Worship

The first commandment Jesus gives us is to worship God above all other things: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30).

Richard Foster makes the following statement about the priority of worship: "The divine priority is worship first, service second. Our lives are to be punctuated with praise, thanksgiving, and adoration. Service flows out of worship."

We were called for the purpose of praising God, worshiping God. That is one of the job descriptions of a Christian.  Worship helps form us.  It is not enough to sing the word, it is not enough to speak the word, we must act upon the word. Worship is meant to help the church community sync up with one another to become the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

The New Testament does not tell us to follow a particular form for worship, other than to worship in spirit and truth. The forms Christians use today are not the worship; they simply help lead us into the worship. At Linworth we offer three very different worship services and each one exemplifies the principle of giving our best to God because God is worthy of it.

Worship the Lord with gladness; come before God with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is God who made us, and we are God’s people, the sheep of God’s pasture.   Psalm 100:2-3