Worship Central

Last night was a full worship team meeting. These occasional sessions bring together all those involved in the BCC worship ministry and are always very fruitful times. Despite some sickness keeping a few people away, there was a good turnout and our time of worship at the end brought us right into the throne room of God - His presence was tangible. As part of the evening I sketched out a few things for 2010. It is clear to me that God is doing something very powerful through the worship of His Saints at this time; every Sunday so far has been characterised by a completely unpredictable time of worship that has ranged from the powerful to the intimate, sometimes changing in a matter of seconds. There has been prophetic life and a deep desire from God's people to reach out and touch Him. On many occasions, this has taken the meeting in a totally fresh direction and acted as a springboard for ministry and further revelation.

I have been reading through Numbers in the last few months. It is now drawing to an end. In Numbers 28-29, Moses records a list of extremely important festivals which, essentially, represent different expressions of worship across the entire Israelite community. This year, I believe we can learn some valuable lessons about the nature of this new worship work in BCC through these passages of old...

1. Worship is positioned in Community
The first thing to note is the focus on corporate worship; a quiet, private quiet time this is not. It is about every believer coming together and expressing this belief through a group activity and in some of the offerings required through Chapters 28-29, it requires a holy gathering ('Holy Convocation' ESV); a coming together of all the individual parts as one. This year, God is calling us to focus on those corporate moments of worship together as a Church; something is going to emerge from that place of united devotion.

2. Worship is sacrificial
In every instance, their united expression of worship costs them something. Western Churches have forgotten that worship is not about what you get but what you give. As we come and offer God our praise and adoration, regardless of our circumstances, we will see and feel the force of faith released into our lives; our weakness is transformed into His strength. Worship is the catalyst for this spiritual process. At times, the force of praise emanating from the people has pushed things forward in our times of worship together. People come ready to make an offering; to rise above circumstances, feelings, disappointments and more in order to reach out to the Lord. In return, God never disappoints.

3. Worship is Centred on God
All through these Chapters, the central focus of worship is God. Today, some worship has become very man-focused. We look to ourselves and our own humanity, when the true nature of worship is Jesus, not us. This year, we are learning once again to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2), to turn away from ourselves and to look exclusively to Him.

4. Worship will recapture the Spirit of David
In my prayers recently, I heard this simple phrase in my mind "there will be a release of the spirit of David in your worship". As you probably know, David was a man after God's own heart and "The Sweet Psalmist of Israel". He was given the blueprints for God's proper 'home' in the Old Testament, the Temple and David's deep, passionate, uncompromising, unremitting devotion to God characterised his entire life and ministry. My mind went to the moment when David celebrated return of God's ark (the place where He dwelt) to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6 especially verses 5 and 20-23). David loved God's presence and his worship was unrestrained and undignified. This year we will see that same spirit emerge once again into His Church, a deep, passionate, uncompromising, no-holes-barred expression of faith and love to the One and Only God of Love.

Don't go away!