Good News……God is Holy

At a time in our world where holiness is discounted as unattainable by even Christians, there are some great truths about holiness that will encourage us in our worship to God.  These truths are needed to grasp, at least somewhat, how Holy God is and how much He wants us to “get it.” Get what?  Holiness!

The word Holy has been a word that has caused a great amount of controversy in Christian circles.  Not so much because of what it is, but what it sounds like.  The definition has two parts; one is dedicated to God for a specific purpose or set aside; the other is something that is sacred.  When we look at the definition of holiness, we see that it is the state of being Holy.  Here is an easy truth.  God is Holy.  He is the definition of holiness every way you look at it.  Psalms 93:5 says, “Your testimonies are fully confirmed; Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, forevermore.”  God’s holiness is always there.  It’s who He is!  You can check it throughout the Bible and see that when God is in a situation there is holiness.  Also, God’s power is reflected from His holiness.  Pure, without blemish.  You can’t say that about anyone or anything else.  He is Holy.

Which brings us to where we are.  We are to be holy as He is holy.  1 Peter 1:15,16 says, “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.”  Here’s where the Good News comes in.  We received the good news of the lifechanging gospel of Jesus Christ and received Him by faith.  When we gave our life to Him, He replaced it with a new one…..did you get that…..a new one.  You are the same walking, talking person, but now your thinking, your reasoning, your perception about life is different.  It is more in line with God (who is Holy).  We take on His nature through the Holy Spirit and everything in our foundation changes and that changes our life drastically.   Paul wrote to the church at Corinth and explained it like this in 2 Cor. 5:17,18 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” The word reconciliation means that we are made right with someone (God) and now we are compatible with God.  The end result is we share who He is by how much we line up with Him and His Holiness.  That is an awesome realization that will “rock your world” if you dwell on it long enough.

Worship is the lifestyle that is birthed when we receive Christ and take on that Holy change that comes from Him.  It changes our lives, our words, our destinations, our work, our service……..it changes everything.  When we serve, we do it like Jesus.  When we sing, we do it like Jesus.  When we work, we do it like Jesus.  When we mess up, we get it right because of Jesus.  We are constantly being changed to look and act more like Jesus every day.  That’s good news!!!  Why be holy?  Because He is Holy and that part of Him is ready to be seen in each of us as we live our life of Worship.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Worship That Wins

In the course of life, we will probably be exposed to thousands of competitions that will cause us to pick a side and then cheer for that side to win over the other.  We will buy banners, signs, and cheer with a fervency that brings us out of our comfort zone again and again.  Why?  We want to WIN!  It's the passion of the moment, when emotions run high and we are sensitive to every play, every move, every call by the officials.  It drives our thinking about how our team will somehow be able to win the contest.  Of course, it goes way over the edge when we get involved in fantasy leagues with fantasy drafting of players, and coaches, and scenarios that would rival the most professional organization.  We are suddenly using areas of our brain that had long sense been dormant and the endorphins start feeding the frenzy of competition.  I have seen people who never competed in any athletic competition become very efficient armchair quarterbacks, seemingly overnight.  Our media feeds on this stuff and uses it to the fullest to sell products, launch TV shows, and hopefully get us "hooked!"

Believe it or not, worship for believers is in some ways just like the competitions we either see, or participate in, and the desire to WIN is just as real.  It comes back to our ultimate focus and desire, and how they line up with our daily life away from church, or other worshipers.  God continually wants to win our attention every day of our lives and His plan for the BEST for each of us is waiting for undivided attention.  Just like those who live on the edge in the area of competition and team allegiance, His exciting, awesome plan for our lives takes us to a whole new realm in the area of worshiping Him.  Romans 12:1-2 says, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  In Paul's writing to the church at Rome he continually reminded them to allow God to have their allegiance and undivided attention.  In fact, he stated it was a part of the transformed life that came with those who knew Jesus.  Paul's admonition didn't stop with music worship though. He went to the heart of the matter and stated that they were to give thier lives as instruments of worship by the way they lived.  In other words, if we are going to be "people of worship" then we will worship wholeheartedly our Jesus and Him alone.  We will make every day a "life of worship" and in the process get to know the Father better.  The result will be a life conformed to His image that impacts the world we walk in.  The other result is a changed life, a life of true worship, and a life that touches others who don't know Christ.  That would be a WIN.....WIN......WIN!!!

