This week’s post is by Ashley Bowie, a dramatic sort of person who needs dramatic reminders about things.

I hauled my sack of bones to the beach last weekend. It really felt that way too. I was weary, confused, sad, and angry. I went to the Olympic coast where the waves are unimpeded by the islands, and I let the crashing of the waves fill my heart and still my soul. Does that sound dramatic? Maybe it was a little bit, but the world is a mess and getting messier, and no one has any solutions.

I was sitting there in my tent, watching the waves, listening to their penetrating roar, and praying that God would just help my heart, and suddenly the peace that passes all understanding found me.

Revelation 1:14-15 “The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.”

I don’t know how recently you have sat on the beach or near a rushing river, but let me delight you with a little drama. You park your car at the end of a long line of cars facing a thick wall of trees you can’t see more than a few feet into. “Great” you think, “the beach will be crowded and I won’t get any peace and quiet.” But you haul your stuff out of the car anyway and head into the woods. The trees are quiet, the soft forest floor muffles your steps and that smell, what is it? It’s wood and salt, green ferns and ageless evergreen. Things start slipping away and you don’t notice. The careless words spoken to you, the careless words you’ve spoken, fade. Life might be sad, but it’s also beautiful. You breathe deep and exhale in a staggered sigh. Then you see it, as the trees thin and you begin a descent to the shore, there it is, the wide open sea. You catch your breath and practically run to get there faster. Pitch a tent, kick off your shoes, run for the tide and return their stares with smiles. Families, couples, children and photographers dot the shore line and they all seem to be talking, but you can’t hear them. The crashing of the waves is consuming, overwhelming and deeply comfortable. It’s undeniable, those rushing roaring waves produce an exhilarating calm.

So much of life is what you choose. The parade of endless anger, prejudice and hate will always be there because we live among fallen men. The struggle between your flesh and spirit is not going to end until we reach heaven. There will always be a battle in the making or a battle we are fighting. But there will also always be the voice of God. His consuming, overwhelming, comforting roar will always be there to hear if you will listen.

I’m not suggesting that we tune out the world, or ignore the problems of our generation. I am saying that the voice of God is louder, stronger and all together pure. Nothing will calm your heart like He can. The problems of the world will come, and we can offer solutions, and fight for social justice and do our best to make the world better. But if we aren’t careful, the world can be overwhelming.

Romans 8:5-6 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

I really needed the reminder that God’s voice is like the roar of many waters; consuming all other noise, and drowning out the superfluous demands for attention. It was a call for me to set my mind on the Spirit, to keep His voice near to me and let Him be the one who sorts my thoughts and gives weight to the priorities in my life.

You don’t need the open ocean or a mighty river to feel that overwhelming peace. You just need the Spirit of God. I want to remember the next time I’m feeling overwhelmed by life, that the Spirit of God is in me, that His voice will consume the noise and give me peace.

This blog post is by Ashley Bowie, a child really, who loves all the beautiful things; coffee, words, people and birds.

I'm a big fan of Jesus. He's my favorite person. I tell Him all the time how much I love Him, and how grateful I am for what He has done and continues to do for me and on my behalf. Jesus has been my dearest friend. He has laid beside me when I had nothing but tears at the end of the day. He has been the source of my very greatest joys, and the only one I take comfort in when there are no human words for my feelings.

A few days ago I was talking with a friend who is soon to be married. She was talking about pre marital counseling and all of the things she was learning about herself, and how amazing it feels to be chosen in such a special way. She went on to talk about how much more clear it is to her now in this stage of life that Jesus has chosen us, He has decided that we belong to Him, we are His bride. 

Her joy was a beautiful thing to witness, and my heart was overwhelmed. We don't know how desperately we need help until we are helped, we don't know how wonderful love is until we are loved, we don't know the delight in Christ until we recognize that He has chosen us. On the testimony of my friend I could feel the pull on my heart by a God who wanted me to know that I have been chosen. She was simply recounting something she had learned about the wonder of Jesus, and my heart was in full on worship mode toward the king of all kings. 

