Experience at another church service

Lead singer at the piano with 2 backup singers, guitarists and drummists gets ready on stage. One of the pastors goes on stage and asks everyone to quieten down their hearts, prepare a place in their hearts for God. Cue slow, soft music. Before long the lead singer starts leading into a song, lyrics and their faces screened onto the projector. Church members were slow to start singing(maybe because most are middle age to elderly) so lead singer had to declare 'this is not a performance! Sing and praise! (or something to that effect)'. I have no idea whether that worked as the music was louder than the voices. No starting prayers were made and singspiration of mostly modern christian songs and one modified traditional hymn continued for 30 minutes. Clapping of hands, swaying of hands, inverting of palms in praise and worship were practised.

After the singspiration, the same pastor took to the church to welcome everyone and make announcements. Declares that because we were on time, God will bless us on time(something to the effect). Lead pastor took over to start the first prayer for a upcoming evangelistic gospel rally musical, was excited and upbeat about a bumper crop of harvest for it as he has the vision from God. Playing of slow soft music during prayers were practised. New comers were welcomed and had to stand and receive a welcome package from the ushers and received welcoming handshakes from all around (I feel welcome). Back to the same pastor who took to the stage asking for tithes and offerings for their off organisation, a neutral charity organisation(I think) that aids the needy so as to hopefully evangelise to them at the same time. He does not declare the total amount required but announces half jokingly that he will be back on the 23rd to 'ask for your money as much as God impresses upon you'. One is allowed to bank transfer their tithes and offerings. Quick prayer for the offering of the week.

Time was passed over to the speaker, an external female speaker, missionary and from a Christian NGO. Mark 10:45 was the main verse, which coincidentally is the main verse of my current church. Main gist of the sermon is that the love of God compels us to take action to show acts of kindness to those around us (love thy neighbour) regardless of race or religion so that we can hopefully evangelise to them. Shares about a prophetic dream she had regarding a local man of prominence and George bernard shaw (cameo appearance with no significance contribution to dream), point was to drive home that ministering is to the people outside of church and not solely confined to within church and acts of charity was the way to go. Sermon ends and everyone claps.

Closing prayer by same pastor who took the stage and then dismisses everyone, christian song was played by the musicians on stage as everyone took their leave (in a way that reminds me of the closing credits of a movie).

Comments from a fundamentally indoctrinated Christian:
Neither condoning nor condemning but just examining it from the point of view of the bible and providing own personal take on the issues.

Worship style is definitely very different, choices of hymns as well. No major alarm bells on the style by participants

Choice of hymns and instruments
Conservative churches like to condemn modern church music as being shallow and carnal appealing.

"Charismatic music does not minister to the spirit rather it is a sensual music which ministers to the flesh and that is not worshipping God in spirit. Godly music has a reverent tone to it. Charismatic music appeals to the emotions and causes people to lose sight of the one they are supposed to be worshipping. "

Drums and electric guitar are also condemned to be of the devil due to their relationship to rock bands and their culture and tendency to want to follow the beat of the drum. Does the man behind the instrument define the culture or does the culture and instrument define the man? Does knife in robber also define knife in mum hands while in the kitchen both criminals? Do we really have to be separate from the link between both?

2 Cor 6:16-17
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

Now if I remember my OT correctly, the Nazarenes, a jewish sect which Jesus was born into, had to be so separated from the world in terms of appearances, long unshaved beards and habits, can't remember, to clearly make a point that they are men of God. Is it still applicable today with relations to musical instruments? Some cite psalms as the place where you can say 'hey those instruments are mentioned means they are acceptable'. Drums or snares as interpreted by some make the usage of drums justifiable.

The choice I guess, would be up to the convictions of the church leaders as mentioned in romans 14 (should be 14). Be very separated and defined only by keyboard and orchestral string and woodwind instruments with the loss of being more restricted in terms of worship style with no risk of being mistaken as of the world or embrace the more modern instruments and styles appealing to the younger people at the risk of being mistakenly classified by the public as being no different than concert and their audiences as well as having young people more attracted to the worship style than God (it does happen).

