Category: Expression

Vertical Expression

“Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” Psalm 100:2 (ESV) What are you passionate about? Perhaps you get excited about engaging in life-giving activities such as playing golf, fishing, shopping, scrap-booking, or painting. Maybe your passion is decorating your home or working in the yard. It would take less than thirty seconds to discover your passion. Whatever you are passionate about will surface rather quickly as you interact with people. God wants you to bring your passion to public worship. Whenever you assemble with other believers in a corporate setting to worship God, you can choose to engage or to totally disengage. God gives you the freedom to passionately pursue Him in public worship. God desires your passionate worship and God deserves your passionate worship. It is so easy to direct our passion toward so many other things in life and then bring God the leftovers when we come to a worship service with other believers. We can enter a beautiful worship center filled with fellow believers and drift into a dormant posture for worship. Instead of giving God our best, we can so easily be distracted by the tugs of this life. It it possible to worship our work and fail to work at our worship designed to express our love to God. Do you worship the Lord with gladness? Is there passion in your expression of worship? Come into His presence with joyful songs. If you have been delivered from the flames of hell and placed on the road that leads to life, then you have a song to sing. If you have been saved by the grace of God and become a citizen of heaven, then you have a song to sing. Bring your passion to worship. Sing with appreciation in your heart for all that God has brought you through. Passionately express your worship to the One who gave you eternal life! Drawing Near, Stephen Trammell Lead Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Expression Praise Worship

Vertical Expression

“Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Psalm 100:2 (NIV) What are you passionate about? Perhaps you get excited about engaging in life-giving activities such as playing golf, fishing, shopping, scrap-booking, or painting. Maybe your passion is decorating your home or working in the yard. It would take less than thirty seconds to discover your passion. Whatever you are passionate about will surface rather quickly as you interact with people. God wants you to bring your passion to public worship. Whenever you assemble with other believers in a corporate setting to worship God, you can choose to engage or to totally disengage. God gives you the freedom to passionately pursue Him in public worship. God desires your passionate worship and God deserves your passionate worship. It is so easy to direct our passion toward so many other things in life and then bring God the leftovers when we come to a worship service with other believers. We can enter a beautiful worship center filled with fellow believers and drift into a dormant posture for worship. Instead of giving God our best, we can so easily be distracted by the tugs of this life. It it possible to worship our work and fail to work at our worship designed to express our love to God. Do you worship the Lord with gladness? Is there passion in your expression of worship? Come into His presence with joyful songs. If you have been delivered from the flames of hell and placed on the road that leads to life, then you have a song to sing. If you have been saved by the grace of God and become a citizen of heaven, then you have a song to sing. Bring your passion to worship. Sing with appreciation in your heart for all that God has brought you through. Passionately express your worship to the One who gave you eternal life! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell

Expression Interruptions Serving

Interruptions (3)

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Matt 14:14 (NIV) What if you turned an interruption, such as Hurricane Ike, into an opportunity to express God’s love by serving others? Jesus faithfully served others during His earthly ministry. He put His compassion in action. The ultimate demonstration of servitude is the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus put our needs before His own. “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love.” Gal 5:13 (NIV) “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Phil 2:4 (NIV) Look to see where God is at work and take the initiative to join Him in His activity. Be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus this week and serve others. Find a need and meet it. Put the needs of others before your own. Treat the next person you come into contact with as the most important person on the planet. Explore ways to be a blessing to that person. Express God’s love by serving others. May others see Jesus in you! Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor

Corporate Worship Expression Worship

Bringing Your Worship (3)

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Heb 10:23-25 (NIV) God desires a common expression of our worship to Him. You were made to worship God. Your private worship nurtures and expresses your abiding relationship with Christ. Your public worship with other believers is the common expression of worship. God is not looking for every believer to express worship the exact same way. God wants you to express your worship to Him based on your unique personality and temperament. What does your public worship look like? How do you express your love to God in worship during a public gathering of believers? Are you reserved or outwardly expressive? Do you use physical gestures such as raising your hands in surrender or standing or kneeling? Does your corporate worship environment help you connect with God in worship or does it inhibit your worship? I have often heard that you are not to come to church to worship, but to come to church worshiping. The corporate worship experience should be an outflow of your daily private worship experiences. The question then becomes: Are you bringing your worship to church? Spend some time assessing the difference between your private and public worship. When do you feel most connected to God? When do you sense the most freedom and the most passion in expressing your love to God in worship? Maybe a worthy goal would be to bring your public worship up to where your private worship is or to bring your private worship up to where your public worship is depending on which one is more engaging. Pursuing God, Stephen Trammell Executive Pastor