You may say, "How does this apply to music worship?"  As a worship leader, I can tell real quick in a service the people who are living the daily life of worship by how much they seem to know the One they worship.  It's way beyond expression or style.  It's way beyond vocal or instrumental ability.  It's REAL.You don't have to "pump them up" to get them to express their love for Jesus.  It just happens!!  A person who worships in that frame of mind is really a winner every time because more of Jesus is seen than them.  In other words, His Spirit is the guiding force in all they say and do.  THAT is the winning element of true worship.  To quote Jesus on the matter, we look no further than John 4:21-24 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 "You worship what you do not know ; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth ; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  

If you want "worship that wins" then you must be totally sold out to a worship lifestyle. Here's some elements of a worship lifestyle:  Daily time with Jesus, interacting with other believers, befriending the lost, and a changed life.  That is "worship that wins" and that is what God wants in all our lives.  The end result in a church service will be you expressing what God is doing daily in your life and that kind of worship is a win for all.  So, put on your worship attire (a changed life) and give Glory to His Name.  When that happens you will never be the same.

Psalm 29:2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name ; Worship the LORD in holy array.

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren 

How to Recover From a Spiritual Heart Attack

The Heartfelt Faith – Recovering from a Heart Attack….

 The end result of living a heartless faith will be you living a life that is borderline at best.  You can only walk that tightrope so long before you fall off.  The narrow path opens your life up to wide open living that is generated by the Holy Spirit coming alive in your life.  The strength of your core will help you withstand the challenges of daily living.  It will affect EVERYTHING!!!

We need to rediscover our true heart’s cry.  When we rediscover that, our life will take a drastic change toward the best God has to offer us. That is God’s Way!!!

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death

God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting 

with a passion for the impossible."  William Booth

Spiritual Alert…

When we realize that we are in a battle and that battle is for our heart.  We will suddenly want to draw near to the one who holds our heart and ask Him to protect us from the attacks on our heart. 

Ephesians 6:12

How to survive a spiritual heart attack:

1.            The Little Things - Recognize the changes going on around you and be alert to things that are creeping into your life that are affecting your heart.

Sugar intake – (The Silent Killer) Never underestimate the media and its strong influence on your heart.

You must adjust your intake of sweets that are polluting your system and replace them with the meat of the Word of God.  Psalm 119:11

2.            Compromising Cohesion – Questionable things that didn’t use to be a problem are starting to block your relationship with Christ and other Christians.  You know something is wrong and you just don’t have the Spiritual Energy you used to have, but you think it is nothing to worry about.  You have questionable lifestyle issues that are sticking to your life like glue and you can’t shake them anymore.

Sin Cholesterol – Blocking your arteries and stopping the flow of the Holy Spirit’s influence on your life.

You need an accountability group to help you work through some of the issues you are dealing with.  They will help steer you in a healthier direction and your blockage will clear up with time. 

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

3.            Consult “the” Physician - The last thing we sometimes want to admit is that we are sick and getting worse.  What we do is postpone the trip to the doctor because deep inside we know what His diagnosis will be and what that means.  We practice avoidance, hoping everything will just work itself out.  It never does….Then we have what we never thought would happen.  The Attack on our heart!!

Routine Checkup -One of the most dangerous things for a Christian is becoming stagnant, or sitting on the sidelines.  We fill our days with everything else but God and instead of keeping our faith current, productive, and growing, hours turn into days, and days turn into weeks, and so on.  Time escapes us and we don’t even realize that too much time has gone by between prayer times and it is starting to show in our attitude and our lifestyle.

Ephesians 5:16 says to be redeeming the time because the days are evil. Part of that evil is letting time slip through our grasp.  Instead of living a vibrant, active life for Christ, we become lazy and let those things necessary for good spiritual health fall to the side of our schedule.  Time that used to be spent with God is replaced with just TIME SPENT!!!

4.            Heed the warning signs – If we are not aware enough to see that things are not right.   If we ignore advise from those who love us.  If we continue to walk on the slippery path of compromise, then the attack on our heart will be successful and the damage will be devastating.  The freshness of our commitment to the Lord will be battered and bruised and the effect on us and those who know us will be tragic.  We must heed the warning signs and realize that every day is a day to be lived for Christ and lived from our heart.

Get the blood flowing again – 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  That what I call Heart Surgery.

What is your heart saying to you now?

Are there compromises in your life that are affecting your heart?

Is Christ in charge of your heart?

Is your heart health good or bad?

What are you willing to do to make it right?

Today is the day to experience a true lifechange through a drastic change of heart.  Move from a mediocre heart commitment to a passionate life that is driven with a strong heart that is pumping blood from the only source that's lasting....Jesus Christ!!!

