For the past month, I have been tracing Paul’s argument about spiritual gifts in corporate worship in 1 Corinthians 14, drawing out important implications including… Read More »The Nature and Purpose of Corporate Worship: Biblical, Not Unregulated
Sometimes people comment that the New Testament gives us very little instruction regarding corporate worship, but this is not true. There are many NT passages… Read More »The Nature and Purpose of Corporate Worship: Order, Not Disorder
Many years ago, Al Mohler published a widely-read article on doctrinal triage, a method for evaluating the seriousness of doctrines. Kevin Bauder then pointed out… Read More »Doctrinal Triage for Worship
Paul’s central argument in the only full NT chapter addressing corporate worship is that for corporate worship, the spiritual gift of prophecy was to be… Read More »The Nature and Purpose of Corporate Worship: Edification, not Expression
Our technologies have come a long way from when John wrote, likely using a reed-pen on a papyrus sheet, “I had many things to write,… Read More »Live Images Are Not Living Persons
During last week, I read one man rage at ‘conservative Christians’ for their desire to re-open churches. He then proceeded to point out that Hebrews… Read More »Disembodied Christianity
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul makes the specific argument that in corporate worship, the gift of prophecy is to be desired over the gift of… Read More »The Nature and Purpose of Corporate Worship: Believers, Not Unbelievers
For the last couple of weeks I have been laying the contextual foundation for what is perhaps the most significant chapter in the New Testament… Read More »The Nature and Purpose of Corporate Worship: Corporate, Not Individual
Last week I started a series on what is likely the single most important text in the New Testament regarding our corporate worship—1 Corinthians 14.… Read More »Decent and Orderly Worship: Why is Prophecy better than Tongues?
The novel coronavirus has resulted in a time where many churches have been unable to gather. This has been unprecedented for most of us alive… Read More »What I’ve missed while not gathering with my local church (Part 3)
“Our church’s worship is pretty formal, but I prefer Holy Spirit-led worship.” Such was the comment I overheard recently by a young evangelical describing his… Read More »Decent and Orderly Worship: The Context
We’ve all been caged up for a while now. Because of the concerns of governments the world-wide, churches have not been able to gather. In… Read More »What I’ve missed while not gathering with my local church (Part 2)
Throughout my life, I have very rarely missed church services. Because of our governor’s “Stay-at-Home” order, this season has been one of the most prolonged… Read More »What I’ve missed while not gathering with my local church (Part 1)
One of the things I’m going to miss most (among many!) during this unusual season when our church can’t gather is our annual “Facing the… Read More »Facing the Cross: A Service of Scripture and Song
This past Monday I turned 40, and because of “stay in place” requirements, my wife hosted a surprise Zoom birthday celebration. About 20 people logged… Read More »Why “Virtual Lord’s Supper” Is Impossible
When Israel lost its Temple in A. D. 70, you might imagine it would have prompted much soul-searching and repentance among the rabbis that had… Read More »Wrong Responses to a Loss of Corporate Worship
Last week I briefly highlighted how a church can at least approximate worship “together” while we’re prevented from being together physically, and I definitely echo… Read More »Home Worship Resources During COVID-19
Left-click the bread icon to consume the bread. >Click< >>> Thank you. You have eaten the bread. Left-click the cup icon to consume the cup. … Read More »Why We Won’t Livestream During Lockdown (Though We Could)
It may be tempting to think that we are living in unprecedented times until we remember that Christians have faced persecution and plagues throughout history.… Read More »How a church can worship “together” during COVID-19
In the Old Testament Law, God gave his people very specific instructions about how they were to relate to the people around them, including in… Read More »The Dangers of Syncretism and Idolatry