dalereis's Xanga

Monday, June 09, 2008

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:46:46 GMT

Just dropping by to add a comment so I don't lose this site!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:30:45 GMT

Isaiah 55:9, "My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts."

Psalm 25:4-5a (NIV) Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me,…

I want to revisit a series I did in the past and revise/update it as I continue to seek to extend my understanding of worship.

Are We Worshiping Yet? – Part 1

“Worship is one of those activities every sincere Christian knows he ought to be doing, and even wants to do. But we’re not always sure how to go about it.” Like the puzzled party-goer who asks, ‘Are we having fun yet?’, Christians sometimes try hard to worship but feel like asking, ‘Are we worshiping yet?’ - Dr. Tony Evans

Are we worshiping yet? I’d imagine that this is a question that goes through everyone’s mind at one time or another. I’ve been in services that were so strong with God’s presence only to hear someone say they didn’t even sense God was there and I’ve been in services where it all fell flat to me but those around me felt they were experiencing God’s presence like never before. Who was right? It’s not my place to judge that, but periodically, I’m going to be getting into the definitions of worship and our attitudes while doing so. Bob Sorge, in his book “Exploring Worship” says, “No one definition seems to adequately express the fullness of worship – perhaps because worship is a divine encounter and so is as infinite in its depth as God himself.”

It would be a great help to me if anyone reading this knows anyone else who would be a good candidate to either learn from or contribute to this discussion. We learn from each other as we all have been given unique personalities and talents as well as having unique experiences.

If you’d like further reading concerning the above quote, here is a <link to an article> in a newsletter in which it appeared.

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:36:04 GMT

“Singing should not be considered an end in itself. But people have to be led from the natural to the spiritual and from the expressions of self-needs to an expression of spirit-worship. This is the task of the song leader. If he succeeds, he will be a leader of worshipers more than a leader of songs.”- Judson Cornwall

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:06:54 GMT

How Do You Define Worship?

In our culture today, I think we have limited our vision on what we think worship is. A lot of us think of worship as just the music, but that's so limiting and God has so much more for us than that. While I really enjoy music as one of my top forms of worship, worship is a lifestyle and that incorporates all different things. Whether someone enjoys words or painting or dance, and that inspires them to worship... even common things like hanging out with your friends. That's all worship. So I think it's really important for us to get our minds open a bit more to see that all of these things need and should be used to inspire and that they are in fact worship, when dedicated and consecrated to God. - Aaron Spiro

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Monday, February 06, 2006

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 22:51:48 GMT

"As John 4:23 says, Its time, as worshipers of God, to give him all we have. For when he is exalted, everything about me is decreased. So many times we stand in the way of really stepping into the secret place of worship with God. Just abandon tradition and the "expected" ways of Praise & Worship and get lost in the holy of holies with the sole intention of blessing the Fathers heart."

Jessica Leah Springer

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Monday, May 30, 2005

Mon, 30 May 2005 12:49:56 GMT

I was putting together last Saturday’s set list and kept thinking of the verse that states “God finds pleasure in the praises of His people” (that may not be a literal rendering of the verse, but you get the idea). I don’t often say a lot while leading worship but decided to do a Bible Gateway search on “pleasure’ to see if I could locate that verse. While searching I came across this verse that set off some memories of things learned in the past:

Haggai 1:7-9 (NIV)

⁷ This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. ⁸ Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. ⁹ "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.

The literal thought here is that God’s people were expecting a lot for themselves but had neglected to rebuild God’s house, which had been destroyed. This also sounds a whole lot like today’s church which we will expand on as we study a couple of more verses.

2 Samuel 7:11 (King James Version)

¹¹And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.

The literal thought here is that David was discouraged that he had not been able to establish a permanent “house” for God which would be grand and honor Him with a place for the Ark to be permanently kept and honored through the ritual sacrifices.

As an aside, David was the one whom went and brought back the Ark, which represented God’s presence, after their enemies had taken it into captivity. While the Ark was gone, the Tabernacle of Moses was still being used as the main center of worship with the priests going through the system of sacrifices commanded by God, but with the notable absence of God’s presence. Whine David brought back the Ark, he set up a separate tent and placed the Ark there and invited any who wanted to worship to come to the tent to do so. This was noticeable difference in attitude from the original system of only God’s priests being allowed into His presence, and David inviting all to come. I’ll add that while this was going on, the priests were still going through the motions of religious sacrifices in the absence of the presence. Can you see the parallel to the modern church and also note the uniqueness of David’s attitude?

This reveals even more reasons why he was known as a man after God’s own heart and was the man God chose to begin the lineage of His own Son. That is why, in this verse, God says that He will make David a house. He was to be the forefather of the Son of God Himself and of the family we have been adopted into when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. We see this thought carried over into the next verse:

1 Peter 2:4-9 (New International Version)

⁴As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁶For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." ⁷Now to you who believe,

this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone," ⁸and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Jesus Christ, the stone the early religious leaders rejected, has been laid as the corner stone for God’s house, just as God promised David. We, those who have accepted our place in God’s kingdom, have now been placed as living stones to be a part of that house with Him. He has also made us priests and kings, as David was, to offer up acceptable sacrifices to Him. While acceptable sacrifices covers a lot of ground, it starts here with “declaring the praises of Him.”

