Awake My Soul and Sing!

 

Psalm 143 - A Psalm of David

O LORD, hear my prayer. In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea; in Your righteousness, answer me. Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You. For the enemy has pursued my soul, crushing my life to the ground, making me dwell in darkness like those long since dead. My spirit grows faint within me; my heart is dismayed inside me.I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I consider the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit. Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD; I flee to You for refuge. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. And in Your loving devotion, cut off my enemies. Destroy all who afflict me, for I am Your servant. 

"The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” - John 3:8

If you are reading this, you are more than likely a Christian. A follower of Jesus. A disciple.

And, if you are a disciple of Christ, it is also probably true that at least once in your life you felt down, depressed, lost, confused, overwhelmed, guilty, alone, or even abandoned.

Maybe, like David, you feel hemmed in by people around you. Perhaps circumstances have pushed you down and the weight of the moment keeps you from getting up. You struggle just to breathe…to catch your next breath. 

You need to be revived. Awakened.

Don’t we all.

Unless you are completely off social media/TV/radio you have undoubtedly heard of the Asbury Awakening (as some are calling it). In a tiny little town about thirty minutes below Lexington, Ky., a spiritual awakening has occurred as God has poured his Spirit out on the students, faculty and citizens of Wilmore.  What began as a normal, mandatory, everyday Wednesday chapel service has continued non-stop. And there appears to be no stopping it. (edit: they will be shutting down Hughes Auditorium late tonight 2/18/23 (1AM) but will reopen tomorrow 2/19/23 at noon).

As a result of people coming to experience the movement of God, and then returning home to their schools and towns, God is beginning to pour out his Spirit in other places as well. Perhaps we are witnessing the birth pangs of a third great awakening? 

Now, we are not going to tackle what is a revival, what makes up a revival, how does a revival occur, or even is this a revival. At this point we tend to look at it as a spiritual awakening…a fresh move of God’s Spirit on people who hunger for holiness. Whatever you want to label this “Divine Moment”, what we are definitely seeing is God publicly calling his people to draw closer to him and to bring their lives into alignment with his character, purpose and kingdom.

Most of us will not be able to hustle on over to the rolling hills of the Bluegrass State to witness this Supernatural movement BUT…can we all not join together (no matter where we are) and pray for God to touch our lives? Can we all agree with one another to seek God’s face and ask him to forgive us of all our sin? To wipe our hearts clean from the filth of this world? To beg him to deliver us from the evil seeking to devour us? To not forget us as the world abandons us? To bring healing where there is pain? And, that we might receive a new heart made of flesh to replace the cold, stony one which has neglected to love as we have been loved?

It’s a tall order for sure. It will require a change in us. It will demand we turn off the idiot box, set down our phones, close our laptops, and put down the Sherlock Holmes (I’m talking to myself here) and take seriously the arduous and painstaking work of prayer. Prayer for ourselves, our families, our communities, our churches, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our world. 

But, please remember…ours is not to emulate or model something just because it is working at one place. Ours is to “humble ourselves in the sight of the LORD and he will lift us up.” 

Think of it this way: we have had some severe weather across the south already this year. We can look at the radar, study wind velocity, read about CAPE, register the dew points and search for a dry line - and almost pinpoint where severe weather will occur. 

But that is not the way of the Spirit of God. 

Plead with us today for a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit…a fresh anointing of his mercy and grace…a revival of our spirits, a renewing of our hearts, a restoration of our marriages, a rejuvenation of our health, a resuscitation of our local churches. May the “Asbury Awakening” be the moment we have an awakening in all of our lives.

Now… “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Come Over Here and Help Us!

Then they went from town to town, instructing the believers to follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day. Next, Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there. - Acts 16:4-10

“Come over to Macedonia and help us!” What a powerful and yet oft neglected verse of the New Testament. 

In North America the church of Jesus Christ has taken a real hit. Some of the loss is self-inflicted - other things beyond our control have also stymied us over the past few decades. It’s true and indisputable - the “church” has been losing “members” for decades now. The decline is evident - both numerically and, unfortunately, spiritually.

Yet, one wonders if we should be viewing this from a different perspective.

In other words, is this the opportunity we have been praying for? To quote a teacher from long ago: are “the fields white with harvest?”

We believe they are.

Which is why, after years of praying and wondering, Missy and I are (as an AARP-aged couple no less) answering the call to plant a church. We have heard the call come from “Macedonia:” “Come over here and help us!”

God has spoken clearly to us. His Holy Spirit has been directing and leading us all along the way. We have seen a great need and have a desire to fill it. Answering our “Macedonian call,” Missy and I are moving to Alabama to plant a church on the Eastern Side of Mobile Bay.

And God has already been opening doors for us to walk through.

