The Secret to Uplifting Worship

By Drew Kizer

David was a man who enjoyed worship. He felt uplifted by it, so he said. "I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord!" (Ps. 122:1).

What was the secret to his ea­ger­ness to­wards worship? Read carefully what he wrote in Psalm 5:7: "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will worship toward thy holy temple." Within this short verse we find four things that made David's worship worthwhile. They will make ours more meaningful as well.

1.   David considered uplifting wor­ship to be a personal responsibil­ity. Notice the phrase "but as for me." It sounds similar to Joshua's charge. "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:15). Joshua wasn't going to de­pend on others for his faithfulness. Neither did David depend on others to make his wor­ship worthwhile.

Worship is what you make of it. So many of us put little or no time into pre­paring for wor­ship that we don't en­joy it when we get to church ser­vices. It's our own fault. This is not to say that the worship leaders don't bear part of the blame when church ser­vices grow stale - they do. But most un­fulfilling worship is due to how little the participants put into it.

2. Worship is driven by grati­tude. David came to worship con­sidering "the multitude of thy mercy. " Worship and thanksgiving go hand in hand. In fact, many times praise is described in terms of "giving thanks" (see Ps. 92:1; 95:2; 100:4; Dan. 2:23; Lk. 22:19; Heb. 13:15). Are you thankful to the Lord for what he has done? Or do you take His blessings for granted? If so, this might explain why your zeal for church has died down.

3.  The secret to heartfelt ado­ration is the fear of the Lord. David wor­shiped "in thy fear. " The secret is not in new innovations or "contemporary" wor­ship services. Aside from the fact that these trends often involve unauthorized practices, they can only satisfy us for a little time, and then we look for some­thing new. The "fire" behind real wor­ship is deep - seated awe at the won­der that is our God!

4. God is the object of our wor­ship. David said he would worship "toward the holy temple." The worship trends the reli­gious world follows to­day are geared to­ward man, not God. But Jesus com­manded theocentric worship, saying, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (Jn. 4:24).

Every church that applies David's methods to its worship services will no­tice positive changes. The sing­ing will be more joyful. The Lord's Sup­per, more contemplative. Chris­tians will pray fer­vently and give cheerfully. Sermons will be more in­spiring. It's worth a try. & (Via Bulletin Digest)

Things We Owe to Young Preachers

By John Waddey

(Edited by Bob Myhan)

It is a sad fact of life that preachers grow old and die. Thus there is a constant need for the church to re­cruit and train a new group of young men who can fill the gaps left by the loss of older brothers. Un­fortunately an insufficient number of men are willing to give up a career in the busi­ness world for that of preaching and many of those who soon grow discouraged and quit. If we hope to have adequate num­bers of men to serve the church, we need to be reminded of our duties to our future preachers.

* We need to present them a positive image of the Christian ministry. We who preach should avoid complaining about our lot when in the presence of young prospects. Like soldiers, some preachers love to gripe, no matter how well they are treated. We adults need to hold our preachers in re­spect and speak of them in positive terms. Too many Christians seem to delight in "downing" those who preach, in picking at them and their families. The young man who has observed such conduct is not likely to be inspired to give his life to preaching.

* We need to have serious conversa­tions with our young men while yet in high school, encouraging them to con­sider choosing preaching as their life's vocation. Encourage those individuals who are dedicated disci­ples and who have the necessary talents to think in this direction. Give them training and opportunities to speak and teach while they are in their formative years.

* Provide promising young men with useful books that will help them gain a better knowledge of the Bible. Such could be given to each boy who com­pletes a leadership training class or for other special accom­plishments.

* A newly graduated preacher needs a pe­riod of time to grow into the job of being a local preacher. We need churches to set up an internship where young men are allow to work for a year of two under the supervi­sion of a ma­ture preacher and elders. They should be supported and directed in their work so they will be able to assume the re­sponsibilities that will soon be theirs.

* When young preachers give their les­sons they will often need friendly ad­vice and con­structive criticism. Those who do this need to remember the Golden Rule and avoid be­ing harsh or censorious.

* If a young preacher makes a mistake or more serious blunder in his teaching or con­duct our goal should be to sal­vage him not destroy him. If he is over­come, you that are strong should seek to restore him in a spirit of gentleness (Gal. 6:1). Help him learn the serious­ness of his work and the importance of proper judgment and conduct.

* When a young preacher is employed by a church he deserves an adequate income. He cannot do his best for the church if he is struggling to survive fi­nancially. Again, be guided by the Golden Rule.

* Encourage your young preacher to grow in his knowledge and experience. He needs to be free to attend good Bible lectureships.

* Don't load your preacher down with jobs unrelated to his primary task which is study­ing, teaching and seek­ing the lost.

* When associating with your young preacher, be like Barnabas, the man of ex­hortation. (Acts 11:23). Encourage him, commend him, show confidence in him. Pick him up when he is down. Help him carry his load (Gal. 6:2). Be his true friend and confi­dent.

If we put these suggestions into practice we will have a never-ending supply of faith­ful men to preach the word. &