As a pastor’s kid, I was at the Church whenever the doors were opened. That meant Sunday School, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and of course the midweek prayer meeting. I dreaded the prayer meeting. Except for a short time of prayer at the end, it was just like any other service–a few hymns and a […]

In Luke 18:10, Jesus tells a parable about two men who went up to the temple to pray. Prayer is to be a part of worship. Paul wrote to Timothy that the priority for the church in Ephesus was to pray (I Timothy 2:1, 6). In Matthew 6, Jesus indicated that prayer is a key […]

The gospel is an old hymn. The gospel is sheet music printed in antiquarian typeface on a yellowed page in a dusty book. It’s the “old, old story” and the “old rugged cross.” It is four verses—and please don’t skip the third verse to expedite the invitation! The gospel is an invitation to a bygone […]

When we talk about worship, we often paint ourselves into a corner and relegate the topic of conversation to music. This results in even less constructive conversations about style and preference, traditions and pragmatism, but it hardly ever begins with the premise of asking God what He wants. If we were to read through the […]