calebwarrentalk

Worship 12-11-11

calebwarren6789 — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:38:08 +0000

Thought on Worship:
To really pull off the Christmas season with family, friends, etc… it takes a lot of preparation. We prepare for family dinners, presents, family pictures, decorations and so on. We really put a lot of effort into making sure everything looks, tastes and turns out its best. Worship also takes preparation. God deserves and wants our best. Our best just isn’t something that we muster up on Sunday mornings. We wouldn’t buy presents for our families on Christmas morning (or at least I hope not, haha). Preparing for worship is something we must do throughout the week by intentionally spending time with God.

If you want your worship to God to go to the next level then prepare for worship by:
-Spending time reading the Bible daily
-Praying multiple times daily (remember all successful relationships are built around communication)
-Make sure your heart and mind are alert before you arrive to church on Sunday (Pray before the service, try praying with your family before you get out of the car
on Sunday morning, remove all distractions like cell phones, fantasy football, and your worries)
-Give God the best of everything you have (time, talent, treasure)
-Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone in worship (i.e. raising your hands, clapping, singing, etc…)

Worship Song this Sunday:
This Sunday we are worshipping with the song “For the Honor” by Elevation Worship. Click Here (iTunes) to worship with this song before Sunday and watch the YouTube video below. Some of the lyrics say, “The great exchange of love and grace came down to give us life…Forever, Forever We’ll honor you Forever”. This is exactly what Jesus did for us! Jesus loves us so much and saw that we were in such great need for salvation, that he left heaven and came as a baby to live for us, die for us, and then come back to life for us. ”The great exchange of love and grace came down to give us life!”

I can’t wait to worship Jesus with all of you on Sunday!

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Twitter @calebwarrentalk

“For The Honor” by Elevation Worship

Worship 11-27-11

calebwarren6789 — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:07:33 +0000

Adventus is starting this Sunday (Nov 27)! It is going to be awesome. Start inviting friends now!

Thought on Worship:
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” (1 John 4:9-12 NIV)
I love these verses! God’s love is why we worship.

Worship Song this Sunday:
This Sunday we are worshiping with the song Forever Reign by Hillsong. Some of the lyrics say “My heart will sing, no other name, Jesus!” To worship with this song before Sunday Click Here (iTunes) and you can watch the YouTube video below.

Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday!

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Twitter @calebwarrentalk

Forever Reign by Hillsong

Worship 11-20-11

calebwarren6789 — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:59:35 +0000

Thought on Worship:
Worship comes from your heart. We live in a world where everything seems to be critiqued. Being around critics so much can warp our perspective of God and affect our worship. What I mean by this is, I think we can sometimes have the thoughts, “What if I look weird when I raise my hands in worship?” Or “I am not a good enough singer or I don’t sound good on this worship song, so I am not going to sing.” Or “I worship differently than the other people standing around me so I am not going to worship.” We need to realize that this perspective puts the focus on ourselves and others, instead of God. When we are worshiping, God is not critiquing our outer appearance or listening to see if we are singing on key. He is looking at the condition of our heart. In order to find the fullness of God in worship we must be more concerned with God’s perspective of us than other people’s perception of us. This will bring you freedom in worship. When we come to church on Sunday lets all think through these verses:
-Luke 6:45 “the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.”
-Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Worship Song for this Sunday:
This Sunday, we are worshiping with the song “Here for You” by Matt Redman. It says, “Let our praise be your welcome, let our song be a sign, We are here for you.” These lyrics here help me to understand that God sees my attitude in praise and worship. The way I praise God welcomes him to move in my life. God cannot forcibly move in our lives, it is something we must welcome and accept. Our attitude in worship will either notify Him that we are for real or that we are faking it. This Sunday, let’s come worship together with an attitude toward God that we welcome him to move in our lives. Click Here to worship with this song before Sunday and a YouTube video is also attached below.

I am so excited to worship Jesus with all of you on Sunday!

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Twitter @calebwarrentalk

Here For You by Matt Redman

Worship 11-13-11

calebwarren6789 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:50:25 +0000

I hope you all have had a great week! I just want to give you a heads up that you will not want to miss our worship services at SouthCrest Church this Sunday. Trust me, you will definitely want to be there. Just Sayin!

Thought on Praise:
Over the past 2 weeks we have been dissecting Hebrews 13:15, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. “. Let’s look at the last part of the verse, which says, “the fruit of lips that openly profess his name”. This part of the verse helps us to understand how to praise God. I think we could all say that we understand that using words is a way we praise God but the word ‘fruit’ caught my eye. Why would it not just say “lips that openly profess his name”? In my opinion, it’s because words can be empty and fake. Words really mean something when they produce an outcome. Fruit that we eat is produced only when it is attached to a vine, limb, or trunk that helps the fruit to grow. So, our words can only be fruit when we are attached to God. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” As we come into the presence of God, I do not want us to be fooled that just because we are in the church building or just because we are singing a praise song, that we are praising God. We must be connected to God to produce praise. We must ask ourselves, “Am I connected to God (have I been spending time with God),” or, “What must I do to connect or reconnect with God?”

