There are few hymns with richer more meaningful words than “And Can It Be.” Words that celebrate the gospel and dispel our wretched sense of entitlement that bedevils us Western Christians. So how wonderful it was to hear this new music to such an old hymn. I sometimes don’t like new tunes for a hymn that I love. Sometimes people even tend to fight against the whole idea of putting old hymns to new music. This is of course ridiculous as I don’t think there is a single popular old hymn that is still sung to the melody it was first paired with (I am of course happy to be proved wrong by someone who is more knowledgible than me). But this new tune in many ways fits this old hymn better than the previous one.

It is beautiful, melodic, and prompts genuine meditation. I hope and pray that one day this tune will be widely adopted, and this old hymn would as a result have a breath of fresh new life. The church would be richer for it. You can also visit Phatfish’s website to download the sheet music or learn about their other songs.

This excerpt comes from the Confluence blog:

Praise must be expressed. The expression of what you are enjoying is the consummation of it. There is a fulfillment and joy found in sharing your expression.

ADMIRATION AND REFLECTION

Praise is admiration and reflection. Just wanting an experience is religious existentialism. Worship must be rooted in reality. God loves us and His Spirit pours out an experience that is a greater reality of what we know. Our worship is a consummation. It is being flooded with reality. We have a greater consciousness of being with the Lord. There is within us an appetite for God. David expresses this when he declared, “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1-2). An increasing appetite for God will move us on.

WORSHIP ENTAILS ENCOUNTER

We highly value being in God’s presence. When we worship, God touches us and dwells with us right where we are. The Message Bible describes Jesus’ coming to the earth as God “moving into the neighborhood” (Jn1:14). God remains present among us today and worship wants Him manifested. In worship is intensity, God coming upon us with power.

In worship we express that we desire encounter with God. One song expressed this longing with the simple phrase, “I long for you, oh Lord…” We always want to know God and encounter Him in our worship!

We need to long to encounter God and find our highest joy in Him.

via Praise Must Be Expressed – Confluence | Newfrontiers USA Charismatic Reformed Blog | Confluence Blog.

As I mentioned yesterday, with the release of The Spirit-Filled Church, I thought I would now play catch up with some of Terry’s values videos. Here are some extracts from the video which follows. If you are intrigued by all this, why not book into the 300 leaders conference where you can hear him preach on these subjects.

“We are coming to meet God, and therefore we should anticipate we meet with God, anything less is merely being religious. I remember the pain in the early days when we first started church. Churches had to learn corporately to be sensitive. God is moving among us now. It starts from a theological understanding. Draw near to God, he will draw near to us. It is possible in what we call “a charismatic church” to go through a routine. Some people have said of charismatics they worship worship. One of the great callings of elders is that they lead the people into the presence of God. We sing about great truths. Its not just about melody, rhythm its about encounter. We do want to meet God, we don’t want to just enjoy singing. We want people to focus in on truth that sets your heart on fire.”

In this second part of the interview, Dr. Hayford speaks about his concerns about modern worship, and we discuss his book Manifest Presence. We also talked about the difference between growing a church and growing people. We discuss discipleship and the Spirit-filled life. In it he explains his view of tongues, which is very similar to mine.

By now you should hopefully be able to watch the sessions from the recent 300 Leaders conference where Dr. Hayford was the speaker and book into our next event with Terry Virgo.

Today’s video with Terry Virgo moves onto the fifth of seventeen values that have shaped his ministry for decades. These values are expressed as the kind of church he aims to plant:

“A church where God’s presence is prized and where God is enthusiastically worshipped with genuine freedom for men and women to worship publicly in the Holy Spirit, to use spiritual gifts and to participate in ‘body ministry’ ”

Here are some extracts from the video, followed by the video itself:

“Church is people, they are friends, they are family. They can enjoy being together in a relaxed way. . .We are enjoying sonship, access, acceptance, so we can be relaxed. . . We are God’s family. . . We want to enjoy liberty. . we have been set free. . .We are enjoying a liberty as a result of what God has done . . . When David danced before the Lord it was after God had judged men for touching the Ark . . . Dancing is not careless, irreverent. David knew God and danced with all his might. . . To be happy in the presence of God is perfectly appropriate. Clapping, celebrating, shouting, these are all biblical concepts . . . Reverence doesn’t stop us celebrating before him”

I encourage you to consider joining us at the next 300 Leaders conference where Terry Virgo will be the speaker.

