When Matt Redman penned the above words, he was desiring to see his church return to “the heart of worship;” the thing that’s left when “all is stripped away.” Many worship leaders have encountered that feeling at one time or another and actually, I would be concerned if they haven’t. Worship has become everything from an idol (in some churches) to a nuisance (in some churches) to the focus of congregational division (in many churches) and each of those descriptors are equally distressing. What’s gone wrong in the last few decades? Worship Has Become Technically Complicated You do not desire ..read more

But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. (Matthew 26: 58) Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire. (Mark 14:54) Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. (Matthew 27:55) This is one of my oldest son’s favorite worship songs, I Just Want to be Where You Are by Don Moen. The opening lines are: I just want to be where you are Dwel ..read more

A year ago we introduced you to Martie Susberry who writes at Wonderful Jesus. After reading three of the most recent posts, I chose this one to share with readers here today, but you’re encouraged to visit the site at that link, or by starting with the link to today’s devotional, which follows. The Power of Praise! Repost! Psalm 113:2-3 – Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord’s name is to be praised. It is believed that Psalms 113 to 118 are the psalms that Jesus and His disciples sang ..read more

by Ruth Wilkinson Doing Church 4 – Teach (Acts 2:37-47) Ephesians, chapter 4, starting in verse four gives us a sense of who teaches in the Church. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us [within that all-ness, within that great big one-ness] to each of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. Skipping forward to verse 11: Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and t ..read more

This our third time sharing the writing of Richard Beck at the blog Experimental Theology, though it follows a 9-year break on our part. Richard is currently working his way through some multi-part, in-depth topical articles, interspersed with meditations on the Psalms. Click the link which follows to read this where it recently appeared. Richard is professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. He is the author of Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age. “He summons heaven and earth in order to judge his people” As regular readers kno ..read more

Some of you know that there are some basic rules by which Christianity 201 operates. With a few exceptions, writers from whom we beg, borrow and steal articles don’t get repeated until six months have passed, and usually it’s one year. Those articles are never repeated, though they may be excerpted from in a theme piece. Original articles by myself or Ruth don’t get repeated until four years have passed. Which brings us to this one. Until now, the core content of any devotional had never been repeated more than three times. But we do have new readers and the subject matter here is so important ..read more

Today again we have another new author to introduce to you. Daniel writes at Thoughts and Insights. Clicking the link in the title below takes you to where today’s devotional first appeared, along with some photo images not included here. The Promises of God Today I would like to talk about the promises that God gives us. I will clarify that I probably won’t go too much into promises that He has personally told me, but I will talk about them a little, since they are an essential part of what God’s promises are… The Importance of a Promise To me, a promise is such a deep thing. It is not s ..read more

They all met together and were constantly united in prayer – Acts 1:14a NLT They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. – Acts 2:42 The Message [Note Peterson’s use of the phrase, “the life together.”] Today we have another new author to introduce to you. Carter Lam lives in Pennsylvania and describes himself as “a chemist by trade and a theologian by hobby.” His eponymous site is Carter Benjamin Lam. Send him some online traffic today by clicking today’s thoughts where they first appeared. This was more of an article than a ..read more

Today we’re introducing a new author to you, one who, as best I can tell, is just starting out on her writing adventure. Samantha Katsma‘s site is called A Journey of Faith. Clicking the link in the title which follows below and reading this where it first landed will encourage her greatly. Stillness In CHRIST How do we rest in Christ? Human beings have a tendency to always be moving, always on the go, constantly looking for the next best thing to do or to achieve. In our minds, we see success as the things we do or the amount of worldly knowledge we acquire. Because what is the alternative to ..read more

Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. – Luke 6:39 The Message So often I hear people say, “When I die I’ve left instructions for _____ [amount of money] to be given to charity.” It’s hard not to interpret this as, “I want to make sure I have enough for me, right now, and if there’s anything left over, it will be given to ______.” So much for “first fruits.” But the needs presented to us are here and now and I’m always reminded of the little rhyme: Do your giving While you’re living So you’re knowing Where it’s going. M ..read more