Worship Leading

God is Bigger

Posted on by mattodegaard

I have this tendency to make God small.

But God is not small. God is Bigger.

God is bigger than I can imagine.

When I started playing guitar I didn’t know anything. I began the journey like most, learning the basic chords: G, D, Em, C.  Then came that one chord: Bm. I really did not like Bm. It made me stretch, it made me grow. It hurt.

But, I pushed through and got better. I think I got pretty good actually.

Then I watched a man play guitar like I had never seen before. And I wanted to quit. I realized I had not even scratched the surface of guitar playing! Fortunately, I did not quit and I have grown and grown since then. I came to realize that I would never hit the end of the guitar. I could learn and learn all my life and there would still be things I could learn.

I came to realize my relationship with God was similar. I grew up in church so as a kid I thought I had God figured out. But then I had a mentor who showed me that God was SO much bigger than I could imagine! Like guitar, (but so much more) I came to realize that I would never reach the end of God. No matter how much I learn about Him, or how much I come to know Him, there will always be more depth.

God is Bigger.

Spend time this week searching after God. Even if you think you have Him all figured out, you may come to realize, as I did, that God is Bigger.

Keep GrowingWorship.

 

Advent – Week 5 – Christ

Posted on by mattodegaard

advent-candles

Finally, here is the fifth candle – the Christ Candle:

This reading comes out of Matthew Chapter 1.

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

This is a great passage that reminds us God’s plan for Jesus on this earth is to ‘Save his people from their sins!’

Advent Week 4

Posted on by mattodegaard

advent-candles

Here’s the reading for week 4:

This week we see Mary being informed of her importance and the role Jesus will play in the salvation of the world!

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Luke 1:30-34

 

Advent – Week 3

Posted on by mattodegaard

advent-candles

This is the third week of Advent where we celebrate the Arrival of Jesus into this broken world to restore the Peace of God.

Here is the reading for this week:

Isaiah 40:9

You who bring good news to Zion,

   go up on a high mountain.

You who bring good news to Jerusalem,

   lift up your voice with a shout,

lift it up, do not be afraid;

   say to the towns of Judah,

   “Here is your God!”

 

Jesus came into a broken world not that different from our own.

We still need Jesus as much today as the world did then.

We join with the ages on Christmas saying ‘Here is your God!’ His name is Jesus!

 

Advent – Week 2

Posted on by mattodegaard

advent-candles
This is week two of Advent where we remember and celebrate the ‘arrival’ of our savior Jesus. 

Here is this week’s reading:

Micah 5: 2, 4, 5a

But you, Bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old,  from ancient times.” Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

And he will be our peace. 

I love the last line of this passage that reminds us Jesus came down to be our Peace. In the midst of our world of turmoil and chaos we can still remember that Jesus is our Peace. 

Advent – Week 1

Posted on by mattodegaard

A Savior is Promised.
advent-candles
This season is a great time to engage in Worship of God and all he has done for us! For some, you grew up celebrating Advent. For others, you have never heard of this. In short, Advent is a 4 week plus Christmas Eve recognition of Jesus coming to earth.
The first week traditionally has an element of prophecy so the reading comes out of the prophet Isaiah foretelling the Savior coming to earth. To put this in perspective of the wonder of God’s plan, this writing came several hundred years before Jesus.
9:2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest. 4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
This is the Gospel of Jesus.
God loves you!
Jesus came to save you!
Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor!
Jesus is the Mighty God!
Jesus is the Prince of Peace!
As you worship and as you lead this season, remember the Peace and Wonder of Jesus. I pray you continue Growing in Worship!

Happy Thanksgiving 

Posted on by mattodegaard

To the One who deserves all the Thanks giving:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 

Worship the Lord with gladness. 

Come before him with joyful songs. 

Know that the Lord is God. 

It is he who made us, and we are his. 

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. 

Give thanks to him and praise his name. 

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever. 

His faithfulness continues through all generations.

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭100:1-5‬

Sola Scriptura

Posted on by mattodegaard

bible

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  – 2 Timothy 3

Scripture is the cornerstone of our faith in God. Through Scripture we learn of God’s love, grace and mercy. We learn about his plan through Jesus to bring us back to life and transform us into the image of Christ we were made to be. As worship leaders our songs need to reflect the truth Scripture brings. Our hearts and our words need to flow heavy with His words.

This week, spend time on your own in the Word of God. And if you haven’t already, check your lyrics to make sure the songs you lead are full of Truth from the Scriptures. A great exercise to do is take a song and write down the Scriptures it references. Once you do this it also gives you a great verbal intro into the song next time you lead it!

Keep Growing Worship!

Worship is not about you.

Posted on by mattodegaard

The temptation for all of us is to roll into a Sunday and sit back, relax and enjoy the ‘show.’

Of course once we say this out loud we realize that it is ridiculous, but it seems, we still act like that each and every week. I want worship to be about me. I want the world to revolve around me. I want to be the king of the world. For the sake of the world, and thank goodness, this is not the case.

Worship is not about me. The world does not revolve around me, and sadly, I am not the king of the world. Far from it. Worship is and should be about the creator, the King, the author and giver of life; the maker of heaven and earth; GOD.

The Psalm writer in 115 reminds us:

Not to us, LORD, but to Your Name be the glory.

John the brother of Jesus tells us that [God] must become greater and I must become less. (3:30)

Worship is not about you or me. Worship is about God. God must be the focus of our worship. We have to fight the constant temptation to be more comfortable and lazy. As much as we may want to, we must not complain about style or volume or repetition.

This weekend, spend time focusing on the scriptures and the words and the attributes of God and not about your life or your work or your lunch plans and see what God does in your heart. Worship is not about us changing God, it is about God changing us!

Keep Growing Worship!

Amazing Grace

Posted on by mattodegaard

amazing_grace
You may be here thinking that God is great and holy but I don’t deserve his love or mercy. That is true. And that is why he send his son Jesus.
Paul says it really well in his letter to a similar church in Ephesus:
2 As for you, you were dead in your sins, 2which you used to live in when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the [evil] spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 We also lived among them at one time, following sinful desires and thoughts. We are by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, in his mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ – even when we were dead in sin –
It is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms 7 so that he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, and his kindness [through] Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus … to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
It is through God’s amazing grace that we have life and we practice our worship now so we may learn to praise God forevermore!
Keep Growing Worship!