Worship Song this Sunday:
This Sunday we will be worshiping with the song “Here and Now” by Eddie Kirkland. Click Here (iTunes) and watch the YouTube video below to help prepare yourself for worship. It is a song of hope, as well as a song that challenges us as Christians and the Church to be bring God’s love to the world.

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Twitter @calebwarrentalk

Here and Now by Eddie Kirkland

Worship 11-6-11

calebwarren6789 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:52:17 +0000

Thought on Praise:
Last week we started looking at Hebrews 13:15 which says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”. Let’s break down, “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise”. Continually is a big word to swallow. The thought comes to my mind of how do I continually praise God? To do this, we must make sure God is the most important priority in our lives. When he is our highest priority we allow him to shine through in every part of our lives. Praise is bringing God glory and we can continually bring him glory by allowing him to be obvious in everything we do.

The second half of this statement is important because it says that our praise is a sacrifice that we offer to God. In the Old Testament of the Bible the people had to offer animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin. Then Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice. He died on the cross for us as the sacrifice for our sin. So that means we don’t have to sacrifice animals anymore (thank goodness). But I am afraid that we have lost importance of still offering sacrifices to God. A sacrifice takes use recognizing our need for God, a desiring to glorify him, and effort from us. Each day we are challenged to sacrifice our pride, our selfish desires for life, and our sinful desires to name a few. But sacrifice isn’t all about the things that hold us back. We are called make a sacrifice of praise, offering the best of what we have to bring glory to God. A question I try to ask myself is, “What do I offer to God daily that brings him glory?”

Worship Song this Sunday:
This Sunday we will be worshiping with the song “Your Love Never Fails” by Jesus Culture (Click Here to worship with this song before Sunday on iTunes and watch the video below). I love this song and it fits perfect in our series ‘Flawed’! These lyrics describe the amazing love of God even in our flaws, “Nothing can separate, even if I ran away – Your love never fails! I know I still make mistakes but you have new mercies for me everyday – Your love never fails!” That’s awesome and so true! Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

See you on Sunday!

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Twitter @calebwarrentalk

Your Love Never Fails

Worship 10-30-11

calebwarren6789 — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:18:07 +0000

Thought on Praise:
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
Let’s unpack this verse that may look small in words but is huge in meaning, starting with “Through Jesus”.

When I am listening to one of my favorite bands on the radio, like Coldplay, I am not singing ‘through Jesus’. Their music may be awesome but it is just music. It is not music that has the purpose to praise or worship God. What is important for us to understand is that when we come into church on Sunday morning and ‘sing’ praise/worship songs we are not automatically singing ‘through Jesus’ because we are at ‘church’. Just because the words are coming out of our mouth does not mean we are singing them ‘through Jesus’. This verse is clear in that praise is found in our relationship with Jesus. If you are married or have a boyfriend or girlfriend you really understand this because you can say “I love you” but if those words are not partnered with a close relationship and action then they are meaningless. God wants to hear our praise through a close relationship with his son, Jesus. It is always easier to communicate with someone who you really know. We communicate our praise through our relationship with Jesus and being close to him at all times (that includes Sunday morning, even for a guy like me who is not a morning person!). I want to challenge you to arrive to church 5-10 minutes earlier than you normally do so you can sit in the Worship Center and pray, connecting and focusing your heart on Jesus so you can praise and worship Him. We’ll dig into some more of this verse later.

Worship Songs for this Sunday:
This Sunday is our 2^nd week in our series Flawed! We will be worshipping with the songs: God of Second Chances Click Here 1 by Carlos Whittaker and Before the Throne Click Here 2 by Shane and Shane. iTunes is attached so you can prepare yourself for worship with the songs before Sunday. God is so amazing in how he fit Before the Throne together with Pastor Jeff’s message. Make sure you are here on Sunday and invite a friend because we all need to hear the Good News. Even though we are Flawed, God loves us, He has a plan for us and He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us (that is Great News for me)!

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Twitter @calebwarrentalk

Worship 10-23-11

calebwarren6789 — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:08:39 +0000

Thought on Worship:
Why do people raise their hands, or clap, or kneel down during worship? Because body expression is important in worship.
Here are a few everyday examples of how we change our posture to show someone we are paying attention or that we care:
1. When a little kid is crawling on the floor you can always see someone bend down to talk to the little kid. The child could have heard them from where they were standing but by changing their posture the adult showed (not only the child but the other people around) I am separating myself from everything else that is going on to approach you.
2. At weddings when the bride enters, every stands to their feet. Why? To show the bride respect and that she has their attention.
3. What about the precursor to the wedding when the man gets down on a knee to ask the love of his life to marry him? This tradition goes back to the days of knighthood and chivalry when it was customary for a knight to dip his knee in a show of servitude to his mistress or submission to the King.
4. Just think about a sports game. When the announcer comes over the loud speaker and introduces your team you stand up, cheer, shout, clap, jump up and down, and wave your hands in the air.

