In view of God's Mercy

I don't think we could really experience His presence in worship if it wasn't for His mercy. It is through mercy, we don't get what we truly deserve. And through God's mercy, He is saving us from what we really deserve, hell. If we didn't have God's mercy than we would be destined for Hell. Our worship might be very heavily tainted if that were the case. But through both grace and mercy, Christ's death and resurrection have saved us from justice.

Romans 12:1 says, "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." Because of God's mercy, we are to offer our bodies up as living sacrifices. Daily we need to recognize that our bodies are to be used as a sacrifice to God. 


1 Peter 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." So when Christ died and we were born again, in accordance to His mercy, a living hope in Jesus. It is so amazing and such a blessing to be saved from the hell we deserve because our God had amazing grace on us.


Tim Hughes wrote a song called "Living for Your Glory." There is a line in that song that says, "In view of God's mercy, I give you my all." It is because He has shown mercy on us that He deserves the praise. In the chorus of the song it says, "Take my life, let it be, everything all of me. Here I am, use me for Your glory," We get to do that everyday. Just ask God to use us to bring Him glory.

A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12

A Living Sacrifice

 ¹ 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. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I have been studying these verses quite intently over the past weekend. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Hume Lake Christian Camp as a counselor for my church's high school group. I had been to this camp before as a camper but that was when i was in high school. So about 6 years ago. A lot has changed at that camp since I was student. But the one thing that has remained is the presence of God when these students come into the chapel services. It was truly a blessing to see what God was doing in the lives of these young people. 

The theme of this year was "living an aweful life," that is a life full of awe to the Creator. The speaker did a great job at presenting a relatable message but also a convicting message. He didn't water it down in the least bit. He wanted to make it clear to the students that worship wasn't just singing on sunday morning, but it was how we lived day to day. Our bodies are to be the temple where our worship happens.

The main verse was Romans 12:1-2, "...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. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." These words spoke to me in so many different ways. I took them in from the prospective of a man, a husband, a father, a leader, and a friend. We must be living sacrifices to God daily because He has shown mercy on us. 

Through everything that I had going through my mind at camp, I still had all of the things I was reading and learning about in this class. I felt God really putting on my heart what it means for this to be our true and proper worship. It was almost things I already knew but I really needed to hear that truth again. I was encouraged to not take my worship leading lightly. It deserves time and preparation because it is for God. If we take that same concept to all forms of worship, we will really be worshipping God the way He deserves to be praised.

New Blogs

Well my class on the psalms has ended and now i will begin  a new class called "Toward a Theology of Worship." I will keep posting my blogs but they will move onto this new topic. I just started this class but i am already really enjoying everything about it. I will have primarily two kinds of blogs. One will be a reflection on what i have learned from the previous week, through my text book, other books, the bible, videos, and personal life. Very excited about the freedom with that. And  the other blogs will be about a certain topic and how it applies to worship. So i am looking forward to the next few months and i hope you enjoy these blogs as much i have enjoyed learning and writing them.

word,
Steve

Psalm 119 Resh

^153-160 Take a good look at my trouble, and help me— 
      I haven't forgotten your revelation. 
   Take my side and get me out of this; 
      give me back my life, just as you promised. 
   "Salvation" is only gibberish to the wicked 
      because they've never looked it up in your dictionary. 
   Your mercies, God, run into the billions; 
      following your guidelines, revive me. 
   My antagonists are too many to count, 
      but I don't swerve from the directions you gave. 
   I took one look at the quitters and was filled with loathing; 
      they walked away from your promises so casually! 
   Take note of how I love what you tell me; 
      out of your life of love, prolong my life. 
   Your words all add up to the sum total: Truth. 
      Your righteous decisions are eternal.


In this part of psalm 119, the psalmist is praying to God that he be delivered from his trespasses. He tells God, "Look at my troubles and help me. I haven't forgotten your revelation." He is begging God to bail him out of his sorrows. He claims he hasn't forgotten God's promise and revelation. He goes onto to speak about how the wicked do not seek after God. But he says that God is so great it doesn't even matter to him. 