Clapping of hands, swaying of hands, inverting of palms in praise and worship were practised.
"Scripture commands that we worship God, that we exalt His name and offer Him our praise. There is biblical precedent for both the lifting of hands and the clapping of hands as an act of worship. Psalms 47:1 says, “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.” In this instance, both clapping and shouting out joyful worship to God are urged. In 1 Timothy 2:8, we read, “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.” The emphasis of this verse is the attitude of the heart; however, we see that lifting hands is an appropriate posture for prayer and worship. Having these biblical precedents, we can safely conclude that both of those expressions can be an act of worship."

Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/worship-hands.html

Very much to the interpretation of the verses, one could argue that for Psalms 47, it was meant specifically for that scenario and for 1 Timothy 2:8, it is not meant to be taken literally. At the very worst, these are superficial errors in worship style and at the very best, they are ok for doing it. After all,  most importantly John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." One could once again argue that in truth means the scripture should be 'correctly' interpreted so that worship can be truthfully conducted. One could argue until till the cows come home so my personal take is that this is permitted by God and we will only find out if He really minds or doesn't when we are called home. (I'm guessing not since God knows we are only human and bound to err on either side, He will probably be more displeased over people's intense and unhappy disputes over such non-salvation related issues) Some may argue it is very worldly and resembles a concert. Hm, doubt people invert their hands and raise their hands without swaying at concerts and they will definitely be more wild, excited and uncontrolled, that is unless some churches DO really resemble such concerts. However, as above article points out, it is not a requirement for worship and neither is it compulsory. Conservative churches may not practise it, their liberty and choice, and even condemn it, that may not be the most pressing issue to tackle and may even displease God if they are wrong.

Explanation of different 'hand signs': http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/RMM.Raising.Hands.Worship.htm

Lyrics and musicians faces screened
My church also screens lyrics onto the screen with a plain blue background for the 1st half of singspiration. The original reason was the elderly had a hard time holding the book for more than 1 hymn. It was also logistically  more tiring for the 6 member ushers to prepare all the books in advance as well. The cons was of course, if you didn't know the tune of the song, you are as good as a mute. Makes it hard for first timers to participate at all, but then again, even with the book without musical background training, the argument is moot. Is the screening of the musicians faces screened necessary and/or detrimental? Hmmmm, the slippery slope could be there could be temptation of personal glory but hey, even without the screen, standing in front leading can also boost thy pride so moot argument. Creating slides with custom background is possible and could be a better alternative unless showing the musicians so concentrated in worshipping is meant to inspire everyone else to do the same. Or a more superficial reason could be that anything else would be boooring. Dangerous way to think since it will be seeker friendly, catering to the wants of the people instead of needs. Most likely not I hope.

because we were on time, God will bless us on time(something to the effect)
Initially I was alarmed as I wonder if it means the good we do affects the blessing we receive? Does that mean the late comers will not be blessed?  Obedience leads to blessing, disobedience leads to no blessing? What does scripture says?

James 1:25
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Hmm....obedience of God's Word does lead to blessing. Whether such a small thing as being punctual fits the bill can be attributed to the heart of a person, if He truly wants to worship God, He will make sure as much as possible he will be on time and he will be blessed. Makes sense. Or not?

Prophetic dream mentioned in sermon
Agrees with the Bible, is acceptable in this case to mention a dream to make a point. Some dreams might not be so but if a dream and its message is doubtful, it would be wise to be silent unless it is a fun and unbelievable dream to joke about privately of course.

Note to self: If reading this again in future, edit comment to see if any changes in perceptions

Edit: Perhaps there's a need to make a stand hmmm, need more study.

Many Christians are misled because they lack a ‘Berean’ like diligence to “examine the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” The Bible calls them “more noble” for this diligent regard for the Word. Paul welcomed this Berean spirit. My church's pastor welcomes it saying that if one day if we find him teaching false doctrine, we should kick him out. Other people might it ‘religious’, fault finding, critical, divisive, and warn such people that they risk being judged by God. 

Judging teaching is not judging the person. We are not to judge the person, as far as judging their hearts, motives or sincerity. We cannot know those things, but it is a Biblical injunction to judge their teaching and reject those who bring false doctrine. We are to test all prophecies (I John 4:1, 1 Cor. 14:29), test the apostles (Rev. 2:2) and evaluate all teaching (2 John 9-11), to list but a few verses. We are to test all of them, and ignore the false ones all together.

