Category: Worship

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Worship

My Failure To Appreciate God’s Greatest Reward

a present symbolizing receiving a rewardWe all like presents. We all want rewards.

I remember as a little fella, being excited when Dad would come home from a business trip, and me and my brothers would immediately be asking – “Dad, what did you bring us?” We were hoping for some reward, some present. And though we didn’t express it properly, the bigger and better reward that we should have been most excited about was that Dad had returned home.

I have often heard people talking about serving God so that they will get a reward. This is not an un-biblical idea, but sometimes I wonder if our motives might be “in the wrong place”? If I am serving just in order to get a reward from God, am I serving Him or am I serving myself?

What is the blessing that I am looking for as I serve?
The Reward of Heaven?
The Reward of Escaping Hell?
The Reward of special Crowns I might receive?
The Reward of the End of Sadness?
The Reward of a New Body with no more Pain?

If I am only serving for my benefit, who am I really serving – myself or Jesus?

Maybe I should be more concerned about the simple reward of the joy of living with Christ. Isn’t that sufficient? Maybe I should focus more on the reward of being in a relationship with Him day-by-day.

Jon Piper asked it this way:
“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven…if Jesus Christ were not there?

Too often, we can be more focused on getting God’s blessings than enjoying the blessing of His relationship.

Too often I find myself wanting God to bless me, instead of being focused on answering the question, “God, how can I bless You?” I think it is time for me to focus more on how I can use my life to bless Him – and enjoy the reward of exalting Him more than seeking to receive a reward that exalts me.

What do you think… in your experience, do more people desire the things Jesus gives or do more people desire Jesus Himself? Are people too focused on asking “God, what did You bring us?” instead of being focused on the fact that He has given us a relationship with Himself?

(quote from John Piper, God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself)

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Worship

How to Hate Your Family

What? Why Would I Want to Hate My Own Family…

Well…Because Jesus commanded it:
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
sunrise
1. Christ must be loved Supremely – above ALL else, even family;
2. We must be willing to suffer shame & even death for Christ; &
3. We must give up all of our own desires to adopt His desires.

I say “MUST” because if you refuse to do so, then he says you are not “worthy” of Him… Not worthy of being called or counted as one of His disciples.

In another place, Jesus states it even more strongly – “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” This One known for supreme love tells us to hate our own family? But in other places He tells us to love others as we love ourselves. So what is He saying? That your love for Him must be so great as to make all of your other loves look like hate in comparison.

Our first and strongest loyalty is to be to God.

The reason for this is that the only One who can control your life without destroying it is Jesus Christ. When you take control, you will damage and/or destroy your life. Many of us can testify to the fact that we have seen life begin to fall apart when we put God over on the sideline and tried to take control ourselves.

In the same way, Terrible things happen when family relationships are put before God. Families cannot be what they should be without God. No family can reach its full potential without God. Without God as the key Leader, a family will lack spiritual growth, will lack the Holy Spirit’s strength and conviction, will lack true commitment to one another, and will lack a guiding purpose. There is only One who can control your family without destroying it. Without Him as the family leader, there is a lack of spiritual strength to face the trials and crises that confront the family during life together.

The point is this: we must love God supremely, putting Him before all others, even before our own family members. When we do, our families are assured of being everything they should be and of being looked after and cared for by God. Therefore a person’s decision to follow Christ is the best decision he can make for his spouse and his family.

John Piper wrote it this way to his son on the occasion of his marriage – “Love her more by Loving her less” – By loving God supremely, He will help you love her more completely.

So let us love our families more, by loving them less.

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Worship

I’m Just Too Busy. So Are You.

a close-up of a watch signifying that we are too busyWe sure do stay busy around here. Work takes up a lot of our time. And then, of course, the commitments to our family require us to block out additional time each week. And then if I own anything, then that house, yard, car, etc. will “own” me as well, as I’ll have some things that I have to do to maintain the upkeep of these items – more time needed. That doesn’t leave much time for me to do the things I was wanting to do this week, but I’ll find a way to carve out a few hours for exercise, recreation, entertainment, and relaxation here and there. And all of that will fill up the hours of my entire week. And so what I find is that I am busy. And what I have found out, is that since I am so busy…

I’m Too Stinking Busy to Pray
You probably are too.

