Worship: Singing Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs

This past Sunday was the 2nd week of our 3 week series on Worship. What is it exactly and what does it look like?

Worship is praising God's name and glorifying his name in all we do. It can take the form of many different ways, but this week, we actually looked worship through singing and praising God's name. In the Bible, there are many references to worship through song. Some of them are:

• Psalm 29:2 - “Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.”
• Ephesians 5:19-20 – “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• 1 Chronicles 16:9 – “Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; meditate on and talk of all His wondrous works and devoutly praise them!”
• Psalm 144:9 – “I will sing a new song to You, O God; upon a harp, an instrument of ten
• strings, will I offer praises to You.”
• Psalm 34:3 – “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

The challenge this week was to worship God through song, to take out that regular playlist on your iPod and replace it with worship music. So that, when you are in your car or just chilling, you can worship God through song.

But, like anything else, worship can sometimes become stale and mundane. You may know the song and the lyrics by heart so you just sing. Therefore, in addition to the challenge to sing praises to God he deserves, take worship a step further this week. Sing those songs with all your heart to the Lord. Focus on who He is and what He has done in your life. Then give him praise and honor.

So, worship the Lord today and the rest of the week. Sing to him psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and see how He ministers to you through that this week.

Loving Others

This week, we concluded our 3 week series on the Great Commandment by talking about Loving others (Matthew 22:39-40). In the 2 previous weeks in which we talked about how loving God starts with your heart (Luke 6:45) and how, before we could love other, we have to first be comfortable with who God created us to be.

Therefore, the challenge this week was simple - love others. In particular, love 3 people who are the hardest for you to love.

Jesus never gave guidelines for who we should love or how we should love them. He just simply said for us to love others as we love ourselves.

So, how are you doing loving others, especially the 3 you have the hardest time loving? Regardless of how you started off the week, finish this week strong. Love others this week with a passion and determination unlike any other and see how God blesses that commitment.

Loving God

This past week we began a series on the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40). This first week, we focused on Loving God.

To hear the message that Katie Von Kahle gave to the high school students, you can download it here or go to iTunes and search Tom Pounder.

What does it mean to love God? How can you love him with all your heart, mind and soul?

In Luke 6:45, Christ says, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

Loving God starts with your heart. It starts with a passion and a desire to love him and serve him – not just because he is God, but for all that he has done for you and brought you through.

So, how is your heart towards God? Do you love him with all your heart, mind and soul? If you don’t, why not? What is preventing you from that?

This week, do a gut check. Do you love God with all your heart, mind and soul? Why or why not?

Then, pray that God would give you that passion to love him the way he deserves to be loved.