The following post is comprised of Piper material I have posted before at PIPER FRIDAY – It is Impossible to Elevate Emotions Too Highly!.

“Don’t I elevate the importance of emotions too highly?”

While at Wheaton College, Piper read Situation Ethics by Joseph Fletcher, who argued that since love is commanded in the Bible, therefore love can’t be an emotion because you can’t command an emotion. But Piper felt there was something dead wrong with this premise since emotions are commanded everywhere in the Bible. “It’s because it’s an Arminian premise, it’s not a Calvinistic or biblical premise. An Arminiam says, “If you can’t do something immediately by your will, it can’t be commanded legitimately, whereas a Calvinist will recognize that I can be commanded to do things that I’m morally incapable of doing, and God has every right to command me to do them, if I ought to do them, whether I can do them or not! So, for example, joy is is commanded (Phil 4:6 – Rejoice in the Lord), hope is commanded (Ps 42 – Hope in God), fear is commanded (Luke 12 – Fear him who can throw both soul and body into hell), peace (Col 3:15 – Let the peace of God rule in your heart), zeal (Rom 12:11 – Never lag in zeal), grief (Rom 12:15 – Weep with those who weep), desire (1 Pet 2:2 – Earnestly desire the sincere milk of the Word), tenderheartedness (Eph 4:32 – Be kind to one another), brokenness and contrition (James 4 – Be broken, you proud), gratitude (Eph 5:20 – Giving thanks always). All of those are emotions that you cannot control; you can’t turn them on and off like a faucet . . . and for people to come back at me and say my elevation of emotions is out of whack with the Bible, I say ‘I don’t know what community you’re coming from, but where I live, we haven’t begun to feel emotions that are appropriate to the Glory of God.”

“Edwards has this sentence that as a pastor he said I count it my duty as a pastor to elevate, to raise the emotions of my hearers (he uses the word affections) the affections of my hearers as high as I possibly can, provided that they are elevated by the truth and in proportion to the nature of the truth.

Well, what are some of the truths . . . ? Well, that God by grace has saved us. That God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ. That God has granted us the Holy Spirit. That God has promised us everlasting joy in His presence that will increase forever and ever. That God will work everything together for our good. That God will be for us everything we need and supply all our needs. I mean, has anybody in this room – now be honest – has anybody in this room ever felt an emotion that rises to the level of something fitting the glory of those promises? No! So, how can we possibly say we have over-emphasized the importance of this reality of emotion?

We are dishonoring God by our emotions every day in our churches and we’re defending it by creating a will-power religion – Arminians do it by decisionism and Calvinists do it with a kind of authoritarian “obedience glorifies God” by sheer doing what He says and that reflects His authority in our lives. Well, that reflects a little teeny piece of His glory – namely His authority. All right! Granted, you got that one. His glory has ten thousand radiances beyond authority that mean to be glorified in the echo of the emotions of His people that are fitting the beauty of the revelation, and if you don’t call that and help create that among your people, you cultivate a people who dishonor God by the flatness of their emotions.

Oh, I wish I had that other quote here from Edwards because Edwards says (I’ll paraphrase it here because he just says it so powerfully) he says, God created his creatures, human beings, rational creatures, with two capacities – the capacity to will and delight . . . and the capacity to think and reason – the notional and effectual capacities. And then he says God revealed Himself to be known properly by the rational capacity . . . . and, Edwards says, He reveals His revelation of Himself to be known accurately by the mind, through Scripture . . . and He reveals the glory of that truth to be rejoiced in and delighted in, and satisfied by to the will and to the affections, and he says God is not so much glorified in those who only know Him truly, but don’t delight in Him duly . . . .

