Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, and his thoughts on Newtown

I haven't posted I a few months. I've just been falling behind. But I hope to catch my life up soon. But I read this article by Rick Warren on the Newtown shooting and I thought it was worth reblogging

Rick Warren on Newtown Tragedy: 'Free Will Is Greatest Blessing and Curse'

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  (Photo: Tommy Huynh/Saddleback Church)
  Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, delivering remarks as part of a panel at the 2012 AIDS Summit at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

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By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter

December 21, 2012|2:37 pm

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California has spoken out about the Newtown, Conn., school shooting tragedy, suggesting that a lot of factors might have led up to the incident, but at the end of the day, free will is both humankind's greatest blessing and curse.

"The deeper the grief, the fewer words are needed. A lot of folks are looking for wisdom, or the right word, and are asking 'what do you say?' – but there is nothing to say. You just need to be there. You need to show up. And when people are grieving, they don't need a lecture, and they don't need an explanation. Explanations don't comfort us," Warren began in an interview on Wednesday with Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto on his "Your World" show.

"What comforts us is the presence of others, the presence of God, and the first thing we have to do is we have to learn how to release our grief and we need to do that right now," Warren added.

On Dec. 14, 20-year old Adam Lanza shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their nearby home before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newport and massacring 26 people, including 20 children. Lanza, who is reported to have been struggling with a number of mental illnesses, took his own life before police arrived on the scene.

The shooting has shaken the entire country, with the grieving families in Newtown receiving an outpouring of support from people around the nation. President Barack Obama wiped away tears when he made his first statement about the shooting, and said that as a country, America has "been through this too many times."

But many are also questioning what role faith and God play at a time like this, and are looking toward pastors and religious leaders for answers. Warren says that God's will is in heaven, but it is rarely done on Earth because humans are free to make their own choices.

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"Our greatest blessing is our greatest curse," the Saddleback Church leader said on Fox. "God could have made us puppets, where none of us did anything wrong, we prayed all of the time, we always did what's right. But God wanted us to choose to love Him, and in giving us this choice, I often make bad choices, and so do other people, in fact everyone does – the Bible calls it sin. Because of that, the world is broken."

Warren said that grief is good because "it's a transition that helps us move through the losses of life," and that "if you don't grieve, if you just stuff it down, then what happens is it comes out sideways somewhere later on in life."

The author of The Purpose Driven Life, who has recently been promoting the 10-year anniversary of his bestselling book which reached millions around the world, identified multiple issues behind these types of shootings.

"There is the psychological issue of the mentally ill – and we are not taking care of the mentally ill like we ought to, and we are not supporting the families of the mentally ill. There's the public safety issue – people are using AK-47 assault rifles to assault people, and there needs to be something done about that."

The pastor continued: "There is also this culture of violence. Kids are being raised, by the time they are 20, they have shot 20-30,000 people in video games, and that's entertainment. And then there's the spiritual issue. When people's lives are empty, when they don't know the meaning and purpose of life, when they don't know the difference between right and wrong, these kind of things happen."

Warren said that it is dangerous for people to watch or allow themselves to be negatively affected by bad influences, and that there is no denying that some things that are considered "entertainment" are not appropriate for children. The pastor insisted, however, that it would be inaccurate to focus on one factor or another that might have led to the shooting and not look at the bigger picture.

"The issue is – do we run away from God, or do we run toward Him for comfort? Most people as you can see, the churches in Newtown were filled on Sunday. Most people run to God in comfort. There are some things we are not going to understand until we get into heaven," Warren continued.

The Saddleback church pastor revealed that he has been at the deathbed of thousands of people as a pastor, where he sees that at the end, relationships are what matter most to people. "I have never had one person say 'bring me my trophies one more time, I want to look at them.' No. They always say 'bring me the people that I love.' Eventually they realize that that's what matters most. I just hope that we can learn that sooner."

Read more at http://global.christianpost.com/news/rick-warren-on-newtown-tragedy-free-will-is-greatest-blessing-and-curse-87071/#LUDSGUFCsH414ZTD.99 

Our House of Worship

The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:1, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." Paul gives a deep yet very practical call to worship. We are to present ourselves as a sacrifice to God. A great way to do that is to make your home a place of worship. Regardless of your living situation, you should find a place in your home where you can come to worship the Lord. Now there is nothing special about the specific place you choose, the purpose is that you have a place to come to worship Him. The place of worship is the presentation of our body, voice, or our heart. There are a few things that will help us make our homes "homes of worship." 

