

Yet, while our songs of praise arise, deep in our hearts we realize all the words 

 of our Thanksgiving fail to say what we can show by our Thanks-living and our Thanks-giving!

Next week our church will have opportunity to turn our Thanksgiving in to Thanks-living and Thanks-giving as we give more than $500,000.00 to World Missions - to the world with love from the First Family!

mjm

Thanksgiving Gifts

When it comes to gifts, God doesn't give wimpy gifts.  When He decided to give a gift, He gave Himself for our salvation.  The utmost gift He could give was to give the gift of knowing Him and the ability to have an intimate relationship with Him.  Is there anything we could possibly be more thankful for than His gift?
It is wonderful having children, grandchildren, family and friends around us during the holidays.  But, even as we prepare to give gifts, do we follow the model set before us by our Lord?  We tend to get caught up in things we can give when God has shown us that the most important thing we can give is ourselves.  That is the utmost gift  -  the gift of ourselves to others, just as our Lord has done for us.  And the beauty is that when we give ourselves, as redeemed ones we are giving not only ourselves but we are also sharing the light of Christ who lives in us and loves through us.
So, in the midst of thanksgiving as we celebrate His utmost gift to us; may we prepare to give the utmost gift of our redeemed selves to others that He might be glorified. "As the Father hath sent me, so send I you."  Let's stop and pray for God to reveal to us the many ways we can gift ourselves this Thanksgiving and Christmas.  mjm

Proclaiming the Gospel of the Glory of Christ

In 2 Chronicles the gospel is called the "gospel of the glory of Christ."  In chapter 4, verse 3- 4 Paul says,   ". . . those who are perishing have been blinded by the god of this world keeping them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."  Jesus is . . . " the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature". (Heb. 1:3) 

Everything the Father has accomplished through Jesus was for the glory of the Father.  God's glory is centered in the gospel and we are called to share the gospel and give God the glory due His name.  For anyone or anything to claim God's glory is to invite the wrath of a jealous God.  Isaiah 42:8 says that God will not give His glory to another.  

The very mission of God is to show and proclaim His glory.  As His disciples, this mission is inherently our mission also.  We are to join God on His mission.  Everything in our lives is for the sole purpose of glorifying Him.  I heard of a church whose mission statement is LPLGWW, "Living proof of a loving God to a watching world".  We are ultimately to find our fulfillment in becoming a part of His mission by proclaiming the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, to the glory of the Father.   Soli deo Gloria - to God alone be glory!  mjm

Proclamation in Worship

Authentic worship will always include a passion to proclaim the glory of the Lord in the world and within our own personal sphere of influence.  In our seeking to glorify God there must be a commitment on our part to glorify God by the proclaiming of His salvation, which becomes the inevitable fruit and culmination of our true worship.

Unfortunately we live in a day where many believers pray more about their own prosperity and their own personal breakthroughs than for the progress of the gospel in God's kingdom.  Too many times we become more concerned about what Christianity has for us and how we can be blessed rather than seeking to be involved with God and His kingdom purposes in the world.  We live in a day when churches sometimes use the number of buildings and programs as a barometer rather than actual ministry, missions, and evangelism.

When the church becomes full of mature, authentic worshippers of God which He has called us to be, we will become concerned with bearing fruit the world over, proclaiming the glory of God.  We need to join together in seeking God and praying that He will ignite a fire among His people.  Praying that He will raise up an army of worshippers and followers of Jesus who are completely surrendered to Him and to proclaiming His glory to the ends of the earth through praying, giving, and going.  mjm

Acts of Worship

In Matthew 25 Jesus shows a separation of the sheep from the goats.  The sheep, representing the believers, are not known by what their favorite worship song or hymn is, not by what their great theological knowledge is, not by how expressive they are in worship, not by their great knowledge of doctrine; no, they are known by: 

"I was hungry and you fed me.  I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.  I was homeless and you gave me a room.  I was shivering and you gave me clothes.  I was sick and you stopped to visit.  I was in prison and you came to me."

Jesus is really saying to us that these are acts of worship, loving Him enough to do these things as unto Him.  This is where authentic, honest worship will always ultimately take us.  The goal is to always love the Lord with all that we are and the continuation and fruit of that worship is proclaiming Him to the world through these acts of worship that Jesus brings out in this parable.