I mean, where can I find extra time to do that “devotional” that my pastor keeps telling me to prioritize? Where can I find a few extra minutes to stop and have some real prayer time with God? I don’t have an extra minute, and I am already tired from all that I am doing. It seems that here in America we have become so busy that we’ve “elbowed” out the possibility of having any time left for a serious relationship with God. So I give him a minute here to read a quick Bible verse attached to a devotional. And I’ll spend a little time telling Him what I need for the day as I drive into work, in between thinking about how to get the kids to their after-school activities and what I need to pick up from the grocery for dinner.

It seems we have forgotten that God desires a relationship with us. Instead I seem to just give him my leftovers. Leftover minutes here and there. Not enough for a real relationship with a human… much less the God of this universe.

The great reformer Martin Luther has been attributed with stating: “I generally pray two hours every day… except on very busy days… On those days, I pray three.”

When I read the first part of my sentence, I think, “Sure, but Martin Luther wasn’t busy. That’s why he had the time to pray. Back in those ancient days, he didn’t have much to do but to contemplate on God.” But that is not the truth. Martin Luther was a very busy man – defending his theology, translating the Bible into German, writing books, preparing sermons, teaching students, leading a Reformation – certainly no less busy than I am today… and probably even busier. However, instead of following Luther’s example and spending MORE time in prayer during the busy days, I tend to pray less. He believed he was too busy NOT to pray.

Instead of coming to the recognition that “I am too busy not to pray,” I sacrifice my time with God for getting all these other things in my life accomplished.

And anyway, does prayer really even make a difference?

Well, we say that it does. But our lack of doing so may be “telling” as to what we really believe about the answer to that question. Why do we take these two things that we say make a difference (reading the very Word of God and talking to Him about it), and yet spend so little time doing them?

Perhaps…
“Our failure to think of prayer as a privilege may be partly due to the fact that we can pray at any time. The door to prayer is open so continuously that we fail to avail ourselves of an opportunity which is always there.” We know that if we don’t pray today, then there is always tomorrow. We know that if we decide we are too busy to read the Bible today, then there is always tomorrow. But if we are too busy for prayer and Bible study today, then guess what? It is likely that we’re also gonna be too busy for it tomorrow.

Do I really believe that my prayers could actually make a difference in this world and in my life? do you? We agree that we should pray, but we don’t talk about the fact that our prayers can actually change things. Jesus did.

In regard to the work to be done in “the harvest,” Jesus indicated that there are so many people that need the Father’s love. And that there is a shortage of compassionate disciples. But instead of telling people to Go out and Work Harder. Jesus said… So Pray About It! Pray that the Father would send out more workers.

Our model is “Do More.” Jesus’ model is “Pray More.”

Jesus believed that prayer mattered. He knew that by praying to the Father, the Father would work on peoples’ hearts and would move them to desire to serve.

God’s Word says that prayer makes a difference. Jesus said the prayer makes a difference. Do you really believe that “your prayers will determine anything?” If you do, then make a commitment –
Parents, that you will begin to have a regular time of prayer and Bible reading with (and for) your children. If it is really a priceless book and prayer can change their lives, then your children need you to share that with them.

Spouses, that you will begin to have a regular time of prayer and Bible reading with (and for) each other. This is one way to help “divorce-proof” your marriage.

Carve out the time in your busy day to take time with the King of the Universe. You need it.

You are too busy NOT to pray.

And it will change the world.
It will change your family.
It will change you.

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Worship

Developing Your Personal Worship Plan

“Private personal worship is an effective tool of grace in the hands of God to kill those things in you that must die in order that you may be what you have been called to be.” –Paul Tripp

praying hands on top of a bible symbolizing personal worship

The last two years at FBC Newton where I pastor, we have provided people with a simple guide to use as they think through a personal worship plan. It is a list of some key spiritual areas that each person should consider strengthening and it provides some examples that can be used to determine new spiritual commitments for the year.

