I have been on staff at Hope Community Church now for almost a year and there is one thing that I can say time and time again that makes a huge impact on me, worship. At a camp, at a weekend retreat, or wherever it may be, nothing touches me more then to see hundreds of middle schoolers as they raise their hands to the Lord and sing songs of worship. The most recent of these was this evening at Hazardous. What strikes me so much about this in particular is how quick these students are to shout, sing and raise their hands in worship to the Lord.

Oftentimes I wonder if this is what Christ meant when we are to have child like faith. 

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:16-17, NIV).

Most of us have heard this idea, to have childlike faith, but many times we don’t quite know what that looks like. We are so caught up in what it is like to be an adult that we forgot what it was like in our youthful stage of following Christ. But I think in terms of musical praise and worship to the Lord there is a clear application here. As I was talking about earlier, time and time again I see middle schoolers raise their hands and worship the Lord. They don’t care about the person beside them. They don’t care how loud they are singing. They don’t care about anything but that moment in time in which they are experiencing the Kingdom of God on earth…They only care about that moment in time in which they are in a deep connection with God. This is child like faith.

So often on a weekend service I look around during worship and see people mumble the words. There may be a few hands here and there that go up, but not many. That is not to say that it is necessary to raise your hands or sing loudly, because it is not to truly worship God. But I often think to myself, is this what God has in mind when we are to have childlike faith? Is this what God has in mind when he calls us to worship Him? I always think of Revelation 4 when it comes to worship. A room full of elders and the seraphim doing nothing but praising God. Singing “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” This is true worship, the seraphim don’t care what the elders in the room think of them. The elders don’t care what the seraphim think. All they care about is worshiping the One true God, in that moment. While the students are not to that level of worship, I think their worship more closely reflects how God desires musical worship to be.

God is calling us to a life of worship. In our actions, in our thoughts, in our attitudes, and in our musical praise. So the question is this, how can you exhibit child like faith in your worship life better? What do you need to improve on? Are you really worshiping as God desires, or are you merely mumbling along?

Revelations 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the entire bible. In revelations 4 John, the one having this revelation, enters into the throne of God in heaven. As he enters there are 24 elders surrounding the room and 4 creatures flying around the throne of God (this is also described in Isaiah 6). These 4 creatures flying around the throne of God are known as Seraphim. Their only job is to sing “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (v.8). Each time they sing this line, these 24 elders surrounding the room fall down on their knees and worship the Lord. This is all these elders and creatures do, none stop. Worship the Lord.

Seraphim in its original translation means “the burning ones.” These 4 creatures are labeled this because they are simply burning with a passion to worship and praise the Lord for all eternity. But we can take this and apply this to our lives as Christians. We all have the ability to be a seraph (the singular word for seraphim). We all, as Christians, should have this burning desire inside of us to do nothing but to worship the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and strength. But the thing is, worshiping does not have to only consist of singing out to the Lord, or raising our hands into the air as a group performs some songs about God. Worshiping the Lord is a way of life. We were created to worship the Lord in all aspects of our life. If we are not doing that, then we are not the burning ones. Jesus clearly tells us that we should be these burning ones though.

In Revelations 3, Jesus tells the Church in Laodicea, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! (v. 15). Jesus is telling this church that he wants them to either be on fire for him, or to not care at all. To Jesus, it is worse to be in the middle then to be cold, because you are not being fully committed to Him. If we as Christians are truly hot, and not in the middle or lukewarm, then we could truly be labeled as the burning ones. It should be every Christians desire in life to be labeled as a seraph, as a burning one of God who wants nothing in life but to praise God and to worship God in every way conceivable.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelations 4:11

People often pose the question of why did so many die in the Old Testament who went against God’s will? Is God an angry God? Does he find satisfaction on the killing of large masses of people? Countless times throughout the Old Testament Gods ruthlessness can be seen with his destruction of various peoples and the prophecies that discuss the destruction of even more who disobey God. I have been reading through Isaiah and in doing so found an interesting verse concerning the destruction of Jerusalem

Isaiah 22:4—“Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”

This verse demonstrates that God does not, nor has he ever, taken pleasure in the death of people. Genesis says that we were created in the image of God, and it would seem one characteristic we acquired from God was the ability to mourn. God weeping clearly indicates that he truly cares for our personal well being. We are not simply puppets whom God toys with throughout our lives. With that being said, it must also be reminded that the societies being destroyed in many instances in Isaiah were because they went against God. God is the creator of the universe and as the creator he is also the punisher, and given we are all sinners, just as they were 3000 years ago when Isaiah prophesying we all deserve such destruction. However, God sent his Son to die for our sins. Instead of leaving entire societies desolate for their sins, he sent Jesus Christ.

To put it simply, God is great. He mourns over the lost, whether it was deserved or not. With that I am reminded of a verse by my favorite Christian band For Today that says,

“And the world will know that our God is a god that heals. That our God is a god that lives. And our God is a god that loves unlike anything anyone has ever felt before.”

God loves like no other. He is not an angry God he takes no pleasure in the death of humans, but he weeps, just as any father who loses a son would weep.

It has been a while since i posted on this blog. I simply have not had much to discuss as of late, but I was reading Genesis 3 and read a line I never really considered as much of anything most of the time that I would interpret here a little.

