Basing our walk with jesus on
Books, devotionals, and sermons
There is no way that what is talked about from the front during sermons can hit on literally every thing that God wants to do in you. That is where personal study comes in. Devotionals aren't going to be catered to where you are each day. That’s where personally getting with Jesus comes in. Books don’t know you at all. They don’t know your struggles, your pain, or what you are going through. Jesus does.
In Matthew 13, Jesus talks to a massive crowd, and tells the parable of the sower: about a farmer who throws out seed to plant a crop, and about all the things that happen to the different seeds. Then, after the crowds leave, He goes deeper with his disciples:
Matthew 13:11
Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
He knew them in a different way, so he taught them in a different way.
Basing our worship on someone else’s Worship
Josh Wall, about a worship song that Ellie Wall wrote:
Can I soapbox for a moment? Great. Thanks. ;)
This is totally beautiful. It’s the genuine, simple song of a child to her Father and her Savior. It is praise from the mouth of a babe, as so many people here have said. It’s an expression of the ways she’s actually encountered Him, and it’s an artistic gift between the two of them regardless of whether or not anyone else ever sings it. It probably won’t make the radio, it won’t win a grammy, but that’s irrelevant. It’s beautiful, and the One meant to hear it has—and I’d venture to guess He’s already made it His Ellie ringtone.
My note is to all the adults who’ve commented on this video: follow Ellie’s lead. I often fear that the mass-production and broadcasting of the dozen most popular Christian songs has mistakenly told the church that ordinary people and ordinary congregations can’t make music and give it as a unique and personal gift to their Father and to the rest of the church. We mistakenly believe that the only valid worship songs are the ones recorded on albums and played on the radio.
If I may, I’d like to call bull on that.
Do you sing? Do you write? Do you have a guitar? Great! Write a song (with lyrics or not—your choice) for God that’s personally from you and sing it to Him. If you’re comfortable, share it with others in your community, and then sing it together. It doesn’t matter if it makes the radio, it doesn’t matter if it gets on an album, and it doesn’t matter if everyone sings it on Sunday. It doesn’t matter if you’re as good as Matt Redmond, and it doesn’t matter if you’re not. You’re His child and He wants your expression of your love and gratitude to Him.
I believe the church has thousands more songs to sing than it currently uses, simply because we rely on only a handful of our siblings to write and distribute them. But, seriously, we don’t need to do that. We’re not consumers, and we’re not an industry of musicians; we’re a family of goofy kids making art for our great Father.
Please, for your Maker, for your Savior, for your Counselor, and for all you brothers and sisters waiting to sing alongside you, add your song to the chorus, just like Ellie.
Psalm 96:1
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship written ON THE SPOT:
Song of the Well:
Numbers 21:17-18
“Spring up, O well! Sing to it! …”
David’s song of deliverance:
Psalm 18
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior, you save me from violence”
John re-wrote Moses’ first song in the Bible:
Revelation 15:3
“Great and marvelous are Your works, O lord God, the almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, king of the Nations!”
We can’t only listen to sermons and read books, we need something CUSTOM from God.
We also can’t only sing prewritten songs, we need to give something CUSTOM TO God.
Relying too heavily on tools as a church
God has given us some amazing physical tools as a church, and as long as we have them, we’ll use them… But we need to always remember that those things are not WHAT THE CHURCH IS, they are just TOOLS THE CHURCH HAS.
The Bible describes the church, as the Bride of Christ:
Revelation 21:2
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
… No building on earth has that designation, the people of God have it. As soon as we start to think that THIS is the church, we will start leaning too heavily on the Tools that God has given us.
