Our Service of Worship and Instruction at Circle Church was at 9:30 on Sunday morning. Instruction is included in this title because the hour is not totally worship. For example, whenever a sermon is introduced, specific adoration and praise of God are precluded, and the congregation enters into a time of corporate instruction when God is speaking to them.

I am strongly of the opinion that most churches would aid their congregations if they would call their services, “The Service of Worship, Announcements, Etc.” At least it would indicate they knew there was a difference! Any process of semantics can be come exhaustively mundane, but this examination of terms is necessary if the modem church is to eliminate the foggy concepts which are rendering her impotent to determine her purpose.

Our Service of Worship and Instruction is generally divided into three sections:

• The Approach to God in Worship.
• God Speaking Through His Written Word.
• The Response of Obedience.

Congregational worship is the exclusive objective of the first section. The music included in “The Approach to God” always expresses adoration, praise, or possibly thanksgiving. This is true whether it is a congregational hymn, a choral selection, or a special musical number.

The choices are not based so much on the style of music as on the text. In choosing the music, the question is asked, “Are the words addressed to God and do they speak of His worth?”

The prayer or invocation is never general, but centers on God’s attributes. Any reading of Scripture in this portion of the service, whether from the platform or responsively, in unison or silently, will always be addressed to God.

We are continually discovering that worship does not have to be heavy or pompous or dull. Quite the opposite. Some of the most exciting moments in the church are when we have figured out ways to praise God corporately that He is Light, or creative, or everywhere present.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about? Or, what will you preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon? David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help you learn how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons. Just click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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What if Jesus was to preach at your church for the next three or four Sundays? Wouldn’t that be a treat! What do you think would be the topic(s) He would speak about? Because churches differ greatly, it’s not that easy for me to suggest a single subject that would be appropriate in every case.

So let me alter the picture. What if our Lord was given the chance to preach to the American church in general by way of a video telecast that all congregations would tap into? Instead of hundreds of thousands of local church pastors preaching, for several Sundays the Head of the Church would share His thoughts with His people throughout the United States. Is that an easier picture for you to get your mind around?

Would He speak with passion?

Would He be gracious and loving?

Would His message carry with it a sense of urgency?

Would He start with a funny story to grab people’s attention?

And again, what specific topic do you think He would choose to talk about?

My thoughts may differ from yours as to what Jesus would speak about. Nevertheless, all preachers have the responsibility of doing the best we can in representing what we feel our Lord and Master would say were He to honor us by His personal presence and pulpit ministry.

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You can learn how to develop highly relevant Sunday sermons that grab the attention of your congregation and help your listeners respond effectively to the deep truths of God’s Word. David Mains and Mainstay Ministries have a whole range of helpful solutions. Do you need to prepare a Topical Sermon, an Advent Sermon, a Christmas Sermon, an Easter Sermon, a Sermon Series, or any other Sunday Sermon? You can find help on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons. Just click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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One morning during our first year of operation at Circle Church, a young student agreed to give the invocation. I carefully explained that it was to be exclusively in the area of praise. He came a half-hour early on Sunday morning pleading for help because he couldn’t think of anything to say!

Because as a staff we had exerted such effort at Circle Church to instruct our congregation as to what worship truly is and to lead them in creative forms of it, such an incident among us today would be very uncommon.

The local church speaks to God through corporate worship and prayer.

The two words, worship and prayer, are not synonymous, although they do have many parallels. As we have previously defined it, worship is basically the praise and adoration of God.

It is not necessarily just prayer, because it can be expressed in a variety of forms such as music, Scripture reading, the giving of offerings, liturgies, art forms, celebrations, and other forms. King David’s dance before the Lord may have begun a celebration, or it may have been an example of one of those spontaneous expressions of praise, which have no articulated form, but which are worship also.

Prayer is speaking to God, but it is not necessarily all worship, It can include adoration and praise. But whenever prayer moves into the area of request, it ceases to be an act of worship. Again, when we use the word worship, it means to attribute worth to deity.