So, think about this when you gather together in His name to worship Him. Don’t be among those who would be concerned with their own tastes in music or their own brand of theology and be looking for what you can get out of the worship service because, as Haggai suggests, God will “blow it away.” Rather, be concerned with what you can do to participate in bringing God honor and glory and in building Him a “house” which all starts with “declaring His praises.”

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

DON’T FORGET àThe Prayer Listß CLICK HERE!!

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Sun, 01 May 2005 00:35:28 GMT

It has been far too long since I stopped here long enough to write anything. I started this site a couple of years back in the hopes of having a forum for vworship leaders; present, past and future; to discuss their craft and hopefully help each other out. I also hoped to encourage others to understand those who lead their worship and be more encouraged to join in on every worship opportunity. I guess the main problem to all this was that others who wanted to discuss worship didn't seem to want to share this site but went off to start their own. Maybe this is a problem in worship, that we can't join with others because we either want it our way or we refuse to acknowledge the leadership of others because, as humans, we want the glory. I don't know but this wasn't my reason for writing here this evening and I'll leave it for you to think about.

What I was going to share here was some changes I've been going through since returning to be the main worship leader for our Saturday Night service. This happened in early December, for what I hoped would be a temporary situation. Lately I've been wanting to get the attention off of myself and to share the worshipleading with others, within the same worship sets. It finally came together tonight. I was not on top of things this week and the set for tonight proved to be a struggle for me. I was trying to get songs together that others could help me to lead and ended up just picking a bunch of songs and taking them to practice with me with the hopes the others could pick up on a couple of them. Practice was a long and arduous undertaking today but in the end, I opened with one song, another guy took the lead on the next two and our keyboard/female singer took the lead on the final song of the opening set. I allowed both of them to take it where they felt it should go and it was a great success. It sounded great to the congregation and rather than being a distraction, it seemed to me that the congregation actually entered in at a greater level than they usually do. For the final set the other guy sang a slow song and I ended it with a final fast song. I guess I have to admit that it was another of many examples in my life of the goodness of God.

Well, that's about all I want to share for now. Let me know if this is any help to any of you and I may expounda bit more on it later.

Be Blessed!

Saturday, September 04, 2004

Sat, 04 Sep 2004 13:45:20 GMT

Warning: technical blog ahead!

I though I’d list the Saturday Night set list (which I haven’t done for a while) and then decided to discuss why we picked the songs we did (I’ve been helping the newest worship leader plan their set on the weeks they lead.) The worship leaders original thoughts: “grace is one component of the sermon, of which the headline is "the sacraments", so I have a brain-thread leaning toward the symbolism of what they represent. My thoughts: “The sermon is based on Acts 11 but I can’t really make the connection the Pastor is trying to make between grace and the sacraments (though I’m sure I’ll get it once I hear him preach).” At any rate, that’s all we had to go on.

Proposed 1^st set (opens the service): God of wonders (E) (glorifying God, lifting his holiness)

Facedown (E) (our response)

As I thought about the selections above it appeared that musically they could flow together but I was wondering about the lyrics. As it says above: “God of Wonders” is about glorifying God, lifting his holiness while “Facedown” concerns our response but what do the lyrics say? The main theme remembered coming out of “God of Wonders” is “Hallelujah (to the lord of heaven and earth)” while “Facedown” is “I’ll fall face down, As Your Glory shines around” so the above descriptions are right on but as you look deeper into the songs you realize that the first song is a pure praise song about God but the second is more about ourselves. My question was: “Do we want to concentrate on God and then bring the emphasis back on ourselves?”

As the worship leader thought about this, they then considered that God’s grace allows us access into God’s presence and if “Facedown” is our response to God’s presence then maybe another possibility would be “Better is One Day.” This song speaks of a desire or longing to spend time in Gods’ presence with lines like: “One thing I ask and I would seek, to see Your beauty, To find You in the place Your glory dwells,” and “I will draw near to You.” “Facedown” then completes the thought with lines such as: “Welcomed in to the courts of the king, I’ve been ushered into your presence” and “I’ll fall face down, As Your Glory shines around.” These two songs seem to carry a thread concerning our hunger to be in God’s presence followed by our awareness that we have been invited to do so. While keeping the thought somewhat on ourselves it also gives us an awareness of God’s presence so it actually is drawing our thoughts in His direction, not ours. It also gives a transition from the key of E (1^st song) to the key of F# (2^nd song) which can be handled smoothly musically. With the first set out of the way we then tackled the second set which would follow the sermon.

Proposed 2nd set: Once Again (E) "...I think about your sacrifice"

We Fall Down (E) "...mercy and love"

Nothing but the Blood (G) (new M.R., builds very well, been tugging at my heart, fits the thread totally)

-prayer- I Love Your Grace (G) do this BIG!

