THE WITNESS OF WORSHIP (3 OF 11)
by Keith Krell
Scripture: Psalm 96:1-13
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The Witness of Worship (3 of 11)
Series: Church Matters!
Keith Krell
Psalm 96:1-13
This past summer, a 54-year-old Florida man rammed his car into a church, telling officers that he wanted to be ''closer to Jesus.'' Officers found Phillip Wagner's car partially inside the Faith United Methodist Church when they arrived on the scene. The damage to the church was estimated at about $10,000 and Wagner was put in the county jail on suicide watch.
Perhaps this account leads you to shake your head. While I can understand your response, there's something to be learned from this sad episode. If you want to be closer to Jesus, draw closer to a local church. We live in a day and age when there's a complete disconnect between being close to Jesus and worshiping Him in a local church. I would dare say that this is one of the reasons that the church in the Pacific Northwest is so anemic. Here in our region, many Christians see no correlation between worshiping God with other believers and walking with God. So when things don't go well in their lives they drop out of church. If they become busy with life and their children's activities, they abandon church. Gordon Dahl wrote, ''Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.'' How true! With family, church, job, and school responsibilities, it can be hard to be devoted to corporate worship. But this is only because we've failed to recognize two truths: the greatness of our God and the demand for worship
Psalm 96 is a universal call to praise the Lord--all people and all creation are invited to join in! This psalm belongs to a group of psalms (93-100) united by genre and motif. These psalms affirm Yahweh's rule over the earth (see 93:1: ''The Lord reigns''). They are called enthronement psalms. The implication is we ought to worship the Lord because He is a great God. No less than seven times in the psalm, the psalmist instructs believers to tell the nations ...
Series: Church Matters!
Keith Krell
Psalm 96:1-13
This past summer, a 54-year-old Florida man rammed his car into a church, telling officers that he wanted to be ''closer to Jesus.'' Officers found Phillip Wagner's car partially inside the Faith United Methodist Church when they arrived on the scene. The damage to the church was estimated at about $10,000 and Wagner was put in the county jail on suicide watch.
Perhaps this account leads you to shake your head. While I can understand your response, there's something to be learned from this sad episode. If you want to be closer to Jesus, draw closer to a local church. We live in a day and age when there's a complete disconnect between being close to Jesus and worshiping Him in a local church. I would dare say that this is one of the reasons that the church in the Pacific Northwest is so anemic. Here in our region, many Christians see no correlation between worshiping God with other believers and walking with God. So when things don't go well in their lives they drop out of church. If they become busy with life and their children's activities, they abandon church. Gordon Dahl wrote, ''Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, work at their play, and play at their worship.'' How true! With family, church, job, and school responsibilities, it can be hard to be devoted to corporate worship. But this is only because we've failed to recognize two truths: the greatness of our God and the demand for worship
Psalm 96 is a universal call to praise the Lord--all people and all creation are invited to join in! This psalm belongs to a group of psalms (93-100) united by genre and motif. These psalms affirm Yahweh's rule over the earth (see 93:1: ''The Lord reigns''). They are called enthronement psalms. The implication is we ought to worship the Lord because He is a great God. No less than seven times in the psalm, the psalmist instructs believers to tell the nations ...
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