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5Mar/10Off

Declaring His Praise

When Peter wrote his first letter to the Christ-followers that had scattered throughout the region, one of his purposes was to encourage them.  Another purpose was to remind them of their identity in Christ.

He writes these words: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

One of the chief ways that we worship God is by declaring His goodness and what he has done in our lives. We can make the mistake of relegating the meaning of “worship” to a music genre. Worship isn’t the same as music, in fact, worship better equated to a lifestyle. When we come to God’s house and sing our praise and express our worship in that setting, it is a continuation of the worship of Him that we have expressed through the rest of the week.

I want to challenge you to be conscious of your worship today. Is your lifestyle consistent with your worshipful expression on a Sunday morning? Consistency in our lifestyle is critically important if we are truly people who “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness.”

Filed under: Formation, Worship No Comments
28Feb/10Off

I AM Proud of my Citizenship

I just finished watching the final medal sport of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Canadian Men’s Hockey team beat the USA team in overtime.

I was born in Hong Kong to missionary parents. By birth- determined citizenship is Canadian. I am living in the States and have been a Naturalized citizen of the USA for more than four years now.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been proud when USA team members won gold, I have been proud when Canadian teams won. I was ecstatic when the Canadian hockey team won.

There was something that happened earlier today that made me even more ecstatic though. Something tied to another, more important, citizenship that I also hold. When I was child, I became a citizen of heaven and what truly brought a tear to my eye was watching a handful of people walked to the front of a church auditorium and make the decision to follow Christ! Now that’s something to be proud of!

Philippians 3:20 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ”

I am proud of my citizenship in heaven!

   

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