"You watch that crab fishing show don't you!" I heard that many times this past weekend after the band opened our church service with Bon Jovi's hit "Wanted Dead Or Alive." To answer your question, YES, I do watch Deadliest Catch. It is one of my favorite shows! However, it's not the reason we opened our worship celebration with it's theme song last Sunday.
There are two reasons why we use popular, secular songs at New Life:
1. So people far from God can connect to His church. Whether you know it or not, all people have common ground: We're all sinners in need a savior. Where can we hear about the savior? At church! The church is God's plan for reaching and discipling the nations. So how do we connect someone far from God to His church? By providing opportunities for them to find common ground between what they're familiar with and God. Since God created the world and everything in it, we can use the world to glorify God. PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT USE SIN TO GLORIFY GOD. What the world intends for evil God can use to save lives! (Genesis 50:20) I don't know if Bon Jovi intended his song for evil, but I know that, last weekend, God used it for good!
P.S. The Church is people. When I say: we provide opportunities for people far from God to connect with His church, I mean for His people (those of you who have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior) to invite friends to an experience where they won't be alienated by people doing things that seem out of touch with reality. The church only works when we reach out to those around us in the power of God. At New Life, we seek to provide opportunities so people far from God can connect with Him by providing opportunities for you to invite friends to a fun, loving, and life-changing environment. The world can provide the fun and even the love, but it can't provide real life-change for this life and the next! Only God can do that.
2. So all of us will remember that God wants us to have a faith that's alive! Every week, as the Worship Pastor, I look for songs that will help people remember the message preached on Sunday. This week, Pastor Chris's message was titled "Dead Or Alive" from Revelation 3:1-7. What better way to help people connect with his message than open with a tune many people are familiar with! When people sing the chorus of "Wanted Dead or Alive" they'll most likely remember, "Hey we did this in church!" Hopefully, this will lead them to remember that God wants us to have a faith that is alive, not dead. In two weeks we'll be learning that God wants us to have faith that is ether dead or alive. He can't stand those on the fence. In fact, the Bible says He spits them out of His mouth. How far can God spit? Join us on April 17th for a demonstration.
We had an awesome service on Sunday! God moved powerfully and it is so exciting to see Him do great things in the lives of people! I am so blessed to be able to serve at New Life and I can't wait for what God has in store for us. The best is yet to come!
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There are two reasons why we use popular, secular songs at New Life:
1. So people far from God can connect to His church. Whether you know it or not, all people have common ground: We're all sinners in need a savior. Where can we hear about the savior? At church! The church is God's plan for reaching and discipling the nations. So how do we connect someone far from God to His church? By providing opportunities for them to find common ground between what they're familiar with and God. Since God created the world and everything in it, we can use the world to glorify God. PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT USE SIN TO GLORIFY GOD. What the world intends for evil God can use to save lives! (Genesis 50:20) I don't know if Bon Jovi intended his song for evil, but I know that, last weekend, God used it for good!
P.S. The Church is people. When I say: we provide opportunities for people far from God to connect with His church, I mean for His people (those of you who have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior) to invite friends to an experience where they won't be alienated by people doing things that seem out of touch with reality. The church only works when we reach out to those around us in the power of God. At New Life, we seek to provide opportunities so people far from God can connect with Him by providing opportunities for you to invite friends to a fun, loving, and life-changing environment. The world can provide the fun and even the love, but it can't provide real life-change for this life and the next! Only God can do that.
2. So all of us will remember that God wants us to have a faith that's alive! Every week, as the Worship Pastor, I look for songs that will help people remember the message preached on Sunday. This week, Pastor Chris's message was titled "Dead Or Alive" from Revelation 3:1-7. What better way to help people connect with his message than open with a tune many people are familiar with! When people sing the chorus of "Wanted Dead or Alive" they'll most likely remember, "Hey we did this in church!" Hopefully, this will lead them to remember that God wants us to have a faith that is alive, not dead. In two weeks we'll be learning that God wants us to have faith that is ether dead or alive. He can't stand those on the fence. In fact, the Bible says He spits them out of His mouth. How far can God spit? Join us on April 17th for a demonstration.
We had an awesome service on Sunday! God moved powerfully and it is so exciting to see Him do great things in the lives of people! I am so blessed to be able to serve at New Life and I can't wait for what God has in store for us. The best is yet to come!
1 comment:
Babe,
When I was sitting in church Sunday and you guys were playing that, I could hear people singing along! I know you couldn't since you were on stage, so, I thought I'd pass along that message. :)
Love you.
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