John 4:19-26

"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"

Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on the tis mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming-indeed it's here now- when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming-the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus told her, "I AM the Messiah!"

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The Scorecard

Soooooo, I finished three of my four finals today!!!! Yippeeeeeee! One more to go. I'm pretty sure that I did extremely well on all three of them. I'm sure of this because I actually knew the answers to all of the questions! So, the scorecard reads Robbie-3, 1st semester of college -0, undecided-1! (updated scorecard available after 2:00 p.m. Thursday)

A very cool thing happened to me today. For those of you who know me, you know that I am a writer, as well as a musician. As a matter of fact, one of my majors is English. I've written a novel, and am working on my second one. Today, my English proffessor asked me to stay after the final. She wanted to talk to me. Uh-oh! Immediately I thought, "What have I done?", right? Well, with a little bit of nervousness, I stepped out into the hall and waited. She began to remind me of something she'd mentioned early on in the semester. My school has a publication that comes out once a year and gets used all throughout the following year by the entire English department. It is a compilation of the best essays and journals of the students from the previous year. This, from what I understand, includes all levels of English classes. And I believe, though I could be mistaken, that she said they only pick ten. Today, she asked me if I would mind if they published one of my journals! Of course I said no. I'm holding out for a book deal! JUST KIDDING! I was very excited and said yes. So, I will now be, officially, a published author!

I share this with you all, not to brag, but to say that it feels really good when you are validated for something you've accomplished. So often we talk about this world and being "of the world" in our Christian walks. Mostly we hear that you should be "in the world" and not "of it". I agree... from the biblical standpoint and what Jesus taught. However, this does not mean you shouldn't be happy with yourself for accomplishing something that betters you. God honors hard work. He is our Father, and just like any parent, He's proud of us when we succeed. What we have to remember is, He's given us the ability to do the things we do. And everything we do should be done to honor Him. So, I would just like to say, "Thank you, Father, for the gifts you've given me. I pray that everything I do would bring you honor and glory."

Blessings,
-Robbie

Monday, April 28, 2008

orange sherbet

thank you all for the recipies! i find it amusing that you all would take the time to actually look it up and send me the "how to's"! you all crack me up! i am so blessed to have people in my life that make me laugh.

while i love the fact that you all make me laugh, i do hope that the other five questions have caused you to open your bibles and read God's word. whether you answer the questions by posting or not, i hope that you will ask yourselves internally. Alicia, thanks for the comment. I miss and love you and Rob dearly and we need to hang out! The pool's gonna be open soon!!!!!!!!

to all my friends at The Journey, Peace!

-robbie

Saturday, April 26, 2008

How Do You Worship?

Hello, all. My trip to Atlanta was successful. We played for a married couple's conference at a place called Woodstock, strangely enough! Anyway, I'm back and right back into the mess that is my life! I listened to some cool stuff on the way there and back. Ed Young and Erwin McManus. Two Amazing speakers, from two completely different churches, both knocking it out of the park! You all should check them out. Just follow the links.

Last month, I started reading the Gospels again. I'm getting ready to host a bible study for a few guys and I thought, what better place to start, right? Here's the cool thing. I've read the Gospels... I can't tell you how many times. It amazes me that, each time I read them, God always gives me new insight on something.

John 4:19-24 is that something. Click the link and read it. It's goooooood stuff.

Here are some questions I would love you all to answer. You can post your comments or just email me. If you are on my praise team and tech team, I really would like you to answer these. We will be talking about them over the next few weeks. God Bless and I love you all.

1. What does Jesus mean when he says, "Salvation is of the Jews?"

2. If the Father is "seeking such to worship Him", does that mean that He is not interested in those who do not worship Him in truth and spirit? Can't you just sing the songs and be a good Christian? (think about this...it's kind of a trick question)

3. What does it mean to worship in truth and spirit?

4. Is worship something we do on Sundays or is it more?

5. What is your job as a worshiper?

6. How do they make orange sherbet? (I just always wanted to know that!)

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Atlanta

Today i finished my first semester of school!!!! I'm so excited that I made it. Now I just have to figure out how to register for next sememster! Lol.

When I finished my last class, I headed to the parking lot, jumped in the truck, and headed for Atlanta. (No, I'm not here partying!) I'm actually here to play for a married couple's conference for one of the North Point campuses. It was a pretty uneventful drive, but on the way down, I listened to my Ipod and the new Erwin McManus teaching series. The title of was, "Everyone Matters". Very cool! If you don't know who Erwin is, or what Mosaic is, please click on the link. You should check it out. He's one of the biggest Christian Circut speakers out there.

