Rain or Shine

Lately I have been reading Matt Redman’s book “ The Unquenchable Worshipper.” It has many great truths about worshipping the Lord and even in the first few pages I am reminded that worshipping the Lord must be something the believer does in all circumstances. So many people base their worship to the Lord on how they feel at that moment. Feelings and emotions are important, but they also can distract us and even lead us into sin, the complete opposite of lifestyle worship. (“But each one is tempted when he is carried away by his own lust. James 1:14) The individual is solely responsible for his sin, and honestly, even for his feelings and emotions.

There certainly are times in our lives when we feel discouraged or just plain “blue.” However, we must still be striving to live a life of worship in these times. In his book, Redman mentions several Scriptures in chapter one that hopefully you will find encouraging. Habakkuk 3:17-18 states:

Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

While I don’t particularly care for figs I still think I can relate to Habakkuk’s words. There are always periods in our lives when we endure financial troubles, problems, and trials. What will we do in those times? Will we become depressed or discouraged, or will we turn to the Lord and trust Him as an act of worship? Will we rejoice in Him?

In Acts 16 Paul and Silas find themselves in prison. This would certainly be an opportunity to feel “down.” Here they were living their lives totally in ministry and they had been thrown in jail. Verse 25 explains that in this time they were praying and singing hymns of praise to God! What an incredible witness for the Lord. Our lifestyle of worship will influence those around us. Who and what we worship influences more than just ourselves. A few verses later we read that an earthquake frees the prisoners, yet they all stay in place. God used Paul and Silas’s witness (their lives of worship) to influence the entire jail and to bring one of the jailers and his household to salvation (verse30-31)!

While Redman doesn’t mention him, I can’t help but think of Job and his reaction to hard times. Job, a very wealthy God-follower suddenly loses it all; his family and his wealth. His reaction is found in Job 1:20-22

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Through all of this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. 

It is my prayer that our attitudes be similar to that of David in Psalm 34:1-3 where he writes:

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul will make its boast in the Lord; The humble will hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. 

Regardless of our circumstances, whether bleak or blissful, may we always exalt the name of the Lord; rain or shine!

Those Days

Have you ever had one of THOSE DAYS where no matter what you do things just always seem to go wrong? Well, we have definitely had those days this week as we tried to finish up the big things that needed to be done before the appraiser comes. It all started on Tuesday, when we tried to have the dishwasher put in, the light above the sink installed, and the receptacles in the front living room to work. Everything that could possibly go wrong did. From not having enough wire to wire the sink light to a leaky sink drain to cut fingers. Yes, this all happened in one night. And, yes, all of these projects were completed successfully and work great! But then it all starts....
Thursday morning Allen gives me a call while I am at work and tells me that the appraiser is coming tomorrow at 1PM. We both had to work late Thursday, so you can only imagine what went on at our house Thursday night. Dinner plans were changed, shutters had to be put on the outside of the house, the grass had to be cut, the yard had to be cleaned up, and the house had to be cleaned. Luckily, I had vacuumed and mopped all of the floors Wednesday night, so whew! that was done. All I had to do was spot clean the floors, clean the bathroom, and clean up the kitchen from cooking dinner. Well, as with any time that you know something huge is going to happen at your house, you try really hard to NOT mess it up. Of course you always do, as what happened to me the other night. I dropped multiple cooking utensils on my clean kitchen floor, had food splattered everywhere during my cooking, and just when you think what else could possibly happen? it did. The electric can opener decided to not hold onto that can of Rotel tomatoes. I hear the can hit the counter, and I turn around to see tomatoes splattered all over the counters, floor, and microwave. Here's to phase two of cleaning up. I thought this would give you all a good laugh and mental picture as you could just see my face during this whole ordeal.
By the way, the appraiser called Allen around 12 yesterday afternoon and said she wasn't coming. At least, we have a clean house and yard to enjoy this nice long weekend.

It's Official...

And no, it's not what you are thinking. We have officially changed our address to a more permanent one. That's right. You guessed it. We have officially moved into our house, and all of the big stuff is done. We have been living there for a month now, and we are really enjoying our new house. We are just thrilled and excited to finally be in after a year and half of working on it. The process has been long and at times slow, but it was totally worth our efforts to be in our home. I know the question that everybody has is, "Where are the pictures?" Allen and I have decided that we are not going to put pictures up on-line right now, because we want people to come by and see for themselves. Pictures can't even begin to describe what our house look liked before and what it looks like now. If I had not of seen the transformation for myself, I would not believe that it was the same house.