You may know Him wonderfully accurately, and therefore reflected back to Him from your mind is right thinking, and that’s good, and that’s part of the rumination of His revelation that He wants to get from you. But if you don’t take that other huge dimension of the human soul (and it is bigger and more powerful in most people than their little poor brains are) that has longings, and cravings, and desirings, and delightings, and satisfactions, and show them that God is also the satisfaction for that, so that in our worship, and in our lives, and in our families, our hearts are taken out to God with delight, and satisfaction, and joy, then God is not glorified for the value of the truth that is seen, and that, I would say, is the larger part of His glory.

One of the many highlights of the Brighton conference for me was that Kate Simmonds was once again with us leading worship, having traveled all the way from Sydney, Australia. She shared with us a song that displays the glorious gospel in a wonderfully fresh way. In these two videos she first speaks about the song, and then in the second one sings it. Congregations could do a lot worse than adopting this song. The music sheets and mp3s of this and two other new Kate Simmonds songs are available to download.  Fill that iPod with them right now as I have.

I want to remind you today of an old hymn and to highlight just one line from one of the verses.  Have a think about what this line means to us today, and starting tomorrow I will begin a series in which I will first share some quotes from others, then write myself about why I feel this line is vital for us to rightly understand.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

Chorus:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Phatfish and Lou Fellingham will be performing songs from their sensational new albums ‘In Jesus’ and ‘Step into the Light’ at venues all over the UK this Autumn. These will be fantastic events where you can enjoy music and be encouraged by faith building lyrics that will draw you to God. Maybe even get a ticket for an unchurched friend? Don’t miss out! More details and tickets at www.phatfish.net

TOUR DATES

FRI 17th SEP
SOUTHAMPTON – TESTWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH

FRI 24th SEP
REIGATE – REIGATE BAPTIST CHURCH

SAT 25th SEP
CHESSINGTON – THE KINGS CENTRE

WED 29th SEP – UNPLUGGED EVENT
SEVENOAKS – THE MILL LANE CENTRE

SAT 9th OCT
COWPLAIN – EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SAT 16th OCT
WREXHAM – GLYNDWR UNIVERSITY

FRI 22nd OCT
WORCESTER – WOODGREEN EVANGELICAL CHURCH

FRI 19th NOV
HASTINGS – KINGS CHURCH

FRI 26th NOV
BOURNEMOUTH – CITY GATE CHURCH

FRI 3rd DEC
LEYLAND – ST ANDREWS CHURCH

SAT4th DEC
ADDLESTONE – THE BEACON CHURCH

Thanks to the amazing behind the scenes workers at Together On A Mission, I am able to share with you the songs that we worshipped God together with. If someone has the time to edit this list and tell us all which albumns you can find the songs on that would be fantastic. If not, you should be able to find most of these fairly easily. Some of the Nathan Fellingham songs are on the new album by his wife. Some of the Kate Simmonds ones are I think yet to be recorded, however. See the websites of Evan Rogers, Kate Simmonds, and Lou Fellingham.

As you can see there was a broad range of songs ancient and modern. These are heart warming, mind strengthening, spirit filled worship songs. Some of the old hymns we sung have new tunes and/or additional words, hence why they are listed with an additional modern writer.

