Tag Archives: worship

Magnification Mondays Week #2

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God has challenged me to begin creating a culture of worship using Lillie-Put as a tool. To that end I have created 7 recurring posts dedicated to the subject of worship and praise

SACRED SUNDAYS

MAGNIFICATION MONDAYS

TEHILLAH TUESDAYS

WORSHIP WEDNESDAYS

THANKFUL THURSDAYS

FAITHFUL FRIDAYS

AND SHOUTIN’ SATURDAYS

Magnification Mondays are based on bringing worship that magnifies or makes large the name of Jesus Christ. If you have a song that makes Jesus name great feel free to share it in the comments section.

The Keys To Presence Pt. 3

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We have been discussing four keys that unlock the presence of God in the church. So far we have discussed:

HOLINESS

AND PRAYER

Today we are moving on to discuss the third key which is UNITY.

Psalm 133 SAYS

1 How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity!

2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
    running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
    down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
    were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
    even life forevermore.

This thing called unity is like the anointing. The anointing brings the authority and according to verse three of this powerful little psalm it brings the blessing of God. Unity is needed in the body in order to walk in the anointing, blessing and presence of God. In short the church MUST HAVE UNITY IN ORDER TO BE EFFECTIVE!

So what is unity?

Well the adverb used in verse one is “Yachad”. It means together. It means united.

The verse could be translated “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people stand together.”

Unity does not require perfect agreement. It requires a common cause. I may not see eye to eye with everyone in the church all the time but when we get together on Sunday mornings to worship God all our differences go out the window so that I can focus on the One I came to worship with my brothers and sisters. I can push all my disagreement aside because worship is not about me or them. It is about God.

One of Satan’s biggest weapons is in making us think that we can  only be united with people who think just like we do. If we really think that way we might as well stop going to church altogether.

Unity comes at a price. That price is to stop thinking your ideas of the way the world works are the best ones and that only people who think exactly like you can be part of your club.

While that is true unity does require a solid foundation and that foundation is Christ and Him crucified, risen from the dead, coming to reign in eternal power and glory. That frankly should be enough ground for us to stand together and see the power of God ushered into our midst powerfully. Requiring anything else is just pride.

Listen, I am not saying that we cannot disagree. Every family has its disagreements but at the end of the day family puts its disagreements aside to work towards a common goal. That goal in our case is building the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. Once we stand together to accomplish that, the presence of God will not be able to be held back.

Tehillah תְּהִלָּה Tuesdays 2-9-16

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So Tehillah or תְּהִלָּה is the Hebrew word for “Song of Praise”.I am really feeling lately that I need to be sending His praise out into the blogosphere. Our world needs to be lifted up. Nothing does that like worship.

Let’s build a culture of worship together!

Link your own posts of praise to this post in the comments section if you’d like. Here is mine:

 

 

The Keys To Presence Pt. 2

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“We’ve traded Presence for atmosphere.”- John Bevere.

Yesterday we shared that one of the keys to filling the atmosphere of our churches with the presence of God, was a renewed commitment to holiness. You can find that post HERE.

We desperately need the presence of God in our services. No move of man or his power will suffice to stand against the enemies that surround the church. As ever the world is looking for something beyond entertainment. They crave above all else a real encounter with the living God. We can bring that but only if we stop striving in our own strength and begin to call down the power of God into our midst.

Holiness is one thing that calls God into the midst of His people. PRAYER IS ANOTHER.

Jeremiah the prophet said,” In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes.” Jer. 29:12, 13

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God said to Solomon, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 15My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.” 2 Chiron. 7:14,15

Again and again throughout the Bible God connects the move of His presence and power with the praying of His people. There must be an increase of prayer in the lives of the people of God if there is to be a releasing of the presence of God.

By prayer I do not mean a coming to God with our lists of what we want Him to do for us. The prayer God says brings His power and presence is the prayer that focuses on Him and on discovering His will. When God’s people spend more time in prayer asking God what He wants of them rather than telling God what they want of Him, then HIs presence will fall.

 

 

 

The Keys To Presence Pt. 1

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My friend Jody gave us this week’s Quote of the Week for Pastor Wrinkle’s Sunday Blog.

“We’ve traded Presence for atmosphere.”- John Bevere.

Do you agree with that? I think in some ways it may be true. When we become more concerned with the keys of a song than the keys of the kingdom, we have traded Presence for atmosphere. When we are more concerned with rhythm and melody than we are with the confession we are making we have traded Presence for atmosphere. And when we are more concerned with the look of the sanctuary than we are with the LIGHT IN OUR SANCTUARY, well then we have traded Presence for atmosphere.

Listen I am a worship pastor. I get paid to make sure songs are singable, the music is right and that the sanctuary is conducive to worship. I am not saying keys, rhythm, melody and good setting aren’t important. They are. But they are important for us not for God. They  cannot bring the Presence of God by themselves. They can create an atmosphere that impresses men but by themselves they don’t impress God enough to make Him send His presence.

