The Word of God

Christianity can sometimes be distorted and compressed into a list of habits and beliefs that make someone a "better person."

Tori and I were just watching a television show where the arch nemesis comes back a season later with his act cleaned up, and the only noticeable change is he quotes a catchy scripture and has a cross on his wall.

The word Christian means "Little-Christ" or "Christ-Like." Christianity is the life-long pursuit of the character of the Son of God. It's the unending search for a deeper relationship with the Father. And it's the living out of the kingdom of heaven with the Holy Spirit's power.

And just as God is real, there is a real devil. No matter what popular opinion is, there's a hungry lion that is seeking people to devour. But, he has been defeated by the power of Christ's death and resurrection and we're called to live that out by waging spiritual warfare against his schemes. We've been given a myriad of defensive equipment to ward off his attacks:

• Belt of Truth 
• Breastplate of Righteousness 
• Shoes of Readiness given by the Gospel of Peace 
• Shield of Faith 
• Helmet of Salvation

But we've only been given one weapon to go on the offensive with. 

• The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God

We can't even do battle with out own words. It's only the Word of God that makes any difference or takes any ground.

And if description in Ephesians isn't enough for you, Hebrews 4:12 says "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."


The Word of God was what created the world. God spoke, and it happened. And in the beginning of John, Jesus is described as the Word. Him who was with God and was God.

God's word is the cornerstone on which everything we know rests. If we fail to build our lives on this rock, everything will crumble.

So it's vital (that means necessary for life) (meaning you're going to be spiritually dead without it) that you not only read your Bible, but live off of it. Ingest it. Eat it. Metabolize it. Chew it.

Jesus said that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.  God's Word is be-all and end-all in Christianity. If you're trying to seek God without looking in the pages of the Bible every single day, you're looking in the wrong places, and you'll find the wrong gods.

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How do you get to know someone better? You find out about a different part of their life! If you only know them as a work friend, and you don't ask them about their life at home, your relationship will never take the next step.

Start reading about who God is as He relates to different people. Take a look as this list. It shows how Jesus is revealed in every book of the Bible.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but that doesn't mean that we can know all there is to know about him in one sitting, or one year, or one lifetime.

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And so how do you seek God in His Word? Where do you start?

TIP #1: Begin to cultivate a love of God's Word. Read Psalms 119 and hear what he had to say about the word of God. Spend every day reading God's word. Put it up on your doorframe and facebook page. But more importantly put it deep inside you heart. That means memorize it.

TIP #2: Simultaneous reading. I used to start the "Read-the-Bible-in-one-year" plans and I would get to about half the old testament and quit because it wore me down. I was laboriously reading all of the long stories without finding how it applied to my life or seeing how Christ fulfilled that covenant.

Then I picked up a book that suggested this strategy: read a little bit out of each major section each day. So now I split my Bible into 4 sections. Psalms/Proverbs, the rest of the Old Testament, Matthew/Mark/Luke/John, the rest of the New Testament. What this allows me to do is still read the same amount each day, but not get stressed out in the laws of Leviticus for three weeks.

TIP #3: Talk about what you read. Make it less of a hobby and more of a source of life. Every time I find out something cool in a new video game or I get told a funny story by a friend, I pass it on to others. We should be doing that all the time with the Word of God! Otherwise, we aren't putting enough weight on the things the Bible says.

TIP #4: Resolve. Decide in your heart that you're going to spend time in God's Word. The true test of whether or not you're been set on fire for God is this: Can you do it when it gets boring? Can you do it when it's "hard to find anything that means anything to you?" Can you seek God when it means He'll ask for all of your luxury, all your leisure, and all your recreation?

TIP #5: Obey. This is more of a tip for after you've spent time reading, but it really shouldn't be left out. Don't just be a hearer of the Word, but be a doer. If you read in Proverbs that a trustworthy man keeps a secret, then you had better not go around gossipping to all of your friends. If you find out that Jesus wasn't ok with living a pious, prideful life then you had better not serve on your worship team with one ounce of self-righteousness or pride.

Comment below on any other tips you have. Also, what do you do in your personal scripture reading? And how are you doing with memorization and with talking about God's Word with your friends?