Anyway, I made it here with no problems, except traffic! But that's to be expected from Atlanta. Right now, I'm sitting in my hotel room writing this post and wondering, "What the heck am I doing for dinner? I'M STARVING!!!!!"

love you all, cya when i get back!

Robbie

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

remote controls

when i woke up this morning, i felt rested for the first time in almost three days. most of you know that the Ignite conference was this weekend. it was an awesome experience, and i want to thank everyone who was involved from the bottom of my heart. you all were amazing, and erik and i couldn't have done it without you.

my wife and i had a fun discussion this morning! the batteries in the remote downstairs went dead. i asked her where she'd put the new ones. (i knew she had bought some at wall mart this week.) she told me they were gone. all being used, she said. i said, well, guess we're going to have to wait. she looks at me like i'm stupid. "why don't you just go get the ones out of the one upstairs?" she says. i say, "because i already did that the last time. there are no batteries in that one."

now, here's where i have to stop and explain some things! two years ago, we got a DVR. when we did, the satelite guy showed up, installed all of the equiptment,and gave us a new reciever and new remote! which means, for those of you who are getting ahead of me, we have two remotes exactly alike, and one new one!

ok, let's continue. for this to make sense, you need to know that i was downstairs in our bedroom last night doing homework. she was upstairs with cason getting him ready for bed. i never went back upstairs before i went to bed.

i say, "i already took the batteries outta that one". she said, "no you didn't. i was using it last night. you were asleep when i came downstairs." i say, "no, i mean when the batteries in this one died last time...i took the ones outta that one then."
again, she's looking at me like i'm stupid. she says, "so just go get that one upstairs and use it."

now meantime, cason, our son is waiting for someone, anyone, to turn on Mickey Mouse!

i say, "that one doesn't work." she looks at me like i'm a complete and total idiot. she says, "am i speaking mandarin chinese? i just used it last night! it works!"

at this point this is getting ridiculous. we both go upstairs, so i can show her that she's wrong, and so she can prove that i'm an idiot (and let's be honest. most of the time, i am an idiot!)

the moral of the story is this: guys, women don't care about remotes, batteries, sportscenter, or anything that we love about our TVs. she was right. the remote upstairs works. (for that TV.) she had no idea, nor did she care, that i was talking about the other remote, the one that's been in the drawer for two years that went to the old reciever. what they do care about is communication. i don't care if you're doctor phil. if you're a guy, you need to work on your communication with your wife. Christ said we need to love our wives like He loves the Church. the Church is His bride and He would do anything for her. as a matter of fact, He did. He gave his life, so that she may have life eternal.

remotes don't matter. the woman you pledged your love to does. let's all work on our communication and let her know how much we love her. I love you Tiffany!

God Bless!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Band Tryouts...Check this Out!

If you are like the following tryout you are about to see...don't ask to be a part of The Journey praise band...please!


Thursday, April 17, 2008

intercession III

I had lunch with a friend of mine today, Sawn Allen. Great guy, for a cop! just kiddin' Shawn. Anyway, we talked a lot about the Ignite Conference and what God was doing with it. He's going to be our MC, our "Ryan Seacrest" (is that how you spell Seacrest?). Towards the end of our time we began to talk about all the awesome things that are going on, and about to be going on, at The Journey. We kinda got into this discussion of intercession. When I mentioned to him that Satan was THE angel of worship, he looked at me and said, "Where'd you hear that?!". In the book of Ezekiel, particularly verse 18, you see him giving a judgement, basically, that the LORD has given him for the king of Tyre. In this judgement, he is comparing the king to Satan; describing Satan. In this particular verse he mentions the "unrighteousness of your trade". And this is where we get our first glimpse of what I'm talking about.

Now, I've heard many people talk about it, the book, Dante's Inferno, mentions it, and many scholars and authors have written about the fact that Satan, or Lucifer as he was called before his exile from the kingdom of God, was the Worship Leader of Heaven. Both the books of Ezekiel, and Isaiah, talk about Lucifer and what he looked like. Depending on which translation you use, you will see that his wings (remember he is an angel) were as pipes from an organ, long and shiny, reflecting like gold (I'm paraphrasing here!). And I'm currently on a hunt through the Bible to find the piece of scripture where it actually talks about Lucifer's role as the rockstar. I know I've seen other scripture where it says his entire body was a musical instrument. I just need to find it! And I will!

