Fighting Boredom in the Church- Steve Brinegar

*Meeting with God in Worship* - 6/30/09

Reasons for boredom:
-Lacking Activity
-Uninterested in activities around you
- Too hard to understand
- Too easy to understand

Sowing and Reaping:
- II Cor. 9:6,10-11
- God provides the seeds to sow with.
- God increases the seeds that are sowed.
- God multiplies the harvest.
- Therefore, you must sow.

~Hebrews 10:19-25~
The 5 R's of this passage:
1) Recount the cost of the cross (19-21)
2) Remember the presence of God (22, 12:18-19)
3) Recite your confession
4) Resolve to bless
5) Refuse to neglect

*Recount-v.21*

• Having boldness
• Blood of Christ
• New and living way
• A Great High Priest

*Remember-v.22*

• "Draw near" conveys a presence of worship (Ecc. 5:1)
• Matt. 18:20 - Church Discipline
• A great promise of Christ to us

*Recite-v.23*

• A confession of Hope
• Romans 15:5-6
• What would a visitor learn of your God by your conduct?

*Resolve-v.24*

• Provoke one another to love and good works
• Provoke- rouse to activity, stir up
• Do you ever need a "pep-talk"?

*Resolve-v.25b*

• Encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
• Consider this scene of judgement (Matt. 25:31-40)

*Refuse-v.25a*

• Forsake- to separate connection with someone or something "carry on something in a negligent manner"

Practical Helps:
- Be a vital part of the ministry
- Be ready to worship
- Recount God's blessings (Psalm 103:2)



*Bowing the Knee* - 7/1/09

- Hebrews 1:1-14, 2:1-5

- Jesus Christ is the rebelation.

- The simple message we have is a better message.

- Preachers aren't supposed to entertain.

-Luke 16:19-31

- God uses His word to convince people to belief- A POWERFUL MESSAGE

- Preaching is vital to your life
*II Timothy 3:16-17
*Philippians 3:7-9

Higher Message - Hebrews 1:5-14
-Importance -Phil. 3:7-9
-Birth- Heb. 1:6-7
-Throne- Heb 1:8-9
-Act- Heb. 1:10-12

Observable Message- Hebrews 2:1
-We have a tendency to drift away from it:
*The story of busy Martha

Reliable Message- Hebrews 2:2-4
-Seen by many witnesses- I Cor. 15:1-6
-Judgment of God will happen
-Even God Himself has witnessed

Practical Helps:
-Think of others
*God speaks through others
-Learning, not being taught
*Preparing
*Paying attention
*Purpose: applying what you learned
*Practice: test yourself

-Without review and notes taken, 80% of what you hear is gone.



*Prayer* - 7/2/09

~Finding Help: Prayer at Worship~
Matthew 6:5-13

-Prayer is Decisive in Content:

• Worship-9
• Success-10
• Daily Needs-11
• Forgiveness-12
• Protection-13a
• Worship-13b

-Who is the God you are praying to?

The Great God: A Valley of Vision pg. 9

O Fountain of All Good,

Destroy in me every lofty thought,
Break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds,
Annihilate each clinging shred of self-rightesousness,
Implant in me true lowliness of spirit,
Abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence,
Open in me a fount of penitential tears,
Break me, then bind me up;
Thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God;
Then can the Father take up His abode in me,
Then can the blessed Jesus come with healing
in His touch,
Then can the Holy Spirit descend in
sanctifying grace;
O Holy Trinity, three Persons and one God,
inhabit me, a temple consecrated to thy glory.

When thou are present, evil cannot abide;
In thy fellowship is fullness of joy,
Beneath thy smile is peace of concience,
By thy side no fears disturb,
no apprehension banish rest of mind,
With thee my heart shall bloom with fragrance;
Make me meet through repentance,
for thine indwelling.
Nothing exceeds thy power,
Nothing is too great for thee to do,
Nothing too good for thee to give.
Infinate is thy might, boundless thy love,
limitless thy grace, glorious thy saving name.

Let angels sing for
sinners repenting,
prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed,
Satan's captives released,
blind eyes opened,
broken hearts bound up,
the despondent cheered,
the self-righteous stripped,
the formalist driven from a refuge of lies,
the ignorant enlightened,
and saints built up in their holy faith.

I ask great things of a great God.

Practical Helps:
-Remember we are Calling upon God
-You are meeting with God, are you prepared?
*Journaling prayer requests and answers helps with this.
-Practice- is Prayer a part of your life?
-Dispel the cause of any distractions
*Singleness of mind- Dt. 21:1-3


*Expressing and Encouraging* - 7/3/09

~Colossians 3:15-17~

-There is power in the unity of voices.

-Principles of Singing:
1) It's commanded in the Bible

• v. 13- "Bearing with one another" as the family of God
• v. 14- "love which binds everything together in perfect harmony"
• v. 15- "you were called in one body and be thankful"

2) It must be concrete in content

• v. 15- "Let the Word of Christ"
• The TRUTH works within you
• Therefore, words matter and are judged by the Bible

3) Conversion in the Life

• v. 16- Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom
• You ought to have a reason to sing!

4) Commitment to the Delivery

• From the heart
• "Let the peace of God rule in your heart"
• Music is a "hot" topic in churches
• "With grace in your hearts to the Lord"
• Isaiah 29:13

5) Cooperatively in Performance

• "Teaching"
• "Admonishing"
• Needs to be clear, appropriate, together, and loud

6) Considerate in Practice

• "One another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs"
• This isn't a performance

7) Centered in Purpose

• "To the LORD"
• Music is an outward expression of our inward expression of thanks to the LORD

-What if I don't "feel like it?
*Psalm 100

Practical Helps:
-Adequate volume- who is to hear you? Those around you!
-High energy level- sing it like you mean it!
-Sing the text, not the music- with knowledge!
-Good posture for breathing