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Pastor, when “sermon prep day” rolls around each week, do you face the task of preparing another sermon with a frown on your face? If so, you’re not alone. Many pastors literally dread preparing their Sunday sermon. There just doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. The good news: David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help, whether you need to create a Topical Sermon, an Advent Sermon, a Christmas Sermon, an Easter Sermon, a Sermon Series, or any other Sunday Sermon. For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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The initial role of the local church is to fill the need for true spiritual interaction. It has been established that interaction is the original need precipitating the formation of a local church. The next question which must be answered is, “How, then, does the corporate body speak to God?” The answer is, at least in part, that the church speaks to God through worship.

But probably no more ambiguous a word can be found in all of the terminology of the traditional church than the word “worship.” What is worship? Most people have a hazy concept, but have never taken time to pin it down.

While serving as President of the Evangelical Ministers’ Association of Greater Chicago, I programmed one entire meeting for the pastors to work on defining the term. After discussion by small groups and a pooling of the results, the men concluded that worship was anything a Christian does, as long as it is done in an attitude of wanting to please God.

This definition could possibly be valid if worship is thought of in a very broad sense. But, it also produces a serious difficulty. The definition is so general that there is hardly any way one can work with it when it comes to incorporating worship into a service.

Anything becomes worship as long as the desire to please God is present when one acts. But is there not a difference between singing the hymn “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty” and singing the gospel song “Rescue the perishing?”

According to Webster’s Dictionary, to “worship” is “to attribute worth to deity.” If I say I appreciate my fellow staff members because they are honest, hardworking, generous, kind, effective, competent, and a variety of other positive descriptors, I am attributing worth to them.

When I transfer my attention vertically to God and tell Him the value I place on Him because of who He is, I am attributing worth to God, or worshiping Him.

For example, when speaking to God in prayer, I worship Him as I readily declare:

“God, I praise You because You are Spirit. You don’t have bodily parts that deteriorate with age, nor are You limited by physical exhaustion. Because of this, You will function eternally at the peak of efficiency. You do not have to sleep be cause of weariness, so at any time I can instantly have Your attention. I appreciate this about You.”

The Old Testament writers were extremely proficient at attributing worth to God. They diligently practiced the art of worshiping and I am sure their entire concept of God was vastly expanded as a result.

I wonder how often the 21st-century mind looks at that ancient Judaic heritage with false superiority. “Their concept of the God head was not as developed as ours is today,” we self-righteously exclaim. Yet most Christians are barely able to offer rudimentary private prayers of praise, much less to participate in worship on a congregational level.

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Whether you need to create a Topical Sermon, an Advent Sermon, a Christmas Sermon, an Easter Sermon, a Sermon Series, or any other Sunday Sermon, David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

For so many of us, the Christmas celebration can be a mile wide and an inch deep. We tire ourselves with an ever-growing list of gifts to buy, activities to complete, and traditions to uphold. And through a maze of cards and calls, outreach and entertainment, we struggle to connect with others in meaningful ways. Our intentions are sincere, but often trivial. When we look back on the season, we’re often left feeling like our holidays somehow lost the Christ in Christmas, and only touched the surface.

Every pastor needs resources to help him or her find appropriate Sermons for Advent and Sermons for Christmas. With Christmas Sermon resources from Mainstay Ministries, you can help your congregation season their Christmas traditions with the flavor of Christ. More than simply helping them to remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season,” you can encourage people to focus on Christ in the very traditions that have become part of our celebration of Christmas: decorating our homes, conveying Christmas greetings, giving and receiving gifts, gathering with family and friends, entering the new year with goals. Click here to see a list of special Christmas Sermon Packages available.

Looking forward to Christmas? Looking for key Sermon Ideas? Wondering what to preach throughout the Christmas Season? Searching for help in preparing for your Sermons on Christmas Day? In addition to the above special offer, Mainstay Ministries has many valuable resources filled with Christmas Sermon Ideas to help you plan for your Christmas preaching and for such Sunday Sermons, including resources for the following: Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermon, Advent Sermon Series, Advent Sunday Sermons, Christmas Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermon, and Christmas Sermon Series. Connect with us on-line by clicking here.

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