Our Worship Service

By Arter Gary

It seems our worship services have become routine to many of us. Some seem to just be going through the motions in many of our activities. Some leave our services no better than when they came. 

Some members do not know what God expects of them when they assemble with the saints.  If we do not follow the scriptures and worship God in spirit and truth, we miss the whole concept of our worship services, John 4:24.  From the view of some, our services are boring. For others the services have become unbearable as they have quit attending.  Then you have those who say, “I didn’t get one thing out of the worship service today.”  The question becomes, “What did you put into it?”  Then you have those who feel the high point of the week is being able to gather together with other saints to worship God each time there is a service of the church.  What are some things we can do to make our worship acceptable?

The first thing is to make the necessary preparation.  As with everything there must be some preparation.  A good night’s sleep would be the place to start.  Prepare lessons and meditate upon them before leaving for the services.  Arrive early.  Greet each other and have time to speak to the visitors.  Find a seat and start meditating and praying about our worship.  Then each will be blessed because we have properly prepared to worship.

Then we must participate in each act of worship in the manner God has commanded.

When we sing, we must look at the words of the song.  Each song that we sing has a message in it.  Our song service does two things – we are offering praise unto God, and we are teaching and admonishing one another, Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16; Heb. 2:12.  We must be an active participant in this.  Just sitting and listening is not sufficient if we are physically able to sing. 

When we pray, remember we are talking to our Father in Heaven.  We are either giving thanks to God for what He has done for us, or we are asking God for things we want or need.  The Christian life should be centered around prayer, 1 Thess. 5:17-18; John 14:14; Matt. 7:7-11 and 1 Pet. 3:12.

When we give, remember we are giving back to God a portion of the blessings that He has given to us.  Think about the material things God has blessed us with – jobs, homes, families and the portion of health that we enjoy, Eph. 4:28; 2 Thess. 3: 10; 1 Thess. 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 16:1-2.  Then give as we have prospered and with the right attitude .

When we partake of the Lords Supper, remember Christ died for us that we can have the forgiveness of our sins.  Remember when we eat the bread, Jesus offered His body as a sacrifice for us; and when we drink the fruit of the vine, remember Jesus shed His blood for our sins.  We are to remember His death and resurrection until He comes again, Matt. 26:26-29; Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7.

When we are studying the word of God, remember God gives us instructions on how to live in this world acceptably to Him, John 7:16.  We should take every opportunity to study and meditate upon His word.  In our worship service we should follow along in our Bible to make certain the teacher or preacher is teaching the Word as God would have it taught, Acts 17:11.  Then make application to our lives, Rom. 1:16; Acts 2:42; 1 Thess. 2:13;  2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Pet 3:15.

Our worship must be offered in Spirit and Truth, John 4:24.

Bow Down and Worship Me

By Paul Earnhart

The third temptation of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 4, beginning with verse 8: “Again the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things will I give you, if you fall down and worship me.’” (Mt. 4:8-9)

Our response to this is immediate.  We say, “Surely Jesus would not do that!”  But before we go further, let me ask you, “Would you do that?”

If Satan offered you the opportunity to be king of the world, would you bow down and worship him?  Maybe you don’t care to be a king; but if he offered you all the wealth of the world, would you bow down and worship him?  Think what you could do with all that money.  Jesus was all alone with Satan; maybe no one would ever know.  Furthermore, Satan only asked that it be done once.  Is it possible that you would bow down and worship Satan just once in a private place if you could have all the world for your own?  Really, we are worshipping Satan rather than God whenever we do what Satan wants us to do instead of what God wants us to do.  Most of us on some occasions have done Satan’s bidding for much less than what Satan offered Jesus.  Perhaps we have told a lie to make a sale, or perhaps we have taken a drink with the boss, feeling that we had to do that to keep our job or get a promotion.  For just a short period of pleasure, many have committed fornication or adultery.  All of this is really worshipping Satan.

Jesus had come into the world to establish a kingdom.  The road before Him was the way of the cross.  But He did not consider for a moment Satan’s offer.  He replied, “Away with you Satan!  For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Mt. 4:10)

How thankful we should be that Jesus remained faithful to God.  Had He bowed down to Satan just once, He could not have been our Savior.  If Jesus resisted Satan for us, we must resist for Him saying, “Away with you Satan!”