Anonymous poem

Said the wildflower to the sparrow:
"I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so."

       Said the sparrow to the wildflower:
"Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me."

Anxious for nothing

^{Psalms 27:14} Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Living self-righteously

It never occurred to me that even when I was feeling at an all time low that I was still living and thinking self-righteously.

I had told myself that I can't forgive myself, that I can't believe I did it but these are all statements of reverse pride that says that MY standards are higher than God's and trying to be my own saviour (*shocking!) Bearing my own punishment, pay penance by wallowing in guilt or trying to be good (fail) or trying to add to God's favor through obedience(not very successful). Zilch. Means nothing at all because clearly this is just a grief that comes from failing to live up to my own self-inflated opinion. The cross undermines our own self-righteous, if we had any righteousness of our own, God wouldn't need to send a savior. No human can make any amends, payment, penance, what ever.

Humility and acceptance of the Great Rescue which we have zero contribution except to confess our sins wrongdoings, accept Him for His forgiveness who "blots out our transgressions' and 'remembers our sins no more"(Isaiah 43:25).

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We need Him and I must never forget that again, to rely on self and own way of thinking is the path to destruction and disobedience.

YF Main Theme: Relying on Christ, Living out Christ

Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

For those not present, today's main theme touched on relying on God for every single aspect of our lives, not by our own strength, talents, intelligence that God Himself granted since all these are part of the general grace granted to us by Him. In the process of relying on anything/one except God, we can lose track of the object of our faith, and can end up being twisted by unbiblical logic and become proud of our own abilities and successes. I was thinking, even if our abilities does bring about temporal worldly success, they might not be necessarily good for us either.

Recently, my mum told me something I had long forgotten. It seemed that as a primary school kid, I told my mum I would get number 1 in class before exams. After exams, I got 5th in class and vomited because I did not get number 1. I even had diarrhea before the major examinations! In order to please my mum, I had tried to the best of my abilities to do my best but obviously, I was not satisfied nor happy. I was disappointed with myself because I had 'failed' myself using my own abilities.

Contrast this with IF I had relied on God and entrusting my exams to God as a kid. Even if I did not perform well, considering in view of the God we know that He NEVER fails, whatever happens is by His Will, and His Will is always good EVEN if we had tried our best and seemingly failed. This is also why Christians will and should be able to give thanks in both times of ups and downs for we know and believe that all is good.

The conclusion I came up with is this: In life, it is normal to have ups and downs, 'failures' in studies, work, relationships etc. our response to these downs could help indicate if we had relied on our own strength or on God. If by our own strength, we will be disappointed with OURSELVES. If by God, how can we ever be disappointed with God since we know Him to be good and gracious to give the best to us from His perspective even if it doesn't seem good to us? Another possible reason to be disappointed other than relying on our own strength could be that we don't trust God enough. However as yixin mentions, if we can trust God with our salvation, trusting God with everything else less than of eternal consequences should pale and be easier by comparison.

In the end, we seek to please God by trusting and relying on Him for the process of our lives from the minute of details to the biggest of all: our salvation, in order to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever with what He has willed for us in our lives. It might not be easy initially for a new beginner for example or even for a old timer Christian who struggles as the natural tendency of men is to rely on himself with what he can see, think and feel but it is the journey of every choice when we consider to rely on God that will make it become a natural habit such that we can truly say that we live, breathe and walk with Jesus. That is something I confess not to be able to lay claim to yet but something I believe all of us can and should strive towards to, not just because it is our YF's theme of the year, but because He is our God and not relying on Him is as good as not believing in Him because the original text 'believe' as written in the Bible means to be convicted to commit our trust to God, not just the mere acknowledgment of God and the salvation freely granted.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.

Thoughts On Discerning God’s Will for Your Life

Source:

http://abyers.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/thoughts-on-discerning-gods-will-for-your-life/

Ease of circumstances does not confirm divine calling. Not necessarily.

