roybauer

It’s About the Heart

// February 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Relevant Faith, Uncategorized, Worship

Worship teams, if they aren’t careful, will miss the forest for the trees. What do I mean? They will let the production of worship keep them from missing the importance of worship. We, as churches, will work so hard to get the “sound” just right and get so frustrated when the sound is “off a little bit” that we let it ruin the whole reason we were there to begin with, Jesus and lifting up His name.  I’ve let frustrations with not being able to hear the worship leader or thinking the drums are too loud distract me to the point that my worship of the King was dealt a serious blow. Now, I know how important it is for everyone on stage to be able to hear each other. But you know what? Sometimes it is just off. Sometimes we have to let the outside distractions be just that, outside. We have to strive for excellence, but we can’t allow that quest for excellence to be a detriment to our ability to worship our Savior. It’s okay if some singers are louder than others. It’s okay if the drums or the bass is a little too loud. It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay….

I had the privilege of going to a Hispanic church on Friday night. I say privilege because I was blessed to be there. Someone I consider a friend is the pastor and I hadn’t been to visit his church in a number of years. From the moment the service started, there wasn’t a word of English spoken and it was great. Why? because I was able to see God move even though I was outside of my comfort zone. I understand enough Spanish to get the gist of the songs and the sermon, but I by no means speak Spanish. What did I hear? The bass was too loud, there were no words to any of the songs (not on the screen or in a book), the Pastor couldn’t be heard while praying because the keyboard player was too loud and the singers were off key sometimes. And you know what? It was perfect. I looked around and saw people worshiping God with everything they had. I heard the guy next to me singing every word because he apparently had been there so many times he had them memorized. I watched the keyboard player lead worship with a warm and inviting smile that came from a heart overflowing with love for God. I heard a wonderful sound being lifted up to God despite things that could distract people like me. Don’t get me wrong, the musicians and singers were very talented and the worship was great, but if they had been playing at most of our churches, we’d have spent more time trying to fix the “sound” then we did actually worshipping.

We all need to get out of our comfort zone sometimes. We need a healthy dose of reality. Our normal church home can become a box that we get trapped in. If you feel yourself starting to get frustrated with worship, go to a worship service at a homeless shelter. If you have forgotten how to minister to people who aren’t like you, volunteer at a soup kitchen for a night. If you don’t feel like you are making a difference in someone’s life, begin mentoring a child or work with people at an assisted living facility.

David strived for excellence in worship. He used only trained and skilled musicians. He handmade instruments for them to use. But he never forgot what was most important. How do I know? Because despite all of his years of musical training, David still danced in his underwear before God and all of his people.

Luke 6:45 says, “…For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” I also believe that it is out of the overflow of our heart that we worship.

What is in your heart?

Kutless: One Of My New Favorites

// January 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized, Worship

I know they’ve been out for years, but Kutless has become one of my favorite worship bands to listen to. On their cd Strong Tower, they took existing worship songs and redid them in a new way; a way that for me, works great. I could listen to their version of Take Me In over and over.

If you’ve been on the market for something different, try Kutlesss. Some of their songs are a little hard, but some aren’t. They also have some awesome acoustical songs on there.

This video is Strong Tower, enjoy.

Try it, you may like it.

royb

Favorite Worship Song Part II: Burn In Me by Paul Wilbur

// December 1st, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Relevant Faith, Worship

Burn in me
Burn in me
Let the fire of the Holy One burn in me

(verse 1)

Your word’s like a fire
Burning in my soul
Burn up the dross
Bring forth the gold

(verse 2)
You feel like a fire shut up in my bones
Consume me Lord
Make me Your own

For whatever reason, my personal worship time leans towards Messianic worship songs. I don’t know if it’s the words or the rhythm, but it stirs something in me that other types of music can’t.

And one of the most well known Messianic worship leaders is Paul Wilbur, who has been putting out great music for more than 20 years. He has a distinctive style and while I don’t necessarily like all of it, some of it is fantastic and I can’t get enough.

One the songs that I enjoy playing and worshiping to is Burn In Me. It is from his Holy Fire album released in ‘97. If you’ve never had the opportunity to hear Messianic music, this is a good place to start. The song is easy to follow, has a driving rhythm and very powerful lyrics. I have had the privilege of hearing and playing with some very anointed Messianic worship leaders, both here and abroad, and there is just something (I keep saying that) about that style of music.

