Word and Spirit?

In my blog entitled ‘Pinky and the Brain’ I spoke of the three main purposes of the Church; to worship God, to bless the believer and to serve this lost and broken world. I’ve been stirred to ask myself ‘how am I fulfilling the purposes to which I have been called to?’ Today I want to look at how I’m blessing the believer:

I fully believe that the Church should be a place where we worship God in Word and Spirit (John 4:23) but the question is what does that look like?  What did Jesus mean when He said Word and Spirit?

My passion is for Churches that hold and honour BOTH the word and the Spirit in equal importance.  One without the other doesn’t work.  Just think, a Church where the Word of God is central but is without the Spirit of God to bring it alive you’ll find dry Christians, thirsty for a touch and filling of the Spirit.  Or a Church without a foundation built on the Word you’ll find immature Christians open to every wind of teaching (Ephesians 4:14).

Worshipping through Word and Spirit is not about activity but a way of living.  So often we think that the musical worship time is our ‘Spirit’ worship and that the preach is our ‘word’ worship!  Although there is some truth this view is fundamentally wrong! 

When we gather on a Sunday morning to worship together through music it should be worship full of both Word and Spirit.  The songs we choose should be based on scriptural truth, the Bible should be publically read and contributions should be based on theological truths.  The way we lead should be done in a God honouring way. Likewise, when we preach the Word of God should be honoured but so to should the Spirit.  Preachers we need to make room for the Spirit in what we preach and teach. 

A worship time without the Word is like a like a Plane without a Pilot and a Preach without the Spirit is like a car without the fuel.

I love to preach.  It’s one of my main passions.  Why?  Because I love building up and blessing the Church.  Like I’ve said several times already in previous blogs, the local Church is the hope of the world.  I have a desire to teach the Church biblical truths that help them in their everyday lives to honour and exalt God; Biblical truths that will help our musical worship be grounded on scripture; and Biblical truths that will stir them to love and honour the Word and Spirit of God.