The first thing we can do to make our home a place of worship is to come before the Lord and kneel. Kneeling is an acknowledgement of submission. It brings us to a place where we place ourselves below God. It says in Psalm 95:6, "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." A good time to do this is when you first wake up. To get up next to your bed and just pray a prayer to praise the Lord.

Another practical way to fill our homes with worship is to sing to the Lord. Singing worship to God releases us the joy that is deep in our hearts. It doesn't matter if we can't sing, we need to come to Him and shout praises to the Father. This is a great release of our emotions that we have in our hearts and allows us to be honest with God. When our hearts sing Jesus' name, God will bless us no matter how bad the season may be. "Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us show joyfully to the Rock of our salvation." (Psalm 95:1)

Inviting God to our meals is another great and practical act of worship. It can bring the family together in harmony of faith. It brings together the family in worship. Asking the Lord to allow His presence felt during times of gathering to eat. Not only should we pray to invite God to our meals, our fellowship will worship Him. So share God's presence with those we eat with. Ask each other, "What is Jesus doing in your life?"

Praying together with fellow believers brings worship to the Lord. Jesus tells us in the gospel of Matthew, "For where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them." There are times when we should pray in solitary with only God, but there are also times where is honoring to pray with others. Pray with your wives, pray with your husbands, pray with your sons, pray with your daughters. Pray with others. Jesus said that He is there when two or more gather to worship Him. 

The greatest act of worship that we can give is to come to the Lord's Table. When we celebrate Communion, we are celebrating the grandest altar of all- the cross upon which Jesus was sacrificed for our salvation. It pleases the Father when your home is a home that is a testimony of Jesus Christ. When it reminds us daily of His death and resurrection He will be pleased.

The Pros vs The Priests

There are generally two viewpoints in today's church. There are those who follow a view of doing church a very specific way, it is called professionalism. It is making sure that we follow a certain liturgy, a way the church service operates. This is kind of like left side of the brain in the church body. It is all about what is done and how it can be done efficiently. The other viewpoint is based on the idea of a biblical priesthood. The priesthood is really what we are called to by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the right side of the church brain. It is about the heart of the church. The priesthood wants to serve God because it loves Him, the professional wants to serve Him but it is the most logical.

In the Old Testament, the priests are the only ones that God had ordained to perform certain sacrifices. They were the ones who were allowed to make the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. In the New Testament, Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of himself to atone for our sins. He has made us a new priesthood, because it is now our responsibility to sacrifice our own lives of worship of Him. 

These two views work best when they are balanced. You can't be too spiritual or too legalistically. If you are more one than the other, you cannot come minister to the Lord in an adequate way. They seem like opposites at times, but professionalism and priesthood work very well together. When we understand the certain ways of doing church, we can clearly see how to praise God more appropriately.

In the book of Hebrews, the author talks about the priests of Melchizedek. He calls the priesthood back to the promise made and fulfilled through Christ. It says in verses 19 and 20 that we have an anchor of the soul, and that is hope. It is a hope that takes into the holiest of holies where, in the Old Testament, only the high priests were allowed. Christ's death made him the greatest high priest and it left the curtain open for us to enter His holy presence. 

Worship Set It All Off

Jesus' final words to His friends, the disciples, in Matthew 28 were, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." This is known as the Great Commission. This is what God has called us to. But due to fear of persecution after the man, Stephen had been killed for the gospel. In Acts 11:19, it says that they were scattered and the gospel was only being shared with Jews. Earlier in the book of Acts, the explosion of the church happened. But since these events, believer had grown fearful and the fire in them died down. Their faith was dead and in need of a revival.

In the church in Antioch Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul are praying and fasting about the situation. It is after this time of worship, they feel the Holy Spirit's voice telling them to send Barnabas and Saul to bring the gospel to those who have not heard. It was through worshipping God that they heard God calling them to the task at hand. This shows us the power of our worship. Worship is the key to changing to world. When we worship the Father, God will set us on a course to change the world. Worship unleashes God's presence to the world. It isn't that our worship is some magical thing. But giving God all of the glory he deserves makes Him want to bless you and use you in ways you could never imagined. 

John Mark McMillan is a worship song writer, he wrote the very popular worship song, How He Loves. The story behind that song is quite amazing and was born out of prayer and worship. He says that he was having a prayer meeting with some friends. He had prayed God would use him to change the youth of the nation. And on his way home, he got a call that his best friend was in a terrible car accident and he died. This shook John to his core. It was this song that inspired him to write the song How He Loves. 

Through his prayers God took what was a horrible accident that killed his friend, and inspired him to write a song that has affected the whole Christian community. God uses circumstance we will never understand to further His kingdom. We can never count God out in using us. He will always think of boxes that we cannot even imagine. This is our encouragement to always pursue the glory of God and He will use us how he sees fit. 

