I’ll never make any apologies for encouraging Christians to live cross-centered lives, or leaders to lead in gospel-centered ways. Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross which reconciled us to God will always be central to our faith. But while we are called to glory in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14), the death of Christ isn’t meant to stand alone in our thinking or preaching. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:17-19) Still, …
Search results for "music: Gift or god"
12 Reasons You Should Come to WorshipGod22: Unchanging
It’s been three long years since we hosted our last WorshipGod conference. The theme in 2019 was “The Glorious Christ,” and the night before the conference began we recorded a live album, also called The Glorious Christ. Both the conference and the recording explored the riches of the Savior who came to bear the weight of our sins and is now reigning in heaven until he returns for his bride. It was a fantastic time! But that was then. And we’re more than ready for this year’s conference, Unchanging. So much has happened in the past three years to remind us of our frailty, the inconstancy of our surroundings, and our inability to control …
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Non-Christians on the Worship Team?
Recently a discussion developed over at the New City Church blog about a paragraph in my book. Here’s the paragraph in question: Even though musicians aren’t necessarily “elders” or “teachers” their presence in front of the congregation week after week implies that their life is worthy of emulation—not flawless, but demonstrating the fruit of the gospel. When that’s not true, the church gets the message that worship is more about music than the way we live. Likewise, when non-Christian musicians are used, we’re implying that the art of worship is more important than the heart. (p. 230) The comments focused around the topic of …
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The Book is Finally Done
For those of you who have been following this blog for a while, you know that I’ve been working on a book for over a year now. I’m happy to report that I’m finally done. The book will be called Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God and will be published by Crossway. I mailed in the final manuscript about two weeks ago, and I’m one happy guy. Lord willing, it will be available in April. The book is written for those who lead congregational worship in song, but I think it will serve anyone in leadership, as well as Christians who want to discover more about what it means to worship God. Not surprisingly, I’m already …
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Looking for Free MP3 Messages or Sermons on Worship?
Since a few dozen bloggers have already announced that we at Sovereign Grace Ministries have decided to give away all our message MP3’s, I thought I should do the same. Especially since I work here. We decided to give away all past and future messages simply because we hope more people might benefit from their content. I always appreciate it when I go to a site and can download messages for free with no hassle. Now you can do that at the Sovereign Grace website. Free messages can be a mixed blessing. You end up with a overloaded iPod filled with sermons you never have time to listen to. I’ve been there. In fact, I still am. So, to make it …
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Looking for Stories…
Many of you know I’m writing a book for Crossway, to be assigned the catchy name of Worship Matters. I’m in the middle of a chapter tentatively called "The Word in Worship." I’d be interested in hearing from any of you who have stories to tell about how the Word of God has been used fruitfully or not at all in times of corporate worship. What are the benefits you’ve seen of honoring Scripture? How have you seen God’s Word creatively presented? What elements and practices have you seen that vie for its authority? I’m not so much interested in opinions or reflections as I am real life situations that you’ve seen, led, or experienced. I’ll …
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Top Ten Reasons to Register Now for the WorshipGod06 Conference
Some of you who have heard me talk about the WorshipGod06 conference, "The Glory of His Presence," are still wondering whether or not you should come. To help you with your decision, I’ve taken the liberty of listing the top ten reasons why you should make this a matter of prayer. #10. Gaithersburg, Maryland, like all of metropolitan Washington, D.C., is lovely in August; a veritable tropical paradise, a vacation hot-spot, rivaling the Bahamas in appeal. #9. Pre-registration ends in 5 days, July 23. You can still register at the door, but you won’t get a fancy pre-printed name tag, and you’ll avoid the potentially dangerous experience …
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How Can Worship Matters Serve You More Effectively?