Until then, we need to keep in mind that Jesus talks about worship in Heaven and the type of worshipers that the Father seeks to worship him. John 4:23 tells us that Jesus says true worshipers, those who worship in spirit and in truth, will be the ones that God listens to. WOW! Don't you want to be that guy? I do! Can you immagine the power that you have bestowed upon you when you worship God with truth and in spirit? You have the power to interceed on behalf of those, your brothers and sisters, who may not even know him yet. And if Lucifer was the worhsip leader, can you immagine how infuriated he is when he sees those of us who worship in truth and spirit? You have to understand, scripture says (Ezekiel again) he was THE MOST annionted cherub in Heaven. He had access to the mountain of GOD. He had God's ear. And now, we do.

The scriptures say that Lucifer was the most spectacular created being in the world; God's most annointed. But the scriptures also say that he is only an angel, worship leader or not, and I have authority over the angels. You do too. Read the scritpures. So, if God made Lucifer his most beautiful, spectacular, most annointed creation... and then scripture says I'm more revered than even the angels, and He makes everything glorious, and I am His, then in the fantastic words of David Crowder, "What does that make me!"

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Ignite Conference

ok, i lied! well, not really....ok, yeah, i lied!

i'm not going to talk about Satan and worship today. i'll do that tomorrow. today i'm going to talk about the Ignite conference and Ignite Humanity, all of which is consuming my every waking moment this week!!! But that's a good thing.

This Saturday, starting at 9:00 a.m., Erik Reed and I (the co-founders of Ignite Humanity) are hosting a conference at New Hope Baptist Church. YOU NEED TO BE THERE!!!!! it's going to be a blast. if you want to know more, just click the link!

so today, i wake up to my son inches from my face, pinching my nose, hollaring in his sweet little two-year-old voice, "Wake Up DADDY!!!". the next thing out of his mouth?... "I wanna go Ashton's house!" to find out who Ashton is, check out my friends, the Perry's blog.

the next forty minutes of my life is a broken record: ME: we can't go to Ashton's house, you have to go to school today! (pre-school) CASON: daddy, i wanna go Ashton's house! ME: we can't go to Ashton's house, you have to go to school today! CASON: daddy, i wanna go Aston's house!... you get the picture.

so here's my thought for the day. why is it after you become a parent, you are willing to sit and talk to a two-year-old who has zero comprehension skills and yet, you will continue to do the Abbot and Costello skit with them for almost an hour, beleiving that somehow God will intervine and make them understand? this is what your mother refered to when she said, "I can't wait until you have kids!"

God Bless!

intercession II

so, we left off with a cliffhanger! i love them. anyone who watches "Lost" loves a good cliffhanger! in my last post, i had some ideas as to why we may feel disconnected from worhsip. i didn't get into them, but i told you i had them. so, here it goes.

i said that all throughout the bible, we find talk about intercession. Moses interceeded on behalf of the Isrealites, the book of Samuel talks about the Philistines being defeated through intercession and sacrifice, and Joel prophesied about the intercession of worshipers, moving in front of the army. AHHHHH! now that one really interests me. why? well, because i'm a worship leader. so, me and some of the people from my praise team got together for lunch the other day. we had a great talk about what was going on at The Journey. we've had some incredible worship these last couple weeks. everyone has been telling us how much God has been ministering to them. and we've felt it too. but this Sunday, it was different. and it's happened several times. here's how it goes: we meet in the morning and pray together, before we do anything else. during that prayer time, we ask God to use us however He sees fit. we ask him to help us remove ourselves and just be a vessel that He can work through. and what do you know, we begin to lead worship and everything feels weird. the band's firing on all cylinders. the tech team is right in sync with us. the atmosphere is great. the people we're looking out at have their hands raised, their eyes are closed, and they truly seem to be worhsiping. but we feel completely disconnected. so why don't we feel that annointing, that saturation of God's spirit? after the praise set, we all meet out in the hall, before we go take our seats to hear Erik's message. it's unanimous. every one of us feels like we were pulling teeth up there just to get through it.

guys, this has bothered me in the past when it's happened. i never talked about it with my team, cause i truly felt like there was something that i did wrong; that it had nothing to do with them and i needed to deal with it. i would search my mind. relive the past week. where did i fail? did i not spend enough time in prayer? did i spend enough time in preparation? is there something in my life that's standing between me and that intimate place with God? am i the only one who felt like that? well, this week, i found out. i wasn't the only one who felt it. the whole team did. and they went through the same questions that i did. so what's the deal?

as we talked about it, God started to reveal some stuff to me. and it was really cool because, as soon as He gave me the thought, someone else would immediately confirm it. God was telling them the same thing at that exact moment. and not just one or two of them. i'm talking everyone!

