On Wednesday, April 1, more than 1,000 people died of Covid-19. Millions are suddenly out of work. Marriages are struggling due to an excess of togetherness. Everyone is worried about the economy. Jesus is Lord. Of all the statements above, “Jesus is Lord” is the one I am trying to keep my focus on. Of course, “Jesus is Lord” doesn’t mean that…
Head to YouTube to sing along with my son and I performing this song (before the shelter in place order) . Play along using the lead sheet! Lord Plant Your Seeds was written a few years ago when our head pastor at the time was going through a series on Galatians. I was reading ahead, planning the worship sets when I hit…
I would love nothing more than to see revival in Tacoma, and “Change Our Hearts Today” is my flat-out reach for revival song. Here’s a link to a version of the song my son and I recently recorded at church. If you’d like to play along you can download the lead sheet! I regularly read about revivals. Two of the most well-known…
1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” In my most recent blog we discussed the element of reverence in worship. Reverence is closely tied to another element that must be present for true worship to occur: humility. Humility may be the most important element for any worshiper to possess. James…
A few weeks ago I wrote about joy being essential to biblical worship. To understand the type of joy that true worship requires, one has to consider another essential element: reverence. Dictionary.com defines reverence as “an attitude of deep respect tinged with awe.” The Bible tells us in several passages to show reverence in our worship (Hebrews 12:8; Psalm 5:7), but to…
Heaven lives in a perpetual state of worship. Revelation 4 tells us that there are always four creatures flying around the throne of God, and that day and night they never stop saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” Every time they say this, 24 Elders that surround the throne fall down…
“My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts.” (Isaiah 65:14) Joy is an essential element in our worship. The Bible tells us over and over again to “Sing for joy to the Lord” (Psalms 33, 47, 66, 81, 98, 95, 100; 1 Chronicles 15, and more). It must be critically important to our spiritual growth. I would suggest that…
Jesus wants us to “be one”. Towards the end of His earthly ministry the unity of His church was such a concern for Him that, in His great prayer of John 17, He asked God three times that we “be one” as He is one with the Father. Two-thousand years later, His church is still struggling to reach this ideal. The good…
Why do we sing songs at church? Ask people and the answers will vary wildly: to worship God; to praise God; because we love Jesus; because the church makes us sing… Interestingly enough, I can’t ever remember hearing what I feel is the best answer. We sing in church because the Bible tells us to sing. The Bible tells us over and…
You are the worship team. The corporate you. It’s not the band, the leader or any of the people holding microphones. Don’t get me wrong, they are part of the team, but ultimately, we want every person who walks into the building to feel they are part of the worship. We’ve tried over the years to break the mindset of worship team…