We would like to take some time to explain to you what God is calling us to do…

First off, this will not be a traditional church plant as you might be thinking. We are looking to focus on only three things:
    Fellowship (lots and lots of time together!)
    Discipleship (spending lots of time doing in depth Bible study and the other spiritual disciplines)
    Service (our love for God should reveal itself in our love for others. Period)

Secondly, we will not be seeking to build a church numerically. We will not be focused on numbers. That is the way of the world. We will not care about numbers. We will care about people.

Also, we will not have a budget. (We know, some of your heads are spinning right now.)There will be no overhead for us. Each week we will take whatever funds are given, and collectively as a group agree to whom/what we will be sending our gifts to. Then we will turn around and immediately be a blessing to someone. 

Furthermore, we will not worry one second about trying something new out...you know, doing something different. We will not be caged by tradition or a "This is the way we have always done it!" mentality. Rather, we will be free to place new wine into new wineskins.

Now. What will be our aim?

We will focus on growing people. We will keep our primary concern on seeing people mature in Christ and growing closer to God. We will invest our time in them - via Bible studies, small group ministries, prayer groups, and service groups.

We will train people to be leaders. If there is a shortage of anything in Christ’s church it is leadership. But, to be a leader of others you must first be a follower of Jesus. Therefore, one of our aims will be to teach others to become leaders.

We will train others to be leaders so they may then go out and serve. We do not want people to just gather - we want to gather so then we will “go.” We desire to take to others what has been given to us.

We will serve together. That’s one thing that we cannot wait to do - Missy and I understood and accepted as co-pastors. Both of us. Together. A team. And, our fellowship will recognize it as well.

And all the while, we will do all things in joy. Fellowship, koinonia, will be a hallmark of who we are and what we do. Think of it this way: lots of food, lots of laughter, lots of sharing, lots of playing games, lots of just hanging out at the local high school activities...fun times!

Some people call what we are going to do “marketplace ministry.” That’s not a bad way of looking at it. We will both be working normal jobs. We will not look to ask people to come to us…we will be going to them. Kind of like Jesus and the disciples in the New Testament.

And maybe that last sentence explains best what God has laid upon our hearts. We want to do what we read and see in the New Testament. We want to be like Jesus. As Paul writes, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” May that be said of us all.

Please be in prayer for us. Please ask God to continue to lead us. Please ask God to anoint us with his Holy Spirit. Please seek for God’s favor to be upon us as we reach out to those he places in our path. May God use us all for his glory…

The Wonder of Worship

Come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today! Psalm 95:1-7 (NLT)

We have a confession to make. It’s one you may or may not have heard from a pastoral couple. You know, the ones who are supposed to be “in charge” - the ones who get paid.

We loved “being” in worship during last week’s General Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church. We were not in charge. We did not have to come up with an order of service. We simply got to lift our hands, raise our voices, join in corporate prayer, listen to the Word, and take notes from the messages. What a delight!

That said, there has been a disconnect in worship for far too long between “leaders” and those “attending.” As a matter of fact, the biggest congregations in North America almost always have a great divide between the worship “team” and those in the “crowd.” It’s divine entertainment - and that should not be.

Psalm 95 is a great moment in scripture. It is a call for all to join in worship. Worship can be private - and it should be on a daily basis: devotions, prayer, reading of the Word, singing, doing acts of kindness…all of these are what we should be doing when we are apart from one another.

But, when we are together (and we should get together by the way)...

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up - I Corinthians 14:26

Did you notice? Not just the “paid” staff. Not just the worship “team.” Each of you. Everyone.

Dan Gildner, a writer for spiritandtruth.life considered this quandary in a recent article. He established a baseline, if you will, for both leaders of worship and attendees:

1. Confession - It is good practice to confess known sin to God and one another prior to inviting the congregation to worship or gathering in worship. Acts 3:19-20 promises that confession gives birth to times of refreshing from God’s presence.

Invitation to Practice: Start your morning in worship with a personal time of confession with Jesus and/or with your trusted small group. Be honest. Receive God’s refreshing grace.

2. Anticipation - When we come into worship we believe that his Presence is with us - in Spirit. The difference between those places and the U.S. is expectation. People come to worship expecting God to be present. What we anticipate, we pursue!

Invitation to Practice: Write out a one sentence prayer of faith before you gather/lead. Where do you expect God to show up in your life through this time of worship.

3. Preparation & Faithfulness

PREPARATION: God chooses to work with humankind in the renewal of all things. So we humbly work diligently at the various crafts (music, liturgy, sermon-writing, etc.) because we are graciously invited to participate with God. It demands that we give all that we can.

FAITHFULNESS: At the end of the day, we are human, and more than performance or perfection, God invites us to be faithful. We acknowledge that we could never practice enough to deserve God’s love. We could never pray enough to be fully prepared. But we show up and in each worship service we offer to God our faithful, limited selves.

Invitation to Practice: Before gathering for worship, prepare your heart through prayer, singing or silence…such that corporately you can offer the Lord all that you can.

