Heart with Excellence

On Sunday, around our worship team Evaluation table, we talked about engaging in worship so that the congregation are able to be encouraged and led by the way we connect with God on stage. It brought up the age-old question about keeping the balance between technical excellence and sincerity. The following points came up during our discussion:

• It is no testimony to the world when a band is out of sync, out of tune and out of touch with the congregation
• The worship team can be the thermostat for the rest of the service

On the other hand:

• Not everyone engages in worship by singing or playing music
• if we focus too much on 'looking' engaged, it can build a sort of fakeness, a spiritual facade that is actually more dangerous than honesty about how one is feeling
• God has all the perfect music in heaven He could want, and yet He prefers our worship
• God is more pleased with a sincere worshipper who is out of tune than a slick performer who does not engage their hearts with Him

If God wanted perfect performance, He already has plenty of it in Heaven and yet, He comes down into our little gatherings, sits with you in your car as you sing to Him and treasures those moments far more than the heavenly music around His throne. I have heard of cracked, off-tune voices that bring down the glory of God. Why? It is because He loves the music of our hearts when we engage in spending quality time in His presence: He responds to our hearts cry,a the music we make deep within our souls as we turn our eyes on Him and behold His majesty and goodness in awe.

The way we worship may not be through music. It could be, for example, through prayer, acts of service or gratitude. We should practice worshipping God in all these ways throughout our lives precisely because worship is not a pose or activity - it is a sincere offering of acknowledgement and adoration through a personal connection with God in whatever form that might take. All these acts of worship produce a beautiful harmony of music that is sweet to the ears of God.

 This leads to a question that God challenged me with, and that I now challenge you with: could you enjoy your time of worship with great music in a big Church as equally as when you are in a small group of people who all sing off-key? If our answer is 'maybe not!', it means we have not tuned our hearts to the key of heaven. We miss the point of worship if we rely on good music to connect.

I've written previously about we may end up worshipping the music rather than God Himself - and it is a very real danger in our secular, performance-driven society.

At the same time, it would be wrong if a band does not make the most of the skill they have been given, and hone it to the best of their ability. Not every band is world-class but I believe in stewardship of the gifts we have been given. If you are using some kind of skill in a worship team - whether it is musical or technical - neither look down on it nor serve it: use it to bless the Lord, and the people He loves. In order to do so, you may need to improve your technique so that you are more able to match what you hear inside your heart to the sound that reaches people's ears.

I have concluded that a band that stewards their gifts well does so as a testimony to the world to their sincerity and love for God. If they happen to be amazingly gifted and produce albums that not only compels the secular entertainment industry to respect them but also moves people closer to God, then that is their gift, their anointing and their lot, and this too is also a testimony. Music, after all, first comes from God. It is only logical that those closest to Him should also be some of the best at performing it. And yet, not everyone is gifted in this way. Every band has their gift and their place - but all are called to honour God and connect His people to Him. All are called to bring heaven down to earth, and God's presence to the needy. Worship teams are not your regular band: they are instruments of God connecting the divine to the earthly.

The heart comes first, but at the same time, we must steward our gifts well. If you are part of a worship team, I encourage you to reflect on where both your heart, and your skills are at when you worship God.

Source: http://img.ehowcdn.com/article-new/ehow/images/a07/mh/nm/church-band-instruments-800x800.jpg

Let the Redeemed Say So

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the army. Psa 107:2
Speaker: Ps. Jasmine

You are redeemed! The redeemed of the Lord are then His temples where His Spirit dwells (1 Cor 6:19-20). As His temples, we are called to be instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:13).

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who carry His presence (Rom 8:1) because you are justified by Jesus' Name; know for certain now that you belong to Jesus and He belongs to you - and not only this: He also makes you able to serve Him.

To serve Him is to carry out His mission for which you have been sent: to manifest the Kingdom of God to those around you and introduce Jesus to those who do not know Him. Your mantra becomes "share, live for Christ and see souls saved". Your mission field is first your family, then your friends, classmates and work colleagues.

Revelations 12:11 tells us, "[the saints] overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."

