spring break

so this week is spring break in canada. and most of the plans that id made havent really come to anything, as per usual. i think my best gift is procrastination......
so apart from moving around beds, checkin out downtown vancouver and watching pointless yet somewhat seemingly romantic movies, ive done jack crap.

what is it with making plans then suddenly deciding to do them tomorrow? (which, by the way, is a day that never seems to arrive.) i imagined myself last week going to seattle and spending a day there, finishing up some reading, taking many photographs, spending time at the cinema, carrying on with my scrapbooking (big craze here...cant beat them?-join them.....) but nothing seems to have come to fruit. ive slept a lot. which you cant help but do in a bed the size of mine....

hopefully next week though, ill do something productive....

the lurgy

so today i get the day off...woo!
thanks to the excess amounts of lactose in various foods that i eat, my stomach is now at war with the milk dudes and i get to watch films all day....mwahahaha.

i rang england too, only to discover that 3 of my friends also have the lurgy, despite them being 444000 miles away. how strange.

how bizzarre it is too that i can have a conversation with someone in england, even though they are 8 hours ahead and 440, 000 miles away. theres no time delay and no wierd wiring. just normal conversation. i almost felt as if i could walk out and down the road to see these people.

i guess i suddenly felt very far away..........

worship in spirit and truth

Worship in Spirit and Truth

WORSHIP in the Bible means ‘an act of service’.
-Boda - Hebrew
-Latria – Greek
-"Service" signified the labour of slaves or hired servants.
-An example of this is Joseph.

Worship in Spirit and Truth
-What does it mean to worship in Spirit and truth?
-1 Corinthians 2v12
-Worship with not only our mouths, but with our minds and hearts.
-1 Corinthians 14v14-17
-1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14.
-You cannot read chapter 13 on its own without reading the other two chapters with it, we need a full overview.

Truth:
-Daniel 3- King Nebuchadnezzar made an idol of gold. His worship was not truth, but the three men, Shadrach, Meshac and Abednigo denied the false worship of other gods, and were true to their God.
-Leviticus 10- Nadab and Abihu falsely lit fire in the temple in order to look good. This wasn’t truth in any respect.
-Mark 7v6b-7- The Pharisees were false in order to keep their reputation up.
-Zechariah 4v6- By My Spirit
-John 4v23-24
-Worshipping in Spirit and truth is something we have to develop. To manifest spiritual gifts and a relationship with the Holy Spirit, we have to be born again of the Spirit.
-Mark 8v27-29
-1 Corinthians 11v2- Propriety in worship
-1 Corinthians 14v26- Orderly worship
-Worship in Corinth- the women were ordered to cover their men would not get distracted. Hair down in that culture would have only happened between husband and wife.
-Paul wanted this from the women, not only because it was appropriate and respectful, but also so that worship to God could be the best.
-Worship in Spirit and truth is not disorderly, it does not cause confusion or loss of control.
-1 Corinthians 14v32
-This passage does not major on musical worship, but on gifts.
-Gifts are from God Himself.
-Worship is not always music.
-Worship is the use of what God has given us for His glory.
-Music is a reaction to God’s greatness.

Authentic worship!!!

-‘Spirit’ is not the Holy Spirit, but our spirits.
-Worship is our spirit responding to God’s spirit.
-Worship in Spirit and Truth is accurate worship.
-People often say ‘I like to think of God as…..’ and then worship that. That’s idolatry!
-Worship must be based on the truth of scripture.
-John 4v23
-To worship in ‘truth’ means to worship God as He is truly revealed in the Bible.

Worship with all of our lives
-Jesus said ‘Love God with all your heart’. He meant that worship must be genuine and heartfelt.
-It is not a matter of saying the right words!
Would you rather receive one or two specific comments that praised what you did or 10 minutes of unheartfelt praise?
-Ephesians 5v10- Find out what pleases God, and do it!
-The heart of worship is surrender. You don’t have to be musical to worship God!
-True worship is surrender and trust.
-Surrender to God is a natural response to a true revelation of who God is.
-Mark 1v 16-17- The fishermen left all they owned to follow Christ.
-We don’t worship out of fear or duty, but love, because He first loved us.
-Everything we do can be in worship.
-We are ambassadors of Christ Jesus. We represent Him and when people know who you know, they will watch your every move.

Place of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Worship

Old Testament.
-People could only worship in the temple and even then, it could only be done by particular people, priests, levites etc.
-The Father was not to be approached boldly as we can do now, the approach was regulated.
-Hebrews 12v18-21
-John 4v21-23- from regulated to free.
-Hebrews 12v22-24

New Testament
-The tabernacle separated the Holy Place from the rest of the temple, but Jesus fulfilled the law and allows us to now enter into the Holy Place.
-There are no restrictions upon us in worship. We can approach the Father, Son and Holy Spirit freely.
Holy Spirit in Worship
-Ezekiel 37
- The Bones were made into the form of man, but it wasn’t untill the breath was commanded into them that they came into life.
-Genesis 2v7-Breath of life.
-The Spirit gives life
-1 Corinthians 2v10-16
-1 Corinthians 3v16-The Spirit is in us! We don’t have to call Him down from heaven, He is within us.

Personal Submission
James 4v7- Instructions in submission

It is only when we fully submit ourselves to God that He can work through us fully.
David fully submitted himself to God, and in return, God called him "A man after my own heart".
We cannot run with God and be filled with Him when our lives are already filled.

How can an empty soul know it’s hungry when the stomach is groaning because it is filled?

We cannot worship two things, otherwise we will love one and hate the other.
Matthew 6
"You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other."
(The Message)

vancouver

So this is where i live.


humble i know, but ive come to terms with it.
infact, i couldnt quite believe it this morning on the bus, when i overlooked the mountains and the city all in one.

can you imagine coming from a small village like mine to a massive city like this. its surreal. i walk out my house in the mornings to be greeted by huge mountains, which are ever changing. some mornings its so foggy that they completley dissappear. other mornings they just appear green, with white snowy caps.

makes a change from the neighbours gardens.......

thoughts...

i guess i underestimated the importance of recording events and how you feel about issues in life. i first realised it today when i wrote a letter home to my church and it took me an hour. first of all that says a lot about how much often useless information my head seems to store, and second of all it shows how inept i am at keeping regular contact with others....

the past 6 months have been the quickest, hardest, most surreal and most free of my entire life. ive experienced extreme joy, dissapointment, fear, pain, healing and confusion, mostly at different points i might add, but often these are all mixed in together and come out in random thoughts and other defining, or in most cases, comical moments in the office. which by the way has moved, so if you want to send me amazing gifts, ill give you the new address.

i want this blog to be as real as i am learning to be. somewhere in the bible it talks about being the same in your private times with God and in public, so this is a first step.

life has taken a big leap lately and its taking me a while to catch up with recent events. if this is how quick everything goes outside of education then goodness knows how fast the next 10 years are going to go. im looking forward to coming home, and seeing everyone, but also, looking forward to the things that my amazing God has got planned. if this is just the start then the future is looking incredible.

well its late and i guess i have to make a start at attempting to go to bed. this time two hours ago i didnt think i would have discovered this site.....goes to show how yet again, inept i am at being more assertive.
*sigh*