TUESDAY 1130

The Greatest Day In History (Happy Day) Tim Hughes
Come Let Us Worship The King of Kings Nathan Fellingham
To God Be The Glory Fanny Crosby and Nathan Fellingham
Holy Holy (All The Heavens) Reuben Morgan
Who O Lord (You Alone Can Rescue) Matt Redman
Majesty, Worship His Majesty Jack Hayford

TUESDAY 1430

We Are Gathered Evan Rogers
This Is The Day Evan Rogers
You Give Me (New Song) Evan Rogers
Twimba Lelu Evan Rogers
You O Lord, Rich In Mercy Mark Veary & Paul Oakley
And Can It Be Charles Wesley
You Have Become For Us Wisdom Mark Altrogge
No One But You Lord Andy Park

TUESDAY 1900

My Saviour, Redeemer Reuben Morgan
Wake Up My Soul Kate Simmonds
Looking In The Sky (Amazing God) Nathan Fellingham
Here Is Love Vast As The Ocean William Rees (& Kate Simmonds)
How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place (Better Is One Day) Matt Redman

WEDNESDAY 0900

The Glory Of Our King Matt Redman
Looking In The Sky (Amazing God) Nathan Fellingham
To God Be The Glory Fanny Crosby and Nathan Fellingham
Oh To See The Dawn Stuart Townend
Lift Up His Name Nathan Fellingham
Jesus Lover Of My Soul Paul Oakley

WEDNESDAY 1430

Clap Your Hand Evan Rogers
What A Mighty God You Serve Evan Rogers
You Are Mighty Craig Musseau
Strength Will Rise Brenton Brown
When The Dark Prevails Evan Rogers
There Is A Day Nathan Fellingham

WEDNESDAY 1900

Praise awaits you Matt Redman
Even as the world began Matt Redman
Great is he who’s the king of kings
Grace is not earned Kate Simmonds
I stand amazed in the presence C H Gabriel
Father of creation David Ruis

THURSDAY 0900

You Are The Lord Chris Tomlin
In Jesus Nathan Fellingham
Promised Land Nathan Fellingham
A Father To The Fatherless Paul Oakley

THURSDAY 1115

We Stand And Lift Up (Holy Is The Lord) Chris Tomlin
Praise Is Rising Nathan Fellingham
Our God Is Greater Chris Tomlin
We Are Thirsty (Let It Rain) Simon Brading
Strength Will Rise Brenton Brown
In All I Do (This Is My Worship) Lou Fellingham

THURSDAY 1430

To God Be The Glory Fanny Crosby and Nathan Fellingham
From The Highest of Heights Laura Story
Christ In Me Lou Fellingham
Your Blood Matt Redman
Blessing and Honour Gary Sadler

THURSDAY 1900

When the dark prevails Evan Rogers
I believe in Jesus Marc Nelson
From the north to the south Evan Rogers
Celebrate in the lord Evan Rogers
Who is this emerging like the dawn Evan Rogers
Everybody in the Church Evan Rogers
Free free I’m free indeed Evan Rogers
Ecstatic Praise Evan Rogers
Happy Day You give me hope / New Song Evan Rogers
Bambelela

FRIDAY 0900

There is mercy from the throne Phatfish
Here is love William Rees
Saviour King

FRIDAY 1115

In Jesus Phatfish
Wake up my soul Kate Simmonds
Grace is not earned Kate Simmonds
Christ in me Phatfish
In him I have believed Kate Simmonds

He wants every emotion you are capable of. He wants them all expressed to him, and most of them directed towards him. Last week I blogged about God’s challenge to me not to be embarrassed about my crying because of him. Today, I want to extend that challenge again to all of us. God does not want us to be emotionally impaired.  Piper shows us in this short quote that the Psalms are a great place to go for help with this:

The Psalms are songs or poems. That’s what the word psalm means. They are meant to be read or sung as poetry or songs. The point of this observation is that poetry or singing is intended to stir up and carry the affections of the heart. That’s where I get the word feeling in the title of this series: “Thinking and Feeling with God.”

If you read the Psalms only for doctrine, you’re not reading them for what they are. They are psalms, songs, poetry. They’re musical, and the reason human beings express truth with music and poetry is to awaken and express emotions that fit the truth.

