Back To Kindergarten: The Purpose Of Sunday Morning Worship

My dear friends, we must sometimes pause & ask,
“Why go to a local church on a Sunday morning?
Why do we sing songs of worship to the LORD?”

• Come To Church Desperate (click HERE)…
• come to a worship service hungry…
• come to a worship service expecting the Triune God to be present and
• come to a worship service actively participating in the presence of God.

Come to a worship service
listening to Him speak to you thru the Bible & Holy Spirit
& responding by faith to what He says.

Nothing passive about being there, nothing just to sit back & watch.

Don’t spectate on Sunday morning—participate.

For spectators, most worship services are disappointing.
For participators, even the most simple worship service can be exhilarating
because of God.

First, we’ll get more out of a worship service
if we’ve been following the Lord Jesus Christ last Monday—Saturday;

a worship service is more refreshing to our souls
if we’ve gotten sore/tired/even injured the previous week
from taking up our cross & following Christ,
from learning to die to our sinful desires & live for Jesus Himself:

• just as an ice-cold glass of water is more refreshing
  when you have worked up a thirst thru physical activity
  (but can taste bland if you’ve sat & watched t.v. all day);
  .
• just as pit stops are amazing for cars on the track & in the race;
  pit stops are irritating for cars that like to sit on the showroom floor.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t come to a local church worship service
if you haven’t followed Christ much in the past week,

but we are likely to be more of a spectator looking on Sunday morning
if we haven’t been a participator living with the LORD during the week.

Secondly, we sing songs of worship to the LORD not based on

• whether we like the songs or not,
• whether we feel like singing (or are good at it!),
• whether or not there is a tangible energy in the room
  (though all of those can be nice!);

we sing songs of worship simply as a response
to Who God is & what He has done for us
through the manger, cross & empty tomb,

we sing songs of worship to respond
in gratitude and praise
for how He has Personally carried us thru the previous week.

We must actively think about His characteristics and actions
during the worship service…the singing must flow from that…

Psalm 126:1-3: When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dreamed.
² Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
³ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

If the LORD has done great things for you,
let’s join together with other pardoned, freed, adopted & reborn ex-convicts
in a local church worship service this Sunday
by singing songs of joy & thanks to Him
Who died & conquered death…