Believe

"It is easy to believe in God, but far more difficult to believe God." 
RC Sproul

The Motivation of Theological Appreciation Appropriated in Worship

In other words, he has written to them in this particular way because he is aware that, ultimately, the profundity of their theological appreciation, appropriated in worship, will be far more effective in helping them to be what they were meant to be than merely piling moral exhortation upon moral exhortation.

- A.T. Lincoln commenting on how Paul sought to motivate the Ephesian church.

Society preserved, disturbed and invaded

“It is too easy to divorce the rule of Christ in heaven from the life of his church on earth; to so abstract the one from the other that the effective outworking of Christ’s sovereignty is left to mysterious forces quite unconnected with our everyday Christian life. In this way we can make the reign of Christ something too remote; invisible, inaudible and eventually undetectable. Whereas it is through the Church’s presence and power, by her work and witness, that society itself is preserved, disturbed and invaded by this reigning Lord.”

- Peter Lewis

Its not about us

The Bible is God’s book, it is a revelation of God, and our thinking must always start with God. Much of the trouble in the Church today is due to the fact that we are so subjective, so interested in ourselves, so egocentric. That is the peculiar error of this present century. Having forgotten God, and having become so interested in ourselves, we become miserable and wretched, and spend our time in ’shallows and in miseries.’

The message of the Bible from beginning to end is designed to bring us back to God, to humble us before God, and to enable us to see our true relationship to Him. And that is the great theme of this Epistle [Ephesians]… We must not start by examining ourselves and our needs microscopically; we must start with God, and forget ourselves. In this Epistle we are taken as it were by the hand by the Apostle and are told that we are going to be given a view of the glory and the majesty of God.

- D. M. Lloyd‐Jones, God’s Ultimate Purpose: An Exposition of Ephesians 1:1 to 23 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 13.

Preacher

“The Christian preacher has a boundary set for him. When he enters the pulpit, he is not an entirely free man. There is a very real sense in which it may be said of him that the Almighty has set him his bounds that he shall not pass. He is not at liberty to invent or choose his message: it has been committed to him, and it is for him to declare, expound, and commend it to his hearers . . . It is a great thing to come under the magnificent tyranny of the Gospel!”

Donald Coggan, quoted in Stott, 126-27

Holy Spirit - Miricles - Providence

"Now, it ought to be observed that God sometimes assists his people in such a manner as to make use of ordinary methods; but when he sees that this hinders men from beholding his hand, which may be said to be concealed, he sometimes works alone, and by evident miracles, that nothing may prevent or obscure the manifestation of his power."

John Calvin

Worship Defined

"Worship consists of acknowledging that someone or something else is greater – worth more – and by consequence, to

be obeyed, feared, and adored…Worship is the sign that in giving myself completely to someone or something, I want

to be mastered by it. (Harold Best, Music Through the Eyes of Faith, pg. 143)

Worship is the activity of the new life of a believer in which, recognizing the fullness of the Godhead as it is revealed in

the person of Jesus Christ and His mighty redemptive acts, he seeks by the power of the Holy spirit to render to the

living God the glory, honor, and submission which are His due. (Robert Rayburn, O Come, Let Us Worship, pg. 20)

“Worship is the work of acknowledging the greatness of our covenant Lord…. In worship we adore God’s covenental

control; bow before His absolute, ultimate authority; and experience God’s presence” (John Frame, Worship in Spirit

and Truth)

Worship is the human response to the self-revelation of the triune God, which involves: (1) divine initiation in which God

graciously reveals himself, his purposes, and will; (2) a spiritual and personal relationship with God through Jesus

Christ enabled by the ministry of the Holy Spirit; and (3) a response by the worshiper of joyful adoration, reverence,

humility, submission and obedience. (David Nelson, Authentic Worship, Herbert W. Bateman, ed., p. 149)

Worship is the believer’s response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, body – to what God is and says and does.

(Warren Wiersbe, Real Worship, p. 26)

Worship is the term we use to cover all the acts of the heart and mind and body that intentionally express the infinite

worth of God. (John Piper)

Worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way

that he alone makes possible. (David Peterson, Engaging with God, pg. 20)

True worship involves reverential human acts of submission and homage before the divine Sovereign, in response to

his gracious revelation of himself, and in accordance with his will. (Daniel Block, For the Glory of God, SBTS Course, p.

30)