It reminded me of this moment in scripture;

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" (Isaiah 6:1-3)

These angelic beings were standing/flying in the presence of God. He, the great I am, was right there in the middle of the room. They did not say, "Lord you are holy, the whole earth is full of your glory." They were calling out to one another, declaring to one another the greatness of our God. 

The account goes on to say that Isaiah stands there in the midst of them and becomes convicted of his sin. One of the seraphim takes a coal from the altar to cleanse him and two sentences later he is volunteering to take the message of God to the people of Israel. 

How powerful, the testimony of the beloved of God! We tell Jesus all the time that we love Him, we thank God for His mercy and His plan. But there is something special about declaring these truths to one another. I can tell you a lot of things about Jesus, miracles He did, stories He told, and social rules that He stomped all over. These things are wonderful, and certainly full of truth, but when it comes to the human heart, the experience of Love transcends facts. To witness this Love radiating out from another person is more powerful than any lesson on Jesus. 

One of my greatest joys that comes from having a community of faith is hearing about the greatness of our good Father. As we gather, let us not be shy of telling the great things God has done. He comforts us in sorrow, He lifts us up with joy, He counsels us in times of confusion, and He is the Holy God who holds the universe from beginning to end. As we call out to one another the goodness of God, our hearts respond in worship, repentance, and desire to carry out the will of heaven on earth. 

I've heard it said, that God does not need our worship, rather we desperately need to worship God. Perhaps as we tell one another about the greatness of God there will be those in our midst who hear and are drawn to the Father, whose hearts will swell when they hear the call of one son or daughter to another and long to be a part of that family.

This week’s post is by Brandon Adent, a deacon at Redeemer Church. He likes music, words, and words about music.

Hey Redeemer,

I have the honor and privilege to get to serve you as a musician, and I love it.

No matter how many times I’ve been through the songs in a given week, there’s something unique and special that happens when we all sing these songs together, and that’s a major reason I love serving the way I do.

I just love hearing you sing. There’s a couple reasons for that, but one in particular that I really want to highlight.

Up and Out

When we gather to sing, we do so in a few “directions”. I mean, they all resolve “up”, but there’s a few ways to get there.

First, as I mentioned, there’s a direct “upward” orientation to our singing; we sing directly to God, praising Him for who He is and thanking Him for what He's done.

Second, there’s an “outward” orientation. This is when people that don't know Jesus get to overhear our praises, not just in the words of the songs we sing, but in how we sing them. Hopefully, they get to hear changed hearts in raised voices, hearts that cry out “Abba, Father” (Gal 4.4-6). Hopefully, they see the goodness and grace He has extended in the gift of His Son and join their changed hearts and voices to ours as family in Jesus.

Singing Inward

In addition to “upward” and “outward” singing, there’s an “inward” orientation to our singing as well, where we get to encourage our sisters and brothers in Christ in our praise to God.

The Apostle Paul writes in the letter to the Colossians:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3.16)

One of the main reasons I love hearing you sing, from the platform or not, is that we all get to hear “the word of Christ” dwelling in us richly. On the surface, we're "just" a bunch of people singing. But united in our songs and praises to God, when we consider the Holy Spirit moving in our hearts and causing us to worship Him, we realize that something profound is occurring in the ordinary.

I get to lift my voice with you to sing and hear that God is holy, holy, holy, whose glory sinful people can’t see apart from Jesus.

I get to sing and hear where your hope is built, and on Whom you stand and are secure, though we’re prone to wander and leave the God we love.

In the midst of my frailty, I get to sing and hear of God’s amazing grace, that He would bear my cross, that He’d lay down His life so I could be set free.

I get to hear about the cross, the empty tomb, the risen and ascended Lamb, His victory over Satan, sin and death. That forever He is glorified, forever He is lifted High.

And when things don’t seem to be going so well, I know that before His throne I have a strong and perfect plea.

All these things remind me who God is, who I am, and what He’s done for me in the gift of His Son.

Our singing gives glory to our Father in heaven, and strengthens and encourages us until either when His Son returns or our time on this planet is done.

All that said, thank you.

Thank you for singing. It is deeply encouraging to me as I try to figure out what it looks like to love and serve Jesus.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I really like to hear you sing.

