Worship on Miscellanea

Devotion Through Domestic Service

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If a woman were to spend all day long in church, praying and chanting, her style of life would not be as agreeable to God as if she were a wife who patiently performed her duties, feeding her children, caring for them, guiding them and doing all she could to teach and train them.

First Foundation of Righteousness

Sun, 14 Jan 2024 20:54:16 +0000

Surely the first foundation of righteousness is the worship of God.

Honor the Lord with your wealth

Fri, 08 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.

Amplified "Worship Teams" and Congregational Singing

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 13:46:01 +0000

The granting of the power of amplification to ‘worship teams’ in American Christianity has done more than anything since the Protestant Reformation to undermine congregational song. Once Protestants were known for their lively and joyful corporate singing, but today in many of our largest and most imitated churches the only music worth admiring comes from multithousand-watt sound systems while the vast majority of image bearers in the room sing weakly or not at all.

Calvin on Submission to Authority

Sun, 05 Aug 2018 11:27:05 +0000

Knowing that someone has been placed over by the Lord’s ordination, we should render to him reverence, obedience, and gratefulness, and should perform such other duties for him as we can.

It makes no difference whether our superiors are worthy or unworthy of this honor, for whatever they are they have attained their position through God’s providence.

Christ and the Day of Atonement

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

For Stephen Charnock, the high priest’s activity on the Day of Atonement in Lev 16 prefigured Christ’s priestly ministry in at least three ways.

First, his sacrificing animals outside the tent was a type of Christ’s death.

Second, his entrance into the Holy of Holies was a type of Christ’s ascension to heaven.

Third, his sprinkling blood and burning incense inside the Holy of Holies was a type of Christ’s intercession, both in his presentation of his wounds to the Father (sprinkling) as well as in his pleas for the saints (incense).

Temporal Wants

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Our blessed Lord does not, like some of his professed followers, make light of temporal wants.

Psalms for Dark Times

Sun, 04 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

When it is very dark with us, let brave spirits say, ‘Come, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm.’

The Idol Self

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Lord, the idol self dethrone And from our hearts remove And let no zeal by us be shown But that which springs from love

Spurgeon on Prayer Meetings

Wed, 19 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Brethren, we shall never see much change for the better in our churches till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.

Use of Creation

Mon, 05 Sep 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Six ways that we can use God’s creation well and right.

Use all things for the end that God has made them [for the glory of God].
Walk with God in the use of the world and answer God’s call.
Use the things of the world to promote spiritual good in ourselves and others.
Use the world slightly and consider the things of God and of my soul as my main business.
Use the world in moderation, keeping your affections in check.
Give a good and cheerful account to God concerning what we have had in the world.

Children Praying Our Father?

Mon, 08 Aug 2016 00:00:00 +0000

For, despite protests to the contrary, it is difficult to see how evangelicals can, with theological consistency, teach their children to say ‘Our Father’ and to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with any theological consistency apart from the undergirding relationship established by God’s covenant promise and the principle that they belong by covenant to the community of God’s people.

Pray for the Church

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

He who does not continue to pray for the Lord’s glory to remain on the church is not worthy of its privileges. Prayer, then, for the good, prosperity, flourishing peace, increase, edification, and protection of the church is a duty every day required of all its members.

Our Chief Ambition

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Oh let this be the thing we are chiefly ambitious of, the enjoyment of God in his ordinances!

Deacons and the Nazis

Fri, 25 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When during World War II the Netherlands were occupied by Germans the deacons of the Dutch Reformed Church assumed the care for the politically persecuted, supplying food and providing secret refuge. Realizing what was happening, the Germans decreed that the elective office of deacon should be eliminated. The Reformed Synod on 17 July 1941 resolved: ‘Whoever touches the diaconate interferes with what Christ has ordained as the task of the church… Whoever lays hands on diakoma lays hands on worship!’ The Germans backed down.

Go to the Ordinances

Sat, 19 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Would it not be an encouragement to a subject, to hear his prince say to him, You will honor and please me very much, if you will go to yonder mine of gold, and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away?

So, for God to say, Go to the ordinances [preaching, prayer, sacraments], get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can; and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified.

Value of Hymns

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

When you take a pop song and weigh it down with the gospel it sort of cheapens both. The theology is too heavy for the song, and the song usually ends up being too light for the theology. Often I feel like you end up with some sort of fuzzy Christian propaganda that doesn’t do music or the gospel any justice.

That’s why I like hymns so much. The early fathers wrote many of the texts to hymns that we sing today. I like that they attach us to our Christian history and remind us of what in our faith is worth preserving.

Principle Duty of Husband and Wife

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 00:00:00 +0000

A principal duty between husband and wife is with special care and skill and diligence to help each other in the knowledge and worship and obedience of God in order to their salvation.

The Theological Significance of the Call to Worship

Fri, 29 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The call to worship tells us something very theologically significant. God summons us into his presence to worship him. … We are summoned into the presence of God to join into the worship of heaven. Worship is an eschatological event. We are entering into the heavenly sanctuary.

