I like eating

This chapter I found really interesting to me. First off was the skilled and authentic part. We need to find the perfect balance in order to truly please God. If we force ourselves to the point where we are only focusing on the technical aspect. We need to also not be so driven by the passion that we forget to practice and that we believe God is pleased with the attitude more than skill. We need to find a perfect mixture so that we can excite people to worship God by our attitude and our technical capabilities. Next is chapter 26 and what I really enjoyed was how he compared the church and visitors to his home/family and visitors. We truly care for our family in a different way than we care for our guests, but we need to have the same energy for our guests that we use for our family. I feel like these two chapters go hand in hand. We need to definitely find a balance in both of these things in order to excite our family in church and the guests that may end up joining our family. If ...

These two chapters continue the ideas concerning healthy tensions. Chapter 23 concerns the ideas of Planned and Spontaneous, we need to be prepared for situations that we cannot necessarily plan for. If someone stops singing or a person misses a cue we all need to adapt to that change and continue to play. The end of the chapter states that we need to practice with spontaneity in the practice sessions. By doing this we will be able to react relatively well to each other in the performances. We will also gain a better understanding of our fellow band mates and understand how they react in certain situations and help them. In Chapter 24 the main ideas are rooted and relevant. These are pretty big because the idea of worship is constantly changing from person to person. It may seem bad to be rooted in the past ways of worship but you can benefit from them, because you have a standard which you can always refer to in case you stray off the path too much. But it also pays to be relevant tha...

Wow the grind is real and exhausting. We have reached chapter 22 and I would like to thank everyone who has stuck with me till this point. This chapter is only about two things, the vertical and horizontal aspects of worship. Concerning the vertical aspect of worship we need to understand God’s glory is the end of our worship, and not simply a means to something else. In the midst of a culture that glorifies our pitiful accomplishments in countless ways, we gather each week to proclaim God’s wondrous deeds and to glory in his supreme value. And concerning the horizontal aspect it can be seen as a more direct aspect. We might take time to pray for those battling life-threatening illnesses. Someone may share a prophetic impression for older saints. We might honor an individual or specific group in the church for their faithful service or godly example. I can apply this to my life by trying to focus on one of these aspects and really concentrate on how I can practice my worship using on...

Continuing the grind we are going to be putting out another part this week. This time it is chapter 21 concerning the Internal and External ways of worshipping God. The chapter starts out by saying that we will never know someone's true intentions concerning singing just by looking at their external appearance while worship. They might just be trying to draw attention to themselves, they may just be a bunch of extroverts who normally worship that way, or actually be worshipping God biblically. The next Part is named leading your church to God- honoring expressiveness. In this part it is split into smaller categories the main ones being how to direct people to God and the gospel and teaching about appropriateness and limitations of physical expression. In a way we need to naturally react to God in a way that expresses our honor and awe towards him.  I need to apply this to my life and make sure that I need try to worship for the right reasons and not to show off to the others aro...

Wow what a treat huh. We are also going to be covering chapter 20 this week as well. This chapter is going to be a continuation of the last part and what is connecting them is the idea of how to maintain healthy tensions in these things. It is a relatively short chapter split into three parts. Using your head, using your heart, and keeping emotions in check. The first part concerns God wanting our worship to be intelligent and informed. God wants us to go beyond the surface level interpretation of the songs and verses used and try to find the hidden meaning for us. We can also expand our surface level interpretations into something that everyone ranging from non believers, children and adults can comprehend by defining words and connecting them. Next is using your heart, this part is about how we can stir up our emotions from the heart to be something more than just shallowly celebrating God. He is addressing the major problem of churches to be the shallow and non passionate worship an...

In the next couple chapters we will be reviewing the nine different kinds of healthy tensions as stated in the previous chapter. This chapter focuses on the two which are transcendent and immanent. Transcendent means that God is independent from and superior to his creation. As we worship God, we must recognize that he is not us. We have to know the appropriate response to God being transcendent which is to honor and respect him. Worship that approaches God casually loses sight of this truth. In our sincere desire to help others view God as approachable, we must not forget that God is wholly unlike us. Next up the book states that God’s immanence takes on radical new meaning for Christians: God is not only with us—he actually dwells in us. Finally the chapter talks about how to maintain healthy tensions in God's immanence and transcendence. One option is to recognize that different services can reflect different themes. I need to apply these to my life so I can slowly understand ...