The First Calling

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him."

John 4:23

God has put a longing in the hearts of man to worship. It is something embedded so deeply into each and everyone of us no matter how much sin has corrupted our early lives we still seek to worship. Before anyone was ever called to preach, or to be a missionary, or to evangelize their very first calling is to be a worshipper of the Most High God.

Worship requires the right object and the right focus. Too many times we focus on something other than God and make it the object of our worship.  Worship is an expression of how we feel about a person or thing.  When we allow other things to take precedence in our life then our worship becomes idolatrous, and we need to refocus our priorities.  For example, we can get caught up praising our car, our job or our families and overlook the One who granted those blessings. It's always a bad thing to focus on the gift rather than the giver. We praise Him for what He's done; but we worship Him for who  He is.

He is righteous, holy, kind, gracious, faithful, all knowing, all wise, totally magnificent, and it is this knowledge that drives us to that place that we worship Him in spirit and in truth. For the Father  seeks such to worship Him. Worship demands a response. When we worship there should be demonstrative activity, not lethargic attitude.  Worship is a matter of attitude about Jesus, and how we express that attitude is our choosing, but we MUST do it.

Look at Job.  His life came crashing down, but he still worshipped. Why is that? He realized the even though his circumstances changed, his God didn't.  God remains the same, so we must choose to magnify him in spite of our disasters.

No matter what season you are in in life whether be good times or bad, we are still called to worship God. I encourage you today to honor the call of God and become a worshipper!

____________________
Bro. TR Precht
Associate Minister, Lighthouse Ministries

A new year for a new me.

     So, it is now 2013. It has that new toy feel. Every new year, people get excited, make resolutions, set goals and make plans. It is my hope that this year, your plans come through, your goals are accomplished, and resolutions are fulfilled.  We should all take full advantage of this energy for the furtherment of God's kingdom.

     I've made progress with the weightloss. I hit a milestone in under three weeks (including the Christmas season); I have dropped 11 lbs thus far. So to celebrate, todays meal is Chick-fil-a, 734 total calories of goodness. I've also lost three inches off my waist.  I'm trying to loss enough weight to suit shop at Walmart  LOL Seriously, that is one of my motivators; but mainly I just want to be healthy and happy. Other than that, I believe it to be good stewardship.

     In other news, my Pastor preached an amazing message the other night that inspired me to accomplish great things this year. The first thing I thought of was my book project. Which I let slide a bit. The good news is that I found a spiral notebook that I had a few pages of notes for one of my chapters, so I am going to expand those notes to actually flesh out an article or two and finally a chapter. Just for the record, the topic is the Godhead, so if you know me, this will be one of my favorites to do.

     I'm trying to work this particular project to completion this year. I mean I started working on it when I was 29 and in just a couple months I will be 31. It is supposed to be a book written from a young mans perspective, so I better hurry, haha.  I think it will be fun to add "author" to my resumé, and if I could make a few bucks, well that wouldn't be bad either. :-)

     Other progress in life is that I cleaned up a large section of my desk area, almost to the point of the wife's approval of being able to have company over, haha. This is how I came accross the previously mentioned notebook.

     I'm going to try to get some work done on the website as well, but that will be a slow moving process.

We are still sitting here at Chick-fil-a as I write this and we have some things to do still, so I should run for now. :-D

Until Next Time
TRP