CALLED TO HOLINESS, but what does that have to do with worship?

For that past month and a half, the worship and music ministry here at Central has been reading “Holiness, the Heart God Purifies” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. (I strongly recommend this book for any believer!) 

One might ask the question, “ Wouldn’t it make more sense for the worship ministry to read a book about worship? “ The reality though, is that living a life of worship cannot be separated from living a holy life. You can’t just  be a worshiper, and you can’t just be holy. One’s pursuit of holiness, their obedience in allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and change them, is an essential part of their life of worship. It is by living holy lives that we live lives of worship. In Scripture it is clear that sin is serious and that believers are called to be holy:

But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3

While this is not an easy task, it is a possible one as the Holy Spirit continues to sanctify us, making us more like Christ as we walk with Him. 

Why is it that people have such a negative view of holiness when it is how we are to live as believers? Much of the time people would rather take the easy road because to put it simply, holiness is hard. Total focus and dependence on Christ is the only way to live a holy life. If we know we cannot save ourselves and that Christ is our salvation, then we must also know that we cannot possibly live a holy life without dependence on God. We can’t do it on our own, yet we still have to be obedient in following wholeheartedly after Christ. When one is focused on Christ holiness is not over burdensome because our true desire and ambition is to please the Savior. That is living a life of worship. 

God is calling his children to live lives of holiness, let’s not make excuses for ourselves. Listed below are 7 key motivations for holiness take from chapter 2 of DeMoss’s book.

We are to be holy because:

1. God is holy

2. Holiness is God’s stated goal for every believer

3. We are saints (so act like it)

4. Our intimacy with God depends on it

5. Jesus died to deliver us from sin

6. We are going to live eternally in a holy city

7. The well-being of others depends on it

I am constantly amazed by God’s faithfulness. While I often mess up, He continues to use me. Aren’t you thankful that as believers we do not have to strive for holiness on our own. We don’t have to meet a standard ourselves. Christ has already met it for us and through the Holy Spirit the Lord will continue to work in us! 

..being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Couponing Trip

Allen has been after me for about a year now to do a blog about couponing, so here it is. As many of you have probably already seen on facebook I had a great shopping trip last Thursday. Today's blog is going to tell you each item that I bought, how much it should have been, and what I paid for it. Pictures from each store will be included, as well as the total price from each trip  before coupons and savings and after coupons and savings.
With the new program on TLC called "Extreme Couponing", I wanted to give my readers a real perspective of how to do couponing. The show makes you think that you can go into any store and get thousands of dollars worth of groceries for nothing or in some cases have the store pay you. This is not true at all! In fact, most grocery stores do not allow to have overages on coupons or give you money back. So for those of you who have maybe tried to do what is being done on the television show, and have gotten discouraged because you can't do it, this blog is for you. Again, I will say the show does not let you in on the amount of work involved with couponing and the women are also using unethical ways to get their groceries. Do not be discouraged if you can not do this the first time you go couponing. It takes almost two months to get your coupon inventory up, and probably another three months to stock your pantry. I now go shopping about once a month, if that, to get groceries that Allen and I need, and most of the time I am just restocking what we have already used. Most months, I only buy meat because I have the ingredients to do everything else. So here goes last Thursday's shopping trip.

Kroger

 Pictured above:

6 packages of Bar S hot dogs- The hot dogs were on sale for $1 a package- $6 total- Coupon: $1 off two packages of hot dogs, making each package of hot dogs- $.50

6 bags of Knorr Pasta sides- The pasta was on sale for $1 a package- $6 total- Coupon: $.50 off when you buy two packages of Knorr Pasta sides. Coupon doubled making each bag $.50.

3 bottles of All laundry detergent- The laundry detergent was on sale for $2.99- $8.97 total- Coupon: $1 off when you buy any All laundry detergent making each bottle $1.99.

2 bottles of V8 Juice- The V8 was on sale for $2.29- $4.58 total- Coupon: $1 off two bottles of V8 juice making each bottle $1.49.

Total price of groceries before coupons: $35.33

Total after coupons: $16.81. However, I had a $5 Kroger gift card bringing my out of pocket expense to $11.81.

 Now you are probably asking why did her $.50 coupon double? Kroger allows you to double any coupon $.50 or less. Therefore making my $.50 coupon a dollar off.

Harris Teeter

This was my biggest grocery store purchase with the least amount of out of pocket expense.