One of the reasons the Psalms are deeply loved by so many Christians is that they give expression to an amazing array of emotions. Listen to this list of emotions I pulled together:

1. Loneliness: “I am lonely and afflicted” (Psalms 25:16).
2. Love: “I love you, O Lord, my strength” (Psalms 18:1).
3. Awe: “Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him” (Psalms 33:8).
4. Sorrow: “My life is spent with sorrow” (Psalms 31:10).
5. Regret: “I am sorry for my sin” (Psalms 38:18).
6. Contrition: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalms 51:17).
7. Discouragement and turmoil: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me” (Psalms 42:5)?
8. Shame: “Shame has covered my face” (Psalms 44:15).
9. Exultation: “In your salvation how greatly he exults” (Psalms 21:1).
10. Marveling: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalms 118:23).
11. Delight: “His delight is in the law of the Lord” (Psalms 1:2).
12. Joy: “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Psalms 4:7).
13. Gladness: “I will be glad and exult in you” (Psalms 9:2).
14. Fear: “Serve the Lord with fear” (Psalms 2:11)
15. Anger: “Be angry, and do not sin” (Psalms 4:4).
16. Peace: “In peace I will both lie down and sleep” (Psalms 4:8).
17. Grief: “My eye wastes away because of grief” (Psalms 6:7).
18. Desire: “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted” (Psalms 10:17).
19. Hope: “Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you” (Psalms 33:22).
20. Brokenheartedness: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalms 34:18).
21. Gratitude: “I will thank you in the great congregation” (Psalms 35:18).
22. Zeal: “Zeal for your house has consumed me” (Psalms 69:9).
23. Pain: “I am afflicted and in pain” (Psalms 69:29).
24. Confidence: “Though war arise against me, yet I will be confident” (Psalms 27:3).

More explicitly than all the other books in the Bible, the Psalms are designed to awaken and shape our emotions in line with the instruction they give. What happens when you read and sing the Psalms the way they are intended to be read and sung is that your emotions and your mind are shaped by these psalms.

John Piper, “Psalms: Songs That Shape the Heart and Mind: Thinking and Feeling with God, Part 1, May 25, 2008″,   Published in Sermons from John Piper (2000-2009) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2009).

One fascinating thing that I quote in Raised With Christ is J. I. Packer’s assertion that Puritans were very unlike Christians today in that they liked to talk about their experiences of God. Today I want to share with you the record of a remarkable experience of God had by Pascal. The following quote is a translation of a document found sewn into his clothing after his death. The original French can be found at the link below.

The quote that follows is credited by John Piper with having totally changed his life decades ago, and he speaks about this in a sermon on the DGM site.

Pascal was determined to never forget this encounter with God and the effect that it had on him. Biographers call this “The Memorial” and describe the whole event as a “second conversion,” which came after months of depression and a near death experience (his carriage almost fell over a bridge). He never spoke about the experience to others. But it changed the whole direction of his life.

You will note that the quote mentions nothing about tongues, so do not dismiss it if you are a cessationist: many experienced God without any of the spiritual gifts. Also, do not assume you have experienced all that God has for you, even if you are a tongues-speaking charismatic.

Have you met God like this? If not, I do strongly believe it is entirely right for us to seek to know him like this, indeed it is commanded by the Bible for us to do so. When I read these kind of accounts, to be honest, there is a resonance in some of my memories of meeting with God, BUT they leave me with a hunger for more. Please pray for me as I am praying right now for you, my blog readers, that God will meet with us like this:

The year of grace 1654,

Monday, 23 November, feast of St. Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology.

Vigil of St. Chrysogonus, martyr, and others.

From about half past ten at night until about half past midnight,

FIRE.

GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacob

not of the philosophers and of the learned.

Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace.

GOD of Jesus Christ.

My God and your God.

Your GOD will be my God.

Forgetfulness of the world and of everything, except GOD.

He is only found by the ways taught in the Gospel.