What we need to understand is that we use our body expressions throughout our everyday life to express love, respect, excitement, gratitude, etc… The same attention to body expression is important to God when we enter His presence to worship Him. In scripture many different body expressions such as standing, laying prostrate, lifting hands, clapping, singing, shouting, bowing, kneeling, dancing and even jumping are used to worship God (Psalm 95:6, Psalm 134:2, Psalm 47:1, 1 Timothy 2:8, Acts 3:8 to list a few). But the main thing we must understand is that all these things must come from the heart because worship is not a show. For example, bowing to your knees in worship must really be the bowing of your heart to God. Your outside movements show what is going on in the inside, just as the fruit of a tree demonstrates the quality of the root. I have heard it put this way before, “You may be thinking something but until you show it you will never fully commit to it.” Each person worships in their own way and at first it may feel different to lift your hands during worship or to clap, but let your mind focus on God and the gratitude/surrender of your heart.

Worship Set for this Sunday:
This Sunday we will be worshiping with the songs: All Because of Jesus Click Here 1, Give Me Faith Click Here 2 and Come Thou Fount Click Here 3. iTunes is attached for each song so you can worship with them before Sunday and the YouTube videos are below.

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Twitter @calebwarrentalk

All Because of Jesus

Give Me Faith

Worship 10-16-11

calebwarren6789 — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 23:25:29 +0000

Thought on Worship:
We should prepare for worship. How do we do this? We prepare for worship through prayer and focusing our minds and hearts completely on God. I want to encourage you to arrive a few minutes early and prepare for worship by sitting quietly in the worship center and praying. Give it a try and I bet you will find yourself having an awesome worship experience.

This Sunday:
Two of the songs we will be worshipping with are “One Thing Remains” and “Lord, I Need You”. To listen to “One Thing Remains” Click Here 1 (itunes) and to listen to “Lord I Need You” Click Here 2 (itunes). Worship is going to be amazing!

In Christ,

Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Follow me on Twitter @calebwarrentalk

One Thing Remains

Lord, I Need You

Worship 10-9-11

calebwarren6789 — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 01:49:20 +0000

What is Worship?
I recently went to a conference where one of the speakers taught on ‘Gratitude’. It was a very convicted message for me. To boil it down, he said “Gratitude is important to God, so it needs to be important to us.” Psalm 69:30-31 says, “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hooves.” The bull and ox reference here represents a fully matured and healthy animal that would be very valuable for sacrificing in the Old Testament. God always expected the people to bring the best of what they had. To know that a grateful/thankful heart for what God has done is better than a sacrifice referenced here, helps us to understand how our mindset of gratitude is important to God. We must be grateful for what God has done. The speaker said this and it really made me evaluate, “Gratitude is never invisible or silent.” (Luke 6:45) I think it is important for us to apply this to worship. “Worship is never invisible or silent.” I used this statement to reevaluate how I worship and I encourage you to evaluate yourself as well. We must SHOW God and TELL God how much he means to us through our worship. Just like Gratitude, Worship needs to be visible and vocal!

Worship song this Sunday:
This Sunday we will be worshiping with a song of celebration called “We Stand”. This song just makes me want to jump up and down with joy. Just listen to it and you will see why! To worship with this song before Sunday, Click Here and/or watch the Youtube Video below.

Sunday is the last week of our series The Ghost. Trust me, you won’t want to miss it!

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Follow me on Twitter @calebwarrentalk

“We Stand”

Worship 10-2-11

calebwarren6789 — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:07:35 +0000

I first must say that worship last Sunday was incredible! Wow! Thank you for worshiping the Lord with so much passion and love. It was one of the greatest worship experiences I have ever had and you all ministered to me! I can’t wait for this Sunday!

Thought on Worship:
Galatians 1:10 says “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” These are good questions to ask ourselves to see who/what we worship. I also want to encourage you because I hear people all the time say, “I don’t sing during worship because I’m not a good singer and I don’t want people around me to hear me.” Don’t worry about that, God loves to hear the praises of his people and remember we are ‘trying to win the approval of Him and not men’. He doesn’t care how it sounds. He is the one who gave you your voice, so let’s all use our voice to lift up worship to God!

Worship Song this Sunday:
This Sunday we will be worshiping through the song “Like a Lion”. Great song! It is a song of hope and gives an awesome picture of God’s power. The chorus says,
My God is not dead
He’s surely alive
He’s living on the inside
Roaring like a lion
I love this! We get to celebrate the power of our God in that he is not dead and he lives inside of all Christians. And just look at this picture that the Bible paints even of the power of the voice of God, “The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.” (Psalm 29:4-5) Now that is ‘Roaring like a lion’! To worship with this song before Sunday Click Here (iTunes) and a Youtube video is below. This Sunday, let’s celebrate the power of our amazing God!

In Christ,
Caleb Warren
Worship Leader
www.southcrest.tv
Follow me on Twitter @calebwarrentalk

“Like a Lion”