For the Lord's Day and for the New Year

“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God.” -- William Temple

For the Lord's Day @ Worship

“… our audience in corporate worship is not people. Corporate worship is not about pleasing people, whether ourselves, the congregation, or unbelieving seekers. . Worship in the corporate gathering is about renewing our covenant with God by meeting with Him and relating to Him in ways that He has prescribed. We do this specifically by hearing and heeding His Word, confessing our own sinfulness and our dependence on Him, thanking Him for his goodness to us, bringing our requests before Him, confessing His truth, and lifting our voices and instruments to Him in response to and in accord with the way that He has revealed Himself in His Word.”

-- Mark Dever in The Deliberate Church

Worship @ Covenant PCA

“…when we say ordinary means of grace-based ministry, we mean a radical commitment to following the direction of God’s Word as to both the message and the means of gathering and perfecting the saints. Ordinary means ministry has a high view of the Bible, preaching, the church, the ordinances or sacraments, and prayer. Ordinary means ministry believes that the key things that the church can do in order to help their people know God and grow in their knowledge of God are: First, emphasize the public reading and preaching of the Word; second, emphasize the confirming, sanctifying and assuring efficacy of the sacraments, publicly administered; and, third, emphasize a life of prayer, especially expressed corporately in the church. These things are central and vital but sadly often under-emphasized, underappreciated, and undermined.” - - Dr. Ligon Duncan in Tabletalk, October 2007 Pastor of First Presbyterian (PCA), Jackson, MS President, The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

For the Lord's Day

People ought to come to corporate worship services to get. They ought to come starved for God. They ought to come saying, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1). God is profoundly honored when people know they will die of hunger and thirst unless they have God. And it is my job as a preacher to spread a banquet before them. I must show them from Scripture what they are really starving for – God – and then feed them well until they say, “Ahhh.” That is worship.” - John Piper, The Dangerous Duty of Delight