Pictured above:
6 tubes of Degree deodorant
                         Sale Price: 2/$5.00
                         Total before Coupons: $15.00
                         Coupon: Buy 1 Get one Free, and I used $.75 off one tube of Degree deodorant
                         Total after Coupon- $3
3 bottles of KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce
                         Sale Price: $1.50
                         Total before Coupons: $4.50
                         Coupon: $1 off when you buy KC Masterpeice Suace or Marinade
                         Total Price after Coupon: $1.50. 3 bottles for the price of one.
1 tube of Colgate toothpaste
                         Sale Price- $1.99
                         Total before Coupons- $1.99
                         Coupon: $. 75 off one Colgate Toothpaste
                         Total Price after Coupon: $.50
2 bottles of Gillette body wash
                         Sale Price- $3.99
                         Total before coupons- $7.98
                         Coupon: Buy one get one free, and I used $2 off manufacturer coupon when you buy 1
                          bottle, and I used $2 off store coupon when you buy one bottle of body wash.
                          Total after Coupon- FREE
1 tube of Crest 3D White toothpaste
                         Sale Price- $2.49
                         Total before coupon: $2.49
                         Coupon- $.75 off one Crest toothpaste, and $.75 off store coupon
                         Total after coupon: $.24
1 Tide to-go pen
                         Sale Price- $2.99
                         Total before Coupon- $2.99
                         Coupon- $1 off one Tide-to-go pen, and $1 off store coupon
                         Total after Coupons- $.99
1 Colgate toothbrush
                         Sale Price- $1.99
                         Total before coupon- $1.99
                          Coupon- $.75 off one toothbrush
                         Total after coupon- $.49
6 bottles of Classico Pasta Sauce
                         Sale Price- 2/$4
                         Total before Coupons- $24
                         Coupon- $1 off two
                         Total after coupons- $18
2 boxes of Tampax Pearl
                        Sale Price- $6.49
                        Total before Coupons- $12.98
                        Coupons- $3 off when you buy 2, and $3 off when you buy 2 store coupon
                         Total after Coupons- $6.98
2 Freschetta Pizzas
                         Sale Price- $3.97
                         Total before Coupons- $7.94
                         Coupon- $1 off one
                         Total after Coupons- $5.94
2 packages of Chicken Leg Quarters
                         Sale Price- $.47 a pound
                         Total Price- $5.82
1 bottle of Finesse Shampoo
                         Sale Price- $2.50
                         Total before Coupon- $2.50
                         Coupon- $1 off
                          Total after Coupon- $1.50
1 bottle of Finesse Conditioner
                         Sale Price- $2.50
                         Total before Coupon- $2.50
                          Coupon- $1 off
                          Total after Coupon- $1.50
1 bottle of Finesse Mousse
                         Sale Price- $2.50

                         Total before Coupon- $2.50
                         Coupon- $1 off
                          Total after Coupon- $1.50
                           I also have a $2 rebate on this item, so after I get my rebate it will be a $.50 moneymaker.
2 tubes of Lysol Wipes
                          Sale Price- $1.69
                          Total before coupon- $3.38
                          Coupon- $1 off two
                          Total after coupon- $2.38, making them $1.19 a piece
3 bottles of French's Worcestershire Sauce
                          Sale Price- $.99
                          Total before coupons- $2.97
                          Coupon- $.75 off one
                           Total after coupons- FREE
2 bottles of Clorox 2 Laundry treatment
                          Sale Price- $1.99
                          Total before coupons- $3.99
                          Coupon- $1.50 off one
                          Total after coupon- $,99, making each bottle $.49. I also have a Saving star account that
                           gives you money when you buy certain products that you choose. After that is added to my
                           account it makes both bottles FREE.
1 bottle of Dawn dish detergent
                            Sale Price- $2.50
                            Total before Coupon- $2.50
                            Coupon- $.50 off one
                            Total after coupon- $1.50
4 half gallons of Turkey Hill Tea
                             Sale Price- $1.25
                             Total before Coupons- $5
                             Coupon- $1 off when you buy 2
                             Total after Coupons- $3, making each half gallon $.75
1 bottle of Crest Pro-Health Mouthwash
                              Sale Price- $3.99
                              Total before Coupons- $3.99
                              Coupons- $2 off when you buy one, and $2 off when you buy one store coupon
                               Total after Coupons- FREE


Total of this trip before coupons and savings- $163.45
Total after coupons and savings- $53.58
That's right, I saved $109.87.