The Journey is a church that is trying to reach the unchurched. we have been blessed with many spiritually mature Christians, but we have a lot of people who are new in their faith, or are just plain spiritual infants. and i've talked to a bunch of them. as they grow, they are struggling with decisions that they need to make on a weekly basis. whether it's actually becoming a Christ follower, or just learning what it means to be obedient. whatever the case is, they're in a vulnerable place. this is because our enemy wants nothing more than to attack them and make them feel unworthy. if he can cause confusion in their minds, then he can make them doubt that they are worthy of growing, or even accepting grace. THIS IS SPIRITUAL WARFARE, for any of you who are oblivious to what's going on around you! And they are not equipt to deal with it just yet. (well, they are, but they may not know how. that's a whole nother blog series we'll get into another time!) thus, intercession.

as Joel prophesied about the worshipers interceeding for the army, we too are interceeding for those who are in our congregation who may not be aware of the war going on around them, or just don't know how to combat it themselves. remember, we asked God to use us however He needed!

i believe, and this is what God has revealed to me, that when we feel that stress during worhsip, that disconnect to the rest of the audience, it is because at that time, in our pure worship, we (though maybe unknowingly) are waging the war for those who Satan is trying to attack. Pure worship is something that cannot be defeated. it's what we were created for. strangely enough, it's what Satan was created for, as well. some of you are saying, "WHAT????" i promise, it's true. i'm gonna talk about it in the next post. if we are in that place of true worship, without even trying to, we are paving the way for the angels of the LORD to rage their battles. and i think this is where the disconnect comes from. we are sensing the tension of the battle going on around us at that time. i truly believe that if God lifted the veil for us to see the realm in which this war is being fought, we would see it litterally in front of us, in the sanctuary, around the non-believers, and immature. want proof?

this week, a woman gave her life to Christ during our service. my wife had the pleasure of talking to her a little, and praying for her. the woman told her that she had been struggling with her life all week. she'd been in a place of confusion, doubt, hurt, and not knowing which end was up. she said that by the time we had gotten half way through our worship, it all went away and she knew she needed to come forward and ask someone to pray with her. she needed to give her life to Jesus, and she wanted to know how!

talk to y'all soon! God bless,

robbie

Monday, April 14, 2008

intercession

What is our job as worhipers? Well, i'm sure many people would say many things. And they'd probably be right, for the most part! But I'd like to focus on something that probably not a lot of us are aware of, or maybe even not comfortable with. Nonetheless, it's true. And whether we like it or not, as Christ followers, we must accept the fact that we are called to intercede on behalf of those who God is ministering to.

Intercession is something that a lot of people aren't that savy about. I am one of those people. But the Bible talks about it, so it must be important! Here's what I've realized. If you are a person who is a worship leader, or a praise team member (that inculeds tech team and band), and fully commit yourself to worshiping God on Sunday mornings, you are vulnerable to spiritual attack! And this goes for any of you who are wholly worshiping God, whether it's in your seat or by serving in another ministry area. Especially if you are someone who is constantly seeking God's face all throughout the week. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. If you pray for God to use you, to work through you, and you are sincere, He's gonna do it! And the scary thing is, you may not even know you're being used. But if you pay attention, and you ask for God's discernment, it may be very clear to you how you were used. This is something that happened to me this week. While exciting and energizing, it's also very unsettling. And here's why. I'm not a tough-guy! I'm not going around looking to pick a fight. But here's what God revealed to me this week. (and it was confirmed by several people that i look up to spiritually) As someone who is a worship leader, someone who is seeking after God's face, when I've asked Him to allow me to serve Him, when I've said, "Use me, Father, for whatever you want to do today", that's exactly what I have been doing. Walking around picking a fight.

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever been involved in worship and you just feel like there's this barrier between you and everyone else? The answer I'm looking for is not one that can be given honestly, unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were not distracted of your own accord. I mean if you came to worship, bent on seeing God's face that day, laying down your life, and picking up His cross. Have you ever experienced that? I have. And it's very disheartening. Or, at least, it was! That was until I realized why.

Over the next few days and weeks, I'll be posting on why I believe we are subjected to this. If you want to know my thoughts, please tune in next time and may God bless you more than you can endure!