Whether you are leading a congregation or just playing for and audience of One, Burn In me is powerful and should be in your repertoire.

Favorite Worship Songs Part 1: All We Need by Charlie Hall

// November 27th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Worship

We have all we need in You

And all we need is You

All we need is You

Simple Lyrics but a powerful song. All We Need, by Charlie Hall, came out a few years ago but has become one of my favorite worship songs of late. Like a Hallmark card, All We Need says something I feel but in a more eloquent way. If you have it, listen to it with a renewed energy. If you don’t have it, get it.

For free chord charts of Charlie Hall’s music check out his website, www.charliehall.com

What are your favorite worship songs? Let me know what they are.

New Music From Charlie Hall

// November 25th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Worship

Six Step Records, born out of the Passion worship movement in the late 90’s, has four artists on its label. But these four put out some of the most powerful worship music there is. When you mix their heart for worship and their talent, you get a combination that is a force to be reckoned with. Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder Band and Charlie Hall are the face of modern worship music.

The least known of these four is Charlie Hall. Even his iTunes page is less glamorous than the other three. His music is somewhat different than the others, more edgy. It is more from the soul, from inside. On his music he says he desires to be:

“honed into God, where I’m not part of a culture where I’m trying to make the people around me think, ‘Hey, that’s a good Christian.’ I’m just trying to pursue God and not pursue being accepted into a club…I’m more honed into my pursuit of God in Christ and how he’s forming me and changing and helping me love him and know him.” (from his wikipedia page)

In an interview with Matt Conner from Soul-Audio.com, Charlie Hall talks about his style of music:

I’ve just never been satisfied with singing something normal, or maybe I should say singing it in a normal way. I’ve always wanted to find words and turns that feel different as well as making normal words really come to life. So I just dig for that stuff, which is why I think it takes me longer to create a record. I want life to happen and I’m trying to process it with God and then really say some strong things in terms of prayer and life and adoration back to Him that would really be an authentic experience and have that be authentic for those that hear it as well.

Read these lyrics from the last verse and chorus of his song, Hookers and Robbers:

Who could accept all your pounding and screaming
Your raging, your freaking, cussing, and beating
All while He holds you and always forgiving
This is the story of love and of living
So wipe off your tears and laugh just a little
Come break this Bread, celebrate the Forgiver
Raise up a glass, a time to remember
Come break this Bread, celebrate the Forgiver

Chorus
Come as you are, as you are, as you are.
Come as you are, as you are, as you are.

There are thousands of gifted and anointed worship leaders out there, some are famous and some aren’t, but Charlie Hall is a voice that is over-flowing with compassion and love that can only come from our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Check out his newest album, Bright Sadness.

Enter The Worship Circle: Fourth Circle

// September 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // Intercessory Worship, Worship

If you like different types of worship music then you’ll love this.

This a raw, unedited recording of “Trouble Won’t Go”, off of Enter The Worship Circle: Fourth Circle. You can listen to the rest of it and/or buy it here. You can download the mp3’s or order the disk.

Enter The Worship Circle is straight from the heart, folk, worship music good. It is a group of talented musicians who worship acoustically and most often, spontaneously. Enjoy.

After it is over, click on others. Some of them are interviews with the team.

My Take On Modern Worship Music

// September 6th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Devotions, Relevant Faith, Worship, society in general

I heard someone ask recently if any of the “new” worship songs, ones from the last 10 years or so, would still be around in 20 years? I guess he was referring to that fact that churches still sing Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art. I think that is a fare question, but the answer isn’t that simple.

Worship songs used to be a big involved ordeal. Songs were only written by those who had a penchant for writing and were coming out of only certain places. Today, worship songs are coming from everyone and everywhere. It seems, more so than ever, worship has grasped an entire generation or two. Where before you had congregations listening to giant choirs sing beautiful hymns written long ago, you now have congregations singing worship songs that very well could have been written by someone sitting near by.

Sometimes the “modern” worship songs are made fun of because they consist of only 3 chords. They are accused of being dumbed down musically to accommodate very mediocre musicians. It is brought out that the old hymns were difficult and required great skill at the piano or organ. That is true, I’ve seen the sheet music for a lot of them and I am impressed. But the problem is they can only be played by those who are very gifted musically. Modern worship music may be simpler to play but it opens itself up to a much greater percentage of people to play.

