Seventh-day Adventist® Church

Newark Adventist Church

Menu

Inspiring Worship Services

Inspiring worship services

       The immediate thought is that we would love to have worship services with the greatest singers, the most wonderful preachers, up to the moment audio visuals and the knowledge that we are presenting God’s truth in an exciting manner.

     We might contrast that thought with a small group of saints in a hired room on a cold day and think that we are not experiencing inspiring worship.

     The adjective ‘inspiring’ is the key to our understanding. Inspiring is an ‘inspiredness‘ which comes from the presence of the Spirit of God. People attending truly ‘inspired’ services find that “going to church is fun”.

Charles Spurgeon, great preacher of the Victorian era, spoke of his conversion on a cold snowy day in a primitive church. Hardly an inspiring prospect but the place where God spoke to him. Inspiring worship is where God speaks to you.

     Growing churches are places where God speaks to us. Paul expresses this again in the Epistle to the Ephesians as he writes,

     “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Ephesians 6:10-18

     Inspiring worship happens Sabbath by Sabbath as we individually encounter God. Those who lead out in worship should set out to provide the opportunity to meet God. At the same time we should attend with a heart open to meet God.

     As Ellen White puts it, speaking of the wise men heading to share worship at the birth of Jesus,

    “The wise men had seen a mysterious light in the heavens upon that night when the glory of God flooded the hills of Bethlehem. As the light faded, a luminous star appeared, and lingered in the sky. It was not a fixed star nor a planet, and the phenomenon excited the keenest interest. That star was a distant company of shining angels, but of this the wise men were ignorant. Yet they were impressed that the star was of special import to them….

     As by faith Abraham went forth at the call of God, "not knowing whither he went" (Heb. 11:8); as by faith Israel followed the pillar of cloud to the Promised Land, so did these Gentiles go forth to find the promised Saviour…. It was necessary to journey by night in order to keep the star in view; but the travellers beguiled the hours by repeating traditional sayings and prophetic utterances concerning the One they sought. At every pause for rest they searched the prophecies; and the conviction deepened that they were divinely guided. While they had the star before them as an outward sign, they had also the inward evidence of the Holy Spirit, which was impressing their hearts, and inspiring them with hope.“

          Desire of Ages, page 60

     Now, how are we to create that at Newark Seventh-day Adventist Church? We can’t do that with technology. We don’t have a world-class preacher. We do have people who are chosen by God and who want to serve.

     At the beginning we simply need to desire to experience God and look for His presence among us. Then share that, and repeat that