Lowes Foods

Pictured above:
2 tubes of Crest toothpaste
                 Sale Price- $1.99                
                 Total before coupons- $3.98
                 Coupon- $.75 off one
                 Total after coupons- $.98
2 Colgate toothbrushes
                  Sale Price- $.89
                  Total before Coupons- $1.60
                   Coupon- $.75 off one
                   Total after Coupons- FREE
2 Crab Classics Crab Meat
                   Sale Price- $1.50
                   Total before Coupon- $3
                   Coupon- $1 off one
                    Total after coupons- $1 for both
5 bottles of Old Orchard Juice
                    Sale- Buy 2, get 3 Free
                    Total before coupons- $5.70
                     Coupon- $.50 off one
                     Total after Coupons- $3.70, making each bottle $.74
1 Cascade Complete Action Pacs Dishwasher Detergent
                      Sale Price- $3.99
                      Total before Coupons- $3.99
                       Coupon- $.25 off one
                      Total after coupon- $3.49
1 Cascade Action Pacs Dishwasher Detergent
                     Sale Price- $3.99
                     Total before Coupons- $3.99
                      Coupon- $.50 off one
                      Total after coupon- $2.99
1 Febreeze Set and Refresh
                      Sale Price- $2.50
                      Total before Coupon- $2.50
                      Coupon- $1 off one
                      Total after coupon- $1.50
1 Febreeze Air Effects
                      Sale Price- $2.50
                      Total before coupon- $2.50
                       Coupon- $.50 off one
                       Total after coupon- $1.50
1 Dawn Dish Detergent
                        Sale Price- $1.99
                        Total before Coupon- $1.99
                         Coupon- $.50 off one
                         Total after Coupon- $.99
1 Fusion Hydro Gel Shaving Cream
                         Sale Price- $1.99
                         TOtal before Coupon- $1.99
                          Coupon- $1 off one
                           Total after coupon- $.99
2 bottles of Old Spice body wash
                          Sale Price- $2
                          Total before coupon- $4
                          Coupon- $1 off two
                          Total after coupon- $3
2 cartoons of Lowes Foods Grade A Large Eggs
                          Sale Price- $.99
                          Total- $1.98

Total before coupons and savings- $74.89
Total after coupons and savings- $27.82

Some of you are probably wondering how did she get some of her money off when her coupon may have been for only $.50 or $.75. Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods allows you to double any coupon that is $.99 or less everyday.

There you have my entire days shopping trip and how I did it. Some of the coupons and prices may be wrong for Lowes Foods, but I could not remember everything. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my coupon trip. Be sure to look for more blogs to come. :)

An Unexpected Answer

Back on April 10th I had the opportunity to speak at Central where I am the worship pastor. I don't speak too much other than a few comments during our corporate worship time, so I thought I would take the opportunity to share about Biblical worship. I was able to share from John 4. I showed the video below as an intro to the message. Click the speaker icon  to hear what I shared that day. Soli Deo gloria!

 

Click to hear "An Unexpected Answer" Central Baptist Church 4/10/11

Living the Lyrics...a recent change

So not that anyone really noticed (except for maybe Erica), but I recently changed the blog description to "living the lyrics." I thought since I haven't posted anything in a while I would share a few brief thoughts about that phrase. Being that I am a worship pastor and music guy, I often think about the songs that we sing when we gather to worship together on Sundays(it would be really bad if I didn't carefully think about them). I am always careful to call this time "corporate worship," because I never want worship to be confused with just being a time, place, event, song set, etc. Worship happens during those times and believers worship together, but true worship is a lifestyle of loving God above all else. The phrase "living the lyrics" does intercept the lifestyle (individual worship) and corporate (public worship)that happens when we use music as a tool to worship together on Sundays.

Here is what I want to focus on though; do we as believers believe and live the words we sing on Sunday? Unfortunately I would say that one rarely "lives the lyrics." I know I have certainly failed to do that at times. I want to constantly keep my focus and priorities on God living a lifestyle of worship to Him. He is the only One worthy. Sometimes, even though we sing to the Lord, we do not mean what we are saying. In our corporate worship times our lives are not transformed, we leave unchanged. I would suggest that this is typically because it is not the One True God we are worshiping when we sing. We are just participating for the sake of the event.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to preach at Central. I spoke primarily on John 4 and worshiping in spirit and truth. Later I may try to link the audio to the blog in some way. Anyway in my prep for the sermon here is a quote by C.S. Lewis that I re-discovered.

