I am not skilled to understand

With all that is said regarding music in churches, I feel like we might miss some of the intent of the music written. This morning in church we sang a popular modern chorus “My Savior, My God.” It is a song that was made popular by Aaron Shust.

Last week I was reading the book “The Life of Prayer” by A.B. Simpson and he quoted words from this song. I found that to be odd since he has been dead a long time.

It turns out this song is a redo of an old hymn called “I Am Not Skilled to Understand” I love the words of it because it highlights for us how much God has done for us that we just can’t fully comprehend. Add to this Ephesians 3, where Paul talks about the unsearchable riches of Christ. and it becomes even more magnificent.

“Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, the grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” – Ephesians 3:8

He really is the gift!

This song resonates with me because I am not skilled to understand this love for sinful man, but I take Him at His Word. This message of God reaching to us should make us stand in awe of Him. It is so amazing that we truly cannot grasp it!

Read the words of this hymn and take in what is being said here. Truly we have so much to be thankful for because we have a Savior!

I am not skilled to understand
What God hath willed, what God hath planned;
I only know that at His right hand
Is One Who is my Savior!

I take Him at His word indeed;
“Christ died for sinners”—this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!

That He should leave His place on high
And come for sinful man to die,
You count it strange? So once did I,
Before I knew my Savior!

And oh, that He fulfilled may see
The travail of His soul in me,
And with His work contented be,
As I with my dear Savior!

Yea, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this Spring;
That He Who lives to be my King
Once died to be my Savior!

Words by: Dorthy Greenwell (1873)

Perspective in the Sunrise

Some people don’t like the morning, but I love the morning. I don’t always like how early it comes, but I do appreciate so much about it. There is something about the new day that is inspiring and energizing. Every new day represents another opportunity from God to be all that He would have me be. Each day is a gift. There is such beauty in the morning.

The other morning, on one of the long travel days of our trip, we were heading right into the sun as it was still rising. It reminded me of a post I wrote about my son’s question about the sun being everywhere and also how I really don’t pay that much attention to the sun. There was dew on the grass and a quietness about the morning. I know that the morning reminds us that the darkness is gone and the light has overcome. It reminds us that God has given us His mercy in a new way. It reminds us that Jesus Christ is risen. I was overwhelmed as I took it all in.

I had my I-Pod going and the song “”You’re Beautiful” came on and the first line is “I see Your face in every sunrise.” God is so good in the way He teaches us things. I found myself very near to God as we drove. There is thankfulness that comes over us as we realize all that God has done and who He is. It was a moment that I needed, especially since vacation with family isn’t really relaxing or reflective. It was like God was helping me to have a moment with Him on I-90. It was a moment when all my kids were sleeping and it was quiet. It was energizing and awesome to hear from God in that setting.

As I get back into my “normal life” today, it is with a renewed appreciation of God’s love, plan and work on my behalf. It is because of Him that I serve.

I would encourage you to consider the same and make this day a day of worship to the one true God.

We Need Each Other

Last week we wrapped up the Nehemiah Sunday series. I know I learned a lot from it and have things to think about as a result. I will start a new Sunday series next week. For now, I want to share simply what is on my heart today.

Youth ministry, like any other ministry, has its ups and downs. For a while you might find that you are seeing lives changed by Jesus Christ and students excited about growing. Then at another time you will see some of those exact same students in a completely opposite place. It is easy for me to throw up my hands and declare “I give up” but as I have already stated this week, “God does not give up on us.”

The struggles are the reason we have a ministry for teens. It is a joy to be able to step into a situation and help someone find the path God has for them in it. It is humbling to think God would use someone like me to do that.

It seems recently I have been having more conversations with people who have decided to take a detour in their life. You know the one thing that is true about all of them is their willing isolation from other believers. In fact, you can trace the moment their struggle started to the time they stopped coming to church or youth group.

I know that when someone has lost their way, it is easy to think that God is not interested in helping and to then pull back further. But, these times are actually the times to press in close to Him and to listen for His voice. I know that God is definitely not going to be speaking to you if you are not even spending time with Him at all.

I know there is a push out there to just stay home on Sunday mornings or to sleep in because that is the only day you are able to do that, but let me just encourage everyone to go to church. The goal is not to fill churches up. The goal is to see believers come together and declare that God is faithful and alive. The goal is for all people to come together with all their heartache, confusion and struggles and to share with each other how great our God is. We encourage each other to keep going.

Last night I was thinking about this as I sat around the camp fire. I had a lot of issue getting the fire started because of some wet wood. Once I had it going, it was hard to put out as long as the wood was together. However, if a log were to fall over , the flame quickly went out.

This is what happens when we start to isolate ourselves. IT doesn’t take long before the flame goes out and we are left trying to find a way to find some passion in life. The easiest place to turn is not the place God would have you go.

So, make it a priority to be in church on Sunday and watch how God strengthens your faith. Besides, it is all for Him anyway and it is where He does want you to be.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:25

Nehemiah 8, 9 & 10 – Leadership is Shepherding People

We are working out way through Nehemiah for the leadership lessons inside. This week we take three chapters at once.

