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Q1. Authentic Worship


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  • 1 month later...
On 8/15/2017 at 2:31 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

 

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God?

I've noticed a gradual change in worship music...Often instead of focusing on Jesus, His blood, His glory, His holiness,  the lyrics are about us, and how we feel, or how we see things. Many churches, as numbers have decreased, have increased "feel good" measures to keep attendance up, losing the reverent awe and holiness of God and replacing it with loud music, humorous skits, coffee and donuts in church service, and  focus on "how ya all doin?" and keeping everyone entertained. The reverence has diminished, which is noticeable.

 How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns?

For me it's about my place in that setting...am I worshipping or just singing along with the music. Did I rush in and am still feeling rushed because there is much to do when we get home. How much time did I spend with my Savior this week in worship and if that was cut short, am I trying to make up for lost time now in church. Does the church's worship and overall pattern lead me into a deeper love and awe of Jesus? Or is the church just getting the check mark in the box like I do at times?  (4 songs, check, donuts and coffee in the lobby, check, bulletins being handed out at the door, check, greeters smiling and welcoming, check, sermon not too short but not so long that they lose interest, check. temperature comfortable, check, offering collected, check.) Holy Spirit? hmmm. Forgot to invite Him into every detail of the service...well there's always next week.

What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote reading and prayer?

We can ask Holy Spirit to lead us into worship. If I forget,  I find I'm getting a check mark in the box like at church.....and read the chapters for today, check, write the things I'm thankful for in my gratitude journal, check, read my devotionals that keep me on track emotionally, check. Oh, two hours gone, I need to get going! Forget to pray, and listen to what my Lord wants to speak into the quietness of my heart. Forget to "be thankful and SAY SO"  (Psalm 100:4) not just writing it in my journal. Forget to raise my hands and adore my Lord for all of His goodness to me, and for His Word and His work in our family's lives. Forget to seek guidance for this day and the strength and willingness to carry that out as I go. Forget Who is the most precious and important Person in my life in the process of "doing devotions" instead of "being" intentionally with Him.

 

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It's the desire to always be entertained, not to join with fellow believers to worship God.

We can evaluate our churches by our attitudes.  If we sit there and go along with the program without joy & worship in our hearts, we've failed.  It all starts with me, my attitude & my worship of the Lord  added to fellow believers & their worship.

Be aware of the importance of my personal worship each day & how I have failed (or not) to give God the glory due His name.  I want Him to touch my heart; I want His heart for others.

 

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On 8/15/2017 at 5:31 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

We have tended to make worship about us rather than about God by self-serving worship.  We tend to pray or fellowship with other believers out of habit or what we can get out of it.  We have our priorities wrong.  We surround worship services around our activities rather that surround our activities around worship services.  Holidays celebrations have become more about us that the real reasons for the celebrations.  Our music and songs are more like a rock concert than from the heart.  Evaluation of our churches and our worship patterns should start with us.  OurAre we worshiping with a sincere and humble heart or for show and fashion.  

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We have done it in the way that you said about Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. The only thing that we think about on the first two celebrations is ourselves and what we will get. We should evaluate our churches and our worship patterns as to what we are giving back to God. We can make our personal worship a matter of the heart by joyfully giving back to God the things that He has given to us.

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On 8/16/2017 at 5:31 AM, Pastor Ralph said:

 

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God?

Answer: When we worship with an unclean heart, without our heart focus on God and we are there only for camaraderie & companionship, when we are only after in satisfying our own interest and not of God.

How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns?

Answer: Individually, everyone must ask him/herself if he/she is truly worshiping God from the heart. Is his/her heart really attuned and focus to God for worship.

What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

Answer: First, I think before coming to God we must make it sure that we have a cleanse heart, if we have any grudges with our brethren let us settle it first. Another is that we must know the real purpose why are we there in the church, what is our hearts desire. If it is to worship God with all our heart, soul, mind & body...praise be to God.

