A WORSHIP TIME IN GRANGER!

So a couple months ago, we filmed a worship time on a Sunday morning, particularly for the electric guitarist school audition video. The sound quality turned out pretty decent for being on a little camera and I was excited to hear: 1.) the band from off the stage and 2.) the congregation singing! I wish we would have panned the congregation, but its just a still camera throughout the set, but I was brought close to tears as a gym full of worshiping voices declared "I'll stand with arms high and hearts abandoned..."

The set in this video is: You Never Let Go, Blessed Be Your Name, The Stand, My King(chorus)

I praise God for my church family and for all that he is doing in Granger. If you have a free 20 min, worship with us!

Service In Granger from Micah Klutinoty on Vimeo.

CHRIST IN ME THE HOPE OF GLORY

I have the pleasure and opportunity in this season to lead the youth at Harvest Bible Chapel Granger verse by verse through the book of Colossians in a study called "Standing Strong." This week we are discussing Colossians 1:15-29, talking about the Preeminence of Christ; the thought that Jesus Christ, is far more excellent, higher exalted, and far superior to anyone or anything, which is described incredibly in Colossians 1:15-20. Have you read that passage? Here You go:

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

What an incredible passage concerning the Son of God, Jesus Christ! My friend Ryan mentions here that this passage in the New Testament is actually a hymn of the early church. What a powerful song of truth, doctrine, and worship!

Unfortunately, I believe, our society has lost some of their need for these truths of Jesus. Jesus has become everything but God to "christians" today. Jesus is our homeboy, and our friend, and a rebel from the past...etc. What about the fact that he is "the image of God," or "in Him" alone "all things hold together?" What about, "all things were created FOR Him?" There is your purpose right there. Your life was created FOR Christ...to walk in him, to worship him, to work for HIM!

But the best truth is coming! We do not have what it takes to live for Christ! We are sinners by nature, who's good deeds appear to God as filthy rags (which literally means, used menstrual rags.) GROSS?!? I know, but that is literally how the GOOD things you do look to God, thus proving that we do not have what it takes to live the Christian life...apart from Christ!

The beauty of Jesus as God and as our Savior is that it didn't stop with his death on the cross. It didn't even stop with His resurrection. It stops with the fulfillment of the prophecy from Ezekiel 36:27, which says, "And I will put my Spirit in You, and cause you to walk in my ways!"

Christ in ME, the HOPE OF GLORY!!!

Colossians 1 goes on to speak of how Christ can now be in us, which is the hope of glory! We are not alone to walk the Christian life! Christ has given Himself fully to us that we might carry out the Christian life. The hope of glory describes the hope of displaying the characteristics of Christ and walking in a way that is "stable, steadfast, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel"(Col. 1:21-23)

Embrace the fact that the God of the universe is not just a cosmic kill-joy who sits in the heavens and passes judgment. God is the three-in-one who uses his Spirit to convict us, and puts his Son in us that we might walk according to His word, and loves us as a Father loves his one and only child! Christ died that you might have the hope of glory...Now worship, walk, and work accordingly!

THE FATHER'S SONG

I picked up Matt Maher CD this afternoon while I was making a Wal*Mart run with my wife. Popped it in when I got in the car and began to listen. Song number 3, "Sing Over Your Children," I think is awesome. Read the lyrics below:
Verse 1:

I flirt with the world

It steals my love for You
My fear grips my faith
And I am left Unmoved
But You Stop my heart
Your voice fills the dark
Your love is the spark that lights this life
And so we rise

Chorus:
Out of the depths you cry
“Come and be satisfied”
Father you sing
Father, you sing over Your children
Let us see through Your eyes
We are Your great delight
Father you sing
Father, you sing over Your children

Verse 2:
You quiet the storm
Inside my shipwrecked soul
Your Spirit will lead
It calls the wayward home
At the sound of Your name
Our sin is washed away
In Christ we’re crucified
In You we die, in You we rise

Bridge:
And we’re singing along
Your daughters and sons
We’re Singing Your song

We are Your children.

I have been aware of Zephaniah 3:17 for sometime which says, "The Lord Your God is with you; He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with His love, he will rejoice over you with singing!" This particular passage is speaking of Israel, when they reach the Father in heaven, but the principle is that God is overjoyed by the salvation that we have in Him.

Does it make you scratch your head when you think about God singing and rejoicing because you are saved and will live in His presence? What an incredible thought! Not only did the God of the universe save our filthy, pathetic lives by grace, and not only does he love us UNCONDITIONALLY, but he rejoices in the fact that we know Him! The God who deserves our rejoicing, rejoices over us! This should revolutionize the way you view our sovereign and powerful God. Sure He is powerful, and high above all else and "sits in the heavens and does as he pleases," but he longs for us to be his beloved children!

I love the lyrics above because in verse 1, Matt tells of the struggles life brings. Temptation and struggle is all around us, but the love of Christ is greater than all! In God the Father we can be fully satisfied, and through His eyes He sees great delight, when He should see worthless sinners! What an incredible truth! And verse 2 says, "At the sound of your name, our sins are washed away!" The unconditional love of the Father sees us as pure and spotless before Him, then REJOICES!

I do not know what this truth will be like when I reach heaven and the Father rejoices, but I know it cannot be exaggerated with words. This is what was on my mind, so thanks for reading. I hope it makes you think about how great the Father's love is for His children. It's not just a "good, their saved" love, it is an ecstatic, overjoyed love that should cause you to respond in overjoyed worship!

Just Stop and Think!

DO YOU GOT THE JOY!?!

I've been reading and studying up for the small group I lead tonight, and we are currently going through the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. We are going through Chapter two tonight entitled You Might Not Make It Through This Chapter, the idea being that any of us could die at any moment! This chapter is a great reminder of the JOY that we are to have in our life on earth.

One of the questions we will answer tonight is, "are you a naturally joyful person or are you a natural worrier?" Well, what would you say? How about the circumstances you are facing right now? Do they leave you worrying, or do they cause you to run to Jesus to find joy within the hardship? Hopefully, the hardships in your life causes you to run to God, thus producing joy, thus producing steadfastness(James 1)!!!

Now I know this is all easier said than done, but I believe it is true. If we understand that God is our Father, who loves us like his only child, then we will understand that he cares deeply about where we are. When we center life on Him, the author and finisher of life, JOY will come! As humans we have a tendency to look at ourselves and our circumstances and ask "Why Me God?" The proper question for us to ask is, "Why would a perfect, holy God ever give me a good day? Why would a perfect, holy God ever call me, try me, or use me?" Ultimately, we deserve a lot worse circumstances than we will ever face, but by grace, God allows hardship in our lives to strengthen us in Him, and cause us to run to Him, finding Joy and Relief!

So I encourage you to make much of God, wherever you are right now. Let JOY govern your life because of the hope you have in Christ! Colossians 1:13 states, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." There is the dose of JOY that you need in your life. You were on the path to hell, and God transferred you from that path to His path where there is complete redemption. If this is true for you in your life, the JOY you should feel right now should crush the pain of any circumstance!!!

The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing God wants to be glorified. -Francis Chan

Rejoice in the Lord Always, again I say REJOICE!!!- Phil. 4:4

So Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God- 1 Cor. 10:31

There are some great reminders that I try to hide in my heart to remind me to be a person of JOY until I meet the creator! Life is but a vapor, and yours, and mine could end within the next minute if God wanted it too. If you know Christ personally, your time in heaven will be spent glorifying God, so you might as well start now, in everything that you do! Have a JOY in your life that causes people to notice the difference in you; and that difference is CHRIST! Our gain will soon come when our vapor of a life ends, but for now "live as Christ!"