There seems to be a heart or pulse of worship going on. It isn’t relegated to a select few uber musicians, but is being brought forth by the multitudes. Worship songs and conferences are literally springing up everywhere, in every country. There is no way worship could have come from some of these places or countries a hundred years ago. But because of the simple 3-chord music you can have true heart-felt worship just about anytime and anyplace. All you need is an acoustic guitar or a keyboard.

I know music purists see this as a bad sign for musicians because they aren’t learning theory and stuff. But what they are learning may be more important; how to express their heart for God through song, no matter how simple.

I’m not implying that there has to be music in order to worship God, nor am I saying that the worship a 100 years ago was any less heart-felt. What I am saying is that God is doing something today through music that hasn’t been done before. He is using common, ordinary musicians and prayer leaders to lead the way in praising and honoring our God.

Look at even 10 years ago. All of the new music was coming out of the big record labels but now, churches are becoming their own label and recording music. It is harder than ever to keep up with what is new because there are hundreds of places and countries it is coming from.

I think that is encouraging and we need to grab hold of it and not let that heart of worship die. I know we all have that special “hymn” that we love, but don’t miss the forest for the trees. Don’t ignore what God is doing today, because He is up to something, and we need to join in.

So to answer the question of whether any “modern” worship songs will be around in 20 years, I’ll have to say yes, but not in the way you think. I believe the heart of the songs will be there; the pure, unadulterated, straight from the depth of their soul, worship will survive. At least for our sake, I hope so.

Intercessory Worship Part 2

// August 31st, 2008 // No Comments » // Devotions, Intercessory Worship, Relevant Faith, Worship

My Journey into Intercessory Worship

“Heights of Delight“, written by Dick Eastman, was recommended to me by a friend the first time I went to Israel. He simply said it would make sense once I got there. He was partially right; it made sense once I got back and had time to digest it. A friend and I went together and we both brought our guitars, but weren’t really sure why. It turned out to be providential because while there we had the privilege of worshiping and eventually leading a watch at the Succat Halel– a 24/7 prayer and worship ministry in Jerusalem.

We had no idea what we had just been introduced to, but we knew it was something special and ordained by God. The model they used for worship, I would later find out, was based on the Harp and Bowl model used by IHOP Kansas City. It was on that trip that God set in motion a hunger and thirst for everything He has to say about worship and prayer, both corporately and individually.

Ever since, I have had a zeal for seeing God move through prayer and worship settings. I’ve seen God speak directly into people’s lives through the worship team and have personally had words spoken into me that I, and my close friends that were there, knew were obviously from God.

Suffice it to say, this isn’t a fad that I’m following. I see time and time again in scripture where men and women of God expressed their thanks, praised, worshiped, and witnessed, through song. It is no coincidence that David, a man after God’s own heart, wrote Psalms: a collection of songs and prayers he, with the help of his priests, wrote to God.

Harp and Bowl

“Harp and Bowl” is the model for worship setup in Revelation 5:8 “…the four living creatures and…elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls of incense which are the prayers of the saints.” (NIV)

The Harp and Bowl model is simply singing your, or the groups, prayers to God; taking what He has put inside of you and lifting back to Him in worship. It is singing a new song to Him.

In his book, Heights of Delight, Dick Eastman outlines 7 worship realities that will help you develop your personal and corporate intercessory worship time. Let’s look at the first 3:

1. It ENTHRONES God. It provides a place for God to dwell on earth in all his fullness.
2. It ENCOUNTERS God. It provides an opportunity to encounter God in all His fullness, first hand.
3. It ENLARGES God. It provides an atmosphere to expand and increase our knowledge and understanding of God in all His fullness.

Intercessory Worship ENTHRONES God

Ps. 22:3 says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Phrased another way, God inhabits the praises of His people. Eastman refers to a Japanese translation of the verse which reads, “When God’s people praise Him, He brings a big chair and sits there.”(p 41)

How awesome is that? Imagine God sitting there listening to us as we worship Him, like a proud father enjoying the company of his kids and grandkids. This may sound “out there” and that’s o.k. but there have been times during my personal worship that it felt as if Jesus was there dancing as I played. I could feel God smiling as I worshiped Him in song. Every time I even think about it, it brings tears to my eyes.

That, to me, is what it means for God to inhabit our praises and to be enthroned in our worship: He is lifted up and exalted above everything else. We put Him on the pedestal He belongs.

Intercessory Worship ENCOUNTERS God

Frances of Assisi is credited with saying, “Go everywhere and preach the gospel to everyone. And if you absolutely must, use words.”

