Reflections on My Worship Sermon Series (& Manuscripts)

I started 2011 preaching through the Gospel of John.  I took a 4-week break these last 4 Sundays to preach a short series of sermons on the topic of worship.  Tomorrow, I’ll be back in John, but I wanted to leave some reflections on the worship series, plus give you the manuscripts if you’re interested.

Some reflections:

• Just because we say we are doing something, even the routine things can lose meaning or understanding over time.  My 4-week series took 2 weeks to define and explain the worship of God, and the last 2 weeks to teach on the two ordinances of the church (baptism and communion).  Worshiping God is something that Christians should be doing every day, and a church should be doing together regularly.  I was hesitant to preach on a topic that is such a normal part of our lives as followers of Jesus.
• Every time you approach the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit can bring new application for your life.  The 2 sermons on the ordinances were of greatest hesitation from me to preach because they are things we’ve done in the church forever.  I thought I would preach and everyone would just nod their head like they already know it all.  But I was shocked how much I and others learned (through their discussions with me).

Books On Worship That Accompany New Sermon Series

I started preaching my new sermon series today called “Worship:  Defined and Practiced.”  In setting my mind to this topic more, I have been reading through these books and thought I would recommend them to you as well.

“Called To Worship” by Vernon Whaley.  An excellent, thorough examination of worship throughout the entire Bible.

“A Taste of Heaven” by RC Sproul.  A theology of worship, with teachings on some of the specific elements of church worship like baptism and communion.

“Classic Sermons on Worship” compiled by Warren Wiersbe.  A collection of classic sermons by preachers like Spurgeon and Broadus.  This was a very refreshing read for me.

Similar Worship Issues in 1879

John Broadus. Spurgeon called him the "greatest of living preachers."

Last night, I read a sermon titled “Worship” by John Broadus that was preached in St. Louis, MO, in 1879.  I was amazed at the similarities of modern-day issues in worship he was raising then to what is still being talked about today, 132 years later.

Here are some quotes from his sermon:

“We have a material nature, and we are all closely linked and inter-dependent and acting upon each other continually.  It is idle, then, to think that our worship will be all that it is capable of becoming if we try to keep it exclusively spiritual and give it no outward expression at all (pg. 20).”

“…spiritual worship…must subordinate those externals (pg. 21).”

“You go home with your children, talking only about the beauty of your house of worship or the beauty of the music, and how soon your children will come to think and feel that that is all there is to come to church for, and how many there are who do thus think and feel (pg. 24).”

Dr. Kwok & Dwayne Lee at Central this Sunday

It will be a blessing to have Dr. Kwok (executive director, SCBO) preaching and Rev. Dwayne Lee (Bible teaching/leadership team, SCBO) leading our worship musically this Sunday at Central!

Our 11:00 worship service will allow our people to catch a glimpse of how our state convention is working and how we play a part in that by cooperating with the SCBO.  Dr. Kwok will briefly talk about this before he preaches.  Dwayne will be using a new resource to lead us in worshiping with music, which should make this Sunday a time to enjoy worshiping God, realizing that there are so many ways to worship God!

These two men are servants for the Lord and His churches, and I appreciate their leadership in our state.  If you’re in Marion this Sunday, don’t miss the opportunity to worship at 11:00 at Central.

Monday Morning Rewind: Responding to the Messiah (Shepherds)

What are Monday Morning Rewinds?  Click here to see my original post explaining them.

Yesterday’s sermon was the third in my current Christmas sermon series. You can find info about the series here. This sermon dealt with the scripture text of Luke 2:8-20.  You can listen to this sermon here.

This sermon focused on the shepherds’ role in the birth of Jesus.  The main point was that the shepherds’ role teaches us much about the character of God in His plan of bringing salvation to the world, and they teach us what a proper response to Jesus should consist of.

It’s important to note here how important the angel’s words were to the shepherds.