Worship
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Are You Even Listening?
Jim and I have been traveling lately and that has resulted in us visiting several congregations of the Lord’s church. We love to visit others and usually come away blessed by the worship and fellowship. However, I have been distressed lately about something I have noticed on more than one occasion, both at those congregations and at our home congregation – the lack of listening intentionally to obtain what is being said concerning God’s Word and focusing on offering your worship to God. Oh, I’m way ahead of you. I have a feeling at this point in this post some of you are thinking, how does she know they’re not paying…
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Sometimes, It’s Okay to Just…
This time of year, there are many reminders about gratitude. I think we all know that we need those reminders every so often, because it can become far too easy to slip into complacency and not be grateful. One of those reminders that we often get is the song “Count Your Blessings.” I suppose that, for many people, this hymn is a favorite. I like it a lot, too, and it helps me to think about how much God has done for me. And before going on to the gist of this article, let me say that counting your blessings is a wonderful habit. As the song states, “It will…
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The Most Important Thing I’ve Learned by Preaching Through Mark
It has been quite an odyssey, and Central has been great to be along for the ride. At the beginning of 2023 (notice…not 2024), it was announced that Noah Davis and I would be preaching through the Gospel according to Mark. We made it clear that it would not be every Sunday morning, but that we were going to take two years to go through that book. Now, as November 2024 approaches, we are about to land the plane. Lord willing, the four Sunday mornings of November will be spent bringing this study to a close with sermons on (1) the second part of the crucifixion, (2) the burial, (3)…
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The One That is Different
During a typical year there are four months which have five Sundays. On those four (and sometimes five) Sundays the church where I worship and serve does something we call “church – eat – church.” Instead of dismissing after the morning worship service and returning a few hours later for our evening worship, we are together for about four-and-a-half straight hours. We begin our time together with a period of Bible study. We may be divided by age or other factors, but we are all studying the same Divine Book. There are two periods of time during which we all assemble to offer worship to the One in whose name…
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Marketing the Church with One Word
If you were asked to describe the church with one word, what would you choose? Maybe a better question would be, if you only had one word to try to get people to come to worship with you, which word would you choose? Now, to be fair, that is a very difficult thing to do. The Lord’s Church is a multi-faceted entity and trying to summarize it in one word is tremendously challenging. And, to be sure, we will rarely have only one word to invite a friend a neighbor to worship with us. Recently, though, I saw where a church had tried to do just that. It was on…
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How to Frustrate Church Leaders on a Sunday Night
By “Sunday night,” I am not talking about the Sunday evening worship assembly. In fact, the term “Sunday night” is meant as a placeholder for anytime after worship services are finished for the day. It stands for the next time one of those faithful men who serve a congregation as an elder or as a preacher jumps on social media. Maybe they are just scrolling through Facebook to kill a few minutes before going to bed on Sunday night. Maybe they are checking their feed as part of their Monday morning routine. But it’s whenever they are on again and just seeing how things are going. Want to frustrate them?…
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A Defense of Sunday Night Worship
Yes, I think it is a good idea for congregations to have a “second” worship service on Sunday evening. Before sharing some reasons why, let me make a few very clear introductory statements. The Lord’s Church is to meet on the first day of every week (Acts 20:7) to worship.The time of day on Sunday is not specified in Scripture, but is left up to the wisdom of the elders, so long as it is on the Lord’s Day.Whatever that time is, each member needs to be present (Hebrews 10:25) and actively worshiping in spirit and truth (John 4:24).There is no command to worship more than once on Sunday. It…
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Which Side of the Door?
Most of us are probably familiar with a painting and/or some other representation that depicts Jesus standing at a door and knocking. Each of these are intended to be a visual representation of these words found in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” There is probably no way to estimate the number of applications that have been made of this text or of the painting. Most of them have to do with the desire of Jesus to have a relationship with us (and…
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When the Neighbor Knew Something Was Wrong
I am writing these words on the day I was asked to participate in the funeral of a very special Christian lady. Some of what I am about to type could probably be written after any number of funerals. I am afraid, though, that not all of it could. Funeral services have a way of reminding us about things that are vitally important. A story I heard from a family member is, at least to me, a great example of this. Many of us have had the heartbreaking experience of trying to help a loved one as the aging process takes a terrible toll on that loved one. At some…
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A Conversation Every Christian Needs to Have
There are a lot of important pieces of information and wisdom that help us throughout life. Each of us can look back on our lives and remember conversations that gave us just one bit of wisdom, but that was enough to aid us through a tough time or help us with something that would come later in life. Today, I want to suggest a conversation that every Christian should have. It won’t take but a few minutes, but it might just change your perspective. And it can be with any number of people. Here is who you go talk to: an older Christian who now struggles to get out of…
