On Worship...

with Pastor Steve

The New King James Version of the Bible is used unless otherwise noted.

A Call to Intimacy
God's desire is for us to be intimate with him, but there is a condition to intimacy. That condition is holiness. The real praises of God come from a kingdom of people who are pursuing holiness...

Man's Programs or God's Presence?
If we take an honest look at our Sunday morning meetings we will find that most of them are geared more toward man than toward God. Man's programs, more often than not, get in the way of God's presence...

Why Do We Worship?
The purpose of our worship however is not to experience the hand of God it is to see the face of God. Worship is for God! He is the giver and the receiver of worship. All true worship has God at its center. It's all about Him...

Sacrificial Praise
Worship doesn't depend on the outward appearance of the worshiper or his circumstances, but on the greatness of the one who controls the circumstances and the work he has done on the inside of the worshiper...

Worship: A Way of Life
A true worshiper has no life of his own. He has been bought with a price. He has died to the right to have his own needs met in order to meet the needs of his Creator. The true worshiper does not exist for himself, but for his Creator...

Worshiping the Father
True worshipers are not ashamed to show their affection to the Father regardless of who is watching. They are so overwhelmed with his love for them that fear of looking foolish is no deterrent...

Worshiping in Spirit
A true worshiper will have an ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. This relationship will produce new worship responses because the Spirit continually gives fresh revelations of the Creator...

Worshiping in Truth
Until the truth God has revealed about himself through his word and his Son becomes truth that is written in our hearts, our worship will be stale and lifeless...

Worship: A Bi-dimensional Experience
As we worship we are joining thousands of other created beings. We are but one small part of creation that is worshiping its creator...

Worship: An Overflow of Revelation
Worship becomes our obvious response when we get a true revelation of the creator. Without a revelation of God it is impossible to worship Him...

Worship is Transforming
Transformation comes as we spend time in God's presence listening, heeding his words and worshiping his person...

Brokenness in Worship
Brokenness is essential when approaching God. Though we may approach him boldly we should never go into his presence presumptuously as though we have earned the right to be there...

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs
There are the "all hymns" churches, the "no hymns" churches, the "hymns-other stuff" churches, then you have the "no music-just voices" churches. Who's right? Who's wrong? Who cares? Just Worship!!...

Worship and Warfare
When we position ourselves as people of praise, decorated in God's holiness, we won't have to shout at the enemy. We need only to address the Father. He will make sure the enemy gets the message...

Worship and Reverence
Should we expect God to manifest his glory if we do not give him the honor and reverence due his name? We cannot expect God to permit us to come into his presence with an attitude of disrespect...

Is God Hungry?
God is self-existent and does not need any outside source to assist him in sustaining life. However, though he is not physically dependant on food, there is a burning hunger in God that he actively seeks to satisfy...

The Fountain of Satisfaction
In many churches ritual has taken the place of repentance and righteousness; works have taken the place of true worship. We have become more concerned with preserving our dignity that we have with praising our Deity...

The Glory of God
The church is desperate for the glory of the Lord to once again fill the temple. When his glory comes, his manifest presence, people change. Once we have experienced the wonder of his glory we will be ruined to everything we have known as church...

The Restoration of David's Tabernacle
David's tabernacle was erected in a conspicuous place; Mount Zion. All who entered the city could see the glory of God and hear the praises of God. That is what our praise and worship accomplishes; it takes a huge God that seems so far away to some folks and brings him nearer for them to see...

Abandoned Worship
Athletes have a phrase they often use to describe their intensity of play. It is "Leave it all on the field." All the conditioning, weight lifting and studying the play book have brought you to game time...

The Power of Song
Song contains the power to not only change attitudes, but influence actions. The forces behind many of these songs are aware of their power and many listeners have succumbed to their bondage...

The Dynamics of Corporate Worship
Corporate worship should never be hurried. Pliny the younger wrote to the emperor Trajan that the first century Christians would frequently worship far into the night singing chorus after chorus for hours at a time...

Praising God for His Mercy
Are we willing to look foolish to make it clear to the world that we are praising the God of our affections? Have we really understood God's merciful kindness toward us?...

The Pleasure of Worship
It is God's desire that we experience the pleasure of his presence. He finds pleasure in filling us and visiting us with his presence. So, who gets pleasure from our worship? Both the Father and us...

Contemporary or Traditional?
The style of worship music we use is not the stimulus that moves the heart of God. It is our willingness to suffer for the cause of Christ and be obedient to his call on our lives. The question of authentic worship is not, "Do we use contemporary or traditional music?" but rather, "Are we willing to die?"...

The Center of Worship
The greatest miracles occur each time God takes a filthy, rotten heart and makes it clean; all because of the blood of Jesus. And if what Jesus did on the cross doesn't cause us to worship him with abandonment then we are at least one step removed from the center of worship...

Thanksgiving in Worship
In modern day worship services there is a popular trend of lifting and even waving hands. Many do it just because it's popular, but doing something because it's popular doesn't make it worship...

Chosen to Proclaim
We are to publish the praises or excellencies of him who called us. Our means of publication is not only what we say or write but also how we live...

Run Don't Walk!
We must be thirsty for God alone and realize that his right hand (power) is the only thing which sustains and satisfies our soul. And we must be willing to express or display our passion for his person and presence...

Open Heart What!?
I recently underwent open heart surgery to replace an aortic valve which had been defective since birth. The entire ordeal took our family quite by surprise as I was not initially aware of any symptoms of a heart problem. Here is how the events unfolded...

To the Least of These
I am convinced that these acts of kindness shown toward our family were in deed acts of worship toward Christ. Any act, for good or ill, that we perform toward members of Christ's body is rendered unto Christ...

Designed by God for God
The Father was not caught off guard; he was not totally surprised as we were. He not only knew about it, he planned it. He didn't just merely allow it to happen; he squeezed it into shape; he formed, framed and molded it like a potter does a vessel. And he did it for a specific purpose...

Rejoice and be Glad
If we as earthly parents receive an abundance of pleasure watching our children rejoice over the presents we give them, how much more pleasure does the heavenly Father receives when we rejoice over the presents he gives us?

Name Above All
The chief end of our lives is to exalt God's name above all others. By living holy, obedient lives accompanied with outward expressions of adoration we can demonstrate the supremacy of God in all things and give him the glory due his name...