Feelings are great liars. If Christians only worshiped when they felt like it there would be precious little worship that went on. Feelings are important in many areas, but completely unreliable in matters of faith… We think that if we don’t FEEL something there can...
00788 – To Understand Worship, Consider It’s History
If we ask, “How should we worship God?” a healthy Christian and Protestant instinct will be to respond with another question: “What does the Bible say?” Rightly understood, this is a necessary and indeed a sufficient response. We must not, however, presume that we...
00787 – Worship and Study Go Hand in Hand
We must not worship without study, for ignorant worship is of limited value and can be very dangerous. We may develop “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom.10:2) and do great harm to ourselves and others. But worship must be added to study to complete...
00786 – Throw Everything into the Fire of God
We must become relevant and reverent. Worship must become the meeting place between the eternal and the contemporary. We tend to love the altar so much that we refuse to set it on fire. Yet God comes in the flames. Our God is a consuming fire. Each generation must...
00785 – God Desires Our Worship Above Everything Else
That he seeks worshipers is unparalleled, for nowhere in the entire corpus of Holy Scripture do we read of God’s seeking anything else from a child of God. God desires worship above all else. ————————Gender-neutral version: That God seeks worshipers is unparalleled,...
00784 – True Worship: “Yes, Lord”
True Worship is not a peculiar practice in a particular place. True worship is the whole person saying, “Yes, Lord” in response to the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ. from Hearts on Pilgrimage
00782 – A God-Centered Life
The ultimate challenge of worship in spirit and truth—worship that pleases God—is not “How do I make a church meeting God-centered?’ but “How do I make my life God-centered?”
00781 – Liturgy is Intrinsically Corporate
Liturgy continually confronts us with the call to sacrifice our preoccupation with self. Because liturgy is intrinsically corporate, it resists any narrowing of the spiritual life to a private relationship between the solitary soul and God. Liturgy places God in the...
00779 – Worship Bonds Us Together with God
Worship is both the heart and heartache of contemporary religious life. In many churches, worship is an exciting, meaningful and inspirational moment. In many churches of today, however, worship is a battleground for its membership, an opportunity for fracturing and...
00778 – Worship Story
Years ago, I was in England at a large Christian conference. During one seminar, we were led in corporate worship by a guitarist whom I thought was average in every respect. As he finished what I would describe as a sorry time of worship in song, the elderly gentleman...