What do you consider worshipful?

Clap your hands, all peoples!
Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth. -- Psalm 47:1 –2 (ESV)

What do you consider worshipful? Maybe a quiet time of reflection. Maybe it's a loud excited melody. Maybe it's an old familiar hymn. Maybe it's a scripture read clearly. Often times our definitions are colored by the times and experiences where we felt close to God. We associate those times and the feelings we had with the truest expression of worship. Read more

Our need to retreat to the safety of the love of God

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. -- Psalm 118:22 –24 (ESV)

The Psalms are a curious mix of tears and cries of vengeance and beauty and devastation and hope and failure and longing. This week we are going to take a look at Psalm 118 in our series, Songs of A Savior. In it the Psalmist feels the press of his enemies and the need to retreat to the safety of the love of God. But will even this refuge fail him? Where can it be found? How do we get in? Read more

Fools are easy to point out and laugh at but harder to see, especially in the mirror

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. -- Psalm 14:1 –2 (ESV)

Fools are easy to point out and laugh at but harder to see, especially in the mirror. The Bible is brutally honest about the world around us and the struggle within us, but it also shows us the only refuge from them both. Read more