Branded With Love

“As John 4:23 says, Its time, as worshipers of God, to give him all we have. For when he is exalted, everything about me is decreased. So many times we stand in the way of really stepping into the secret place of worship with God. Just abandon tradition and the “expected” ways of Praise & Worship and get lost in the holy of holies with the sole intention of blessing the Father’s heart.” -Jessica Leah Springer

Lesson #3: Worship Needs to Be Excellent
Now I know the last post talked about how worship is not just music. But… let’s take a look at the music end for a moment- It’s confession time. I can’t stand most “Christian” bands. They drive me nuts. I find that many times the musicianship is given less than it’s fair shake to instead focus on Jesus, which is the point… but does Jesus want crap music? No way.

I think it’s completely unfair to God to get a band together and offer half done music with words pointed to Him. He wants our best. He deserves our best. And- what I see from many Christian bands is not their “best” when it comes to refining their craft. So, it’s put a bad taste in my mouth for years towards “Christian” music. I don’t think a big chunk of it strives for excellence.

But, I believe excellence is when our heart, talent, and soul meet in this beautiful collision. I would rather have (on a scale of 1-10) a level 6 guitarist with a 10 rating when it comes to love for God- over an amazing, puts Jimi Hendrix to shame, guitarist who is only as deep as a puddle in their relationship with God. I believe God sees that as excellence.

It’s a fine line. There comes a place where leaders have to judge & look at musicianship while at the same time assessing their heart for God in the midst of worship. Walking with excellence in the church can be difficult. Sometimes the pool of musicians isn’t what you would dream of, maybe the songs are too difficult to learn, or the style you want isn’t the style you can create with what you’ve got… I don’t envy any leader who is facing those hurdles. The task is daunting, but churches across America are getting it done and doing a pretty fantastic job of allowing God to bring the right people to lead and move their people.

But how does excellence in worship work for the worshiper?

We just give it. Every part of us. Did you catch that? Every part of us. If we don’t think we’re the best singer or have rhythm to clap… God just wants you to give of yourself to Him. Not every person is cut out to be on stage, don’t envy the people who do, it’s just not your thing. It’s all good. Not everyone’s a clapper, hand raiser, singer, kart-wheels in the aisles, drop to your knees and weep, and the list goes on- kind of worshiper. But, do what God leads you to do in the midst of keeping with what the Bible says about worship, “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” -1 Corinthians 14:40

If it completely distracts others around you and takes away from people’s worship to God, “Is it of God? would be my question… Or are you doing it to bring attention and praise to yourself? Just something to ponder.

We are to give Him our best. Our everything. And when we do that which is excellent, we’ll see that we get lost (in a good way) with Him and begin to just experience the sole intention of lifting up God’s name.

Next Up- “I listen to Christian Radio station ______________, and I wish we did more of the stuff I hear on their playlist, do you think we could..” my response “Nope.”

J-del *over and out*

“If we are going to worship in Spirit, we must develop a spirit of worship.” -Michael Catt

Lesson #2: Worship Is More Than Just Music
I love my wife. She is the best thing that has ever happen to me besides Jesus. She’s amazing. We talk, go for walks, ride bikes, have family days, make babies (yeah, I said it). We’re head over heels in love. But, in our society love is totally equated with sex and physical intimacy. Anyone who has been married for any length of time knows that is a very small slice of the love puzzle.

You do things for your spouse, you court and wow your spouse, acts of service, words of affirmation, loving touch (not in a “I want to get some, I have an agenda kind of way”)… these kinds of things and more are how we show our love for our significant other. It’s a great way to look at the different ways we show God our love.

Sometimes we sing to Him. Other times we serve at the local church, or abroad in our community. We pray to God, read about Him in the Bible, talk about Him to other people, live as an example of what it means to follow Jesus. These are all acts of worship.

It’s not just about singing.

When worship becomes simply about music & singing we’ve missed the boat on what worship was truly intended to be. It’s an outpouring of our hearts. It’s actions & our inner most feelings about God pointed directly to God. That’s why I love the quote at the top of the page. Our spirit, the place where God fills inside of us when we accept Him, needs to embrace talking to, singing to, serving for, living for, sharing about, eat-sleep-breathing about the one and only God who loves us.

Next Up- “Worship can’t be thrown together, it has to be excellent.”

J-del *over and out*

It’s time to flush out the skeletons in your closet…What’s the nerdiest thing about you that no one knows???

“Worship is first and foremost for His benefit, not ours, though it is marvelous to discover that in giving Him pleasure, we ourselves enter into what can become our richest and most wholesome experience in life.”
p.58 “A Heart For Worship” by Lamar Boschman

Lesson #1: Worship is For God, Not Us
God loves us. I mean, not a “I love beer and pizza” kind of love, but a “I want to see your life transformed and spend eternity with me” kind of love (Romans 5:8-10). Because He is head over heels in love with us, He wants to spend forever with us. He made this happen by sending Jesus. His Son. I know, it’s strange to think about, but Jesus led a perfect life and died for us (John 3:16). What!?! Why would he do that?

