I felt that the church was going through a dry time. I personally spiritually dry. I think even my van felt that way this morning. My van overheated on my way to church and later the timing belt even broke! Double whammy. But I have my parents to thank, they managed to help get me to church by 8:50am (10 minutes before service starts).
Back to my point...
Sometimes there is just a season for these things, so at the moment my church is kind of dry. There are certain things in church that are dying and this is not necessarily a bad thing, somethings really should die. So in this season of dryness I took the theme for this week's worship session from Psalm 63:1-8. During the session I hoped to encourage my church members, especially those who are feeling dry, to come to the river of life and drink in his living water.
I pray for those who are, for any reasons, feeling dry. I pray that you will hang on to God during this time. After this there will be a season of growth and life. But God allows us to go through these different times to so that we can experience him in different dimensions and consequently grow. So hang on! He is faithful to carry us through.
Perhaps spiritually you are feeling the same way as I am at this moment. You may, or may not, be from Canaan Church, and I cannot be there to lead you in a "worship session". But you could still express yourself to God by singing some of these songs to him. I believe that as we earnestly seek him we will be satisfied. Here is the worship list:
- Better Than Life (G)
- Now That You're Near (G)
- Shout Of The King (G)
- God I Need You Now (E)
- Unto You (E)
- As The Deer (E)
I have included the setlist here for some of you who might be curious to know what the musicians and singers look at.
P/S: I got to use my new Shure Beta 58 wireless mic this morning as I led worship, it was the very first time for me. So happy! There was a better definition in the trebles on the Beta 58. There were some good comments after the service, which I was glad to hear :D
6 comments:
My comments must start from relevant verses from Bible:-
Matthew 5:38 You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an
eye, and a tooth for a tooth." (39) But I tell you not to
resist him who is evil; rather whoever slaps you on your
right cheek, turn to him the other also. (40) And to him
who wishes to sue you and take your tunic, yield to him your
cloak also; (41) And whoever compels you to go one mile, go
with him two.
Naturally we human beings spent our lives in reactions. Remember Newton's motion theory, "in every action, there is a reaction". When we feel "dry" about the church, we are reacting. When we feel angry about what others are saying, we are reacting as well. We react when we are agitated, we react
when we resent mistreatment and we also react when we feel "dry".
When we analyze human living carefully, we find that we live in our reactions most of the time.
The above verse Matthew 5:38 deals with reactions. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth"
means that if anyone hurts my eye, I will also hurt his eye. If anyone breaks my tooth, I will also break his tooth. I will do to others as they have done to me. This is one kind of reaction, men in the Old Testament age reacted this way under the law.
But verses in Matthew 5:39-41, however, the Lord said that our reaction should be different. We should be different in the way we react. We should not resist those who are evil. Man's demand is the right cheek, but our reaction is to give the left cheek as well. We do not literally allow people to slap our right cheek if someone slaps our right cheek. We Man's demand is the tunic, but our reaction is an additional cloak. Man's demand is one mile, but the Christian reaction is two miles. The whole of Matthew 5 reminds us of one thing - our reactions have to be different. The Christian life is expressed through a totally
different set of reactions.
Take the GRACE of GOD in you walk with Christ!!!
It's not the first time we hear the 'being dry' syndrome in our church. I feel the same too.
One reason I think is that we have change our main focus to please men instead. We tend to go 'there' in ministry. When critics come along, we will try our best to silence them or unknowingly, we set out to please them. Our motives changed.
We have to bring Jesus back into all we do in ministry. It has to be pleasing to Him and everything else will fall into place.
Let the river of life of our Lord Jesus flow through us and we feel dry no more.
Yeah, just like stephen said;
Take the Grace of GOD in your walk with Christ!!!
There are ups and downs in life and ministry, spiritually this is just such a season. I am not reacting to anything/anyone. There is not much to "react" to.
Nonetheless, God's grace is indispensible especially in tough times.
I realize that I am not alone in this as some others have shared with me that they felt the same. I just pray that they will be able to stay faithful in these times. If there was anything that I could do that would help, I want to do it.
Christians today continue to face the two “trees” that were planted in the Garden of Eden. They are the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. In fact these two trees still exist today and are even more subtle than when they were first placed in the Garden of Eden, simply because today, they are not tangible.
By taking the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and disobeying God, both Eve and Adam fell and sinned against God. The result of this has given humans the knowledge and thereby allowing opinions to flow in. Opinions led to the degradation of the New Testaments churches. Therefore, if we continue to be critical and too opinionated we literally are taking the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Paul called these gossips “unhealthy teachings” and should be avoided and instead by taking the tree of life.
The tree of life is Christ himself. Christ gives life and abundantly too. Therefore Christ is the tree life. By taking the route of the tree of life, we are taking Christ and it leads to life. Let’s us all build up one another in accordance to the measures of Christ. Christ in us has to be expressed and magnified.
By feeling “dry” sometimes is quiet natural. The Spirit in us is telling us we need to be “recharged”. That is why the Bible says, “work out your daily salvation” and it means work out your daily experience with Christ.
>.<
... this was supposed to be a worship song list only... Interesting that it attracted so much attention.
You know I have just started a blog. I forced myself in starting one. So, I am taking this opportunity to speak for Christ and speak forth Christ.
Good it attarcted so much attention - "iron sharpen iron".....
www.ironhot.blgospot.com
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