Worship

A preacher from Eastern Kentucky was wrapping up a long sermon on temperance when he shouted, “If I had all the beer in the world, I’d pour it in the river!”

The congregation, wanting to seem spiritual, responded with a rousing, “Amen!”

“Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre.” That’s how Asaph starts the 81st Psalm in the Old Testament. But for one woman in Oklahoma, striking the tambourine is a good way to get herself struck!

Church can be a place that’s filled with distractions: cell phones with annoying ring tones, old people who cough loudly (and unceasingly), and of course, babies that cry. But what about a kid who’s smiling? Is that a disruption to worship?

In one church, evidently so.

Theodosius had a plan. He wanted all the people of his empire to worship the one true God revealed in the Bible. A noble endeavor, for sure. But there was one fatal flaw in the emperor’s strategy:

Those he couldn’t lead to Jesus…he would send to Jesus!

When she was 17 years old, Joni Eareckson dove into some water after misjudging its depth. The miscalculation left her paralyzed from the shoulders down and in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She knew this handicap might cause her to miss out on some things in life.

She didn’t know that it might cause her to miss out in church, as well.

“One has only the choice between God and idolatry. There is no other possibility. For the faculty of worship is in us, and is either directed somewhere into this world, or into another.”

From time to time, Christians find themselves looking for a new church home. Perhaps their old church was dying or maybe they just moved to another city; either way, they have to go “church shopping”.

But there are certain risks that come with visiting new churches….

Neurologists specialize in studies of the brain and nervous system. Over the years, these doctors have been on the forefront of medical breakthroughs that have helped millions of people around the world. They’ve made some fascinating discoveries about our beliefs, our actions, and how we live our lives.

Like this one.

Slaves have always had it tough. In early America, they had no property and no rights. It was worse in ancient societies; there, they literally didn’t have an identity. The law of non habens personam meant that they “did not have a person” or “did not have a face.”

But Jesus’s example would change all of that.

We’ve all heard people joking about someone “taking their seat” in church. Usually, it’s nothing more than just an expression. But there was nothing “usual” about what happened when one man took another’s seat in Plain City, Utah.

Somebody got run over…and somebody else got arrested.