Well, we’ve all sinned, which simply means we’ve missed the mark (Romans 3:23). For God to see us as pure & blameless- he needed a sacrifice. Jesus was that sacrifice. Unreal. A father allows His Son to die for you and for me. That’s how much he cared. Again, unreal for me to even fathom.

So, you and I hear this, and what is our response when we come to Him? When we give our lives to Him and thank Him for His love??? We worship Him (Hebrews 12:28-29). We lift our voices, lives, actions, words, quiet time, priorities and everything to Him.

It’s a very natural response that we bring to Him. When someone does something that we don’t deserve (a little thing called grace), we can’t help but want to thank them, respond to them, etc. It’s the same with God/Jesus. We want to respond to them, but there’s something we see in all of this…

It isn’t about us. You and me. We aren’t the objects of worship. It’s not about the what, when, or how- but the “who” sometimes seems to get shifted (Isaiah 29:13). We watch as our worship comes from pointing to the one who is supposed to be worshiped to the one doing the “worshiping.”

It seems to be a very natural progression considering everything in our current culture points to a selfish mode of operation.
- Drive Thru=get MY food to ME right now.
- Cell Phones=I want to contact you right now because it’s convenient for ME
- Job=what can you do for ME so I can be happy
- Music=listen to what I want on MY mp3 player
- And the list goes on…

It’s just as easy to carry that over into our worship and wonder “What is it doing for me?” When we begin to get into that mode, we’ve stepped in and blocked the one being worshiped and pointed it at ourselves instead. But, like the quote at the top, when we point everything to Him- it’s amazing how we begin to experience one of the most amazing times of our lives.

Next Up- “So, I know it’s about Him and not me, but is worship just music?”

J-del *over and out*

I love this photo.
It really encompasses what we were built to be.
How it was supposed to take place everyday.
What we should boil it all down to in our hearts.
It’s the thing we make so complicated, but it’s…
So, well- simple.

Worship.

We’re going to take some time to dive in and look at the concept of worship.
What it is.
What it is-not.
What it means for our local community of believers.
What God thinks and defines “it” as.
Looking forward to diving in with you guys (and gals).

Lately with work, church, meetings, schedules, etc.- we’ve had a hard time as a family coming together, turning off email & cellphones and just enjoying one another. This was such a great time hunting for eggs and just laughing as a family. It’s our first Easter with a little one and it’s amazing to see the journey God has moved us through.

(While taking this photo we smelled something awful and found out it wasn’t the Easter eggs. Thanks Chloe. Thanks a lot.)

Some Thoughts from Easter Weekend @forefrontchurch:

- Over 600+ people attended Forefront this Easter
- It was my first Easter message as the Lead Pastor (and I didn’t faint or vomit. SCORE)
- The Beach band destroyed “Learn To Fly” by the Foo Fighters.
- David Grohl (foo fighters) should be shaking in his boots right now after their cover. It ruled!
- I watched as our volunteers did a crazy cool job of getting things set-up… and with plenty of time to spare. You guys rock my world.
- We got to see another sighting of Cletus Jenkins. He’s a wild man.
- Chesapeake, I won’t spoil if for you, but all I’m saying is 1950′s track shorts, a mullet, and the American Flag have never looked SOOOOOO FLY!
- Want a sneak peak??? Just click here.
- I listened as people sniffled and reflected during the closing moments. It’s so fulfilling to see God move in His church.
- Chesapeake Campus celebrated their first Easter in the Cinema Cafe. That venue is so amazing. Makes me wish every campus could be in a movie theater.
- Got some unexpected text messages from someone I don’t even know just minutes before my message. Bobby Manning, your words of encouragement were so appreciated, thanks brotha.
- Our staff was unstoppable this weekend! They were making it happen and it looked effortless for them.
- I truly love the team we have here. Forefront, you guys take some time to thank those guys. They worked over-time to make it come together.
- When a creepy 6 ft. Easter Bunny roams your campuses and kicks it with the little kids and causes bedlam in the lobby… you know it’s a good day.
- Had 10+ emails & facebook messages from people wanting to talk about decisions & possible baptisms. NOW THAT IS WHY WE LIVE THIS PEOPLE! Awww Yeah.

On Easter Sunday we had quite a few people asking about baptism and wanting to discuss it more. It is such a great thing God is doing here in Hampton Roads.

If you are thinking about baptism and accepting Jesus, check out this video where a couple of guys handed their lives over to Jesus. It’s amazing to see the life change God is doing in them. Email me at jason@forefront.org if you’d like to talk. Later people.

Jason *over and out*

What do an ex-Hansen brother, a guitarist from Smashing Pumpkins, a Fountains of Wayne front man, and the drummer of Cheap Trick have in common? Well, apparently they’re the next new thing in music? Seriously?!? Somewhere, hiding in the bushes, Ashton Kutcher is waiting with a crew to let us all know we’ve been Punk’d.

This is totally bizarre. See for yourself in this video:

#01.
Because a 6’7, fluffy-covered, long-eared, awkward rabbit guy sneaking into your house to drop off eggs to your kids is WAAAAAAYYYY CREEPY and you’ll need to flee the house until the Po-Po arrive. What better place than a campus near you?!

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