"To hold a hand, to touch a heart, to see a need, to play a part,

to speak the truth, to hear a cry, to walk by faith,

and not walk by."

                          - - Randy Vader--

Is the motivation for doing these things to be seen and admired or is it that we would want no reward other than the enjoyment of glorifying Him? Acts of Worship proclaim Him to a waiting world.  mjm

Proclaiming - Worship, Singing, Missions

Psalm 96 is known as the "missionary psalm".  It has to do with declaring or proclaiming the glory of God.  And we see the wedding of worship, singing, and God's heart for missions all the way through the Psalm.

Verse 1 - "Sing to the Lord . . .all the earth!" v.2 - "Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day."  v. 3 - "Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous work among all peoples." v. 5 - "The gods of the people are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens." v. 7 - "Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, . . ." v. 8 - "Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts!" v. 9 - "Worship the Lord . . ." v. 10 - "Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns!'" v. 11,  ". . . let the earth rejoice."

This Psalm is literally packed with references to worship, singing, and missions.  It is obvious they all go together in the master plan and providence of our God.  We can not separate them, because our Lord intended that they all go together.  We must not be afraid to become involved at every level in God's master plan.

We used to joke at seminary that if you wanted to see the chapel empty of people, schedule Mission's Week.  The crowds would thin out during that week.  Preachers and musicians on campus were scared to death that if they attended, God might call them to deep, dark Africa.  How sad that you would even see that on a seminary campus.

Our worship choir will lead a worship time on Sunday challenging us to be involved in worship, singing, and missions in all the world.  We will be challenged to not fear the darkness, but to seek the light and seek to be the light to a world in desperate need of a Savior through going, giving, and praying. 

Please pray that God will move freely among us as we worship together on Sunday and are challenged by a stirring musical message to get in on what God is doing in our world today!  mjm

Proclaiming God to the World

If we proclaim God inside the walls of the church only, we have shortchanged the ultimate fulfillment of a true and authentic worship.  Authentic worship must always be fulfilled  with the church being the body of Christ in the world.  We can spend hours and hours every week of our church life in passionate prayer, worship, preaching and teaching, but if that doesn't culminate in ministry out in the world then our worship is faulty and possibly false worship.  It is God's heart and mission to proclaim Who He is to the world.  The proclamation of God includes missions and evangelism, but even more than that.

Therefore, true worship seeks to make God known.  It is impossible for us to truly seek God with all our hearts, adore Him and glorify Him in our worship, apart from being ones who proclaim God faithfully.

How do we proclaim Him?  We proclaim Him by becoming more and more like Him as we seek Him.  We proclaim Him by living Godward lives in our sphere of influence.  And yes, we proclaim Him by ministering to those in need and through missions, praying, going, and giving and through evangelizing the lost.  

Our greatest opportunity of proclaiming God is being who we are in Christ.  What and who we are, our way of thinking, acting, and living, is the way we best proclaim the message of Christ.  It becomes the fruit of our lives and the fruit of our worship.  mjm

The Sun Never Sets on Worship

The subtitle of our Missions Musical says, "The sun never sets on the praises of the Lord."  We begin our month long missions emphasis in our church this Sunday.  While it is true that God's praise is being heard in every time zone at all times, it also behooves us to remember that there are still 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups around our world.  Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20 and other passages remind us of our call to know the heart of God and act accordingly.

I Corinthians 12:27 says, "All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it."  We are called collectively and individually to be His heart, His hands, His voice in carrying out the Great Commission as an outgrowth of living the Great Commandment.

His heart - reminds us we need to seek the heart of God both collectively and individually and come to know His redemptive, missional heart for people who have never heard and never had the chance to receive His love. Our worship should lead us to know the heart of God in a way that it transforms us in our attitude and compassion for a lost and dying world.

His hands - reminds us that our worship is incomplete if it doesn't move us out to touch, minister, and reach people who need Him -  in Rockwall, in Dallas and Rockwall counties, in Texas, in North America, and in all the rest of the world, remembering that many of the world are coming to our doorstep.  In a sense you don't even have to leave the country to be involved in "international missions" anymore.

His voice - the proclaiming of the good news by sharing, ministering, teaching, singing, preaching . . . in so many ways we become His voice of comfort and challenge.  May our voices both reach others and challenge one another to be a part of God's mission by praying, going and giving.  His Heart, His Hands, His Voice . . . all for His Glory!  mjm