"But God wills our good, and our good is to love Him, (with that responsive love that is proper to creatures) and to love Him we must know Him: and if we know Him, we shall in fact fall on our faces. If we do not, that only shows that what we are trying to love is not yet God--though it may be the nearest approximation to God which our thought and fantasy can attain."

How can we claim to be truly worshiping on Sundays if our lives during the week do not show Christ. Without private worship, there can be no public worship. So my charge is that we would not just sing empty words each week when we gather together, but that we would live the lyrics that we sing each day as we continue in worship. It is my desire that Erica and I would live the lyrics!

I love the end of Romans 11 and beginning of chapter 12. This section (Romans 11:33-12:1) is often referred to as the Romans Doxology. It is a spontaneous outburst of praise from Paul.  If you recall the previous chapters in Romans one can understand why Paul gets to this point. He had explained the essential doctrines of the Christian faith (justification through Christ's work on the cross, continued sanctification through the indwelling Holy Spirit, the confident expectation of one day being glorified in heaven with Christ, the realization that sin was defeated and one has a new life, the understanding that Christ's righteousness was not just applicable to the Jews but also the Gentiles, etc.). After this praise Paul explains something very important, that we are to be "living sacrifices" because this is our spiritual service (or act) of worship to the Lord. What a crazy term, "living sacrifice." Most of the time when I think of a sacrifice, it is dead, going to die, or fixing to be gone and done way with. But believers are called to be living sacrifices. That is they are to continue sacrificing themselves (dieing to themselves, their flesh, their desires) and living for Christ. He must increase, we must decrease. We are to continue in worship.....lets live the lyrics!

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
   How unsearchable his judgments,
   and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
   Or who has been his counselor?”

“Who has ever given to God,
   that God should repay them?”

For from him and through him and for him are all things.
   To him be the glory forever! Amen. 

 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Romans 11:33-12:1

Worship from the First Church of Uz

A man called Job

Do you ever have days when nothing seems to be going right? I do, and I know how incredibly frustrated and grumpy I can get on those days. In fact, if I were honest, I could say that on certain days it is really easy for me to be bent out of shape over the simplest things. At times, the simplest things seem to make us lose focus on what really matters.  If simple things make us lose focus I wonder what serious things would do?

One of my favorite worship songs is “Blessed Be Your Name.” As believers, we have the ability to worship God regardless of our circumstances. That does not mean that we will constantly be happy and that every day is great, but it does mean we live to humble ourselves in worship before the sovereign most high God of the universe. The bridge of the song says: “you give and take away, you give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name.” How many of us can truly say that the desire of our heart is to worship the Lord in spite of what we might be dealing with, or what might have been “taken.”

I am constantly amazed by Job, who is described in Job 1:1 as a blameless and upright man who feared God and steered clear of evil. Job was an incredible God-follower even before his suffering!  Job 1:13-19 explains how Job lost all of his family and possessions.  My favorite verses here are 1:20-22:

“At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

   ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb,

   and naked I will depart.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

   may the name of the LORD be praised.’

 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

While most people would have responded with a “why God, why,” Job responded in worship. It was not that Job was happy in his circumstances (we know he was grieved because he tore his clothes), but it was that in a tragic circumstance he still acknowledged that God was in control. Job honestly humbled himself as he bowed down before His sovereign God. It was as if Job was saying, “No matter what happens, to God be the glory.” Sometimes it seems that we have this picture of worship that is always happy and energetic, while the reality is that genuine worship can also happen in times of despair, hopelessness, and sadness. Those moments bring people closer to God.  They continue to realize they must rely more on Him; yet they also choose to bless the name of the Lord.

To me it is clear that Job understood some basic, yet essential elements of Biblical worship.

First, as verse one explains, he understood the importance of living a Holy life in which he feared the Lord. Throughout Scripture there are innumerable connections between living a holy life and having a healthy fear of the Lord. These two elements of Christian living are inseparable. Second, Job apparently understood that God’s worthiness does not change based on a situation. God is always worthy of our worship. Job knew that he was to live a lifestyle of worship. Third, Job understood that God is sovereign and most important above any circumstances or possessions. God is ultimately in control, even when it seems as if He is not. He is so much bigger than we can understand or even imagine.

Job had a choice in that moment of tragedy to either worship God or to focus on what surrounded him. He had lost both his family and possessions, yet he chose to worship. May we each day choose to live continual lives of worship; in the good times and bad, “may the name of the Lord be praised.”