Service Review: FEB. 8

So I've been pretty stoked about this past Sunday's service at Harvest Bible Chapel Granger.  Haven't had time to write about it because I was away on an incredible songwriting retreat, which is a story in itself.  It was an incredible spirit-filled trip!

Anyways, this past Sunday, the message and whole service was based around Harvest's PILLAR #2: Lifting High the name of Christ in Worship.  Something that I am ultra-passionate about...(obviously).  We basically flip flopped things this Sunday and did the message at the top and then had a musical celebration at the end for about 30 minutes! You can listen to the message here.  Within the congregational singing, I got the opportunity to walk the people through Harvest's philosophy of worship.

I directed them to this picture of the temple, and essentially when I pick songs, all the songs are categorized from 1-5, ONES being outer courts, THREES being inner courts, and FIVES being the Holy of Holies.  Ultimately, with every song service, we want to get to the Holy of Holies, where all eyes are on Christ and we are at His feet.  For example, we wouldn't sing "Here I am to Worship" to close a time of singing, because hopefully we've already established that by the time we sing five songs.  We would sing "Revelation Song," which says absolutely nothing about ME and says everything about CHRIST!


So starting out the song service, I read Psalm 150, declaring "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD," and the chapter speaks of loudness and excitement as we worship.  This explained that we often start with loud, exciting songs because we, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving."  People went to the temple with anticipation of who God was, and with excitement for all He would do.  Then after singing "Lift Up the Name," we read Psalm 51, which is David's prayer and repentance.  Once we celebrate who God is, we can acknowledge our sin in light of His holiness!  So we sing songs like "Surrender," or "Center" or "Enough," which helps us die to ourselves and shows our need for Christ. Finally, after we lay our burdens down, and allow God to cleanse us of our sins, we can reach His feet.  All has been surrendered, all has been confessed(hopefully), and we stand in the presence of a Holy God where nothing else matters but declaring "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty..."

That is an extremely brief look at what I was able to explain in regards to Harvest's philosophy of worship, which I think is awesome.  Truly there is sense of the gospel being declared throughout a time of five songs each week. There is always celebration of who Christ is, as well as an acknowledgment of our sinfulness, and hopefully repentance, and finally facedown, at his feet worship.  Ultimately, we want to decrease so that Christ might increase.  The only way to do this is acknowledge our sinfulness and repent of it, and then fall before Christ's feet for He alone can save!!!

NEW SONG: To The One {Worthy}

David writes in Psalm 27:4~ One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

I long to have that same passion for heaven, where in the light of God's glory, everything I've ever built up on earth will fade away. All that will matter is Christ, and I will fall to my face with the multitudes and finally worship perfectly and wholly! I am so excited for that day, and love songs that turn my attention to the beauty of heaven.

Last Friday night Josh Seller and myself sat down and worshiped through this thought, and the song below poured from our hearts. Josh did it at his church, Harvest Oakville, this past Sunday and tells me it had a great response. I am excited to do it at Harvest Granger, in the weeks to come and pray it gives people a desire to be in the presence of our HOLY, HOLY, HOLY God! Give it a listen and I would love to get some comments about it:)

TO THE ONE {WORTHY} (LIVE) from Joshua Seller on Vimeo.

CHORD CHART in Bb

CHORD CHART in G-(capo)

To The One (Who is Worthy)
Micah Klutinoty & Joshua Seller © 2010

My one desire is to be with You
Delight myself in Your presence Lord
I long to bow before Your throne
And hear well done, My faithful child

And all I’ve gained will fade away, in the light of Your glory
And with the saints, we will proclaim, to One who is Worthy

Holy, Holy, Holy
Worthy is the Lamb that once was slain
Holy, Holy, Holy
To receive all Glory pow’r and praise

You gave me life, and eyes to see
You gave me hope, made me complete
And You will sing, sing over me
A song of joy, and victory!

With all my heart, I will worship You
With all my heart, I will sing You

A LESSON IN WORSHIP FROM THE GREEKS

One of my favorite studies I've ever done was the study of the word "worship" in the New Testament. Several times we see the word "worship," and to us, it has one distinct thought and meaning, but literally in the Greek language, which made up the New Testament, there are three separate words and meanings for our one word, worship. I always found this fascinating because we easily throw this word around today and a majority of the time I would say that it is used to describe music that takes place on a Sunday morning. That is not bad, and the music on Sunday morning is meant for worship, but the Greek translations help us apply this simple word to our everyday life in an array of areas. Ultimately, we know that to worship is to bring God glory and worth....but not just in song! Also, in service, in waking, in sleeping, in eating, in drinking, etc. Read below the three different words and meanings that in the Greek, make up our one word, worship.