Nehemiah 8, 9 & 10- Leadership is Shepherding People

Part 1- From Despair to Worship

1. Now that the people had completed a task together, they were experiencing a new sense of unity and hope. Ezra is invited to come and read the law of Moses to them. He read it for hours and hours in what was, perhaps, the first time they had gone back to read the law in a long time. They had a new hunger for the Word of God and were intent on listening in communion with God.

“Effective preaching happens when the Spirit of God takes the word of God and transforms us into the people of God” – John Kitchen in “Revival in the Rubble”

Leadership Principle # 1- Leaders shepherd people by knowing, obeying and teaching the Word of God. They have an appreciation for the Word and use it as their authoritative guide.

2. There is clearly heart change going on in the people. The Word of God is becoming clear to them by the work of the Holy Spirit. You can see it in their response.

“Amen! Amen! Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” (Nehemiah 8:6)

Leadership Principle # 2- Leaders shepherd people to the throne of God with consistency. They also constantly petition God to work in their hearts.

3. The Word of God was convicting the people in their sin and they were getting very gloomy. So, Nehemiah recognizing what was going on, quickly addresses the situation. He said, “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” (Nehemiah 8:9)

Leadership Principle # 3- Leaders shepherd people with proper counsel in their emotional times. This means assessing what is going on and providing the encouraging word they need.

Part 2- From Celebration to Confession

1. Nehemiah has allowed their celebration for the wonderful work of God among them. He has encouraged them to worship the Lord and celebrate all that He has done. The work in the hearts of the people is not complete because he work of restoring the relationship between God and man needs to be completed. They stood before the Word of God and confessed their sins. Sin is not a popular topic, but it was what the people needed and Nehemiah knew it.

“It is not doing things we like to do, but doing things we have to do that causes growth” – John Maxwell

Leadership Principle #4- Leaders will lead people through a problem by addressing what needs to be done. In this case, the sin that had caused them all that hardship needed to be put aside and a new chapter written.

2. The prayer listed here is a long one that includes mostly praise and confession. Nehemiah begins his leadership with a proper understanding of his place before God. Now he has the opportunity to shepherd the people to that very same understanding. This shows that they have fully subscribed to him as their shepherding leader.

“No matter how smart, talented, and persuasive you are naturally or by training, you are not the leader until the group you are leading says so. The mantle of leadership is bestowed on you by those who grasp your mission and choose to follow you” Gene Wilkes in “Jesus on Leadership”

Leadership Principle # 5- Leaders are only really leading if people are following them.

3. The confession doesn’t just lead to nowhere. It leads to the development of a plan to not go back there again. It says, “In view of all of this we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites are affixing their seals to it.” (Nehemiah 9: 38) It was not enough to confess what was wrong in the past. There needed to be a line drawn in the sand and a vision cast for what they are to be about in the future. There is momentum here for change and a new direction.

Leadership Principle #6 – Leaders create momentum and use it to implement change.

So, I trust this has once again inspired you in your leadership roles. How are you shepherding people and how are people shepherding you?

Why do we sing songs to Jesus?

This week’s Sunday Series post hits on a topic that can incite passions in people. It is about the role of music in worship. Now, in the interest of keeping Sunday posts brief, I am not going to get into all of the worship style stuff. All I will say about that is that worship was never about you, so let’s keep it about the God we worship.

While on my way to the grocery store this week, I got the question from my son about worship. There was a song on in the van that made him curious about that.

“hey dad, why do we need to sing songs to Jesus?

I said: “Well, we need to sing songs to Jesus to tell the whole world that Jesus is the one we follow. We also need to sing songs to remind each other to follow Jesus.”

“oh, well, I am going to sing songs to Jesus all the time. Do you think that makes Him happy?”

I said: “yes, I know it makes Him happy.”

Worship was never intended to be one-dimensional, in that we sing a bunch of songs and that is it. Scripture tells us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord. To me, that sounds like more than just songs. When people box in worship to simply music they have really limited all that worship really is. I will save that topic for another post, so let’s get back to my son’s question.

“Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.” – Psalm 96:1

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” – Psalm 100:2

Clearly it is God who we worship. Music is a wonderful way to do that and an effective way to proclaim Christ to others. So, as you gather for worship with other believers today, enjoy the music as a means to remember God, exalt His name and proclaim Him to others. Who knows, the person next to you might be at a place where they need to hear from God that way today!

One more thing I thought of is on the opportunity parents have with their kids. I love to hear my kids sitting in the van behind me singing songs to the Lord. People will often ask me whether I listen to secular music. I tell them that my standard for music is for it to be something I would be happy to have my children sing. That means, for us, I play a lot of worship music in the van. The kids sing it in the van and outside of it. It is more effective than is often realized at driving home important truths in the lives of our children.

All that to say, have a wonderful Lord’s Day today!

Things to Celebrate

I think it is helpful as we begin a new week to make a few notes on things to celebrate. I know that this weekend was a busy one for me, but at the same time, God did some awesome things.

