"He must increase, but I must decrease"

Each 4th Sunday of the month, we have a special praise and prayer time at Central. We call it "4th Sunday Praise Night." We use this time to vary from the "traditional" order of worship by having a shorter devotional style talk (5 to 15 minutes in length) by various talented men of the congregation instead of a sermon. We also take time to offer a few more prayers and read more scriptures than most of us are used to on a Sunday evening. The rest of the time we use to sing more praises, and often learn a new song or two. We use this format to try to reenergize Sunday evenings and, hopefully, encourage a few more than the solid core of the congregation to attend .

I must admit that, although we have a worship committee help by offering suggested topics, I have often chosen topics and formats that I need to hear to encourage my soul and steady my walk with God, or topics which have encouraged me and which I want to share with my Brothers and Sisters. Many former topics have been based upon songs which encourage and convict me, such as "Who Am I", "The Voice of Truth", "Imagine", and "Take Me to the Cross".

This coming week, we will simply be focusing on John 3:30. The NIV states this verse this way: "He must become greater; I must become less." The Message reads: "This is the assigned moment for him to move into the center, while I slip off to the sidelines." I like the Contemporary English Version best: "Jesus must become more important, while I become less important." No matter what version you use, the message is the same--Jesus must become the center of your life. We will be using artwork from the Heartlight.org website, which simply expresses what John the Baptist was trying to convey. It has three simple images: cross > I. I have pasted this artwork as my wallpaper on my computer at work as a continual reminder to put Christ first in everything--especially at work.

How often do we try to draw attention to Jesus and away from ourselves? I know that being gracious in accepting a compliment is polite, but how commonplace has it become that athletes and actors and celebrities thank God for their accomplishments? Sometimes, I am put off by these acknowledgements because I see them as "fake" or "forced" or "not genuine". Perhaps I am just rationalizing to cover for my own inadequacies in giving God the glory in everthing. I think we need a constant reminder of how to be a servant to God instead of trying to make God our "genie". I have asked one of our elders, Jerry Myers, to do the talk this Sunday, not because he is an elder, or eloquent speaker, or a whiz at the original Greek, but because he embodies the very essence of what John the Baptist was trying to convey. I can't wait to hear what Brother Jerry has to say, to see him share his soul, his true nature, with us...again. Thanks be to God for wonderful examples of how to share ourselves, and God, with those around us.