The original thought being “Once Again” speaks of the cross and His sacrifice (saving grace, Your gift of life) while “We Fall Down” would our fitting response. They then wanted to return to the “theme” by singing Matt Redman’s “Nothing but the Blood” with lyrics like: “Your cross testifies in grace, Tells of the Father's heart to make a way for us,

Now boldly we approach, Not by earthly confidence’, It's only Your blood” which does sort of wrap up the whole worship experience for the evening. I questioned if we were following a thread here or maybe just repeating the theme with nothing new added to draw the worshipers closer to God. “Once Again” leaves us with the line: “I'm full of praise once again” and I wondered if we should just step right back into a more God centered praise at this point. I then suggested this might be the place to insert “God of Wonders” into the mix as it speaks of God’s being greater than all the heavens and the earth, all of the universe. It also praises with the last line of: “Hallelujah (to the lord of heaven and earth)” which seems to fit here. At this point, musically, we are building so it probably wouldn’t be wise to return to a slower “We Fall Down” so we were then in need of a third song for this set. A look through the song list suggested we follow “God of Wonders” with “Famous One” which carries on the theme of God’s greatness without beating it into the ground. It is also done in “G” which wouldn’t be a stretch from the “F#” of “God of Wonders.”

That left us with the closer of “I Love Your Grace” which is in the key of “G” but also follows up both on the theme of grace and the expression of praise we have been building with lines such as “I love Your grace, I love Your mercy” and “You know I love Your presence most of all.”

So the final choice of the song set was:

1^st set (opener): Better Is One Day

Facedown

2^nd set (following sermon): Once Again

God of Wonders

Famous One

Closer: I Love Your Grace

I’d be interested in any comments on our choices and how we arrived at them. I’d also be interested in how you other worship leaders go about choosing your set lists.

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

DON’T FORGET àThe Prayer Listß CLICK HERE!!

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Pray today as the Spirit would lead you for your fellow worshiper: sunshine17_85 and then go there and let them know you've prayed.

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List) or use this link (Click Here). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!

Friday, July 09, 2004

Fri, 09 Jul 2004 17:43:36 GMT

I Shall Go Up…

Psalm 24:3-4 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; ….

Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Hebrews 10: 19-22 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having a high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

I Shall Go Up

I shall go up into the hill of the Lord, to stand in His holy place.
I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart,

I will enter His courts with praise.
I will come with clean hands and a heart that is pure,
I will humble myself in the sight of the Lord.
I will enter the holiest with confidence,

Here we see the attitude of determining to enter into God’ presence, knowing the “patterns” to follow into God’s presence, and knowing and believing that God has given us the right to do so. These are all aspects of praise and worship we will be looking at in some degree during our study over the few seven weeks. Next we continue our study with a closer look at Psalm 100.

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

DON’T FORGET àThe Prayer Listß CLICK HERE!!

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Pray today as the Spirit would lead you for your fellow worshiper: stardusx and then go there and let them know you've prayed.

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List) or use this link (Click Here). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!

Friday, July 02, 2004

Fri, 02 Jul 2004 17:01:49 GMT

I started a new class at church for seven weeks and will be posting the notes here from time to time as I continue to write the notes for the course.

Experiencing God Through Worship
Increasing depth, freedom, and intimacy during corporate and personal worship times.

Mark 12:29-30, "The most important commandment," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

God Is Looking For Worshipers
John 4: ²¹Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Three Levels of Worship:

1) Ignorance – what you don’t know (v.22)

2) Religious Tradition – from the Jews (v.22)

3) The New Way – true worshipers (v. 23-24)

“Jesus said that His father is looking for worshipers – not just good people, not nominal Christians, not even ‘converts’ – but those who actually worship.” – Advanced Worship Seminar Manual

“The message of worship is not some hidden truth reserved only for the seasoned saints of the deeper life. It’s a street-level message that will challenge the imagination of even the most hardened among humanity: ‘God is looking for worshipers, and you could be one of them.’ Worship is not some kind of acquired skill that can only be learned after years of religious training. It’s actually the most natural response of God’s creation to His manifest presence. But we must be careful that our religious training doesn’t hinder such a natural, wholehearted response to God.” - Gerrit Gustafson (“Worship Evangelism” Charisma October 1991)

So of the three levels of worship mentioned above, I’d assume that most of the church is caught up in the first two though the last ten years have seen an ever-increasing passion and hunger for learning the “new way.” It is my hope that through the lessons to come we will all gain a new appreciation for the importance of praise and worship and begin to allow it to become a reality in our lives.

You're Invited!!

"Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer." - D.L. Moody

DON’T FORGET àThe Prayer Listß CLICK HERE!!

“Prayer is worship and I'm asking you as worshipers to pray for others!”

Pray today as the Spirit would lead you for your fellow worshiper: UnknownSanity and then go there and let them know you've prayed.

Due to some confusion as to where to send prayer requests I want to clarify that you can use the email link at Isaiah56 (The Prayer List) or use this link (Click Here). Please include your xanga address so I know who you are!