 

 

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Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

So often we see the “look at me” facet of entertainment during worship services. I’ve seen dancers, dressed in black who should have been confined to an “almost adult” club, which I say almost because at least they had the decency to not reveal themselves. I see the soloists with all their sparkling jewelry, the wannabe rock and rollers hoping for any recognition possible, and, well I could go on and I’m sure everybody knows the story. I would be lying to say there are not times when I think I have the most striking voice in the crowd (lucky for me I’m usually drowned out). When I am in the process of evaluating (never really used that word but I guess it is what it boils down to) a church, I find myself looking for a place where the worship leader’s voice doesn’t come booming out through the speakers and drowning everyone out, but where it’s just loud enough to follow and same with the band, regardless of how many instruments in the makeup. Maybe it’s just my personal opinion, but I take worship at a personal level because I am of the opinion that worship should glorify Christ and nobody else. I think we need to connect with God while self-examining ourselves, asking forgiveness for the wrongs done and singing out with a voice of thanksgiving. I see people who are always writing down in their notebooks while a pastor is speaking never to be opened again for another week, the previous week appended but never to be seen again. I know I have spent much time here speaking out against things I see and that I have no right to judge but I also have the right to be thankful for having found a place which, is a population of imperfect people but the worship team is like I thought it should be, the message is well planned and comes full circle pointing to Christ, etc.,.

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Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

1.Fasting is self-pity. No true repentance and humbling oneself,but whining. We seek our own pleasure on our fast days and leave God out" (Isaiah 58:3b) "We are near to God with their mouth and honor him with our lips, therefore our hearts are far from him. We praise God to be seen by others.

2.We should look for since worshiping that requires us to be strengthen. We should be able to feel the spirit of God in the church.We should see that the pastor is an example of living holy and ministers also.

 3.We need to repent daily. We are to fast with a true heart, read and study the word of God, and pray to God in a sincere manner.

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Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6)

Q. In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God?

A. We focus on our selves- our pleasure or to impress others in our worship or just a show off of what we are doing. I am sometimes guilty in this so help Lord God Almighty to only center my worship on pleasing you

Q. How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns?

A. More of entertainment only

Q. What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

A. Prayerfully ask the Lord God to grant us the power to worship in Spirit and in truth only

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Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) 
In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? 
How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? 
What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

I’m very old fashioned and feel we need to humbly and reverently come before the Lord before the start of our worship – Be still, and know I am God (Ps 46:10). I remember visiting a small church that started the service 10 minutes before the time with the playing of hymns while everybody got seated. This set the mood, and allowed time for meditation. This contrasts with some of the bigger churches, in my area, that seem to be more concentrated on entertainment. I feel that acts of worship can easily become nothing more than empty formalities that serve only our own selfish interests. Much of our music, seems to me, to be nothing more than this preoccupation with self and have nothing to do with glorifying God. But then again as I mentioned earlier, I’m old fashioned, and definitely prefer the earlier hymns we used to sing. Our churches and their worship patterns should be Scripture based. The Bible guides us, and gives us a detailed foundation for how God’s Word should be taught, what practices congregations should observe, and how churches should be led. Our acts of worship must flow out of a genuine response of faith and obedience to God. It’s all about our Lord, and we must be careful not to become merely self-serving and self-glorifying. 
 

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Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

When we concentrate more on how we look to others and whether our singing is up to par rather than whether our hearts are right before God. Are we sincerely worshipping God with thanksgiving in our hearts, and because He is worthy of praise, or has it become a ritual or just something that satisfies your conscience, making you feel good because you went to church.

I've learned that worship begins at home, way before we enter a place of worship. Once inside, we enter into the presence of the Lord with other believers to make our praise and worship more pleasant to God.  Our worship continues from start to end of service. Prayer should come from our hearts, with thanksgiving. We worship in truth. Concentrating on who Jesus is and what He has done for us. He is our Redeemer, our Peace, our Shield, etc.  

Many  churches today introduce loud, concert-like praise songs. It's very hard to concentrate in worshipping God with all the loud noise of the instruments. Sometimes we can't even understand the words to the songs.  I don't see anything wrong with instrumental music, but I do believe it should be ministering to our souls and encouraging the body of Christ(Believers) to sing along harmoniously, together to the Lord! We shouldn't be just spectators, or just an approving audience.

 Psalm 33: 1“Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy

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Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

 Many Christians feel like going to church is above them rather than about God. We recently had a middle-aged man, a well-to-do middle-aged man, say that he left the church because he wasn't being fed! This is not really what church is for, the church or the church worship is to worship God and not for us to be fed. Do we really need a good sermon and a wonderful service with great music in order to worship God? No! We come to God in church because God is there to be worshipped and that is why we come. Certainly it is more enjoyable to go to church see if there is a good sermon and wonderful music but that is not what it is all about!

 Our church services and our worship should be evaluated for the glorification of God not for the glorification of ourselves.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

In our practice Situation sometimes we make worship about us because we are not strong in our Faith,  our church Show us the character from Service, worship in culture from Generation to generation, or we make worship not prepare our heart.

But worship Him in Spirit and in truth from our heart , give Him glory.

 

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We neglect  praise and worship to God rather we make worship about us by showing off in the church our status, clothes and ornaments we wear, so instead of worshiping Lord we are Idol worshiping wealth.

Our churches must emphasis on the importance of worshiping  God the way HE wants us to do that is with whole heart, in spirit and with truth. The worship should be to give all the Glory to God when we are in His presence. And according to our talents each one should utilize these talents in worshiping God inside the Church. Most of all  we should maintain sanctity and decorum for the holy spirits presence.

And to make the personal worship more hearty, we should humble ourselves in His presence as seek His divine mercy with a broken heart and repentance, seeking Holy spirits guidance and blessings.

 

 

 

 

  

  

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It's been a while since  I posted a response to questions. For some reason the past 2 months have been hard in many ways, yet some of the very best outcomes. Hard to make sense, but one thing for sure - God is faithful; He is always there, ready to hear our call. He uses unusual circumstances to bring about unexpected outcomes; partly to impart faith, hope, passion and dedication to following Him. He is a good Father, so very good. Anyway, the questions. I have some catching up to do.

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

I love worship that honours God, that is focussed on Him and truly thankful for all that He has done and is doing.  It is also a time of celebration, as we saw in rebuilding Jerusalem's alter and temple. Rejoice greatly! Sing and dance and jump for joy for all He is and all He has done in our lives, in reverence of our Father who makes all things possible.

The form of songs and music and the length of worship inherently affects overall worship. There is a place for prolonged worship and celebration, rather than occasional hymns scatted through a religious service. Nevertheless, this doesn't change how we approach worship - honouring and thanking a Holy God who loves each one of us the same. Wow!

 Remember to approach the throne of God in reverence and awe, with a grateful heart; no matter what. While our circumstances change, God is faithful and does not change. He loves us just the same.

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On 8/15/2017 at 5:31 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

As Christians we tend to make worship about us, rather than about God.  This is evident when we disregard some sounds simply because they are not agreeable to our ears. In the Psalms we are told, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise" and yet some of us dictate what is an acceptable sound in their presence.    We should evaluate our churches and our worship patterns by the manifested presence of our God;  when the worship service is spirit-led.   To make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer we should dedicate our self to seeking more of the knowledge of God.

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  • 3 weeks later...

In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? We have neglected gathering to worship God so that we might be involved in recreation and sports or sleep in. Our worship at church is about our enjoyment .. feeling good, receiving comfort and being “fed” … rather than offering honour and fresh heart surrender to God.

 

How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? We have turned God’s occasions in our own way i.e. fasting days have turned to self-pity whereas feast days have become excuse to partying rather than real celebrations of Yahweh. Our worship has been made up only of rules taught by men (Isaiah 29:13)

 

What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer? We need to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We should stop bringing meaningless offerings and rather repent humbling before God Almighty.

