Black Fridayit's a strange phenom-enon. Just hours after sitting around the table with family and giving thanks for all that we have received, a massive number of Ameri-cans line up outside shopping malls ready to scratch and claw their way past others in order to get the best deals of the holiday season. A few years ago I turned on the news the day after Thanksgiving an...
Keep Reading"Mr. Knox, can you please tell so-and-so to stop annoying me?" "Mr. Knox, why doesn't anybody come to youth group anymore?" "Mr. Knox, why did we get rid of the couches?" "Mr. Knox, who is going to be at youth group today?" "Mr. Knox, can we watch more movies at youth group?" "Mr Knox, when is the next youth trip?" "Mr. Knox, what's our activity today at youth group?" "M...
Keep Reading"Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day." "Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our sal-vation!" "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD." "About mid-night Paul and Si...
Keep ReadingA few weeks ago during our Sunday morning service I preached a sermon entitled "A True Disciple Loves the Church." One of the points in that sermon was that a true disciple loves the church's worship. We love the church's worship because we have the great privilege of drawing near to God in worship through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You may remember th...
Keep ReadingLast month you may remember that we started to look at the elements of worship that God promises to bless for our spiritual growth in grace. We summarized those elements under five headings: Read the Word, Preach the Word, Sing the Word, Pray the Word, and See the Word. We then examined the Bible's exhortation to the public reading of Scripture. This month we'll briefly ...
Keep ReadingThe exact date is fuzzy, but it must have been some time in 2004. I had only recently moved back to the States from my first missionary stint in Thailand. The new pastor at our church was passionate about worship and about teaching the congregation what God's Word says about worship. He had spent significant time investing in the elders and introduced them to a book enti...
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