Beeke on Prayer Meetings

Sun, 03 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

If your minister were to announce that at your forthcoming prayer meeting, the apostle Paul would appear, the entire congregation would attend. That, if course, will not happen, but something more important will: the Lord Jesus Christ will be there.

Countercultural Christianity

Sun, 12 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

By refusing to engage in the quasi-religious customs surrounding the official Roman governmental structures, by resolutely setting themselves against some of the immoral practices prevalent at the time, and by meeting so often on their own to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, Christians were regarded with suspicion and hostility. The readers of 1 Peter were probably being criticized, mocked, discriminated against, and perhaps even brought into court on trumped-up charges.

Religion of the Bible

Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

The religion of the Bible thus announces itself, not as the product of men’s search after God, if haply they may feel after Him and find Him, but as the creation in men of the gracious God, forming a people for Himself, that they may show forth His praise.

He who would be wise

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

He who would be wise must worship.

Improve What you Hear

Sun, 15 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

And when hypocrites and distempered Christians are quarreling with the imperfections of the speaker, or congregation, the mode of worship, do you rather make it your diligent endeavor, to watch your hearts, and improve what you hear?

Unloose my Stamm'ring Tongue

Sun, 14 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000

When he came, the angels sung, ‘Glory be to God on high;’ / Lord, unloose my stamm’ring tongue, Who should louder sing than I?

Glory in Our Good Works

Sun, 27 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

God does not grant us his work of grace so that we should glory in it as our own. Therefore he so arranged it that it would manifestly be his work from beginning to end, a divine work, and he desires to be glorified in it.

Little Necessary Things

Sun, 08 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Religion does not consist in doing great things, for which few of us have frequent opportunities, but in doing the little necessary things of daily occurrence with a cheerful spirit, as to the Lord.

Two Directional Singing

Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The singing of the congregation takes place, as it were, in two directions: facing the other members of the congregation and facing God.

Woodrow Wilson in Church

Sun, 05 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

On many occasions when the policies of President Wilson were being vigorously attacked he would come to the services on Sunday mornings and sit in his place in the house of God, apparently oblivious to all the storm and tempest on the outside, and with just one great absorbing thought, and that was that he had come to the house of God to worship.

Scheduling Presbytery by the Moon

Tue, 31 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I remember that the Stated Clerks of those Presbyteries gave me gave a great deal of trouble. Some of them, particularly of the country Presbyteries would not consult the almanac. They would saw that they Presbytery would convene on the second Monday after full moon, early at candlelight. My father exacted of me that I should find out which Monday that was and calculate the probable hour of early candlelight.

Psalm 103

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There is too much in [Psalm 103], for a thousand pens to write, it is one of those all-comprehending Scriptures which is a Bible in itself, and it might alone almost suffice for the hymn-book of the church.

Planning to Give

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Almost no one will give faithfully and generously without planning to give faithfully and generously.

Semi Foetal Position

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Why do people often go into the semi foetal position when holding the bread, scrunch up their eyes as if they are trying to imagine Jesus on the cross. It’s a Protestant ritual. Open your eyes and look around you! Recognise the body of Christ. Rejoice in forgiveness of sins, rejoice with your brothers and sisters, look and see, not hide and imagine. The sacraments are a visible word!

I Sing the Goodness of the Lord

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I sing the goodness of the Lord / That filled the earth with food; / He formed the creatures with his word, / And then pronounced them good.

Forget Not His Benefits

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.

A Sense of Solemnity in Worship

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

For generations, a sense of solemnity was characteristic of Presbyterian worship. Then some wag accused them of being the ‘frozen chosen,’ and they hung their heads in shame and traded in simple, dignified forms of worship for a more giddy form of godliness.

Mark Dever on Conversion

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It’s not reciting a creed. It’s not saying a prayer. It’s not a conversation. It’s not becoming a Westerner. It’s not reaching a certain age, attending a class, or passing through some other rite of adulthood. It’s not a journey, everyone strewn along the path at different points. Rather, conversion is turning with our whole lives from self-justification to Christ’s justification, from self rule to God’s rule, from idol worship to God worship.

Duties in the First Commandment

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A. 104: The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him; believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being zealous for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when in anything he is offended; and walking humbly with him.

Danny Hyde on the Lord's Day

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

All of this teaches us that instead of seeing the Lord’s Day as a rule that stifles our ‘weekend,’ we need to view it as a gift from God that actually structures our lives. The practice of the Lord’s Day is not legalism, but it is a part of our piety, providing us physical and spiritual rest. We sanctify the day because we belong not to this age that is passing away but to the glorious age to come.

I Will Sing to the Lord

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

At the Lamb's high feast we sing

Sun, 09 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Where the paschal blood is poured, death’s dark angel sheathes his sword; Israel’s host triumphant go though the wave that drowns the foe. Praise we Christ, whose blood was shed, paschal victim paschal bread; with sincerity and love eat we manna from above.

Directories of Worship

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The current situtation, where even churches which identify themselves as heirs of the Reformation, such as the PCA, and which, in the name of freedom, fail to provide Directories of Worship, could not be more ironic. Few have the stomach for thinking carefully about worship. Fewer still see the need for it.