…for the rest of us

We’ve been trained in this culture, especially if you’ve grown up in church environments, to incredibly minimize what worship really is. Here are just a couple (of many) common myths:

• Myth #1: Worship is music.   When church people say things like “How was the worship?” they usually only mean “How was the music?”   Although music is merely one part of what worship can be, this worship-means-music mentality is degrading to the breadth of what worship is.

• Myth #2: Worship is just what we do on Sundays in a building. Worship absolutely takes place during your church service, but if it ends there, we probably buy into the other myth that God is only present in the building where your church meets.  You start to treat it like visiting Grandpa’s house - nice to visit, but it doesn’t have any impact on the rest of your week.

I point these two out in particular because people who’ve grown up in church have certain styles of music and certain ways services are structured  that they’ve become attached to so much, that if they experience something that isn’t their personal preference it affects them negatively.

In other words, you put so much pressure to have “your personal worship needs” met in one hour that you pretend there aren’t 167 other hours in the week.

Worship is a lifestyle.  And…

It’s not about you.

Worship is about bringing glory (credit, pleasure, obedience, relationship) to God.

One of the best ways to kick start an authentic lifestyle of worship is to start addressing God in your thought life instead of always thinking to yourself.  God delights in every detail of your lives so let Him in!

Instead of thinking: “Today was a great day.”

Think/pray: “God, today was a great day.”  Watch how it propels you into more dialogue/prayer of thankfulness.

Instead of thinking: “I’m gonna give that guy who cut me off a special wave with one finger.”

Think/pray “God, I’m gonna give that guy who cut me off a special wave with one finger…oh, wait.  Don’t you have something to say about this?  Oh…umm…”

To begin to live a lifestyle of pleasing and bringing honor to God, you must first let Him in Sunday afternoon through Saturday night.  Watch how God will begin to transform not just your actions, but begin to transform your complaint-ridden-all-about-me mentality into an I-can’t-wait-to-be-a-part-of-what-God-is-doing mentality!

And we’ll start to realize there is no greater satisfaction than to worship God, even when the times are dismal.  He designed us to thirst for Him!

We’ve seen God save people during the money series. The MONEY series! Even today we are celebrating first time decisions to follow Jesus.

Today we concluded the series talking about how to have a plan to be generous as God intended. If we truly believe everything we have is actually His, then it won’t be a big deal to return a portion to Him in our giving. But God knows our anxiety and this is why throughout the Bible He follows up these commands with a promise to take care of us and always provide what we need!

The temptation for churches is to look at that section of Christianity that totally twists the topic of giving into some “health and wealth” garbage and then react by swinging to the opposite extreme and not address the topic of giving at all.  When churches do that though, they’re ignoring 30% of the Bible.   We set out to have this series faithfully represent what God really wants us to know about our resources and then have a plan to fully understand the grace of God so we can CHEERFULLY give - not out of reluctance or guilt.

As promised, this whole series in online. So here is today’s talk: Click here for the “Generosity” talk.

And here is the entire series for download or to burn to CD for friends and family: Click here for the entire Complete Money Makeover series.

I love this church.

I love going home on a Sunday after hearing stories of real life change, which isn’t always easy, but in the same breath hearing how people have a great time at EastLake.  Learn about God, practically grow AND have fun on a Sunday?  Apparently it’s possible.

God is doing some amazing things here.  Yep, even in the “downtime” of summer.  If you missed today’s talk, here it is!

Wanting or having nice things is not wrong or materialistic.  Materialism is when your preoccupation with things trumps your desire to follow how God wants you to manage the resources He’s entrusted you with.

We have to come to a point where we start giving credit to God for everything we have.  Don’t compare with what other people have.  We can’t pretend it’s all “ours” and give into pride.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, we shouldn’t feel guilty for the nice things we have, therefore downplaying or poor-mouthing the blessings that we have as if “oh, this is really nothing.  This isn’t that cool…etc.”

Both pride and guilt when it comes to the blessings God’s given us accomplish the same thing: they rob God of the credit as owner and provider!

Instead, we should learn to be content with what we have and where we’re at, giving credit to God for everything we’re blessed with!

Oh, and don’t forget to sign up for a Growth Group before the signups end Sunday night!
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Did you sign up for a growth group? Awesome!  Here are the top eight ways you can make your summer Growth Group experience awesome:

8.  Don’t sell stuff.

Totally cool that you make organic pasta, crafts or whatever you love to do, but this is not the place where you get to sell stuff, recruit for your pyramid scheme or guilt people into buying things they don’t want or need.

7.  Assist the host!

Most study groups will have a snack sign-up sheet.  Sign up for a week to bring snacks/drinks.  This is a great way to show appreciation to your group leader and host for providing a cozy place to have your group.

6.  Extroverts: Listen up!

If you’re like me - totally type A - you can’t wait to answer a question.  But, be intentional about letting others answer.   Here’s a great tip - after you’ve answered, wait until at least three other people have answered before speaking up again!

5.  Introverts: Speak up!

Your group will be a safe place to have a conversation and let people know what you’re thinking!  Be intentional about pitching in!

4.  Don’t gossip.

This is simple to avoid.  If you’re not a part of the solution or part of the problem with something in life, don’t talk about it.  Also, don’t use prayer requests as masked gossip.  I.E. “Dear Jesus, PLEASE help Bertha, she’s just getting drunk and sleeping around every night of the week.”

3.  Leave kids and pets at home.

Unless your group specifically involves kids and/or pets, arrange your own care for the group.  You don’t want to be “that guy” who brings his pet everywhere.  Also unless otherwise noted, childcare isn’t provided during groups.

2.  Don’t be awkward.

You joined this group to meet people and grow, not leach off of other people’s resources.  Don’t put people you hardly know on the spot by asking them steep favors you would have a hard time even asking a long-time friend.

1.  Show up!

This is the absolute best way to get the most out of your group.  Show up!  Your leaders are putting in great effort to make this season of groups the best they can be.  That can’t happen without you!