Daily Reading

What about prayer? We would all say that we are worshiping God when we pray to Him in a formal worship service. But, if we close our service, and have another prayer, then are we no longer giving any type of worship (honor, respect, reverence) to God? For our sakes, and to be acceptable to God, we must mean and understand what we are doing! The fact is, when we engage in an act of worship to God whether in formal worship or informal worship, it should be done in spirit and truth, if it is to be acceptable. Because when we purposefully focus on God and give Him homage, we enter into a form of worship to Him.

Daily Reading

ARGUMENT 1 - "WE ARE NOT IN WORSHIP!" The first argument we always hear in favor of choirs and solos is, "We are not in worship!" Is one to believe the following: Christians can collectively sing a song to praise God in a formal worship service, and then close the service a prayer, thus declaring they are no longer worshiping? After closing the service, they can then sing same song and say it is not worship because they had already closed out the formal worship service. Can we turn God to "on or off?" Is there some way to determine whether they are worship or not? Yes, there may be some difference in the level or degree of worship in which one engages, but when we sing praises to God, are we not worshiping Him? Are we to believe that worship only takes place in our collective formal worship services? The Bible does not support the idea that worship only takes place in formal assemblies! In fact, we see that people worship at different times in different places, sometimes individually and sometimes collectively.

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Just wanted to remind you that clicking on title you are linked to Truth For The World. This is a great web site, that the Duluth church of Christ has. I use material from this site with permission. At no time do I change what they have printed. It is well written and every thing is from GOD'S word. I hope you enjoy and learn from my post. Thanks Lonnie

Daily Reading

How do people justify choirs and solos?
As we can see from history, choirs and solos outside the formal worship service to God, as many perversions have. However, as their popularity grew, they eventually took the place of God's pattern for congregational singing. This is why we must address this issue from the standpoint of what is wrong with religious choirs and solos. How do people justify such in today's religious world?

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History also confirms that the early church participated only in congregational singing. Why? Because this was the pattern or example left by the apostles. What is the purpose of singing? First, singing is done to praise and glorify God. Secondly, we again refer to Paul's words in Colossians 3:16. "teaching and admonishing.” Singing is used to teach God's message, and to encourage us, as we are obeying His will. Therefore, in singing, we praise God, teach others, and we are encouraged as we participate.

Daily Reading

What is singing?
Also important to our discussion is the understanding of singing. Choirs and solos fall under this form of worship. Has God commanded singing? If so, what kind of singing? When the early church met together for worship they sang praises to God. In Ephesians 5:19 we read, "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Paul also told the Colossian brethren, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Colossians 3:16). In both of these passages the command is to sing. This singing was done collectively by the entire church, all at the same time. How do we know this? First, these verses confirm this fact. They both use a reflexive pronoun in the Greek, which is to one another. This indicates action being done at the same time by two or more individuals. The idea is you do it to me and I do it to you, at the same time.

Daily Reading

The Bible is our guide in all truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Let's see what it says about what worship is. In the Bible, when the word “worship" is used, it refers to showing reverence to God, or to adoring God. It also has the idea of bowing before God. In John 4:24, Jesus said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." Here we have outlined acceptable worship by a child of God. Our worship is pleasing to God when it is done in spirit and truth. "In spirit," refers to the right attitude and frame of mind. "In truth," refers to being done truly, according to God's Will, or doing the right acts as God instructed(John 17:17). There are many examples of worship in the Bible. Many talk of God's followers going to worship or assembling to worship. For example, Abraham took his son, Isaac, to a place to worship God. In Genesis 22:5, we read that Abraham left his servants with the animals and went over yonder to worship God. The Israelites also assembled often in the presence of God to worship Him.