There's a well-known worship song that says: "every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise." While the term 'blessing' is often thoughtlessly used, it refers to a deep happiness or gift that God brings into our lives. Hannah, a Hebrew woman we encounter in 1 Samuel, was someone who knew about both receiving …
Study and Worship
This post continues my reflections on Dallas Willard's book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. As a follow-up to yesterday's post on disciplines of abstinence, here I look at two basic disciplines of engagement. These two spiritual practices, study and worship, are foundational to the active participation in the life with God. Study In study, we …
Louie Giglio: 2 statements from #fantastical
Here are two statements from Louie Giglio today that stuck with me after hearing him speak. One of the things I love about Louie is that he leads me toward a greater awe of God after I hear from him. We are cosmologically insignificant but we are divinely prized. I sing because I live in …
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Bob Kauflin on Culture and Worship at #fantastical
Here are my notes from a break-out session at David Crowder's Fantastical Church Music Conference by Bob Kauflin entitled: "The Functional Limits of Creativity - How Innovative Can We Be with the Gospel." 1. Can creativity exceed helpful balance? 2. Can creativity turn from something helpful to something harmful? 3. Has God put any limits …
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Facedown: A Lesson in Humility
Not too long ago, I was speaking on the topic of humility. That is a challenging message for me to give because I so often find pride more evident in my life than humility. As I prepared for the message, I found that God was giving me all sorts of opportunities to be humbled in …
Matthew Erickson 