On a practical level, we overcome when we do not live for ourselves but for the One who died for us, and rose again, and stand in the power of His blood. Yet, we are also conquerors by identity because we are co-heirs with Christ, who has put all His enemies under His feet. If you know that you are a conqueror, then you will not be affected by rejection or the opinions of people and will continue to carry out your mission with faithfulness and His power.

Jesus is always with you. You ARE an overcomer. You will be a great minister in His Name. And God has called you to be you - not anyone else. You do not need to meddle in other people's mission fields or try to minister the way someone else does. You need to do it the way God has already equipped you: that is where you will be the most effective.

How do we introduce Jesus? When someone finds a great restaurant, or new singer or game that they admire, they recommend it to friends and rave about it. Let's introduce Jesus to our friends and rave about Him!

You are beloved servants of Christ. You are not your own (1 Cor 6:19). Your life and your body is for the Lord to serve Him (1 Cor 6:12-13). So be alert throughout your day and be available to share, encourage and introduce Jesus to others so that they may have a living, powerful hope, and see God's light in this dark world.

Camp 2012 S5: Loving Obedience =>Christlikeness =>Power

Loving Obedience => Christlikeness => Power  - Melissa Yong
Camp 2012: The Spirit of the Lord is Upon Me, Session 5

Acts 19:13-17 gives an arresting account that goes like this:

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying,
"We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."
Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"
The the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of Jesus was magnified.

Bear in mind that the Bible is not just a bunch of made up stories - it inclues historical accounts of events that actually happened, many having being verified by contemporary historians, manuscripts and archaeological findings.

This passage tells us something that is very key to living and demonstrating the power of God: we must resemble Jesus. How do we get there? First of all, you need to understand that the nature of Jesus Christ was birthed into you when you accepted Him as Lord and Saviour; you are ABLE to be like Him! Next is obedience.

Loving Obedience
There are different levels of obedience: there is reluctant obedience, dutiful obedience, and obedience borne of love for the Lord and the desire to make Him smile. We all need to start somewhere but we all need to come to the point of loving obedience: we obey because we genuinely choose and want to.

Obedience isn't just about keeping the 10 commandments; it is about keeping the heart of God's law, surrendering our own right to do what we want in order to live the way God has commanded. The one thing that ties the whole of His commandments together is love: love for God compels us to live sanctified lives dedicated for His purpose, not ours. This will in turn be demonstrated by love for others

A lifestyle of consistent obedience to God transforms us into Christ's likeness.

The Reason Why
Why does it have to be the progression from obedience to Christlikeness before we can wield the kind of power that Jesus had, that the disciples had? Because: 1) it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God (Zech 4:6), 2) we are not of this world.


The power of God is not in effort, nor in intent. It is by His Spirit that people are transformed, made whole, relationships and lives restored. It is also by His Spirit that our new nature - that provides the access to God's power through identity as children of God, and through legal right as co-heirs with Christ - was created.

If we want any hope of operating in His power, we cannot live contrary to its nature - otherwise, we just get in the way of what God wants to do. The nature of the power of God is the nature of God himself: love, justice, truth, righteousness, meekness - and the list goes on. Jesus' Name is powerful but just wielding His Name like the seven sons of Sceva is not enough. The person who is submitted under authority has the authority of the person they are submitted to.

It is the difference between being one of James Packer's innumerable employees, and being his best friend or executive associate. The employee cannot say 'I know James Packer' or act in his interests with as much authority as his best friend or executive associates.

In the same way, many Christians know ABOUT God but have not made the time to know Him intimately and carry His presence. Many Christians haven't consciously experienced the leading of the Holy Spirit in everyday life. How can we expect to see miracles everyday, face demons and display the Kingdom of Heaven if we don't really know it or its King ourselves?

The Purpose
The purpose of power is not for self-fulfillment, but for fulfilling the desire of our King to find and restore the lost, needy and hurting. He calls it 'reaping the harvest'. There are so many out there who need to be brought into His Kingdom in order for them to experience the fullness of life He meant for them to have. He has called you and I to bring in the harvest.

Let's commit to consistently and purposefully laying down the right to govern our own lives in order to bring it under the authority of Jesus Christ. As we do this, we will find that His unbounded power is waiting to be unleashed on the works of Satan and bring restoration to a hurting world.