Like many of you, I’m in the midst of reflecting on 2009 and planning for 2010. One of my goals is to make Worship Matters more effective in serving the folks who read it. That’s you. If you’re involved in leading corporate worship in your church or ministry, I’m especially interested in knowing anything I can do that would make this blog better. Some changes I want to make include: more consistent posts (duh) more music and book reviews more interviews from pastors, theologians, and musicians more analysis of current trends or events blog redesign free resources tab Could you take a moment to comment below and tell me what …
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A Few Christmas Songs Worth Checking Out
I know it’s late in the season, but I wanted to post some of the more solid Christmas songs, mostly for congregational worship, that I’ve come across this year. From my experience, Christmas carols are a mixed bag. Some beat around the “gospel bush” and hint at a universal brotherhood, while others clearly proclaim the good news that a Savior has been born to rescue rebellious sinners. I lean towards the second. Every year I’m on the lookout for new songs that express the wonder of the Incarnation in a fresh way. Here are a few that I’ve found this year. On Christmas Day – A song by Matt Osgood from www.RESOUNDworship.org that contains …
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Some Thoughts About Christmas Productions
A friend sent me this question, which she received from her father: I just found out that our church is charging for tickets to our Christmas event…music, drama etc. They want members to buy tickets to hand out for the event. I notice that lots of churches are doing this now. There’s a church in Florida that spends over a million dollars on their Christmas presentation, and charges up to $35 for their big Broadway production. What’s your take on this?…I have a dilemma…Do I continue to work on the music (a lot of it being secular Christmas songs) for the upcoming Christmas extravaganza and feel uncomfortable, or bail out and let the ministers …
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WorshipGod08 Conference
Hard to believe it, but the conference I’ve been working on for the past year has finally come and gone. I’m one tired, happy, grateful, amazed guy. God has been very kind. About 1700 folks came from all over to learn what the Psalms tell us about worshiping God, attend seminars designed to address specific practical areas, and fellowship with like-minded believers. We laughed, we cried, we sang, we listened, we studied, we played, we grew—all for the glory of the Savior. We also released our new Psalms CD, which I think is one of our best so far. In the next few weeks I’ll be posting some reflections about the event, as well as links …
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The Joy of Developing Song Writers
For the past few years, we’ve been trying to encourage and develop the songwriters in Sovereign Grace churches. This past week we spent three days with thirteen song writers working on songs for an upcoming Psalms project, to be released at the WorshipGod08 conference. It was one of the most encouraging annual retreats we’ve had. Songwriters sometimes think that the only model they can follow is worship leaders like Matt Redman or Chris Tomlin. I thank God for those guys and others like them. God has gifted them with the whole package of vocal, melodic, lyrical, and leadership gifts. Unfortunately, those kind of song writers are rare. We don’t …
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Monday Devotions – Preaching the Gospel to Myself
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Col. 1:21-23) Do you find your life is often an emotional roller coaster? Is your perspective dependent on the trials or blessings your’e currently experiencing? That’s not God’s intention. He wants us to remain "stable and steadfast, …
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Four People Are Going to WorshipGod West for Free
WorshipGod2013 West: Called to Be Faithful is a little over five weeks away (June 27-29) and some of the seminars are beginning to fill up. We have a great list of teachers lined up this year, both in the main sessions and the breakouts. Kevin DeYoung, Craig Cabaniss, Jon Payne, Donald Whitney, John Martin, Steve & Vikki Cook, Sherri Gould, and more. In addition, Enfield will be leading us in song for a session, and Matt Papa will be joining us to share a few songs. As always, there will be a few surprises, a lot of laughter, and rich times of worshiping God through song, preaching, and fellowship. I’m especially excited about this year’s …
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Free Song (and maybe a free album) from Generation Letter
I have the joy of leading the singing at Next this coming weekend in Baltimore, MD. I’ll be leading with three bands – The Na Band, Zelos, and Generation Letter. The first two bands have appeared at Next before, but this will be the first time for Generation Letter. All the members of Generation Letter – John, Stephen, George, Kyle, Abbott, and Alex – are from Metro Life Church in Orlando, FL. Along with leading corporate worship in their local church, they’ve also been busy making a record, winning awards, and serving in other ways. In 2008 and 2009 they won the John Lennon Song Writing contest in the Gospel category. Local radio stations …
