NO COMPROMISE

an acoustic worship with a full-on message

this past weekend we experimented with an acoustic style of worship/music. guitars, xylophone, melodica (?) accordian and vocals. mixed reactions (some people said they missed standing up to sing with high energy) but we’re going to keep working on more of a “fusion” approach to the worship music. what’s your thought?

there was nothing low-energy about mike’s message, however. it was entitled “NO COMPROMISE” – another hard-core message from the gospel of matthew chapter 10.  at the close of mike’s message  he gave an altar call – and those who came forward said a strong prayer together – a piece we’d adapted from len sweet’s book entitled “a cup of coffee at the soul cafe.”

i love being part of the “church of the out-of-control.”  i’ve heard some recovery friends site a phrase from the big book: “half attempts availed us nothing.” jesus said it this way:  if you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. if your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. but if you forget about yourself and look after me, you’ll find both yourself and me. i love that last part.

here’s the NO COMPROMISE prayer:

As of today, I am part of the
Church of the Out-of-Control.

I’ve given up control to God.
I trust and obey the Spirit.
I’ve jumped off the fence, stepped over the line.
I’ve pulled out all the stops, holding nothing back.

There’s no turning back,
looking around, slowing down,
backing away, letting up, or shutting up.
It’s life Against the Odds,
Outside the Box, Over the Wall,
the game of life played
Without Goal Lines other than
“They Will Be Done…”

I am not here to please the dominant culture-
I live to please my Lord and Savior.

I’ve stopped trying to make life work,
and started trying to make life sing.
I no longer live by and for anything
but everything God-breathed,
Christ-centered,
and Spirit driven.

I won’t back down, slow down,
shut down, or let down
until I’m preached out, teached out,
healed out, or hauled out
of God’s mission in the world
entrusted to members of the
Church of the Out-of-Control… to unbind
the confined, the overlooked or the under-represented.

…so that one day He will pick me out
in the line-up of the ages as one of His own.
And then… it will be worth it all
to hear these words:
“Well done, thou good and faithful…
Out-of-Control Disciple.”