READ THIS IF YOU NEVER WANT TO MESS UP AGAIN

My  friends kids like to use the phrase” “No Offense,” as a way to tell others about their inadequacies. For example just the other day I heard her 6th grader say this to her sister: “No offense, but you aren’t really that good at art.” Later in the day brother to sister: “No offense but, you have an attitude.”  I think you get the idea.  They have tried to explain to them on more than one occasion that sticking “No Offense” in front of a hurtful statement, still hurts someone’s feelings.

Ever had a “No Offense” moment as a youth minister?  It’s when we mess up blatantly or unwittingly but still know we have steam rolled someone in the process.  Maybe you mishandled a parent, when they deserved your rage because if they had actually READ one of the notices you sent home, they would have known better.  Perhaps, you undermined senior leadership and they found out about it.  It could be you made a “WHAM” (whopping, huge, aggravated, mistake) and you know it.

What matters as a leader is less about what we have done TO mess up and what will we do TO deal with it?

1.  Take Ownership Of Your Part

Venting to your peers they will not argue that the parent or senior leadership was wrong.  However, what part did we play in the misstep?  Stop pointing fingers at everyone else, and own what you have done.  We don’t have to take the blame for everyone, but the Holy Spirit brings conviction when we are wrong, and it is obvious in our heart. This means we are willing to repent (or turn away) from what WE did.

2.  Genuinely Say Sorry

Ever seen someone say the words, “I’m sorry,” through gritted teeth?   Yeah, you know they aren’t feeling it.  Truth is you may not be feeling the apology either.  However,  taking the “high road” means we own it and then smooth out out our part in the story.  You can’t control the other party, but you can come with a repentful heart in what you did wrong. Hurting someone for the right reasons, is still a wrong approach. My daughter knows she isn’t a great artist, but her sister making fun of her was mean.

3.  Have Integrity

There are times when we “fall on the grenade.”  These are the times when we don’t think we were wrong.  There are two questions we need to ask in that situation: 1. “Does this person (like a parent or senior leadership) deserve our respect no matter what?”  2.  ”Is it worth me damaging, breaking or losing a relationship?” There are times when integrity dictates we “do the right thing,” which is to own it and apologize, regardless on if we were right or not.

4.  Next Time

Ever notice how many movie and television plots revolve around someone messing up and then not being able to properly confess it?  We keep thinking, “Why did they run again?   It’s not an unfixable mess. Rarely is anything “that bad.” Instead we ask ourselves,  “If I land in this same scenario in the future, what will I do next time?”  Every time we fall down, it really is an opportunity for growth and transformation into the image of Christ. Next time, handle it differently.

No offense, but you messed up. We all do, and we will again.  Christ just wants us to stand up and deal with it. Worse case scenario we are reminded acutely our need for a Savior.

What do you do when you have messed up?

John Sena 

What Is Worship?

Many Christian churches have changed their worship styles. As is often the case with experiences, we have different impressions and reactions to worship styles. In this article, we examine what the Bible says about worship. Let's look at the way God’s people worshiped before Moses, after Moses, and after Jesus. Then let's see how that biblical insight can help inform our worship in the modern world.

The Bible doesn’t give a formal definition of worship. But perhaps we can start by seeing what various words for worship mean. The English word "worship" comes from two Old English words: weorth, which means "worth," and scipe or ship, which means something like shape or "quality." We can see the Old English word -ship in modern words like friendship and sportsmanship – that’s the quality of being a friend, or the quality of being a good sport.

So worth-ship is the quality of having worth or of being worthy. When we worship, we are saying that God has worth, that he is worthy. Worship means to declare worth, to attribute worth. Or to put it in biblical terms, we praise God. We speak, or sing, about how good and powerful God is.

This is a purpose for which we are called: "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). We were called for the purpose of praising God, worshiping God. That is one of the job descriptions of a Christian. We should declare that God is worthy, worth more than everything else put together.