 

I've watched way too much TV over the last few years. Hours, and hours, and hours. Some of those hours were spent watching alien documentaries and cookie-cutter war films, but the vast majority were spent on TV series that were cool... awhile ago. It started with White Collar. Currently, it's Parks and Rec.

And, though I'm slightly ashamed to admit it, most of it was CSI: Miami.

There's a lot of bad things to be said of CSI: Miami. The hero, Horatio Cain, is probably the most predictable, melodramatic protagonist that ever was. There's not much to be said for character development, either, at least in my opinion. And, the producers put far too much attention on what people were - or were not - wearing. 

But one of the main reasons I loved CSI: Miami is at the end of every episode, you found out what made every suspect tick. You learned what they intended, and you watched what it made them. You learned what they sought, what they thought it would give them. And then, you watched them come face-to-face with the earthly consequences of giving a good thing god-hood.

You learned what they worshiped.

And then you watched what they worshiped turn and devour them.

No One Does Not Worship

No one does not worship. Every human is a worshiper.

The Bible often speaks of worship as "ascribing", or bowing, or submission.

Harold Best, in his book Unceasing Worship, defines the term "worship" as follows:

"Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do, and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god."

Worship is always happening. We are always ascribing god-hood to someone or something.

We were made to worship God, to give Him glory with our thoughts, words and deeds. The problem is, we often don't want to. We'd rather worship creation than the Creator.

Much of what we choose to worship is beautiful and good. It's not wrong to want a promotion. It's not wrong to love the mountains. It's not wrong to want to get good grades.

These aspirations and desires are good. They're just not ultimate, and they cannot give us the satisfaction that we seek, at least long term.

Perfect Worship

However, as Christians, saved by God's grace, we want to make sure that our worship is rightly directed.

But we're still "prone to wander" as the old hymn says. Though we've tasted and seen God's goodness in the giving of His Son, in whom "completion" is ultimately found, we want a shortcut. And good gifts look like great shortcuts.

But though we often wander, God's grace is sufficient. For Jesus, our Great High Priest, our Advocate to the Father, lived a life of perfect worship, of perfect submission to the will and word of God. He then, on the cross, swapped out His record of perfect worship for ours, a massive list of misdirected worship.

Because of Jesus, God the Father sees our worship as perfect.

Risen and ascended, He now advocates for us to our heavenly Father.

Where we fail, He has succeeded. In Jesus, we have nothing to fear.

And what Jesus has done demands a response. We must worship Him.

Continuous Outpouring

Romans 12.1 says "I appeal to you therefore brothers [word meaning "brothers and sisters"], by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

There's a lot here. Paul has just spent pages talking about who God is and what He's done in and through Jesus. The "therefore" is there to say "in light of everything before this."

In short, Paul is saying, "Because of God's grace and mercy toward you, worship Him with all that you are and all you will be."

This is massive. God has given you the ability to worship Him through the Holy Spirit. So you actually can do this.

And it's not quite as grandiose as one would think, at least in practice.

This is waking up in the morning and acknowledging that you're still alive. That you didn't have to think about breathing. And praising God for a new day, though it may not be quite up to your specifications, for God has given you more time on earth to glorify Him.

This is approaching your work, your studies, and your family life as a gift to you, and wanting to do a good job with the gift you've been given so that you can point people to Jesus in word and deed.

This is just being nice, treating people as humans, creatures made in the image of God, in the hopes that they'd get to experience the grace and mercy that you've been shown in Jesus.

This is getting into a Gospel Community or small group, serving in a local church, becoming a member, partnering up for ministry with other Jesus-Worshipers who want people to hear about Jesus.

It takes a bunch of different forms, and shows up in a bunch of different ways. But "whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col 3.17)

Worship Rightly Oriented

At Redeemer, we want our worship to be a rightly oriented response to a good and gracious God.

We want to bear witness to who He is and what He's done.

We want everyone, everywhere, every day to hear and experience the gospel of Jesus. We want them to hear about Him and respond in worship to Him.

We want them to know that the gods of money, of power, of family, of cultural significance, cannot hold a candle to the God of the Bible. If you pursue them, they will ultimately turn and devour you. But in Jesus, there is freedom, and in Jesus, there is life.