Grandeur of the human soul.

Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you.

Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.

I have departed from him:

They have forsaken me, the fount of living water.

My God, will you leave me?

Let me not be separated from him forever.

This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God, and the one that you sent, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.

I left him; I fled him, renounced, crucified.

Let me never be separated from him.

He is only kept securely by the ways taught in the Gospel:

Renunciation, total and sweet.

Complete submission to Jesus Christ and to my director.

Eternally in joy for a day’s exercise on the earth.

May I not forget your words. Amen.

via Pascal’s Memorial@Everything2.com.

When a pastor tells you that a certain passage of Scripture has been one of the most influential on his life, and is among the most precious to him you take notice. When he says that it is a passage he thinks about, or makes reference to almost every week your ears should prick up. When he then spends just a few minutes explaining why that is so it is well worth watching. This excerpt from Jubilee’s service last Sunday is Tope Koleoso introducing communion and explaining why only one thing is necessary. The refrain “Jesus is better” which Tope took from a Matt Chandler sermon and drove home in this clip has been going round my head this week. Allow God’s Spirit to draw your heart back to Jesus through this video. If we could just learn to pursue Jesus our lives would be very different, and the world would feel the impact.

Watch on vimeo

This interview took place at New Word Alive, where Sam was one of the worship leaders:

How did you get involved in leading worship?

I joined Soul Survivor when I was eighteen, taking a year out. I got involved in worship.  Worship was always something I was interested in, even since I was five. I went to a conference, possibly with Ishmael, and ever since then I wanted to worship Jesus through music.  I still remember the first time I led worship in a small Anglican church when I was younger.  I was very nervous beforehand.

What has it been like being at New Word Alive?

Well, I really feel as if I have been learning a lot. It’s been very fresh. I have been very excited to hear the teaching of God’s word.

What is worship all about?

Worship is about God and for God and to God (that’s straight from a book).  It flows from a revelation of who God is, it is our hearts’ response of love to God. It is about bringing all our emotions and our heart, and engaging our mind.

It’s all about creating a space for people to connect to God, to sing songs that speak to our minds, and create a heart response. The goal is to create a moment of intimacy with God. At that point the musicians, the worship leader, all fade into the background and God becomes the focus for our hearts as we respond to him.  Sometimes the words that we are singing are not enough, and we need a time of quiet to just respond to God.  Or maybe to sing a simple song like “Lord, I give you my heart.”  It’s really all about us gaining a renewed love for Jesus.  Then, when Jesus has filled us up, he wants to send us out to be a light to the lost.

How do you prepare to lead worship?

I used to spend ages and ages agonizing over song choice.  Now I tend to actually pick the songs in about fifteen minutes so as not to compromise the time I spend with God. It’s important not to over-prepare.  I try to get a sense of a theme that seems to be what God is doing.

It is so important to engage with God, and as a leader, connect with the people where they are. You can’t be so far away from where they are that they can’t come with you to worship God. You must leave room for God to do it.

How important is doctrine to Christian young people today?

I would say that there has been an increase in that recently. I think there’s been an increase in a passion for God’s word. It’s obvious that is the heart of New Word Alive and it’s the same back home. We need God’s word, and that leads to a desire to worship.  God desires our worship.  He knows that in the hard times we want to worship, but it’s just hard.  He wants the truths that we sing to be the truth that we live. There are times when things are hard, but there is still hope.

How do you handle the attention that you get as a worship leader in front of thousands?

I think for me the most important thing is that I have a group of friends around me.  They know that I am not anything important or special. That takes the pressure off me, as I know that they care for me and will tell me privately if I do something not right.  There are just a few of them.  But as well as that, it is just about making sure the focus is on Jesus. For most Christians, it is really all about Jesus. We should all be encouraged that we can help people, whoever we are, to see Jesus. We must take the pressure off ourselves. God thinks as much of me whether the worship I just led went well or it really didn’t.