4. Invitational - It is the job of those leading to invite those gathered to receive from, respond to and participate in the worship of the Almighty. Those gathered should desire to join in singing, sharing testimony, giving generously, and responding enthusiastically with raised hands and shouts of “Hallelujah!” because God “inhabits the praise of his people.”

Invitation to Practice: If leading, review your language, ensuring an invitational tone. If joining in worship, take advantage of every opportunity to respond to God.

5. Prayerful - Part of our preparation is to pray individually and collectively. Call upon God to release water onto the dry land. Declare God’s Truth over God’s people. Invite God to search your hearts as you lead others. Pray for divine manifestations to be known before, during and after the gathering.

Invitation to Practice: For those leading - It is best to know the Father’s throne room before inviting others into it. For those gathering - pray for God’s presence for all; pray for the preachers; pray for worship to happen when everyone goes to work the next day.

6. Surrendering Results - If we lift up the Name of God, if we praise his Name, if we humble ourselves in his Presence, he will draw us to himself. After all - it has nothing to do with us but everything to do with him. Not just worship - but the results of worship as well. We should not focus on “how worship went” but simply on worship. It’s about time that we all joined together for God’s purposes, glory, and honor.

Oh, the wonder of worship…

A Song for Everything

April 5, 2022

The priests of every group had gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean and acceptable to the LORD. The Levite musicians, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives, were wearing robes of fine linen. They were standing on the east side of the altar, playing cymbals, small harps, and other stringed instruments. One hundred and twenty priests were with these musicians, and they were blowing trumpets. They were praising the LORD by playing music and singing: “The LORD is good, and his love never ends.” Suddenly a cloud filled the temple as the priests were leaving the holy place. The LORD's glory was in that cloud, and the light from it was so bright that the priests could not stay inside to do their work. 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 (CEV)

…let the Spirit fill your life. When you meet together, sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, as you praise the Lord with all your heart. Always use the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to thank God the Father for everything. Ephesians 5:18b-20 (CEV)

“Where words fail, music speaks” - Hans Christian Andersen

This week we went to a flea market of sorts. It was fantastic! So much stuff…so many vendors…so many opportunities to spend money…We were walking around to the back end of this particular place and then, BOOM! We begin hearing “country” music from speakers placed directly above our heads.

Now, don’t get us wrong. We love all kinds of music, but I (Steve) cannot stand anything from the new country genre. It makes me nauseous. I am revolted by it. As a Texan - trust me on this - I know good country music. Today’s trash is not it…(Ok, I’ll stop bashing it now)...but if I ever hear “Body like a back road” one more time in this life I may be in jeopardy of losing my salvation.

Music has always played a part in human history. Your history. Our history. From simple vocals, to clapping, to stomping feet, jumping up and down, swaying back and forth, or closing your eyes and dreaming of being anywhere but where you are - music has been instrumental (pun intended) in our development as God’s creation.

Music brings people together. Think of a concert - do you worry about who is a Trumpster or who is a Yellow Dog Democrat? No. You focus on the music. You don’t care about others or their opinions. You are all united and excited about listening to the music that creates a moment in your life when everyone can be happy and get along.

We read in the Bible of music in heaven. We read about the tribes of Israel singing and blowing trumpets. We learn from the New Testament that music was a critical part of the early church. The Psalms are filled with commands to “make music.” It's why music should play a significant role in our worship services and other gatherings.

One of my proven and authentic rules in life is this: There is a song for everything and for everything there is a song. Try to disprove that!

What role does music play in your life? Streaming? Albums? CDs? Cassettes? 8 tracks?!

What style of music do you like? What brings a smile to your face? What lifts your heart? What fills you with energy? What do you like sharing with your friends?

Right now I am listening to Tommy Johansson - a singer, guitar player from Sweden. Tommy is an unashamed believer in Jesus Christ. He has used his gifts to bless others in ways we can only dream of. There are only two three tenors in life that I could listen to constantly - my Dad; Guy Penrod; Tommy Johansson.

I have never been ashamed of the music I love even though 99% of people would never listen to it. Neither should you be. Just because someone else doesn’t like it does not mean you should not enjoy it!

Here is your homework for today: if you are in your car (roll down your windows) or if you are at home (open your windows) and just play your favorite music. Allow the sun, the wind and the music to bless you and lift you up. There is nothing - we repeat - nothing sinful or evil about music or listening to music. Music makes the heart happy.

The great philosopher Plato put it like this: “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”

Is it any wonder that music/singing is important to us? It’s important to God:

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” - Zephaniah 3:17

And, finally, for your listening pleasure…I present to you, Tommy Johansson…

(2) YOU RAISE ME UP (1 OCTAVE CHALLANGE) - TOMMY JOHANSSON - YouTube

(2) STEELHEART - I'LL NEVER LET YOU GO (cover by Tommy Johansson) - YouTube

Who are you listening to today? Shoot us a message and let us know!

Steve and Missy