We have youth group on Friday nights. This last week we split up for a guys and girls night. We will occasionally do this in order to deal with guy and girl topics and to keep things fresh. The funny thing was that we had planned for the guys to be outside for the night, but it was very windy and the coldest night we have had in a while. That doesn’t matter, though, when you are trying to teach boys to “Man-Up.” We played a little wiffle ball, put together our first attempt at a zip-line and made a camp fire.

The campfire was a real challenge because gusts of wind would come and throw coals in the eyes of our students. It does make them pay attention, though. We also tried to make some form of tin foil meals that included some beef and other items. That worked to a point, except the tin foil ripped and we had a huge grease fire. We tried a few times and ended up with marginal success. We have a camp-out in June where we can fine tune this process.

We even had a half bottle of tabasco left that one of our students drank. I am not kidding, he drank it. This was challenging because it was a shaker and we required that he swallowed it all at once. Wow. I did not think he would do it. This gives new meaning to “Man-Up.”

The real highlight for that night was the relationships that we are able to build. Our discussion was very scattered and distracting due to the wind, but that didn’t matter. God is working in the lives of these guys and they seem to really connect with each other and with God. I celebrate God’s work in them and the joy of being able to be involved in that. What a privilege! The girls did something surrounding the topic of inward beauty, but I wasn’t there to report on that. All I know is that they had a really great night as well. Praise God!

Saturday I took a group of our student leaders and adult leaders to an event surrounding the importance of the Gospel. As with any of these events, there are points that we take with us and there are things to ignore. However, for me the highlight was the car ride there and back. In the spirit of truly not throwing away any opportunities, I love car rides. Where else do we get to have discussions with teenagers in an environment where they can’t escape? It is awesome!

Our discussion surrounded some deep topics like predestination, God’s goodness and a variety of Old Testament stories that are just amazing. We were also able to discuss things about our lives. They were asking each other about fears, how they came to know Jesus and what some of their future goals were. This is something I celebrate as well.

On the way home we stopped for dinner and talked about what we learned. I love this because each person takes different points with them to apply. They then are able to articulate those things to each other and we are all edified as a result. God is at work in them and it is incredible.

Sunday was a blessed Lord’s Day. We heard a few testimonies yesterday in the service about how God has used people in some simple ways to impact others. One man told a story about post cards he had written to a young man in Alaska and how through that he is now able to help him in the midst of a crisis. Someone else talked about a young man in the hospital who he has had the chance to minister to. Another person testified about the way a person who has recently passed away impacted their life. These are all things to celebrate; God is alive and active among us.

Lastly, I celebrate the health of my youngest son. Saturday, as I was leaving for my event for the day, he was sick. But, by Sunday he was much better.

What are you celebrating today? Even in difficulties, I know there are always things to celebrate. Be encouraged today and trust in the Lord for His work among you.

The Lego Jar (4/28/12) – Just getting things straight

This week things got back to normal, whatever that is. Grandma went back home, my oldest went back to school and the craziness just kept on coming. This week’s Lego Jar isn’t as full as last week’s was, but there are some fun tidbits to sort out.

Orientation – We had Kindergarten orientation for our second son (5 years old) this week. He had a great time and even exclaimed that he had made some friends already. I guess he will do quite well with this. Afterwards, we were talking about getting him a lunch box. My older son has a Red Sox lunch box, so we asked our 5-year-old if he wanted one also. His favorite color is green, so he told us that he wanted a green sox lunch box because that would be cool.

Overheard- As with most weeks, this week contained multiple humourous conversations with my children. This week they all come to us courtesy of my 5-year-old son.

He said at one point, “Differences are differences. But, what’s the difference in anything we do?” That sounds like a deep question, but it really is more of a stream of consciousness. At a different time he asked my wife and I both about why we sing songs to God. “Hey dad, why do people need to sing songs to God?” I told him it was because God liked it and it helped people remember Him. He said he was happy to praise God.

During another conversation, he asked me about bones and blood. “Where does blood come from?” “Why does God make it?” “What is your brain for?” What happens if you don’t have bones? “If you don’t have bones you will be flat like a road.” Then at the end of it all he says, “Ok, I was just trying to get some things straight.” It is evident that his articulation is quite advanced.

In other important matters, he asked me, “Hey dad, does Darth Vader eat?” My reply, “I suppose he does, but since that is not the point of the movie, we don’t really ever see it.” His reply, “oh, I thought it was about eating.”

Exhausted – It used to be that our 5-year-old son was the one falling asleep at dinner. These days, we are noticing our 2-year-old is taking on that role. In this picture it is not at dinner, but at the dinner table. He has recently stopped with the taking of naps, so making it through a day is a real challenge for him.

Speaking of disorder – The boys created a “hide out.” It is quite the sight. I suppose they need a little more imagination. They took some old plates outside this week and were pretending to be in the movie Tron. (don’t worry if you haven’t seen it) They are constantly up to something, but I think this is a healthy dynamic.