Now let’s look at the biblical words. In both Hebrew and Greek, there are two major kinds of words for worship. The first kind means to bow down, to kneel, to put one’s face down as an act of respect and submission. Our body language is saying, I will do whatever you want me to. I am ready to listen to your instructions and I am willing to obey. The other kind of biblical word means to serve. Roughly half of the time these words are translated as worship, and the other half as serve. It carries the idea of doing something for God — making a sacrifice or carrying out his instructions.

Of course, word meanings don’t prove what worship is, but they do illustrate three kinds of worship. There is

worship that involves speaking, and
worship that involves listening, and
a worship that involves doing.

There is a worship that expresses the heart, and worship that involves the mind, and a worship that involves the body. There is a worship that is giving praise upward, a worship that is receiving instructions from above, and a worship that carries out instruction in the world around us.

We need all three types of worship. Some people focus primarily on speaking or singing praise to God. Praise is good, but if all we do is praise God, without ever listening to what he says, we have to ask whether we believe the words we are saying. If he is really all wise and all loving, then we need to be attentive to what he is telling us, because he is worth listening to.

Similarly, all talk and no action does not show God the respect he deserves. Actions speak louder than words, and if our behavior isn’t changed by God, then our actions are saying that God isn’t important — he’s a nice idea, but not relevant to our day-to-day lives. When we really believe that God is worthy of every praise, then we will be willing to listen and to change the way we live in response to such a worthy God. We will trust him and seek him and want to please him as much as we can. Worship should affect our behavior.


Bless you 

John Sena 

If your Presence does not go with us,

When Moses spoke to God he used concrete terms. In a most astonishing prayer Moses said, “If your Presence does not go with us, what else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:16). God alone made Israel noticeable. He identified with them. That God is no mere whim or fantasy. He is in constant action on earth; our God lives and acts. He remains the same. Jesus was here and “went about doing good and delivering all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38). It would be a hollow “sameness” if He didn’t do the same things. It was the great promise of Jesus to be with us for ever. The Holy Spirit would take over His agenda. The Spirit is the active Spirit of Jesus. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and … us - the syndicate of salvation, resourced by omnipotence. And we are invited to participate! What a high honor. We are made noticeable. He will bless you today. 

I repent Lord!

 I repent Lord! 

“So if you are presenting a sacrifice[your worship on Sunday/leading worship on Sunday/Preaching] at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you [ Unforgiving sins, held bitterness, pain, hurt], leave your sacrifice [ drop that mic, stop the pretense] there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. Matthew 5:23-24 is so deep. A lot of the things that pass as worship at church is really not our reasonable service, some are just acts of emotions, because before your worship presented at the alter really goes to God, it has to go with a very clear and clean heart [especially as leaders and ministers]. But you see people in the same church, same choir, same ministry in the same building with a lot of offences, bitterness, standing before innocent people derailing their worship and grieving the holy Spirit. Ministry is not competition, its not a struggle for a trophy, our call is to save the lost not be judges and pride in our gifts. We have all got to be careful the way we deal with the things of God. Before pointing hands deal with the log in your eyes, humble yourself, take time and work your own salvation, deal with your own character. Your actions will speak for you. Love one another, serve in love. support each other in love, give a shoulder in love, encourage and correct in love. Stop wasting energy looking for faults and condemning. Love! love! Love! that is the power in Jesus. Love heals more than the laying of hands. I repent Lord! 

Do Good to Please God

                                                             Do Good to Please God

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed [ when you help people], do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.

[ Don't go about telling the whole world, So you held someone now the whole world has got to know, hasn't anyone helped you before or blessed you before? it would have been better you didn't do it. But even in the body of Christ we are doing it, God blesses you so you can be a blessing to another but to blow your trumpet as if it was with your own might that you did what you did to help a sister or a brother."]

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

Matthew 6: 1-4 New King James Version (NKJV)