“Frances encountered God often, it is said, during whole days of almost total silence in a cave near Averno, Italy.”(p 74)

Eastman says,

Absolute silence might well become, in some instances, our greatest act of worship…Not all worship is expressed in words or actions. Indeed, the closer one comes to a true encounter with God, the less appropriate some words or actions become. Our very silence can have a uniquely profound impact on extending God’s kingdom throughout the nations. (p 59)

“Be silent, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world” (Ps. 46:10, NLT)

This sounds like the opposite of Enthroning God but it isn’t; it is simply a different facet of worship. There are times when a song or outward prayer is appropriate but, at times, it is best to just be silent and let God be God.

We are all in favor of worshiping and praying for God to move in our lives and communities. But when was the last time, after praying, we listened for the answer? When was the last time you just stopped and listened to what He was saying to you?

Sometimes we get so busy working for God that we don’t take time to just be with Him. When we just be still and know that He is God we encounter Him in all His fullness, and that is a life changing moment.

During your next personal or corporate prayer time, take a few moments and just be still. It might be just the dimension of prayer that you’ve been longing for.

Intercessory Worship ENLARGES God

“There will be no big world vision without a big God.” (John Piper)(p 76)

“The more we worship God, the bigger God becomes in our understanding, resulting in a greater faith to believe he will accomplish His purposes through us. Identified as our third worship reality: Worship Enlarges God!” (p 77)

“You can’t make God big. But you can see Him big.” (A.W. Tozer)(p 77)

In his book, Worship:The Pattern of Things in Heaven, Joseph Garlington writes,

Although Jesus Christ won’t be “better” than he is now, our understanding of Him, our comprehension of His love and sacrifice, our revelation of Him as God incarnate, and especially our capacity to enjoy intimate fellowship with Him will be better, fuller, richer, bigger, and deeper than what we have now. (p 79)

In order to see God “bigger” we must not just have head knowledge of Him, we must also have a deep heart knowledge of His son, Jesus Christ. Our relationship with Jesus will directly affect our view of God and whether we see Him as big or not.

As we worship God our “head knowledge” works it way into our hearts and the Holy Spirit begins to enlarge our vision of God and His power.

“The bigger we see God, the bigger we pray. And the bigger we pray, the greater our answers. To totally transform nations will take some pretty big prayers…Worship God fervently. Worship Him passionately. Worship Him aggressively and extravagantly. You will soon see God big– and pray big prayers.”(p 88)

“The bigger we see God through our worship, the smaller Satan becomes in his capacity to defeat us.”(p 86)

There have been leaders, prophets, kings, and apostles who have led extraordinary lives, doing great things for the cause of Christ. But none of them could have been used by God if they hadn’t had a very big view of Him and His ability.

Declare in song and prayer God’s greatness and His power. Worship Him in song; singing His word. Declare His strength, His might. As you do, your view will begin to change.

(All page references were from Heights of Delight by Dick Eastman)

Intercessory Worship Part 2 Coming Soon!

// August 28th, 2008 // No Comments » // Devotions, Relevant Faith, Worship

People have asked when I was continuing the series on Intercessory Worship and I keep responding soon. I’m getting my ducks in a row so that it’s possible for everyone to follow my train of thought; it isn’t always easy to do that.

The reason for doing this series can be found in my last blog. In it I give the relevancy and the Biblical background for Intercessory Worship both in our lives and in our churches.

The next phase will be broken down into 3 parts:

1. What happens when we Intercede through prayer and worship.
2. Identifying 10 patterns of worship found in David’s life.
3. Practical examples and testimonies of people worshiping through Interecssion.
   1. What are Apostolic Prayers
   2. What songs, or type of songs, are great for Intercessory Worship
   3. How can I begin an Intercessory Worship time at my church?

That is a lot to cover and I won’t be doing it all myself. There are people out there that are a lot smarter than me in certain areas, some would argue all areas, and I’ll be asking them to guest blog on some topics.

I won’t drag this out but it will take a couple of weeks to get through it. And, as usual, comments are always welcome and appreciated. If you’ve got questions, please them as well and I’ll get post the answer or ways to find the answer as quick as possible.