At the end of the post is a link that will let you download a pdf file that can be printed on a regular sheet of paper and then folded and placed in your Bible so you can refer to it throughout the year.

Here are the areas we ask people to consider praying through with examples of some possible commitments that could be selected or adapted:

Reading of God’s Word
I will commit to a daily Bible reading of ___ minutes per day.
I will commit to reading ___ chapter(s) per day.
I will commit to reading through the New Testament, Old Testament, or Entire Bible this year.

Prayer Life
I will commit to a daily prayer time of ____ minutes daily.
I will commit to pray daily with my spouse & children.
I will commit to pray with others outside of “church time.”

Personal Praise
I will commit to listen to only Christian music in my vehicle.
I will add personal praise into my daily devotion time.

Financial Giving
I will commit to tithe this year.
I will commit to increase my giving by ________ this year.
I will be a better steward of my remaining money.

Church Attendance
I will commit to attend a small group Bible study such as Sunday School regularly.
I will commit to participate in Sun. / Wed. Night services at my church.
I will commit to attend all services of the church.

Ministry Involvement
I will commit to find a ministry service so that I am using my spiritual gifts and abilities to serve my church and/or community for the Lord.

Scripture Memory
I will memorize _____ verses that are important to me.

Reading Christian Literature
I will commit to reading at least one Christian non-fiction book each quarter of the year.

Accountability Partnership(s)
I will commit to finding someone of the same gender to start an accountability group.
I will meet with my account. partner ____ times per month.

Mentoring & Discipleship
I will commit to finding someone to mentor me this year.
I will commit to finding someone to disciple this year.

Obedience – acting on God’s promptings
I will commit to say “yes” to all God asks of me.
I will commit to find and attempt at least one “action” to take each week from Sunday School/Worship.

Sharing My Faith
I will commit to writing out my testimony this year.
I will commit to sharing my testimony in Sunday School.
I will have the goal of turning every conversation I have toward Jesus.

Family Devotions (and praise)
I will commit to leading my family to have a devotional time together ____ time(s) per week.

Other Commitments God Wants Me To Make
Perhaps to cease a behavior/habit

Personal Worship Plan Booklet Link Just click on this pdf image link to open or download the file.

(if you are reading this on facebook or another source that doesn’t allow you to download the file, you will need to go to www.brianrushing.net to download it)

Categories
Worship

no other gods

I am the Lord your God… you shall have no other gods before Me.
The first of the Ten Commandments.
How important is this first command?

“Martin Luther articulated that the first commandment appears first because it is the foundation for all the other commandments. He said that if We keep the first commandment, we will keep all the others. And if we break another commandment, it is because we have already broken the first commandment. For example, if you break the commandment to “not give false testimony,” it is because you have rejoiced in something other than God, something that seems worthy of your lies. If you break the commandment not to covet, you have first elevated the thing you are coveting as the object of your affection. You have made it your god.”

Using this same track of thought, we find that Jesus indicated that the greatest commandment in all of Scripture is to love God with all that is within you, and that the next most important commandment is to love others as much as you love yourself. So we really only need to obey these key commands to be fully obedient to God, but because we can be a bit dense at times, God took time to spell out how these primary commandments should be lived out. But all of the commands in the Bible come back to these key commands.

“Luther Wrote, “Under every behavioral sin is the sin of idolatry.” When we sin, We are ultimately worshiping something other than God, placing an idol on the throne of our lives.”

To place anyone other than God on the throne of our lives and hearts, we must first ask God to step down from the throne. This One who we said would be Lord, we boldly walk up to Him and say – Jesus, would You mind stepping off the throne for a while. I need You to hand back to me the royal crown and the royal robes. Just stand over here to the side while I place this idol on the throne to worship for a time. And this One who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, though He maintains all authority in earth and heaven, steps off the throne of your life until you are ready to repent and give Him control again.

Today, when you are tempted to worship something other than Jesus, remember how your worship of lesser things equates to you asking Jesus to step off the throne. Allow that imagery to help you keep Him in His rightful place as Lord and Master of your life.

(Quotes from ‘Creature of the Word’ by Matt Chandler)