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

Unity Pie

When I lived at home I remember my mom always having a pie, or cake, or something sweet around the house all the time.  When I came home from school, I would be tired from books and sports, and I couldn’t wait to taste that good ole pie or cake that would be waiting for me.  One time some of my friends from school came home with me and got the treat of mom’s dessert.  After they got one taste of what was waiting for me, they made it an ongoing habit to come to Faye’s Kitchen at least twice a week.  My mom was a hit and she made me a hit with my friends at school.  One day when I came home she had gotten busy and didn’t have a dessert and I was really disappointed and let her know about it.  She said, “You don’t realize all it takes to bake a pie or cake, so now is the time for you to see how it’s done!”  Mom proceeded to grab all the ingredients and put them on the counter and I was amazed at how many things it took to make one pie.  This particular pie was a pecan pie, so we had 1 - 9” pie shell, 1 ¼ cups of chopped pecans, 2 eggs, 1 cup of corn syrup, ¼ cup of brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon of molasses, 2 Tablespoons of melted butter, 2 Tablespoons of flour, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  She told me exactly how to get everything set up and when it was prepared, how long to cook it, and let it cool.  About one hour later, I had my pecan pie.  Whoa….I didn’t bargain for this and from that moment on I appreciated the effort she made to make sure I had a dessert waiting for me after school.  Why?  Because instead of just eating the pie, I realized the work it took to make it, and my perspective changed.

It’s amazing how we as Christians always feast off of things that have been done for us and never realize what it takes to make everything happen.  We come and anticipate our “pie” and when it’s not there we get all out of joint.  Unity is one of those things that we come to expect, but when we don’t see it we just go off to our corner and pout.    God is good about taking us by the hand into his “kitchen of wisdom” and showing us just what it takes for Christians to have unity.  Ephesians 4: 1-16 gives us some ingredients for unity and shows us how to cook it up right. 

Here are the ingredients:

1.              Our walk must be aligned with the character of Christ.  In Verses 1-3 Paul tells the church at Ephesus to walk in a manner worthy of what we have…..Christ.  If you have Christ, you have a tendency to taste and experience unity by how you walk and live.  He gives some results of this Christ centered walk and lists something we all know about.  We are to have humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance in love, and diligence.  These ingredients will cook up the unity Christ wants us to experience.  You may notice we put ourselves on the back burner and selfishness is replaced with selflessness.  We are aligned with who Christ is when we have these qualities and the result is unity.

2.              The reality is there is unity in Christ, but we choose to try wrong ways to achieve it.   In Verses 4-6 Paul states a foundational truth.  It is centered around the word ONE.  We are attached to the oneness or unity of Christ and God is the “big baker” who takes these ingredients and makes the best tasting Unity Pie.  If we get distracted from the fact that He is the foundation for Unity, then we only skirt the issue and never get to the purity of the truth.  He says it best when he says, “One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.”  Wow!  Without God in control there is NO unity.  Forget it.  It’s not going to happen.  With God we can’t help but have unity.  It’s in our spiritual DNA.

3.              He has gifted all of us in different ways, but in such a way to make our different gifts all work together. In Verses 7-13 Paul shares that the sacrifice of Christ for us sinners not only gave us the opportunity to live with Him forever in heaven, but also changed how we live with others here on earth.  When Jesus went to be with the Father He made the statement that we would do greater things than He had done. How?  He gave us His Holy Spirit and that power is the “heat that cooks this unity pie.”  Over a period of time He enables us to realize our different gifts and through His Word shows us how to use those gifts, with other believers, to further the Kingdom. He has taken the ingredients He put in each of us and now He is “really cooking” us into what He can use.  We even start to smell better and start to realize changes in our lives that encourage us to learn more, and be more like Jesus.  When this “cooking” starts to happen, we suddenly become a part of the church and with Christ as our head, we see that something great is going on and we are a part of the process.  Satan hates this and wants us to be confused about unity and lures our selfish side to come out and stop the process of unity and so the “unity pie” is undercooked and doesn’t taste good.  It is at this moment that we must pray and pursue God to protect our hearts and get the pie cooked completely.  When we hold on to God’s promises and attain the full measure of faith He gives an amazing thing happens. UNITY. 

4.              The process is not through when we get fully baked.  We get to eat what we made. In Verses 14-16 Paul tells us there is a graduation to a whole new way of living.  Unity is our battle cry and God wants to protect it, so no one can come and eat from this pie who doesn’t need to.  This pie that has been made for each of us is waiting to nourish others as they taste the sweetness of Unity in our lives.  Christ, the master baker, continues to make more and more unity pies and the body of Christ grows in numbers every day.  Why?  Because God supplied the ingredients.  God is the one who puts it all together.  God is the one who bakes it.  God is the one who keeps on baking more and more.

Perhaps you didn’t know all it took to make unity a reality for believers and you have been the recipient, but you haven’t been in the process.  Take what this scripture has taught us about how to realize unity and get in the game of living UNITY.  The end result really tastes good.  Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”  You want unity.  Take a bite!!

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren