Deus Misereatur

For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship Daniel I. Block Baker Academic Baker Publishing Group 6030 East Fulton Road Ada, MI 49301 www.bakerpublishinggroup.com Hardback – ISBN: 9780801026980; e-book – ISBN: 9781441245632; August 2014; $34.99 Reviewed by Rev. Dr. Michael Philliber. 4 Stars out of 5 Measured Examination In numerous aspects, the subject of “Worship” is tired and tuckered out. The “Worship Wars” have ground on for decades with no real resolution. Simultaneously, the Christian music industry continues to shape what is, and isn’t, sung in churches via Christian Radio and chart-topping hits. Also many popular and prosperous churches have moved to a Burger King - “Have it your way” – approach to Christian worship, as evidenced by everything from voluntary communion to multiple “worship services” conducted concurrently in the same building, each catering to niche populations. It seems that the whole subject of worship is no longer worth wrestli...

{Here is the final sermon in this series. The audio link can be here } ---- Revival and Reformation Pt 22 2 Chronicles 34 Even now, Lord God, we ask for a heart like Josiah’s, a heart that is tender and humble before you; a heart that is ready to hear and respond to your word, just like our Lord Jesus! Amen. O how we despise an arrogant cuss. But to be arrogant is actually an American passed-time – It makes big bucks, it makes many companies powerful and profitable, it gets people their own reality TV shows, it sells products and gets folks elected to office. It works! But is it really of value to God? Does it impress him to have his little creatures strutting about asserting their pleasure, their power, their prestige, and their preeminence? NO! You and I know it intuitively, and we know it from the Scriptures, that God hates arrogance and pomposity (Proverbs 8.13). So what is it, then, that pleases God? Humility. But what is humility? I think we have a picture of it h...

LORD God, you are the Holy One of Israel who has promised that “in returning and rest” we shall be saved; “in quietness and in trust shall be” our strength. Grant us to lay aside our rootless rambling and turn to your resilient reliability and to find our strength in quietness and trust. Help us, Lord God, bind up the brokenness of your people and heal the wounds inflicted by your blows (Isaiah 30.15, 26). O Lord, hear our prayer. Lord Jesus, who brought health and wholeness to ten lepers; grant the same for those for whom we pray – those closer to the door of death than we may even know, those crushed in heart and soul, those hobbled by physical feebleness or emotional exhaustion, and those shattered by the hammer of afflictions – that they may come, like the one Samaritan leper who returned to you, and give you praise (Luke 17.11-19). O Lord, hear our prayer. Lord our God, we acknowledge that our nation often turns things upside down. But shall the potter be regarded as the cla...