How lovely is your dwelling place - First Presbyterian Church ...

and appropriate the word of God for our lives. Our worship is even structured
that way. You will note in our bulletins every Sunday that we have three main
movements in our worship: we gather as God’s people, we hear the word of
God, and we respond to the word of God.
We not only hear and listen attentively to the word of God, we also respond
to it. The epistle of James says: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22 NIV). We are to be doers of
the word. As Jesus says, the wise person is the one “who hears these words of
mine and acts on them” (Matthew 7:24).
The response to the word of God is obviously lived out from Monday to
Saturday but please note that the response to the Word begins even within
the service itself on Sunday. We respond with the prayers of the people, with
an affirmation of faith oftentimes, with the offering of our gifts and of our very
selves, with the doxology, and with a hymn of response. We worship to hear
and respond to the word of God.
Secondly, we also worship to nurture our spiritual growth. We often overlook
that worshipping together is a means of grace that God’s people have
always used to grow in their spiritual lives.
Church consultant Herb Miller has conducted numerous surveys of church
people, asking what helps them to grow spiritually. When given the
opportunity to choose from a list of factors that helped them grow spiritually,
church members and attenders checked worship more frequently than any
other item.
In what ways does worship help us to grow spiritually? How exactly does
worship help? In his book Connecting with God, Herb Miller mentions ten
ways that corporate worship helps in our spiritual growth.
Worship, he says, benefits people in at least these ten ways:
1. Worship dispels loneliness.
2. Worship brings hope.
3. Worship counters self-centeredness.
4. Worship reminds us of important values we tend to forget.
5. Worship strengthens courage.
6. Worship gives us the opportunity to express thanksgiving.
7. Worship brings us a sense of forgiveness.
8. Worship renews our faith.
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