Out With the Old, In With the New

Worship has always meant the same thing, it means to humble yourself and give yourself up to the glory of God the Father. What worship looks like has changed a little bit between the Old and New testaments. The physical acts of worship have changed because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us. But our expressions of worship have changed little. In the Old testament David is probably our greatest example of worship being expressed physically. David wrote most of the books of Psalms, which went on to be the go-to guide for worship for new testament believers. David wrote about coming before the Father, and kneeling, lifting his hands, shouting, and singing to God. David was the original Chris Tomlin. 

Our expression in worship have changed less over time and more culturally than anything else. New testament believers have the benefit of having the Psalms before them. Old testament acted only what God was calling them to do. They had the initial joy of knowing that God told them to lift their hands to him, where we see their acts and want to lift hands as well. The ways we worship have changed, but it hasn't all changed. David would arrange music to be played while they sang songs praising God. That sure looks familiar. Songs are still being sung to this day in honor of our God. Songs might be the most evident expression of worship that has lasted over time. And God always works through the power of His songs.

We see this in Acts when Paul and Silas were imprisoned and they sang worship hymns in their cells. God was glorified by this and made the earth shake and their prison doors open. God is and always has been an amazing God. He has never changed. He is the same God of the old testament and the New. He has always been worthy of our praise and that will never change. Throughout culture and time, forms of worship may change. But they will still be there to glorify the one true God.

We Will sing! Sing! Sing! pt.3 Release From Bondage

David told in Psalm 32:7, "You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah" Here David is proclaiming the power of worshipping God with song. It has the power to set us free and break our chains of bondage. Lifting up God's name will bring us our freedom, but in doing so will show the world what He has done for us. It not only is it a tool to free us, but is also a tool for evangelism.

This is best illustrated in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas are imprisoned at Philippi. Here in their imprisonment, they are singing hymns of praise in their most desperate hour. All of a sudden, the earth shook and all of the chains were broken and all of the cell doors were opened. And Paul and Silas were shown their freedom. In the midst of prisoner being freed, the guard awoke from his sleep to see that all of the prisoners were escaping. Thinking that he had failed, he raised his sword to take his own life. Paul calls to him with a loud voice, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." 

The prison guard ran for them and fell down before Paul and Silas. He asked them, "What must do to be saved?" They told him, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Right there and then, the guard was saved and his whole family had been saved. He and his family were immediately baptized. 

This event shows us the great power in singing song of praise. We can't think that Paul and Silas were just sitting in their cells, so desperate because of the obstacles they faced, singing songs out of hopelessness. They sang out of hope and they sang out of their faith. They knew that God could release them at any moment, but they chose to sit their cells and sing praise to God. And God used their singing to bring the Gospel to this guard. God used their circumstances to bring people to Him. 

Here we learn that worship is a key to breakthrough evangelism. The power of worship unleashed God's power to free them and give them the opportunity to lead the guard to Christ. Singing songs to God allow us to be used by God in ways we could never comprehend. Worship is the key to break us free from the bondage of our sins, and it frees us to bring the Gospel to the rest of the world.

We Will Sing! Sing! Sing! Pt.2

The power of the songs that we praise God with have the power, through Him, to make mountains crumble. When we praise God with a true heart, miracles will happen. He will make His presence known. God's song has the power to heal our loved ones, to restore broken relationships, and to ignite a passion for the Living God. In Isaiah 54:1-5, the Lord tells us to sing in times where we are hurting because something we want to strongly is not happening to us. This has been the case for many married couples that struggle with conceiving children. 

In the passage, God is telling Abraham that his wife will conceive a child soon even though she is far beyond the age of childbirth. God says to sing, and to make room in your tent because it will soon be filled with a family. God makes a covenant with Abraham that He will make a nation of his descendants, and they will be God's chosen people. You can place yourself in the place of Abraham and his wife. They struggled till they were in their old age with having a baby with no success. This had to be hard on their marriage and relationship. But God told them to remain faithful, and He will work a miraculous conception. 

This scripture is not only for those who are barren from children; it is for those who are barren of life in Christ. We sing and pray over the people who have not felt God's breath in them. We need to make room in our tents because God knows that our church will grow and expand and glorify Him. 

We see here how God really calls us to sing worship to Him, especially in our doubts and our fears. These are what we lay down at the feet of the cross in worship. Life is something that we cannot overcome by our own ability. We worship God with song because He is our redeemer and our access to true life. Through the power of song God will unleash amazing power even when we feel there is no hope.