Looking forward to it,

Roy

Revivals, Pastors and Discernment

// August 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // Relevant Faith, Worship, society in general

I want to take a detour and look at something that has been in the news lately; something that has plagued the cause of Christ since the beginning of time. I wrote on August 21st about Michael Guglielmucci (see the post), and it made me sad and angry at the same time. How could someone so revered and trusted do something like that? He certainly isn’t the first and definitely won’t be the last. So what can we as believers do to protect ourselves and families from wrong teaching, ungodly revivals, or pastors living a double life?

On Pastors

I grew up mostly in the 80’s -I was born in 1972- so I was well aware of the Swaggart, Warnke, and Bakker fiascos. You may not lump Warnke, if you even know who that is, into that category but I do. More recently Ted Haggard and now, Todd Bentley and Michael Guglielmucci, can be added to the list of Pastors who have had to resign because of “issues”. I put it in parentheses because not all of them committed a fraudulent crime, but an issue is there none the less.

My question is this: what is our role as believers and/or leaders in all of this? Where is the accountability? Where is the gift of discernment? Are we encouraged to just follow blindly or to weigh, as the Bereans did in the Bible, each message we hear against the Word of God?

The list of famous, fallen Pastors or Revivalists seems to be growing exponentially. Before the 70’s there may have been a handful; but since, the list is getting bigger by the year not the decade. How many times recently have we read about a pastor who was caught with an undercover police officer in a child sex ring? We, as followers of Christ, have to be discerning. That doesn’t mean pessimistic, just careful.

It is no coincidence that the list of false teachers, or fallen pastors, is growing. As we inch closer and closer to Christ’s return things are going to get worse and worse.

Those of us in any leadership capacity in a church must not forget the importance of accountability. We have to make sure we come under the “covering” (for lack of a better word) of godly council. As soon as we find ourselves wanting to pull away from our spiritual advisers, we will be heading for destruction.

On Revivals

Our discernment must also be applied to revivals and moves of God. There have been so many great things come out of revivals over time: mass salvations, healings, deliverance. But these are often overshadowed by revivals that ended because of leaders going astray.

Just as pastors can go unchecked so can revivalists. It almost appears that good, godly people want to see God move so bad that they check their discernment radar at the door.

In his article, Life After Lakeland: Sorting Out the Confusion, J. Lee Grady says,

“I blame this lack of discernment, partly, on raw zeal for God. We’re spiritually hungry—which can be a good thing. But sometimes, hungry people will eat anything.

Many of us would rather watch a noisy demonstration of miracles, signs and wonders than have a quiet Bible study. Yet we are faced today with the sad reality that our untempered zeal is a sign of immaturity. Our adolescent craving for the wild and crazy makes us do stupid things. It’s way past time for us to grow up.”

So, where are we? Are we so wrapped up in the “wild and crazy” things that we lose sight of the only thing that really matters, Jesus? Are we so busy praying for revivals and talking about the next big wave of God that we neglect our own relationship with Him? Whatever happened to just following Him? Is that so bad?

Those of you who know me, know that I long for God to “show up and show out”, as someone once said, but doesn’t He already do it everyday in innumerable ways?

Are revivals in itself bad? Of course not. But instead of praying for (insert your church name here) to be like Lakeland, Brownsville, Toronto or Azusa, why not pray that God will do what He wants to do, when He wants to do it, and how He wants to do it? We are limiting God when we pray for a revival like ______. What if He wants us to have so much more? We need to focus on Him and His agenda not ours. My guess is most churches that pray for a real revival couldn’t handle it if they got it. Why not let God change our churches to fit His will and then we will be set up for a mighty move of God if and when He decides to move in that capacity.

On Wrong Teaching

If something on TV or at your church doesn’t seem to line up with the Word of God, check. Look for yourself. If you can’t find the answer or don’t understand the answer go to someone you trust; someone who uses the Bible as the final authority, not another religious book.

There are churches and denominations, or sects, in Christianity that don’t view the Bible as the final authority from God. They use other religious books, written by their leaders or prophets, to help people understand what the Bible really means. If you see this happening, run as fast as you can.

In Conclusion

Check everything against the Word of God. Use the spiritual discernment God put inside of you.

God encourages us to test every spirit. Are we?

If something feels unholy then there is a good chance it is. Check.

We must pray that God will move mightily in our cities. We must intercede on behalf of those who are lost. But we mustn’t do it outside of His will or timing.

As for revival? Be willing to walk out your faith everyday. Be willing to reach out to the poor around you. If we are faithful in the little things we may find God is ready to trust us with the big things.