In seeking God in prayer for ten years about whether or not I should pursue doctoral studies in the United Kingdom, I found myself indeterminately waiting for the seemingly impossible circumstances to dramatically change, thereby signifying that I was indeed on the right path. In the recent weeks before the move to England, I embraced the sobering reality that an un-obstacled course was not assigned to me.

During seven years of college ministry work, one of the most consistent concerns students would express was that of discerning God’s specific will for their lives. What should I major in? Who should I date? Should my girlfriend and I pursue marriage? Am I called to do mission work? Should I drop out of school to chase my dream?

When you are 20 years old, these questions are freighted with such gravitas. For an emerging adult from a middle, upper-middle, or upper class background in the Western world, the options can seem so vast (what a luxury!), and narrowing in on one particular path—relationally or vocationally—can seem so limiting. As Christians, we are anxious to make the right decision. And a definitive choice at age 20 feels as if we are hurling ourselves irreversibly into one specific trajectory which will be nearly impossible to alter should we discover mid-flight that we were wrong.

One of the ways we tend to interpret God’s will for us is by favorable circumstances. “Open doors” we often call them. When everything falls tidily into place, our eyebrows are raised and the impulse is to assume that God is revealing His will for the immediate course of our lives.

But throughout Scripture, following the divine will often requires muscling through a heap of formidable circumstances that intensify in difficulty the more faithfully His saints march onward. If the Creator-God is in conflict with His wayward creation, then it serves to reason that following His call will often position us in uncomfortable tension with the circumstances and vicissitudes of life.

Paul makes this comment on “open doors” that has intrigued me for years—”…a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor 16.9). A path crawling with adversaries does not sound like a very wide open path. Abounding adversity does not attend what we normally think of today as an open door.

In 2 Cor 2, Paul writes again about an open door. This time, the circumstances all seem favorable, but he does not avail himself of the opportunity before him—”even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest…” (vv. 12-13). In spite of what clearly seemed to be God’s opening of a path before his feet, other concerns compelled Paul to turn away from the opportune moment.

From these two texts where Paul uses the metaphor of an open door, we can make these conclusions: 1] “open doors” do not necessarily indicate God’s direction. And 2] ease of circumstances does not necessarily clarify the path down which we are to trod.

Abram was called by God to leave his country and kindred for another life in another land. But when he got to that land, he realized it was not only flowing with milk and honey, but also with hordes of Canaanites. And soon after Abram spied those lovely hills and plains (and Canaanites), a famine hit, sending him off to Egypt (Gen 12.1-10).

Canaanites and a famine: welcome to your lovely new home, Abram.

When God called Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt centuries later, the message to the Hebrew elders was that God would rescue them and bring them into that good land once again. But God refused false advertising, describing the land not only as flowing with milk and honey, but also as crawling with Canaanites still (and “the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites” to boot—Ex 3.17). And following the divine will in the wilderness was so hard that the rescued Israelites on occasion regretted their rescue.

Ease of circumstances does not necessary confirm God’s call. It may actually be the evidence that we have missed a turn (the foxes have holes, and the birds have nests, but Jesus lacked a pillow to offer those following at His side).

Now, it must be acknowledged that God certainly does make the path strikingly clear and even easy at times—the psalmists rejoice over those moments. But I think we have to keep in mind this phrase from the Sermon on the Mount: “the way is hard…” (Mt 7.14).

The way is hard.

I taught on the Sermon on the Mount throughout the summer, and I was haunted by this phrase in Jesus’ teaching on the two ways, one broad (and easy), the other narrow (and hard). In recent months I found myself quite frustrated with God for not making the circumstances easier for my family and me as we set our faces toward England for a costly move and a costly degree program. But I kept reading that phrase over the summer—”the way is hard…”.

I don’t think I am writing this post to justify my move, or to valiantly declare that I have followed God faithfully. I think I am writing to sort through some lessons. And here they are again: ease of circumstances does not necessarily confirm God’s call, and “open doors” are not always indicators of God’s direction.

So counterintuitive….

A test of readiness

When is one ready for a r/s - Friend Y asks (a rhetorical question).

I think when one is able to communicate properly with one's mum then is one ready - Friend Y replies.

Having heard this again, within the span of a week, I take this as the first test to pass. Onward to more trials and tests.