I want to speak about three keys that bring Presence over atmosphere. The first one I would like to address is holiness.

Hebrews warns us, “without holiness no one will see God.” Heb. 12:14. I know we tend to think of this in terms of our eternal destination (Heaven or Hell) but frankly it pertains to the here and now just as much. God’s presence can be blocked by unholiness in the church.

We like to think that when the music is good the Spirit of God comes and moves in our midst. Conversely we like to think that when the music is bad somehow that hinders God. The music though is not for God. It is for us. Can I just say God has better music in Heaven than we will ever have on Earth no matter how talented our musicians are. So our music good or bad will not impress Him. What does move God to send His presence is the heart of those worshipping.

A heart that is actively pursuing the things of God and turning from the world of sin attracts God and will bring a move of His Spirit. Meanwhile a heart that is embroiled in sin may be able with great musical talent to move the emotions of men but it will never be able to summon the Presence of God.

The Presence is what we need. Without it we have nothing more than an emotional high in worship. We must begin to seek greater holiness and the Presence will come in greater measure.

Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 5

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Today we are concluding our conversation about complete worship. If you have missed any piece of the discussion you can go back to

https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/03/17/pastor-wrinkles-complete-worship-pt-4/

and work your way back through the links.

Today we leave off the public and private expression of worship in order to discuss the worshipper’s heart. In order for worship to be complete…

The act of publicly worshipping and privately worshipping must come out of a singular heart towards God. Lifting our hands, singing, shouting and dancing are indeed all forms of worship but if they are not done out of heart of worship to God they are nothing more than dead religion.

Matt Redman wrote these words about the danger of worship devoid of “the heart”,

When the music fades

 All is stripped away

 And I simply come

 Longin’ just to bring

 Something that’s of worth

 That will bless your heart

 I’ll bring You more than a song

 For a song in itself

 Is not what You have required

 You search much deeper within

 Through the ways things appear

 You’re looking into my heart

 I’m comin’ back to the heart of worship

 And it’s all about You

 It’s all about You, Jesus

 I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it

 When it’s all about You

 It’s all about You, Jesus

 Matt Redman – Heart Of Worship Lyrics | MetroLyrics

At the beginning of our time together I said “The Bible teaches us that the nature of worship is two-fold but that the heart of worship is singular.”

 I want us all to capture the heart of worship. That is a heart that has eyes only for Jesus. It is a heart that let’s go of every other care for the job, for the family, or for the bank account. It is the heart that knows Jesus will take care of all those things if we just make Him a priority. The heart of worship is the heart that believes Jesus when He says,

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? 

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Ma. 6:25-34

Maybe you have lost your ability to worship God because you have begun to worry about your life, your family, your provision, your health. Maybe your worry about those things has dampened your ability to worship privately or together with other Christians. Please all me to call you back to the heart of worship this morning. Allow me to ask you, with Jesus, to seek first the kingdom of God, to focus on the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Doing that involves three steps:

 FIRST:  Admit the thing that is taking your focus away from Jesus.

SECOND:  Repent and decide that you are going to focus on Jesus and not that thing.

THIRD:  Practice focusing on and worshipping Jesus with the song below. Make some noise. Let Jesus consume your attention for the entire song!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MEYWmUYD5E&t=10

Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 4

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Sunset Prayer

We have been discussing the nature of the discipline of worship over the last few days. If you have missed any of the discussion you can find it here and in the other links connected in that piece.

Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 3

We have already mentioned that…

Those who say they can go and worship God alone in the forest show their ignorance of what true worship is because true worship must at some point involve the community.  Further though, those who come to public worship and who do not sing or shout or speak or raise their hands also show that they do not understand what worship is about. Yet those who come to public worship are still only doing half the act of worship. Praising God in the sanctuary is part of worship but it is not all of worship.

The second half of Psalm 150:1 says “praise Him in His mighty heavens.”

Worship ends up in the sanctuary, but that is not where it starts. The people who go out in the woods to privately worship God but who refuse to join themselves to a church do have it half right .They are just refusing to participate in complete worship.On the other hand people who come to the sanctuary every week and worship with in a church body, but who never spend any private time in praising God also fail to completely worship.In fact, you can have a daily devotional and go to church weekly and still not have a vibrant complete worship life. Let me ask you is praise and worship a part of your private prayer life? Or is private prayer for you just a recitation of a prayer list?

Do you spend time during the week thanking God for His work in your life? Do you spend time singing love songs to God at home like you do in church? Do you put on the Christian station at home and dance before Jesus? Do you lift your hands in praise to Him at home like you do in church? If not try it. Praise will revolutionize and empower your prayer life.

What does your private worship life look like?