I love people.  I love sinners, of whom, I am one of the worst.  I love and worship a holy God who loves people, broken, rebellious, lost and found so much, He sent His only son to die as a punishment for each and every sin, so that every sin could be forgiven.  When any sinner chooses to continue to live in sin, rather than pursue righteousness, that sinner mocks the death of Jesus and the grace of God, and should fear the judgement and wrath of God as described in Hebrews 10:27.  We need to flee from sin and run to righteousness.  Are you greedy?  Flee.  Lustful?  Flee.  Boastful?  Flee.  Deceitful?  Flee.  Homosexual?  Flee.  I love you.  God loves you, but flee.

Bob Russell on same sex marriage.     Mark Moore on same sex attraction.

Psalm 92:1 reminds us of this truth: “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High.” In my first article I reminded you that worship should never be a one day a week event in the life of a Christian. It should be happening all the time. God should be at the forefront of our minds and hearts, present in our actions, all day, every day. Today I would like to remind you on the truth of this Psalm. It is a good thing to sing praises. I want to see all of our church people engaged actively in worshipping outside of this building we meet in on Sundays. So I want you to embrace this truth into your life daily as my family and I have. It is a good thing to sing praises to the Most High.

I have mentioned that I love to find Worship music that I can sing along with during the week, sitting in my office, driving my bus, driving to a meeting. Here’s another group I’d love to have you hear: Hillsong United.

Check out their website by clicking here.

I would recommend the CD With Hearts As One, by Hillsong United, or Live in Miami, by Hillsong United. This band from Australia has been one of my all time favorites as it comes to songwriting & worship leading. They are very passionate, very engaging & very exciting. Their lyrics all center around God’s power and God’s provision for us in Jesus and what he’s done for us. You will find some songs you hear familiar, in songs like The Stand, Mighty to Save, Hosanna, & From the Inside Out. You will also find some new worship gems like With Everything, Aftermath & Oh You Bring.

When you become about weeklong worship, your songs become your prayers. And one of the most powerful prayers that Hillsong United has helped me to sing are these lyrics, found in the song, With Everything: (click here for video)

Open our eyes
To see the things that make your heart cry
To be the church that you would desire
Your light to be seen

Break down our pride
And all the walls we’ve built up inside
Our earthly crowns and all our desires
We lay at your feet

Let hope rise
And darkness tremble
In Your holy light
That every eye will see
Jesus our God! Great and mighty to be praised!
When those lyrics (or another prayer like them) are the cry of your heart each day, then you will know you are well on your way to being a weeklong worshipper and devoted disciple.  It is good to sing praises to the Most High!

Corey,

Hi ACC friends!  I wanted to take the chance over the next few weeks to blog about leading worship, worship leaders that I love and what it means to have Weeklong worship.

To begin with, worship is a verb.  It is an something you do, not something you own.  It is the act of praising or bowing down to God.  That’s why you should never simply think of your worship being confined to Sunday morning or Wednesday night.  It is something that, in the life of a Christian, should be taking place all the time.  Time at work?  Worship.  Time at home?  Worship.  Time with family?  Worship.  Time on vacation?  Worship.  You can’t get away from it.  You are always worshiping something or someone.

Which is why time spent in worship and fellowship with God outside of Sunday morning is so important to me.  And why I want to invest my time, energy and resources on things that take my focus back to him.  One of the reasons I’m posting this message for you is to tell you that as somebody that leads our worship services each Sunday, I want to worship each week with full time worshipers, not part-timers.  And that is why I hope that you will take time to sing praises to Go thru the week, praying to Him and allowing him to speak truth into  your life thru His word.

One way that I am plugged in with God throughout the week is by plugging in with worship music.  And I’m not simply talking about Christian radio stations (although these are good and have their place).  I’m talking about music that is written by worship leaders for the church.  I’m going to highlight a few of these for you in the next few weeks and draw you attention to them so that you can be singing the songs of the church on your lips and in your heart throughout the week.

Matt Redman–Facedown  (Click for link to Amazon)

Though this CD is 8 years old, it still influences me and calls me as a worship leader to do as the title suggests.  Matt writes of God’s glory and how people respond to seeing God by falling Facedown.  This CD has it all, loud raucous choruses and haunting, intimate moments.  Matt sings of how Jesus’ blood speaks righteousness for me and stands in my defense on “Nothing But the Blood”.  He reminds us of the great spiritual paradox:  ”We are breathing the breath that You gave us toe breathe to worship You.”  And he reminds us that worship as song is not a means to an end, but fuel for the fire:  ”Let worship be the fuel for mission’s flame, we’re going with with a passion for Your name, we’re going for we care about Your praise, send us out.”

Start to develop some weeklong worship habits by listening to the music that we are often introducing on Sundays.  Then you can sing right along with us, and continue the worship in song all week long!

Make plans now to attend our special Easter Services.

Join us Thursday, April 4th and Friday, April 5th at 6:00 pm for a special time of worship and preaching. The King family will be our special guests for our pre-Easter services this year. Peggy King will be sharing at our Ladies Circle meeting on Wednesday, her testimony regarding her miraculous recovery from a stroke and dementia last year. Thursday evening she will share a shorter version in worship and her son J.D. will share a message entitled “The Need for a God-Sized Savior” and help lead us in worship. Friday evening, the Duane and Peggy will share the song “He Grew the Tree” and Duane will preach a message entitle “But God” which will help prepare us to celebrate the resurrection.
I hope you will make plans to join us for these special services. Duane and Peggy have travelled around the country speaking for several decades, but they have always had a special place in their heart for Auburn and the Auburn church has always had a special place for them. Welcome them back! For those who may not know the King’s, I have included some brief biographical information below.

Born on a farm near Skidmore, Missouri, Duane received his call to ministry. After graduating from Nebraska Christian College Duane married Peggy Carr of Anthon, IA. The Kings served in ministries in Anthon, IA, Norfolk, NE, and Griswold IA for ten years until God clearly called them to establish Deaf Missions in 1971. Duane sang full-time with the Watchmen Quartet for one year, and part-time for nearly thirty years.
The King’s have two children: Christine Clausen who teaches and is married to Jeff Clausen, a farmer near Carson, Iowa. Christine serves on the Board of Nebraska Christian College. Duane and Peggy’s son J.D. and his wife Tia and their three children have recently moved back to Papillion, Nebraska where J.D. serves on staff at Nebraska Christian College.