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THE REAL PURPOSE OF A WORSHIP "SERVICE" There's a hot debate going on today regarding worship services and whether we need to stick with traditional services or allow some contemporary worship in order to draw more people. Frankly, I think we lost the battle years ago when we decided to have ANY kind of worship "service." Read your New Testament and see how many church "worship services" you can find. You'll find some in heaven in Revelation, where man has NOTHING to say about it, but down here on earth where people get to direct things after the whims of their own fallen nature, the rest of the New Testament is SILENT about church worship "services." Sure, believers worship God in the New Testament, but not in any form of "service" where the Holy Spirit can be quenched by man's vain religious trimmings. Even at one of the most sacred moments in all the Bible, at the Last Supper, it simply says, "And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives." (Mat. 26:30) No specials, no testimonials, no announcements, no choir, no offertory hymn, no go-around-and-shake-hands, no stand-up-and-sit-down a dozen times, no acknowledgement of all the preachers present, and no closing invitation. They sung one hymn and went out. That's it. That's simplicity. That's beauty. That's focus. That's WORSHIP! Worship happens when you WORSHIP, not merely when you SAY you are worshiping or when you order a worship "service." One of the surest ways to quench the Holy Spirit is to have a worship service. The truth of the matter is that the devil uses most worship services to hinder true worship or to quench it altogether. As one often can't see the forest for the trees, many today can't see God or hear his still small voice due to the "worship service." All the sound and order and theatrics are used to draw everyone into a totally different realm of worldly sit-and-watch-the-show instead of actually engaging in any real worship of God.A common complaint in many churches is that the preacher hinders the worship service by taking too much time with the preaching. WHAT?!!! If you can't see the devil in that, you need some of that Revelation 3:18 eyesalve! Frankly, my dear, probably the best worship you can have is preaching, because that's when your flesh is most likely to be put in its place so that your spirit can connect with God and truly worship him. Everything else runs a very high risk of being nothing but religious waste. "Well, I don't see anything wrong with . . ." Of course you don't. Laodiceans don't see lots of things (Rev. 3:17). Most worship services amount to a bunch of different PEOPLE saying things, but what's most needed is for God to say some things, and he does that with his word. "Oh, but that special spoke to my heart!" But God's word didn't? That's interesting. God seeks people to worship him "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), and Satan works overtime to prevent this from happening. It's sad to admit, but because of the distracting "worship service" mentality, I learned most of my Bible IN PRIVATE instead of at church. I spent years of my Christian life watching the word of God take a back seat to religious junk in "worship services." Sure, we pray and have a few hymns, and sometimes a special, but NOTHING overshadows the Book. There is no ritual or "order of service," and no one leaves with the impression that they've been entertained or that they liked or disliked some sort of show. People are allowed to engage in true worship by experiencing God's word. That's worship, and if that's not good enough, then they can find a new church. After years of being in more church services than I can count, I am convinced that Satan is far more interested in worship "services" than the Lord is and that he has been highly successful in using them to quench the true worship of God. The world will teach you how to put on a show, but the WORD will teach you how to truly worship God, and a "service" is usually more of a distraction than any kind of real help. "For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." (Isa. 66:2)