WORSHIP NOTES Volume 11, No. 7 (July 2016) Trick question: Who was the first Apostle in the New Testament? Answer: The Lord Jesus. The writer of Hebrews in 3:1 calls Him “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” With these two terms He summarizes the two-way mediation of Christ that He has dealt with in chapter 1 and 2: the Son’s revelatory ministry seen in chapter 1 (mediating […]
SENT: The Apostle of our Confession Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 11, No. 5 (May 2016) She was a small, unassuming woman, librarian of the Presbyterian seminary sponsoring the conference I was speaking at in Nigeria. At the end of one of the sessions, the moderator asked this woman to close the time in prayer. I will never forget how she started her prayer: she said, “In Jesus Name,” and then went on with her prayer to the Father. I
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 9, No. 6 (June 2014) 18. WORSHIP IN THE LETTER TO THE HEBREWS Hebrews is a whole world of its own when it comes to New Testament teachings about worship. Here are some testimonies to its greatness and uniqueness: Hebrews presents the most complete and fully integrated theology of worship in the New Testament. All the important categories of Old Testament thinking on this subject—sanctuary, sacrifice, altar, priesthood and covenant—are
Important New Testament Worship Passages (Part 12) Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 9, No. 5 (May 2014) A REDIRECT Seeing how yesterday (Thursday) was Ascension Day (40 days after Easter; a public holiday in much of Europe), and this Sunday many churches will thus mark Ascension Sunday, it seemed appropriate to interrupt our series on Important New Testament Passages in order to briefly focus on this oft-neglected yet incredibly significant event in the ministry of Jesus and the life of the Church.
ASCENDED ON HIGH: The Significance of Jesus’ Ascension Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 9, No. 4 (April 2014) 14. Turning from False to True Worship (1 Thessalonians 1:8-10) Too often we talk about the gospel only in negative terms: that is, how it saves us (and gloriously so!) from sin, death and hell. But it is important to realize and to emphasize that we are not just saved from something, but also to something: to a personal relationship with our
Important New Testament Worship Passages (Part 11) Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 9, No. 3 (March 2014) 9. TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY (Ephesians 1:3-14) After his opening greeting, Paul launches into his epistle by praising God (“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”) because He “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (3). He then enumerates a number of these blessings which makes Him worthy of praise, namely: Election 4Love 4Adoption 5Grace 6,
Important New Testament Worship Passages (Part 10) Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 9, No. 2 (February 2014) 8. YES AND AMEN: God’s Program in Two Words (2 Corinthians 1:20) The Gospel in Miniature Nestled in the opening strains of Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians is a statement which plumbs the depths of God’s redemptive work through Christ and the relationship with Him which we enjoy because of it. The Context The context finds Paul addressing the charge of
Important New Testament Worship Passages (Part 9) Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 8, No. 7 (July 2013) 3. WORSHIP SONGS, ATTITUDES AND ACTS IN THE GOSPEL OF LUKE a. Christmas Canticles (Luke 1–2) A canticle is defined by the dictionary as “a song or chant, esp. a hymn containing words derived from the Bible.” These four inspired and poetic psalms of praise, uttered by different figures in Luke’s account of the birth of Christ, have been set to music
Important New Testament Worship Passages (Part 3) Read More »
WORSHIP NOTES Volume 7, No. 11 (November 2012) 1. GOD IS LIGHT LIGHT… what a marvelous creation it is! What a work of dazzling beauty! It is a thing of profound mystery, which concepts such as electrons and watts cannot even begin to explain. LIGHT speaks of radiant energy.of brilliant glory.of unblemished purity.of dynamic power. That’s what light is like.And . . . that’s what God is like. And
LIGHT OF THE WORLD: A Christmas Worship Meditation Read More »
THEME: Worship in the Old Testament, 6th in the series WORSHIP NOTES Volume 7, No. 3 (March 2012) This month we continue to examine worship during the Patriarchal period of Israel’s history. 2. The Patriarchal Period (Genesis 12–50) c. JACOB 1) Jacob growing into a worshiper The life of Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, is itself a picture of the nation that would be named after
Worship in Old Testament History (Part 3) Read More »
