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Make Worship A Priority In Your Life


As we draw near to the end of the Easter season we also draw near to the end of a season filled with joyful praise and worship. It is a season full of joy-filled praise and worship because we’re intentionally celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without Christ’s death and his resurrection, we wouldn’t have the forgiveness of our sins that we have or live with the hope of resurrection that comes to us through him.

So what comes next? After Easter comes the season of Pentecost, marking the beginning of the church when the disciples of Jesus Christ received the Holy Spirit and began spreading the good news of the gospel throughout the world. During Pentecost, we see a shift in our focus. We turn from a focused celebration of the resurrection to a focus on joining the first disciples in Christ's mission to spread the news about Jesus to those who have not yet heard and accepted the gospel. We focus on working with the Holy Spirit to grow the kingdom of God here on earth.

The difficulty that will arise for us is that with a change in focus and emphasis from the resurrection to evangelism, and the spread of the kingdom of God on earth, we might feel the drive to come and worship our great God with joyful praise drop off a bit. Pentecost also, unfortunately, happens to fall over the course of the summer months when it becomes easy to skip multiple Sundays due to family events, vacations, traveling sports teams, and the draw of sleeping in on a warm summer morning. I understand those draws to miss worship and feel them too, but giving into all of them can become problematic for our spiritual lives.

 When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, the new believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). They understood the importance of regular corporate worship and built their lives around this most important activity for Christ’s church. So I want to encourage you to order your life around weekly corporate worship rather than ordering weekly corporate worship around your life. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
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