In Genesis 3 we have the fall of mankind. Adam and Eve are swayed by the Serpent to eat the fruit from the tree. Following their eating of the fruit and God forsaking them and their offspring, God curses the Serpent as well (it is worthy to note that in this curse in Genesis 3:15 god says that a descendant of Eve will come and crush his [the serpents] head, a clear indication of the coming of Christ). Following this curse is the verse that caught my attention after Adam and Even realized they were naked and God cursed them.

Genesis 3:21 “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.”

This line interested me for that fact that God clothed them. Many say the God of the old testament was not a sweet God, but rather a harsh God. I believe this verse clearly indicates that God still cared for Adam and Eve. If I was God in this point of the tale I would have booted Adam and Eve and made them fend for themselves. This was not so though, he gave them clothing.

This brings me to the point, God provides. In this case God provided Adam and Eve with clothing. When Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac God provided Abraham with a Ram for his faithfulness to sacrifice in lieu of Isaac (Genesis 22). God cares for his children, as any good parent would care for theirs. God is the ultimate father, and he will provide like it.

1 Timothy 6:17 “Command those who are right in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

 In today’s society it is very easy to get bogged down in the thought of the future. I graduate college in one year and often wonder will I find a job out of college? Will I be able to live comfortably? Then I throw in the fact that I am engaged to be married and the thought of finances becomes even more worrisome. America and the world have such a fixation on the material possessions of the world. On owning a nice house, having a nice car, wearing fancy clothes. Nothing ever seems to be enough. As people obtain these items they begin to look into the future at the next item they want. This is not how Jesus called us as Christians to live.

Jesus said, “do not worry, saying, ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘what shall we drink?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’” (Matthew 6:31). We as Christians should not fear for not having these things. Jesus then goes on to say that “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:33-34).

If we simply live today for Christ, proclaiming his message and trying to live as he did then God will reward us for our services. It may not be in this life, but certainly following death we will receive the greatest reward. However, if we get caught up in our problems of today we will forget the true answer to those very problems. God knows what is in store for us tomorrow, and he is preparing us for those problems whether we know it or not. So put your faith and trust in him and the rest will follow.

What if you woke one day and were told to give your child’s life as a sacrifice to God? Would you willingly abide or put up a fight? Most would say there is no way I would let me child die for any reason at all…these days most would say there is no way i would even sacrifice something as small as an mp3 player if it is Gods will. What are we willing to sacrifice to appeal to our God?

The story of Abraham being required to sacrifice Isaac is one of the more known tales from the book of Genesis. God informs Abraham that he must take his son and offer him as a burnt offering. The surprising thing which occurred however was that Abraham didn’t put up the slightest fight…in fact it says in Genesis 22:3 that “early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.” Abraham’s faith even today is unparalleled.

When God saw the amount of faith Abraham had in him he said “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (Genesis 22:12). God gave Abraham a ram to sacrifice instead and rewarded Abraham for his faith.

Could you imagine the pain that Abraham may have felt when he was first informed he would be giving his one and only son to God? Could you imagine anyone giving their one and only son? There is one other figure in the bible who gave his one and only son as a sacrifice, God.

We may not all be required to sacrifice a child, or any human being for that matter. We may never be even required to sacrifice an mp3 player. The greatest sacrifice we can give God in our lifetime is our time, our service. Service so that we may go out into the world and help the poor and the lost. To help the sick. To just spread the message of Jesus Christ.

The sacrifice could be something as small as greeting people at your local church to dropping everything and becoming a missionary in Africa. God doesn’t differentiate between the two, all he differentiates between is the faithful and unfaithful, those who sacrifice and those who do not.

Paul said in Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

If we truly love God and sacrifice it all for him then God will reward us. The reward may not be immediate, in fact it most often will not. It may not even be in this lifetime. But when the new world is created we will gain the greatest reward that anyone could want, eternal life.

What are you willing to sacrifice for God?

Ecclesiastes 1:14 “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”

The book of Ecclesiastes is often credited to King Solomon. Solomon was an individual who had everything he wanted…He was rich…he had hundreds of wives…and he built the temple…and made his own temple to be even more grand. However, at the end of his lifetime, Solomon realized that it was all useless; it was meaningless.

One of my favorite bands, The Devil wears Prada, has a message that aligns wonderfully with Solomons in their song Dez Moines.

“Take all your medals, take all your ribbons,
Take all your awards, take them back to the ground.”

Today’s society is material based. People want the best and most new gadgets, the fanciest cars, all the awards, and the medals to go along with it. People want to show their material wealth to the world. This is a topic that I think about from time to time…today’s obsession with wealth…This song points exactly to what Solomon is saying…that it is meaningless…that in the end, regardless of if you are going to heaven or hell, all those things will not be coming with you…They must be left behind on earth.

This is not to say that one must choose between material items and God. Some may take Ecclesiastes to mean it is simply meaningless to obtain any such items. This is also untrue I believe. I believe that we can have these items of this world…However, when they get in the way of our connection with God, maybe even replace God as a false idol, they truly do become a problem. This is the problem with material possession of this world…it creates a barrier between us and God at times…I will again go back to the band the Devil Wears Prada…the meaning of their band name is just what it says..the Devil wears prada. The Devil loves the fancy things in life, and he loves people of this world to have their perception clouded by those extravagant possessions. Those items can cause us to be greedy for items of this world when we should instead be pursing the Christ-like life.

So while on earth enjoy the material things of this world. However, do not let them get in the way of why we are on this earth…to love our God, and to love one another. In the end these are the only two things that matter, because when we die nothing comes with us.

Ecclesiastes 12:8 ‘“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!”’