What leaders and worship leaders have inspired you?

I am probably a bit biased, but I have learned a lot over the last few years from the other worship leaders and pastors at Soul Survivor.  Big inspirations for me have been leaders who might not be very well known, but they have got alongside me and helped me through the difficult times.  They are my heroes as well.  Apart from Soul Survivor, I listen to a few worship leaders, including Phil Wickham. I have listened to a lot of Phatfish over the years. There’s a particular song of theirs, “To you, King Jesus,” which has what I think is the best guitar solo in the history of Christian worship CDs.

The Billy Graham Center in Wheaton has an interesting section on certain aspects of evangelical history. One part that stood out to me when I was there was a series of pictures of a “frontier camp meeting” that took place around 1814. Most of my long-term readers will know that I am part of a reformed charismatic group called Newfrontiers.  Hence it was somewhat amusing to me to see the name, and rather nice to see further evidence that raising hands in church is not a novel invention:

Since the Bible commands us to lift our hands in prayer and worship repeatedly, I suppose I should not think that charismatics somehow created the practice! God’s Word also commands us to clap, and even dance. I must say I have little understanding why those who love the Bible the most often seem to struggle with comprehending and obeying these plain commands from Scripture.

But just maybe Newfrontiers shouldn’t be called “new” after all!  In fact, there is even an example here of something we perhaps see slightly less frequently in the average Newfrontiers church, at least at the moment: people “swooning” under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

I also rather liked the following picture of Billy Sunday preaching.  Oh for preachers of like passion today!  If only our pulpits were filled with more men like this Billy, I suspect we would see more salvation.

Speaking of Billys, there was another one, of course, Billy Graham.  Here is my friend, Matt Sweatman, trying out that Billy’s pulpit:

“I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to “rejoice” as much as by anything else.”  C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.

Very many Christians give the impression that God orders us to be miserable for him. Some even imply that the more miserable we are, the more holy we are.  This is a million miles away from the Bible’s frequent and repeated commands to us to be full of joy in the Lord.  Many church services are devoid of celebration.  But as Terry Virgo said, “The Gospel is the explanation for a celebrating community.”

Have you rejoiced lately?

My final sermon of the year was preached at Jubilee Church, London. You can download audio and video or watch it here:

download audio

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”

Speaking about joy—Season of goodwill is upon us—“Happy Christmas” we say, but it can be a stressful and sorrowful time for many.

An epidemic of depression. Some biological, but much caused by wrong thinking and difficult relationships.

Everybody wants to be happy—even the person who kills himself.

Where can we find joy? IN THE LORD is the simple answer.

Alt title: How to have fun and follow Jesus.

Subject that I come to in some trepidation. One of my heroes speaks of God stopping him before he could speak on joy:

“I was at Romans 14:17. I had dealt with ‘righteousness’, with ‘peace’ on March 1st, and there I was stopped. I was not allowed to deal with ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’. I have the feeling that this was not accidental. God intervened and I could suggest a reason why. I was able to deal with righteousness and peace (I had fleeting experiences of it), but the third thing is the profoundest of all. Why was I not allowed to deal with it? Because I knew something, but not enough about it. ‘I want you to speak with greater authority on this,’ God said . . .

Here is what I would put before you. For six months, until September, I did not preach at all. For four months I have had the most valuable experience of being a listener. My general impression is that most of our services are terribly depressing! I am amazed people still go to church; most who go are female and over the age of forty. The note missing is ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’. There is nothing in these services to make a stranger feel that he is missing something by not being there.” READ MORE

(For more information about Lloyd-Jones, see John Piper’s brief biography and assessment of him)
How should we respond? HAS been progress, BUT, do we truly live in the good of 1 Peter 1:8 when it refers to, “joy unspeakable and full of glory” ?

Joy seen at football matches, and concerts, e.g. X-factor / American Idol.