He says that he looks at the faithless in disgust, for they walk away from God so ignorantly. They do not understand what they are missing. But because we have held fast to His love, He will give us life. He asks God to prolong his life because he has clung to God's word. And he says that God's words add up to the truth. He closes by saying, "...and every one of your righteous rules endures forever."


From these verses we can see that we know that God will deliver us from our transgressions. Even when the world doesn't care about God, it doesn't mean anything to us. We know the absolute truth, He is God. If we hold fast to His love, He will provide for us. We know that God's word is truth and that His rules will endure forever.

Lets Get A Party Started- Psalm 149

Psalm 149

Sing to the LORD a New Song

 ¹ Praise the LORD! 
Sing to the LORD a new song, 
   his praise in the assembly of the godly! 
² Let Israel be glad in his Maker; 
   let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! 
³ Let them praise his name with dancing, 
   making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! 
⁴ For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; 
   he adorns the humble with salvation. 
⁵ Let the godly exult in glory; 
   let them sing for joy on their beds. 
⁶ Let the high praises of God be in their throats 
   and two-edged swords in their hands, 
⁷ to execute vengeance on the nations 
   and punishments on the peoples, 
⁸ to bind their kings with chains 
   and their nobles with fetters of iron, 
⁹ to execute on them the judgment written! 
   This is honor for all his godly ones. 
Praise the LORD!


I wanted to add the message paraphrase as well, it is important to that the message is not the most accurate translation. It is more of a paraphrase and can bring certain verses into new light for me. So i may not be a good study bible but it can be a good study tool like a commentary.

Psalm 149

    Hallelujah! Sing to God a brand-new song,
      praise him in the company of all who love him.
   Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator,
      Zion's children exult in their King.
   Let them praise his name in dance;
      strike up the band and make great music!
   And why? Because God delights in his people,
      festoons plain folk with salvation garlands!

 ^5-9 Let true lovers break out in praise,
      sing out from wherever they're sitting,
   Shout the high praises of God,
      brandish their swords in the wild sword-dance—
   A portent of vengeance on the God-defying nations,
      a signal that punishment's coming,
   Their kings chained and hauled off to jail,
      their leaders behind bars for good,
   The judgment on them carried out to the letter
      —and all who love God in the seat of honor!
   Hallelujah!


Psalm 149 is the second to the last song, and it definitely gets it ready to come to a close. The psalmist is just so excited to praise the Lord. I really love the energy of The Message paraphrase of the first two verses, "Hallelujah! Sing to God a brand-new song, praise him in the company of all who love him. Let all Israel celebrate their Sovereign Creator, Zion's children exult in their King."  The psalmist is exclaiming that we must praise the Lord, with new songs from our hearts. We need to sing these praise songs in the company of those who share in our love for God. We need to celebrate the creator and the fact that we are His creation. He goes onto say in verses 3 and 4, that God will take great pleasure in seeing His people worship Him. He loves to see us worship with a heart that will shake the earth, that will change the culture we live in. I honestly believe that this is the kind of worship God wants us to have, culture changing worship.

From 5-9, we see a shift in the psalmists direction. He talks about the godly people exulting God by unleashing His judgement on the evil of the world. This is our praise to Him. The message puts verses 5 and 6 like this, "Let true lovers break out in praise, sing out from wherever they're sitting. Shout the high praises of God, brandish their swords in the wild sword-dance" In our praises we will unleash our sword, the word of God, onto the nations. It continues to talk about executing vengeance on the nations who will not repent from their evil ways. After all of this celebration, the psalmist closes the psalm, "This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord!"

Like all of the psalms, this one encourages me so much to make music for Him. It also challenges me to expand my worship. It challenges me to make my worship more than just the songs i sing or write. It makes me want to write songs that show the world His greatness. But to also live my life as a life of worship to Him. Because words can say a lot, but how we live and how we love will overall be how the world will see the love of our awesome God. This is definitely what I have taken from all of the psalms, these were real people. Real people that didn't want to write songs about theology of the church, they wrote songs of praise to God. Because that is what was on their hearts