“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

This was the theme of our praise night this past Friday as we wrapped up School Of Worship and yet another summer. What we do with our lives ought to be worship to God with every moment we have otherwise it ends up being empty, meaningless, and inauthentic worship. Our night of worship was more than just singing – it was filled with praise, prayers, scripture, and celebration from the people of God!

The Word I shared in the middle of the night was to offer perspective on the fact that our lives are not our own, but they belong to God since we were bought at a price. Our lives should be lived to testify the good news of His grace because of Jesus Christ (Acts 20:24), which includes when we worship on Sundays, Fridays, and every other moment in between as we live these lives for Him.

It was a powerful night of praise for all of God’s children. It was a great privilege to lead with our band one more time before the new school year starts. These days there are so many things saying that it’s okay to do whatever you want with your life, with your bodies, with your actions… but I hope whether or not you were with us at the praise night, you can look forward to this new school year with intentions of bringing glory, honor, and praise to God in all that you do & all that you are! Our lives are not our own!

We just got back from the Cornerstone Church retreat this past weekend (more on that later this week)! The theme for this year’s retreat was “Moving Forward”, and the guest speaker Pastor Sam Park touched upon Ezekiel 37 (The Valley of Dry Bones). So I couldn’t help but think about Passion 2013 where Chris Tomlin (and the symphony orchestra) played “Awake My Soul” to a video of the passage, and then Lecrae comes out and paraphrases. It was a powerful representation of Ezekiel’s vision for sure.

Then the Sunday we got back to church, our pastor preached on Ezekiel 37 as well! Needless to say, dry bones have been on my mind lately…

Can you imagine? A valley of dry bones. What could have caused it? Who knows… But what we do know is what happens next: the bones were restored to life because of God. Likewise, the power and grace of our mighty God is awesome enough not just to send His one and only son Jesus to us, but to send Him to die for us… and to live again!

Dry bones? Because of Jesus, we will never thirst again – the water He gives us will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14). Because of Jesus, we have new life to the fullest (John 10:10). Because of Jesus, we can boast in the power of God that can even breathe life back into dry bones – a power that nothing on earth can compare to!

Galatians 6:14 says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” We have an amazing God who has delivered us from sin and wants us to move forward together. Let’s boast in Him, be confident and shameless with these blessed lives we have!

Maybe you just graduated high school or college, or maybe you’re facing troubles or transitions in life… Maybe you’re feeling like a pile of dry bones. But be encouraged! Move forward knowing that the God of the universe opened our graves so that we too can live again like the dry bones in Ezekiel 37 and that His Spirit is with us: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We just got back from leading worship at the SDYG (Sandol) Winter Retreat! It was a great time of honoring the Lord and lifting up His name. The theme of the retreat was “New Life”, which is funny because yesterday at church I preached about a similar idea. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Through Jesus Christ’s resurrection, our sins are forgiven. The only catch is that we’d have to take off our “grave clothes”. The new has come! Paul boldly says in Romans: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” and I believe that this is what we ought to do with these “new lives”.

Which leads us back to Shameless Plug: this idea of being renewed and unashamed in Christ, having a new life to live for God, and shamelessly exemplifying Jesus… it’s a bold statement! So especially in this season of Lent, let’s not get so bent on what we’re “giving up” but let’s remember the cross when we give it up as we strive to do everything for God – because Jesus gave up everything for us.