Jumping From the Pinnacle of the Temple

By Paul Earnhart

The second temptation of Jesus, reported in Matthew 4:5-6 is instructive: "Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written, 'He shall give His angels charge concerning you,' and 'In their hands they shall bear You up, lest you dash Your foot against a stone.'"

Satan had learned from the first temptation that Jesus would not act without authority from God’s word.  So, Satan quoted Bible to Jesus.  Some people think that if a preacher quotes the Bible, he is surely preaching the truth.  But that is not necessarily so.  Satan quoted scripture, but, of course, he took these verses out of their proper setting.  Furthermore, he avoided mentioning some other things that God had said.

But why would Jesus want to jump from the pinnacle of the temple? 

There may have been at least two reasons.  For one thing, since He had come to be the world’s Messiah, He needed to attract attention as quickly as possible.  If He should jump from the pinnacle of the temple and be gently delivered to earth by angels, this would be sensational enough to make Him instantly and favorably known.  Furthermore, as He embarked on His ministry, which He know would be dangerous, it would be a comfort to know that God really would protect Him.  Better to know now than later.

But Jesus was wise enough to see through Satan’s ploy.  "Jesus said to him, it is written again, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (Mt. 4:7)

When scripture is quoted to us, we need to go to the Bible to see if the use that is made of the passage is in harmony with what the writer was really talking about.  Furthermore, just as Jesus did, we must be sure we consider all the Bible says on any given subject.

The First Temptation

By Paul Earnhart

It should be an encouragement to us to know that Jesus was tempted just as we are (Heb. 4:14-15).  Mt 4:1-3 says, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones become bread.'”

If Satan had come to Jesus with this proposal on the first day of His temptations, it would not have been particularly tempting.  But Jesus must indeed have been hungry after forty days without food.  In fact, He must have felt that He was near death.  And if He died, what of the mission He had to fulfill?  This made Satan’s suggestion all the more appealing.

If many of us had been there, we would have said, “Lord, I don’t see anything wrong with doing this, and even if it is wrong a man has to eat.”  But Jesus did not think that way.  His total concern was to do God’s will, even if it meant death.  And He knew that the only way to know God’s will was to hear it from God’s word.  So, His first thought was “what does the Bible say?”

The Bible said nothing about turning stones into bread.  Here again, we might have advised Jesus “if it doesn’t say not to, it must be all right.”  But the very fact that God had not approved it was enough to keep Jesus from doing it.  After all, it was God’s power that He would use if He turned stones into bread, and He needed authorization from God to use His power in that way.  He did not have any word from God to do it, so He refused to do it even though His life was in jeopardy.

Jesus remembered the words of God in Deut. 8:3 and He quoted them to Satan: “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  If Jesus needed authority from God to use what belonged to God, so do we!  We must not dare to use God’s church, God’s money, God’s name or any other thing pertaining to God without His authority.  It is sin, whether it appears to be or not.

Christmas

By Paul Earnhart

This is the time of year that the world has set apart for celebration of the birth of Jesus.  All Christians should rejoice that Jesus did come into the world as recorded in the Bible.

At this time of year, there are two things which are always amazing to observe.  The first is that individuals who claim to be honoring Jesus, do so in ways that are so contrary to His teaching.  Why would a person wishing to honor Jesus do so by getting drunk and losing complete control of his own conduct?  How is Jesus honored by lewdness and immorality?  Would Jesus approve of individuals going deep into debt to purchase useless trinkets that only feed the pride of those receiving them?  The fact is that much of the celebration is no more than an excuse for doing what we want to do, rather than what Jesus would want us to do.

The other thing that is amazing is the amount of misinformation that circulates concerning Jesus at this time of year.  The Bible is the only dependable source of information about Jesus.  The story as we read there is a marvelous story (Mt. 1:18-2:11; Lk. 2:1-20).  But many people are not satisfied with that.  They embellish the Bible story with all kinds of imaginary details which are not in the scriptures and actually contradict facts clearly revealed in the scriptures.  Much of what you see on TV or the movies or hear on radio is without any basis whatever in truth.  Even the idea that Jesus was born on December 25th is without any foundation in scripture whatsoever.

If you really wish to honor Jesus, the best possible way to do it is to study carefully what the Bible says about Him and become obedient to His will.  In our media messages and in our worship, we always strive to concentrate on facts about Jesus and teaching from His lips as revealed in His word.  We welcome all to join with us as we lift up our Savior in glory and honor and praise, not just at this time but for all time.