PROSKUNEO- to kiss like a dog licking a master's hand, to fawn or crouch, to prostrate one-self in homage, to reverence, to worship

*Matthew 28:9- "And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them saying "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him!"

*John 4:24- "God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

*Revelation 5:14- "The the four living creatures said, "AMEN!" and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever."

SEBOMAI- to adore, devout, revere, religious, worship

*Acts 18:7- "And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, who's house was next to the synagogue."

*Acts 18:3- "saying: "this fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."

*Acts 16:4- "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul."

LATREUO- to minister, render religious homage, serve, to do service, worshiper

*Acts 24:11- "because you may ascertain that it has been no more than twelve days since I went up to worship."

*Philippians 3:3- "For we are his circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."

*Hebrews 10:2- "For then, would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have no more consciousness of sins."

Ultimately, worship could really be broken down as worth-ship, where the ultimate meaning is giving worth to God. But, as we look at the three Greek words above, all translated to English as worship, we see how our giving worth to God is done in more ways than one. Proskuneo gives us our word, prostrate, with the sense that we bow before God in all his greatness as we worship. Sebomai is an adoration that is devoted religiously to worshiping God in everything we do; (by religiously I mean constantly, just as Lydia constantly adored and worshiped God with her life.) And Latreuo means we serve out of worship for God...or we go with the intent to worship God.

Each of the words above bring worth to God in worship, but describe different postures for our worship. At my church, Harvest Bible Chapel Granger, we often say we are to worship, walk, and work for Christ. It's funny to me that in a sense, the Greek words for worship cover these things. All three are done with the intent to bring God glory and give Him worth. We need to worship facedown in reverence (proskuneo), walk as worshipers adoring Christ in all we do (sebomai), and work for God with the intent to worship Him and give Him glory in our service (latreuo)! The depth of this simple everyday word to us, according to the inspired original language of God's New Testament, spurs me on to worship God more in every aspect of my life. I hope it does the same for you! I hope this shows you that in everything God is to be worshiped, and that only comes through surrender. May we surrender our lives wholly, so that in everything we say, do, eat, or drink God might be worshiped.

"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen" Jude 24-25

HARVEST GRANGER 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

Today we celebrated one years worth of ministry and growth as Harvest Bible Chapel Granger! It's hard to believe one year has past since the launch date last year in February. Since then God has done so much. By grace, people have come to know Christ Jesus as Lord, many have been challenged and discipled, weekly we have lifted high the name of Christ in worship, and we have seen God work through unapologetic preaching and prayer.

One year ago on the launch day, which I was not yet a part of, the congregation sang the song "God of This City." Just as the song says, "Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city," we are believing God that though He has done a countless amount of great things in this first year, many more things will come in the city of Granger! We are not ashamed of the Gospel and we will stand firmly on it, proclaiming it, knowing that it is by His Word people hear the truth.

In today's service we had a celebration all in the name of Christ. Within our worship, we had a time of spontaneous testimony, where people stood and filled in the statement, "In light of Harvest Granger's first year, I am thankful for ________...." It was incredible to hear people's testimony of where God has brought them since coming to Harvest Granger. One woman stood and shared that since coming to Harvest Granger, she has come to personally know the Lord Jesus as her Savior! Praise God.

Below is a video celebrating our first Anniversary and one year at Harvest Bible Chapel Granger. Please watch and Praise God with us!

Harvest Granger 1 Year from Micah Klutinoty on Vimeo.

Joshua Seller: Passionate Reverence

This weekend, I have the privilege of leading worship alongside Josh Seller, Worship Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Oakville, Canada. I have not met Josh in person yet, and am really looking forward to our meeting. We have gotten to know one another a bit, through blogging, emailing, long-distance song sharing, etc...From what I've seen and read, Josh has a joyful heart, he is a great worship leader, he's fun, and I know we share many interests, especially that of the Church and their worship of Jesus Christ!

One interest we share is that of song-writing, particularly for the local church and congregations gathered in the name of Christ. Josh is an excellent song writer, whose passion for God's Word is greatly expressed in His songs. The picture shown is the cover for His new EP, Passionate Reverence, that will launch in the near future. The EP will include three original songs, one of which, "Song of the Angels," was elected Scripture Song of the Year in 2009! Along with the three songs, will be video tutorials and chord charts for the use of the listener in the local church. Here's a quick video of Josh sharing his heart as he prepares this EP as well as some behind the scenes in the studio.

In the future I will let you know how you can get your hands on this incredible resource for worship!