A Call to a Life of Intentional Living – by Josh Riley

Verse Text: Romans 12:1

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ESV version

God’s will for my life is… well, just what, exactly?

Don’t we all want to know what God’s intent and will for our life is, and what our purpose is for being left on this earth? Is there a specific path God wants each of us to follow?

This Week’s Songs – 2/5/06

2/5/06

All To You – Lincoln Brewster
Marvelous Light – Charlie Hall
Facedown – Matt Redman
We Fall Down – Chris Tomlin

Song during offering:
Just The Way I Am by Big Daddy Weave

Communion:
Light Of The World – Matt Redman

Light Of The World by Tim Hughes

‘Light of the World, You stepped down into darkness. Opened my eyes let me see. Beauty that made this heart adore You. Hope of a life spent with You.’

Whenever we worship it always comes out of a response. In 1 John 4:19 it says, “We love because he first loved us.” We can only worship God when we see what it is that God has first done for us. As Richard Foster put it, “Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father”

When Jesus walked the earth, people responded to Him because in some way he’d touched them and revealed something of his heart for them. Whether it was the healing of a blind man, the raising of the dead, the loving of the unlovable or simply the offer of friendship, Jesus revealed His
love and power to us on earth. For those who encountered Jesus and whose eyes had been opened, their response was to acknowledge Him as
Lord. As the centurion at the foot of the cross said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39)

‘King of all days, Oh so highly exalted. Glorious in Heaven above. Humbly You came to the earth You created. All for love’s sake became poor.’

Despite this however, sometimes it can be so easy to lose the wonder of it all. We can get so familiar with the story of the cross and the very fact that Jesus gave up everything to walk on the earth, that we lose the mystery. As G.K. Chesterton said, “Sometimes our religion is ‘more a theory than a love affair.’” When we really think about it, the life of Jesus is totally amazing. He was in very nature God enjoying all the glory and splendor of Heaven. Yet so that we could receive His mercy and know eternal life, He humbled Himself and made Himself nothing. He even became obedient to death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-11) That is truly amazing!

So here I am to worship, here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that You’re my God. You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy. Altogether wonderful to me.

When we take time to really consider the sacrifice Jesus took upon himself for our sake, and allow the mystery of it to sink in to our hearts, the
response will be worship. Like the sinful lady who poured out a years wages worth of perfume over Jesus’ feet, because of the new hope she had of spending a life with Him in eternity, so too will we want to pour out our hearts in worship. Maybe we need to return once again to consider the cost of Jesus’ life and remind ourselves of the wonder of it all.

This Week’s Songs – 1/29/06

I have quite a few people requesting song titles for each week, so I am hoping to post our weekly setlists here with author and any other important info. Enjoy!

1/29/06

Praise Awaits You – Matt Redman
With All My Heart – Lincoln Brewster
Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin
How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin

Song during offering:
I Stand For You by Tree63

Jesus I Surrender – By Jeff Deyo

Growing up in the church, I always heard a ton about surrender — “dying to self,” “picking up my cross,” “less of me, more of God,” etc. It always seemed like an idea that was talked and sung about a lot. Even so, I wondered if we truly understand this foundational Christian principal.

One of the most recent and “popular” appeals to the church to die to self comes to us indirectly in the song “Heart of Worship,” written by Matt Redman. This song can be heard in congregations all over the world. Youth and adults alike join together in this stirring heart’s cry that causes us to reflect on the real and true purpose of worship. Worshipers can be heard in many a small group or large conference belting out the lyrics, “I’m sorry, Lord for thing I’ve made it [worship], when its all about You, its all about You, Jesus.”

Wet Enough To Worship

From the book Faith Walk by Woodrow Kroll and Tony Beckett

Exodus 4-6, Matthew 14:22-36
Key Verse: Matthew 14:33

In our mind we have the basic idea of what happened in this account. The disciples were in a boat, at night, in rough water. Then Jesus appeared out of nowhere. At first the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus calmed them by saying, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (v. 27).

Peter then seized the moment. “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” Jesus said (vv. 28-29). And Peter did–to a point. When he looked at the wind, he was afraid and began to sink.

But one fact is never mentioned. How wet did Peter get? Did he sink ankle deep or go all the way under before Jesus caught him? The text does not say. It does say, however, that after getting into the boat, those there worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God” (v. 33).

Worship is a response. Peter got wet enough to respond to Jesus with worship. The other disciples also responded to Jesus with worship. We may not walk on water like Peter, but our hearts must respond to Him as did the hearts of the disciples. He is Lord. Let us worship Him.

Remember, worship is a response. Do you just read the Bible, or do you respond to what it teaches you? Praise God for sending Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Casting Crowns – Lifesong

This is a little late considering this CD has been out for about 4 months, but I love this CD. The music along with the honest lyrics really make for a great record. Check it out. I highly recommend it!

Casting Crowns

Let Everything That Has Breath – Matt Redman

This opening track was written during the New Wine and Soul Survivor B conferences, inspired by Psalm 148 and Psalm 150. The chorus lyric is ‘nicked’ from the very last verse of the Psalms. One thing I like about the Bible is you can steal lyrics, and instead of being accused of plagiarism you actually get encouraged for it! I wanted the lyrics of this song to go some way to expressing the same sentiment these two Psalms do – that God deserves praise from every living creature, in heaven and on earth.

The second section of the track was a spontaneous moment in the studio. Just as we had finished a take of the song, Terl Bryant, the drummer, kept on playing and the rest of us joined in and worshipped with him. It felt like we captured a special moment of heartfelt worship. Another special touch for me is the Zulu choir who is singing on this song. During our last couple of visits to South Africa we’ve developed a friendship with these guys, so it was a real honour to have them involved with the recording.

How Do We Worship God?

We recently had a staff retreat so that we could plan for 2006. We looked at where we’ve been, and where God is leading us as a church. It was a great time to truly listen to God. Through this time of prayer, one of the things I really sensed God was impressing on my heart, and really for us as a church was to develop a lifestyle of worshipping God. To go beyond the 1 hour we spend corporately on Sunday, and let our worship of God seep and ooze into every aspect of our daily lives.

Hey

Welcome to the RVCC Worship Blog. I hope to provide great articles, resources, and insights to help us better understand what it means to worship God. I value your input, so please leave comments on the posts.

Steve Eller
worship leader / e-ministry