The Call To Worship

There was a time, not so long ago, when the sound of church bells rang out all across the land. Like the shofar of the Old Testament, the sound of the bells was a call to worship. A call to prayer, a call to praise, a call of a solemn assembly, and at times, like a watchman on the wall, a sign of warning. But over the years the bells began to fade. No doubt the solemn tones of the call to worship was deafening sound to the sleepers who wished to remain sleeping. To the comfortable who take no thought of divine accountability. We’ve seen The bells silenced, the choirs removed, prayer meetings abandoned, and with the deemphasing of scripture decay has set in. Where there is no truth, there can be no true worship. Where there is no vision and hearing of the Word of the Lord the people parish. Where as faith without works is dead a faith without worship is lifeless. If we were Angel's we would be gathering together around the very throne of God crying Holy,Holy, Holy but yet we mere mortals have more importing things to do. Look at the decline of church attendance over the past 30 years. It's more than just a decline in attendance. It's a decline in worship. When one generation doesn't make worship a priority, another generation deems it nonessential, and the 3rd generation renders it obsolete. AS we will learn in the following study, Adam and Eve failed to make worship a priority, Cain considered true worship nonessential, and Cain’s children forgot God all together. An empty church is littered with excuses, by those who hide their idols. Like the Lukewarm church who has need of nothing, so is the Christian who has no need of the bride of Christ, the church. It may boast of his self sufficiency, but truly its withering on the vine. Like Adam and Eve hiding in the garden so do so many forsake the call to worship. If the fire on the altar has gone out, its because the professing believer has stepped out. Where Israel camped around the tabernacle and made worship the center of their lives, we run from worship and demand God to revolve around our lives. One may say I don't need to gather in a building to worship, which is true. But I' must ask…do you worship at home? You may not have to go to church building to pray, but did Christ not say my house shall be called a house of prayer? Is your home a house of prayer? A man may say he feels closer to God in the wild or on a boat. But even God knew Adam needed something more than a buck and some fish, after giving him dominion over the creatures on the land and in the sea. He needed fellowship. No man was born to be alone, Christians were not redeemed to be scattered. They were called to worship, to bring glory to God and He alone. God has always had a way of gathering his sheep unto him. His sheep here his voice and his sheep flock together. Like King David Spoke in Psalms 84, Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee and better is one a day in His presence than a thousand elsewhere.. May we answer the Call to worship with a heart for Christ that says “Surely His goodness and His mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Sam Ketcher