Worship

Isaiah 6 sets forth an example of true worship. Read it or something. Here's what I see:

1. True worship must include confession of sin.
   Verse 5:
   "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
2. True worship must include cleansing from sin.
   Verses 6-7:
   Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
   
3. True worship must include obedience to the call to serve.
   Verse 8:
   Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
   And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Maybe it doesn't really matter if we sing choruses or hymns at church. So what's all the fuss about?

A Father's Perspective

As a father, all I really want is for my daughter Bree to be truly happy. Sometimes, that means pushing her to do things that she doesn't want to do at the moment--like eating her dinner before she can have dessert.

When I think of God in terms of God the Father, I have to believe that He is the same way. Some people look at religion as a bunch of rules and all that stuff. That may be your religion, but if it is you're doing it wrong. All I'm trying to do is look to God for instruction for how to be happy--and if you have a "religious experience," that's the one to have.

Have fun, kids.

Matthew 10:32-33

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven."

Proverbs 29:25

"Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe."

Believe Him

Everybody knows the story of David and Goliath. Goliath taunts the Israelite army. The Israelites are too afraid to fight him. David comes along and basically says, "Who is this thug. We're the army of the Living God!" and goes out and kills said thug.

So, what is the difference between David and all the other Israelites? The Israelites believed in God, but David believed God.

God Doesn't Believe in Atheists

There's no such thing as atheists. God doesn't believe in atheists, and God is omniscient and cannot lie; therefore, atheists cannot exist.

Why I think God doesn't believe in atheists:

1. God expects us to look at the world around us, realize the wonder of it all, the complexity of the whole thing, and realize that Someone must have created this place. (In other words, the heavens declare His glory.)
   "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
   Romans 1:18-20
   This is general revelation.
2. God speaks to us. Most of us are too-self absorbed to hear the words of God, but we also have the written word in the Bible. The book cannot be denied. For example, a few hundred years B.C., God predicted Israel's return as a nation in 1948.
   "For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land."
   Ezekiel 36:24 (Ezekiel goes into more detail, but this verse is the crux of the thing.)
   This is special revelation. (I suppose we could also refer to this as "I told you so.")
   
3. You naturally know that there is good and evil. You can deny it, twist it, or question it, but at a basic level everyone knows, at least to some degree, what is right and wrong. How can there be right and wrong, unless there is someone greater who defines these things? We must do right to please God, and for really no other reason (even though it is in our own best interests).
   "Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them."
   Romans 2:14-15
   (This is the Law, if I must say it.)

So there you go.

Romans 8:10

"But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness."