24X7 CHURCH: NON-STOP WORSHIP

For the last three days we were blessed mingling with church planters and pastors from around the world at the Southern University, Collegedale, TN.  As I listen to testimonies from all kinds of communities, one message is very clear – the Church is not what’s happening in the church building on Sabbath from 10 to noon.

Today you’ve picked up this bulletin brochure with announcements, order of worship, and this challenge from your pastor, and you may think that you have done your worship duty for the week.  Of course, you will come back to worship again next Sabbath, but as you are reading this, and I pray that you perspective on what the true real worship is will change.  Before you put this down, please, read this quote from the pen of inspiration: “True worship consists in working together with Christ. Prayers, exhortation, and talk are cheap fruits, which are frequently tied on; but fruits that are manifested in good works, in caring for the needy, the fatherless, and widows, are genuine fruits, and grow naturally upon a good tree.” (Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, Aug. 16, 1881)

Read the quote again and think about it.......We worship more when we serve one another, than when we get to church Sabbath morning.

God does not stop working!  Ever!   Our Sabbath 11 am is about prayer, exhortation and talk.  Our pioneer Ellen White says these are not real fruits, tied up, not natural.  The REAL worship consists of caring work for needy, fatherless, widows.  When do you do it?  Throughout the week!  The real worship does not stop when people walk out from church.  It goes on 24x7, every day, every moment as we interact with community around us.  So, have you worshipped this week?  Really?

My friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to live lives of worship, presenting ourselves as living offering every moment of our life to people in need, no strings attached!  Visualize this: the worship is happening in hundreds of places all around the city as Christian believers minister to people in work places, at the market, at school, in homes!  The whole city is engulfed in real worship, extending the Presence of God from our lives into lives of others. When we worship 24x7 then our prayers, talk and exhortation in a weekly celebration will not be “tied up” but will be real, natural, and reflect the non-stop worship!