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catholic church especially "western" G7 types like USA and Canada Vatican ii on surface massive changes in all outward manifestations of communal worship as well i many cases of the physical space itself.  These changes do not fit into a one size fits all category: some were mis-interpretations of what was being said; some were "sabotage"; some had "right" intention but poor methods/means, etc.  Results were confusion, division and most apropos to this question an immense emphasis on "participation"  with as many as possible having some "part"; this eventually led in many areas to the "participation" numbers being the focus so.....Sermons/homilies instead of helping us understand the Sacred Scripture just read tend to popular social themes or license plate axioms, with little or no mention of the "thou shalt not,,,,,and not much more on the shall "feed the hungry, clothe the naked etc. BECAUSE when you do this you feed Me, you clothe Me; until we get this connection all talk about equality, brotherhood etc is either re-worked French Revolution crap (from hell) or pitch for either state control socialism or some humanistic utopia scheme

being that true worship is to God, that our day of rest (or any prayer) is intended to give us time with Him, away from the marketplace, the socializing, busy-busy.  One indicator for me is "silence"--we need some non-noise time to even give ourselves a chance to "be still, and know that I AM God"; I try to attend where there is quiet dignity and lots of pauses/silence for example after each reading, after the holily etc.  The music/choir CAN help us in our Praise again same caveat on internal itention (me or Thee?) 

I have to get prep 'ed to play especially when it comes to prayer and more so communal worship such as the Eucharistic; i need to almost pray in order to pray, chill , get my mind of the dreadful Colts and how badly they are likely to get creamed later that day, remind myself this is not a singles bar, stop wondering how I look or worse stop trying to look anything, and then realize that even quieting the mid from its chatter I still must Trust in God to give me everything; my attention, my Love, and to thank Him not my great intellect (ahem) for any and all insights and revelations received

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  • 2 weeks later...

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

In my view, there are two primary ways Christians have tended to  make worship about them and they are:  1)  Participating in worship by rote or going through the motions just to check the block that "I went to church and I am a good Christian" whether my heart or mind was in it or not.  2)  Turning worship into a another form of entertainment through music and/or dynamic/show preachers who are good at singing, yelling, and jumping around the stage regardless of the quality of the message they are presenting.  They get our attention and money.  Sometimes they get our worship.

  We can make worship a matter of heart by making it a matter of heart regardless of music or preaching style.  Worship begins in my heart at any given moment not when I enter church.  I should be bringing genuine worship with me to church.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Q1. (Zechariah 7:4-6) In what ways have we Christians tended to make worship about us, rather than about God? How should we evaluate our churches and our worship patterns? What can we do to make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer?

Many Christians want feel good sermons and music to entice them to attend a particular church.  The whole performance must be entertaining and I must leave church feeling "blessed" and "good about myself."  If I don't I must go somewhere else therefore creating the great church franchise wars for the Christians' business.

Worship must be personal and in truth and spirit that takes place anywhere at anytime.  Most importantly it must be trinity focused.

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  • 1 year later...

Although not done intentionally I have made Christmas more about gifts and easter about candy and egg hunts.
We must pray that we do not become inwardly focused on ourselves and pray that our churches do not develop a self- centered, self- serving attitude. We must remember that we are to serve.
 

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  • 1 year later...

Unfortunately as we have seen in our lesson making worship about us rather than God has been happening for a long long time. I think that maybe many of us have become complacent about church and all that goes on at church. Because we go each week it may become routine! This is not the way we should act, we should start to prepare our hearts in our quiet time before church by asking God to help us have the right attitude and approach to help us humble ourselves and realize the great privilege we have in being able to come into the presence of God and to be able to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth and to be able to pray to Him. There are many of our brothers and sisters in Christ that don’t have the freedom to to come together to worship God. If each person in our church’s prepared their hearts and really thought about the purpose of gathering together the worship would be less about themselves and more about worshiping God.

The emphasis in church must always be about worshipping God and not about entertainment for us. Everything should be kept simple. Jesus did not have elaborate music to go with His preaching. Everyone should be willing to participate as the Spirit leads. This may not be easy but as part of the body of Christ we must be prepared to trust God and worship or pray out loud even if we are nervous. Again it’s not about us but about God. We must never put entertainment before our attendance at church or our prayer meeting or bible study night. Or allow laziness keep us away. Our desire to worship God and be part of the fellowship of believers must be stronger than our laziness. If we do these things our churches will be in a positive place! 

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  • 2 years later...

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