Church should be the happiest place on earth. I am convinced that if we continue to let the Holy Spirit have free reign in our meetings, then real joy and a sense of the presence of God, will be the result.

Christians are not meant to be of all people the most miserable!

We should be the most happy!

Not true that “the more miserable=more holy!!!” Christianity and joyless churches are contradictions” p39 Henry Tyler’s Jump For Joy

So, the Bible gives us PERMISSION to be full of joy, as Christians, but more than that, it COMMANDS us to be full of joy.

Don’t hide behind temperament—those who tend to be positive beware against flippancy and riding roughshod over others. For those who tend to be pessimists; you need to loosen up and receive joy! (That’s easier said than done! Just “telling” them to loosen up isn’t really of much help. You need to tell them HOW to loosen up.)

What is joy = similar to happiness in some ways. Partly the absence of things to make us sad: George “I happy now” when sick. But more than that the presence of something positive. (You may know what you mean here, but I don’t.)

Tomorrow I will begin to share the 11 points I spoke about.

My pastor, Tope Koleoso did not say the words in the title of this post. But they are very consistent with the tone and thrust of the following sermon on worship which follows on from what he said last week. I would strongly encourage you to watch both of these talks as you will find they have a fresh and challenging perspective on worship.

The video is available in HD at http://jubilee-church.org In response to what we have been hearing about worship, this coming Sunday will be a special service at Jubilee Church with a prolonged worship time. It may be that you live near London and have often wondered what a celebratory charismatic sevice looks like. This Sunday would be a great day for you to visit us. Here is what Tope said in the Facebook event for this coming Sunday’s service:

Over the past few weeks here at jubilee Church, we have had some of our most Spirit-filled and liberating times of worship.

Our current series “Worship His Majesty” has been an opportunity for God to teach us about the nature of His character, the Work of His hands, and the Power of His presence.

As we come to the final session of this series, we believe that God is calling us to set aside this coming Sunday service to be a time of extended worship.

It is with this in mind that I whole-heartedly invite you to this wonderful event.

We will triumphantly praise Him with African rhythms, English songs and Caribbean melodies.
We will praise Him with shouting and clapping, and singing and dancing.

I am fully persuaded that it will be a powerful time of worship to God and blessings from God.

Come and join us as we “Worship His Majesty”.

Venue: Jubilee Church (Cineworld Cinema) Enfield
Date: 8th November 2009 (THIS SUNDAY)
Time: 10:00am – 11:45am
www.jubilee-church.org

Love

Tope

It seems to me that us reformed believers run the risk that we recognize God is holy, but it can feel as though he is distant. To us charismatics God may instead feel close, but perhaps not seem glorious. Reformed believers understand something of the sovereignty of God, and his glory. All too often, however, we fall into the trap of worshipping a remote God who is not really immanent. As a result God is essentially nowhere to be seen, felt, or experienced. Charismatics often enjoy a sense of intimacy with God. But, all too often we worship a God who is immanent, but can seem warm and cuddly. His holiness, majesty, and glory are somehow lost, thrown out in many cases with a rejection of his sovereignty. Imagine what could happen if the transcendence and immanence of God came together in one worship experience! What would be the result?

One man who is passionate for a reformed theology and a charismatic experience is my pastor, Tope Koleoso Watch this sermon by him and prepare to be blown away as you perhaps realize that you have never truly worshipped as you ought. I encourage you to watch all of it as it builds to a crescendo, and in the last five minutes or so, Tope opens his heart wide, sharing his concern that as our church grows (we have gone from 80 to over 600 in about four years or so) that no one thinks it is because of clever leaders, but rather that we realize it is just the blessing of Jesus, and that as we grow we never lose the foundation that it is all about Jesus. May Jubilee always be a truly worshipping people.

By Tope Koleoso
25 October
download video or download audiomore sermons from Jubilee

The series will continue, so please do keep visiting the Jubilee site. As always, I do recommend that if at all possible you watch rather than listen to these messages.