Setting Up A Worship Team

My assignment for my "Lifestyle of a Worshiper" class was to write a guide for a church plant or new worship pastor to set up a worship team. Let me know what you think and what grade you think I should get. ;-)

Step 1 – Pre-team planning

The first thing to consider when setting up a worship team is vision. Find out where do you want your worship team to be in 6 weeks, 6 months and 2 years. Why do you need a worship team in your church? The church is probably doing worship recordings or videos, what would a team add that you aren’t already doing. Dwell on questions like “What your goals?” and “Why move from where we are now?” In Habakkuk 2:2, God says, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” Writing down your vision and purpose statement is important. It makes it easier to communicate and tweak with your pastor and later, when you’re caught up in all of the technical problems and week-to-week chaos, you’ll be anchored in your purpose. During this process, talk to other worship leaders and get their advice. Do a study on worship in the Bible. Read books on worship leading and it’s purpose and method. Make sure that you are taking into consideration the needs of your church and your pastor as your hear from other sources. Your worship team will without a doubt look different from any other church’s team.

Step 2 – Lead by example

After your vision is written out and prayed over by you and your pastor, begin to lead worship by yourself. For at least a few weeks, lead the group with just one instrument. As your congregation gets used to the freedom that comes from breaking out past a set recording and order of song, you will begin to execute the vision that you and your pastor laid out. Put into practice the things you’ve written down. If you wanted the song list to go along with the pastor’s sermon, do that. If you wanted times of “Selah” or prophetic song begin ministering in that area. This way, when people join you, it’s not from a relationship of “Ok guys, what do you want to do this week.” Instead, you come to people and say, “This is what we’re doing, can you help me out?” People become part of something that is already moving in one direction instead of being pulled in five directions from the start.

Step 3 – Adding to your team

The members of the worship team have just as much potential for influence on members and visitors of your church as the pastor or worship leader has. They are usually in front of people just as much, and they are placed in front of people as examples for proper behavior in church. If these people are exuding warmth, excitement and passion, then chances are your audience will pick up on that same attitude. If they are bored or distracted, the people in the church will assume that response is acceptable. Make sure that the first people you add to your team are spiritually strong and mature even if their musical talent isn’t as strong. This will develop a spiritual culture that new members to your team will pick up on. Take this slow, as it is one of the most important considerations. When approaching people, first assess their spiritual maturity and musical talent before cementing them into the foundation of your team. Invite them to come over to your house and worship with you, or have them lead worship with you for a service other then the main service. This can continue for as long as necessary to be sure that you know him as a Christian and a musician and to make sure he catches the vision for the team. Make sure that this person has the heart of a worshiper and not just the head knowledge. Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says ‘These people come near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”

Step 4 – Developing your team.

Don’t be satisfied with just getting by. Whatever isn’t growing is probably shrinking. You want to give your best and that involves getting your team to the best they can be. Make sure to develop them spiritually as the weeks progress. Don’t get into a habit of practicing and playing, practicing and playing. That’s a “maintenance mind-style.” God calls us to go from glory to glory. Regularly sit down with your written vision and purpose statement and come up with a few things to work on that gets you closer to your goal. Address problems quickly before they spread. Maintain a team that is pulling it’s lowest points up rather than a team that is continually deteriorating. Challenge the members of your team to higher musical feats. Practice things that are hard. Make musicianship an act of worship instead of a necessity to get the congregation singing in the same key at the same tempo. Make commitment to the team important. Respond to issues like showing up late to practice quickly. A team that coasts through services is not worshiping at it’s best.

Step 5 – Handling a large team and a large church

There will come a time when you have enough musicians to go to multiple teams. Make sure that the teams are in constant communication and fellowship. If you have multiple worship leaders, meet with them together regularly to go over the vision and current goals for the team and the service. I suggest shuffling your team members and leaders around regularly. Discourage any talk of preference between teams or leaders. You want to make sure that you are one cohesive team that is building each other up. If your church service has two services, play similar songs and styles for each service. Separating your leaders and styles between first and second services is a good way to divide the church into demographics that dislike each other’s music style or personality preference. Constantly blending the teams will avoid gossip and favoritism. Also, this will expose your team members to each other’s talent and skills. Shuffling team members usually learn from each other more than set teams do. Make sure that your large group of musicians are following the same plan. Meet with the entire worship team regularly to discuss the vision for the musical and spiritual growth of the team. Be proactive with your finger constantly on the pulse of your teams. If the size of your team is causing you to miss problems that come up consider scaling back.

Setting up a worship team is all about vision and communication. Making sure that you know what you want and communicate that effectively to your leadership, your worship team and your pastor.

Peter Webb