Dr. Allen Smith

Chapter 1 - The Single Most Important Need In The Church Today

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There is no doubt, the single most important need in the church today, is to know how to worship God. Sadly, this is a subject that is ignored by most preachers today. When it preached or taught on, it is never approached from the perspective of just how do you worship God? Many congregations throughout the world are dying today, because they are losing this key ingredient of spiritual life. Yes, without true worship, the church dies!

Psalm 95:1-6 (KJV) 1  O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 2  Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 3  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4  In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. 5  The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 6  O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

Instead of our services being anticipated as the high point of the entire week in the life of Christians, they are becoming a time of boredom. Instead of entering into personal communication with God, Church services are becoming great spectator events. Our 21st century spectator-mentality has come to church with us and we now want to be entertained by a smooth talking preacher or a sweet sounding singer. Many Christians now become bored because no one can turn them on or excite them by their performance. Christians are “failing to receive a blessing”, and they leave their church disappointed that nothing is happening in their congregation. Many are dying spiritually because they have failed to grasp the fundamental principles of true worship.

Simply put, worship is the first and foremost priority of any local church congregation. When all other activities of the church pass way, there is only one supreme and indispensable activity that will remain throughout eternity! For that reason, when far too many functions of today’s church are just promotional efforts used to maintain the church’s activities, then we must re-examine our primary purpose. When everything the church does is to just sustain the church’s financial standing, we must examine our misdirected goals. When faithfulness to the church is measured by the amount of time spent on running committees or the amount of time used to keep the status quo, it is then time to analyze our top priority.

To make all of this right, the first thing we must do is grasp the importance of worship to the life of the church and the individual Christian. Next, we must come to a greater understanding that all true worship is to the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Ghost. Lastly, we must understand that worship is not receiving, worship is giving!

One of the greatest things that can happen to you, and to your church, is when you finally understand, believe, and practice, How To Worship God.