What Does Your Worship SMELL Like?

That’s a strange question! I read again this week the story of Mary anointing the feet of Christ (John 12:1-11). I think this is such a beautiful story of sacrifice, love and devotion. The story took place a little before Passover while Jesus was in Bethany. This is the same town that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (another really awesome story). To set the scene you have a dinner; Martha in the kitchen working diligently, Lazarus sitting at the table beside Jesus, and then there was Mary. Mary took about twelve ounces of very expensive oil extracted from a plant grown in India and poured it all over Jesus’ feet. She then began wiping them with her hair. What a beautiful scene, but you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. First, you have Martha busying herself and not engaged in the worship. You also have one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, questioning Mary’s motive. And then there was Jesus with an opportunity to use this to bring Himself glory. It is so cool how Jesus puts everything in perspective. After being questioned about the financial aspect of the offering by Judas, who Jesus knew would soon betray Him, Jesus took that question and said, “For the poor you have with you always but Me you do not have always.”

We can take many things from this encounter. First, don’t get so busy that you forget to worship the Lord. We spend so much time in ministry preparing for the work of the Lord that we sometimes forget to do that for which we are preparing. Secondly, we need to offer our best to the Lord everyday. Does our worship smell like the finest of perfumes or does it smell not so sacrificial? Make every effort to offer your best to the Lord at all times in everything you do. And finally, don’t miss any opportunity to worship your Savior. Don’t let public opinion sway you from what God has created you to do. There are so many times when you may think to yourself, “What are others going to think of my worship?” Do yourself and the Lord a favor by only concentrating on what pleases God and not what pleases man.

So FBC Canton Worship Choir, Band & Orchestra, may your worship SMELL beautiful this week! Aaron

In my bible reading this week, I read again the passage in John 4 where Jesus has an encounter with the woman at the well. I love this encounter because it shows how Jesus knows exactly where we are and what we need. He knew that the woman at the well needed living water. She needed Jesus! His conversation started with meeting the spiritual need in her life. I love how even after explaining to her all about the living water, she still didn’t get it. For in John 4:15 she says “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Then Jesus immediately moves to pointing out her spiritual condition and I love her response. “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” It didn’t take much to get her to believe. She then asked about a spiritual matter that is good for us to be reminded of even today. She asks Jesus about location of worship. He directs her more to attitude of worship. “Woman, believe Me, that the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem worship the Father.” There was no reason to debate locations, since both places would be obsolete soon. There is still no reason to debate worship locations. It is not about the physical location, but it more about the attitude of the heart. Christ puts everything into perspective. “But true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” There have been many interpretations of this passage but it all boils down to the simple meaning that the kind of worshipers the Lord is seeking are those who worship Him with thier entire life and worship Him consistently according to His Word. Will you become the kind of worshiper the Lord is seeking? To be the leaders in worship that the Lord wants us to be, I feel that you have no choice but to become that kind of worshiper.

Monday afternoon and I am feeling the effects of a busy Sunday. With it being a holiday weekend we were a little down in attendance but I still felt it was ood attendance. The choir had great attendace. The mornign servces went awesome. I got many comments that the congreagation really was blessed by the services. The choir rocked as usual. I got a comment from Pastor George that will be encouraging for everyone invloved. He said that he thought that the services were awesome. "The energy in the worship center was contagious." Thank you to the band, orchestra, choir and praise team for your willingness to be used by God. I feel that we made God smile yesterday. It was also great to see decisions yesterday morning. We voted to call Keith Egner as our new Children's and Familes Pastor. I pray that as he finishes up at his current church and prepares to serve here that God will give him a vision that is God-sized! I pray that God will use Keith in an incrdible way to see young lives changed for the glory of God. Sunday night was pretty cool too. We were able to ordain five men into the deacon ministry. Over Sunday was a great day to be with the people of God. I look forward to next Sunday as we once again join together to worship our Risen Savior.

Tonight was Great is choir.
Not sure how many we had but we had a good number.
Exciting to have three new members tonight.
We had a wonderful time singing and making music to our Lord.
Cant' wait to see what God has in store for us this year.
I pray that He will use the worship choir in an incredible way.
When we all work hard I believe that God will bless.
Really have a burden for the family we talked about who lost their on year old child.
I know what they are dealing with and they need our prayer and support right now.
Totally exhausted right now but had a wonderful night.
Going home to see my family.

How are we going to reach our goals in 2009?
Last week we looked at the awesome responsibility we have in leading people to the throne each and every Sunday. We talked about recommitting ourselves in our walk with Christ, our worship leadership, our Wednesday rehearsals and Sunday morning worship. That is a great place to start, but what will this require from you?
A lot of work!!!!! Proverbs 13:19 states “a longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.” The New King James states it like this: “A desire accomplished is sweet to the soul, but it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil.” In other words when a dream is finally realized, it is awesome. We all have dreams for ourselves, our family, our work, and our church. Will any of these dreams come to realization if no commitment or work is put into it? I think not. The scripture is very clear in the second part of Proverbs 13:19 when it basically says that it is the fool who doesn’t depart from evil. A fool will never see a dream fulfilled because the fool will never work for it.
I have many dreams for us here at FBC Canton. I have a dream to see us become one of the premier worship choirs in Georgia. I have a dream that when people hear us they will hear directly from God. I have a dream that we will be able to touch this globe with our music. I have a dream that lives will be changed through our ministry. This will not happen on its own. It will not happen if we sit back and relax and just expect it to be done just because we are the worship choir and orchestra at THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. It is going to take a lot of work from me and from you to see this dream fulfilled. Are you going to do what it takes to get the job done? By the way, we will never be done. I believe with all my heart that once we start seeing God fulfill these dreams, He will give us a new dream. Will you join me in this awesome task?