Tag Archives: worship

The Feast of Trumpets: anticipating God’s grace and return

Grace and Judgment Posted on by

The law of Moses ordained the celebration of several feasts. Christians with any familiarity with Scripture know of the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Feast of Booths. They appear in the New Testament. It’s easy to miss the Feast of Trumpets in the Bible, however. The few Old Testament descriptions are short.

Modern Jews call it Rosh Hashana. Rosh Hashana begins the Jewish High Holy Days. Although the name is less than 2,000 years old, it corresponds to the ancient Feast of Trumpets.

Not only that, but the feast foreshadows the last days. We can understand all the New Testament references to trumpets better when we understand the Feast of Trumpets.… Read the rest

Knowledge, Christian freedom, and love

Grace and Judgment Posted on by

Have you ever noticed that the world of the Bible is very different from our own society? Sometimes it can seem hard to relate to some of the topics.

But we’re not as far removed from the ancients as we like to think. After all, we’re human, too.

The church at Corinth sent Paul a letter with some questions. We can reconstruct them in the structure of 1 Corinthians.

Paul begins various sections with the phrase “now concerning.” In 1 Corinthians 8, it’s “Now concerning meat sacrificed to idols.”

It still matters.

… Read the rest

What’s a faithful Christian community?

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Paul’s epistle to the Colossians is the only one he wrote where he hadn’t founded the church.

The church was rife with heresy, and its leader Epaphras visited Paul in prison to get some guidance. Paul addressed the epistle not to the church at Colossae, but to the saints and faithful there.

Paul’s opening prayer for the Colossian saints, and I’m sure for all Christians anywhere, was that they would “be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Colossians 1:9).

… Read the rest

Truly preparing to worship

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Worship serviceWe prepare to go to church. That’s not quite the same as preparing for worship. It is quite possible to come to church and go home without having worshiped.

Some churches make it nearly impossible for anyone to worship.

I’m thinking in particular of a service where the sermon was little more than a book review and the congregation had little chance to participate. Or of other services where the sermon has consisted of the preacher explaining away what the Scripture lesson clearly taught.

But even in churches where the content of the service is good and the congregation has ample ways to participate, it is too easy just to go through the motions and leave unmoved.… Read the rest