If believers worship with gladness and passion, anyone not yet a part of the community certainly will be attracted to the One who is the object of their worship. But to focus the worship on evangelistic introduction deprives believers of deeper nurturing toward Church...
In the end, worship can never be a performance, something you’re pretending or putting on. It’s got to be an overflow of your heart… Worship is about getting personal with God, drawing close to God. from Heart of Worship
The tapestry of worship is formed by the various threads of conversation that occur in interweaving fashion: God’s Word being communicated to the gathered community (both individually and corporately), worshipers responding to God under the prompting of God’s Spirit,...
The most common mistake Christians make in worship today is seeking an experience rather than seeking God. They look for a feeling, and if it happens, they conclude that they have worshiped. Wrong. In fact, God often removes our feelings so we won’t depend on them....
Worship dare not be glib or superficial, ought not to dispense false assurances or manipulate emotions. Instead, genuine worship always offers the true hope of the Gospel—neither entertainment nor escapism, neither diversion nor another sort of consumerism, but the...
If you do not know the presence of God in your office, your factory, your home, then God is not in the church when you attend. I have come to believe that when we are worshipping—if the love of God is in us and the Spirit of God is breathing praise within us, all the...
What if [instead of just the “wow” moments in worship] we actively pursue the joy of the ordinary? What if in this season of Lent, when we verbalize our “ashes to ashes” condition , we give God glory for the profound nature of His handiwork without feeling that we...
The offering is the pinnacle act in worship. Likewise, all of worship is an offering. The self-emptying of Jesus is the model. Unless a person offers the total self to God, true worship does not occur. Actions devoid of self-giving do not qualify as the worship of God...
“Praise” that uses only “upbeat” songs can be extremely destructive to worshipers because it denies the reality of doubts concerning God, the hiddenness of God, and the feelings of abandonment by God that cloud believers going through difficult times. I have counseled...
It is bad theology to say, “You worship that way, but let me worship my way.” We do not worship only as far as we feel comfortable in the same way that we do not make ethical decisions as long as they meet our convenience. The world might do this but not people who...