Old time worship

[slim777]

Living and being raised up in kentucky and listen to the elders tell of the old time churches that had slab benches to set on and coal oil lamps hung on the wall so folks could see..nothing back then was fancy and folks never dress so great they wore what they had to wear.

no one went to be seen or see somebody they went for one purpose and that was to worship God, most old time preacher has one or two suits if he was lucky enought to afford them...

churches back then never had flush carpet and benches that set so confortable that someone would go to sleep during preaching service..

The church was plain and the people just as plain, and they were all common( no big I and little you) it seem to be a good place to be and they taught love and forgivness and the preacher would preach against folks dieing and going to hell..and people would get excited and say a big amen, those days are gone now,

most church are so modern and nice that you would not want to even attend less you was dressed fit to kill so to speak.

Man seems to love to impress his own self with his building great church houses and the fancyer the better.. don't get me wrong i am not preaching against nice buildings or anything like that..what i am saying is that somehow man has got to big for his trousers ..

I do know this that man cannot impress God no matter how nice his church looks, because God don't take notes on how pretty the building is that folks come to worhsip him in... what he takes notes on is man and woman hearts, how are the hearts of men and woman that come to worship God ..

it don't matter where a man worships God what matter is does he worship is the question..?

when i was a young boy i walked two miles to attend the little country church in our neck of the woods, it was fun going to church walking along , somtime singing a hymm as we all walk on the old dirt road that lead to our liltte church house, i

The little church was white with lots of big tall windows, and our minister had a bald head and sometime the waspers would try and use his head for a landing pad while he would be preaching and us younger kids would get tickled watching the preacher swat and waspers,

I never attented a fancy big church with carpet till i was a full grown man and that was when i was in the Army.. our church had a big pot bellied heating stove that burn coal, and it never has running water , and it had a outside toilet.. but we mananged to worship right fine,, we never had airconditioners , they furnished fans... the hand type fan was used in church for sweating folks,

i sure miss those wonderful days when things were plain and common and simple....but times has made a change in all things,

now folks take for granted their nice church house, where there is running water and airconditioners, and fancy lighting,

yes things have sure changed from back them , but i wonder at times if things have changed for the better for mankind...

[browneyedgirl2]

That brought back some memories for me too. I lived with my maternal grandparents until I was 9....I remember the old white church that my grandparents were charter members of.... I remember the old hard benches, but MawMaw always managed to "doze" during the sermons... My Pop would have to punch her...LOL I remember they had electric lights, but I can remember having services, where they wouldn't use anything but old lanterns and candles to light the church.... Seems like those were the most moving services... We always had to have the windows open because there wasn't any A/C, but I really can't remember how they warmed the church in the winter, unless it was with gas heaters.... I was just a very young girl, but those memories will always live with me... My grandparents have been dead many years, but it seems like yesterday... I can remember my grandmother having to feed the Pastor and the Deacons once a month, and she would cook all day, and then I would have to "get lost" while they had their meeting.... Back then kids stayed out of the way, and let the adults handle things and we got in trouble if we Disobeyed... Now a days, too many kids run the show...

Edited October 22, 2008 by browneyedgirl2

[zaidenmom]

When I was young, I remember going to church with my grandparents in their little country church. I enjoyed it so much as a kid. It had an outhouse and no A/C and hard benches. It had wasps and hand fans and such too. The people were very hospitable and loved people very much. I liked going there more than the fancy church I went to with my parents. I loved how EVERYONE would sing at the top of their lungs, even if they couldn't sing. They gave fruit baskets at Christmas too!! Very fond memories.

Thank you, Lord, for the simpler times.

One day we may have to revert back to those times to live on this earth, who knows.

[Floatingaxe]

Those I worship with believe that as God is the God of excellence, He deserves a house of excellence. Those who work in trades and crafts used by God to create a meeting place for His people are blessed to be used in their endeavours.

We live in a part of the world which is rich by world standards. We are accustomed to attending spacious, well-designed venues for secular pursuits such as theatrical productions, musical concerts and sporting events.

How much more does God deserve a good place for His own people to worship, learn, teach and proclaim the truth of Christ to the lost? Think about it: the lost are just like us, used to attending nice venues for their carnal and cultural pursuits. Do you think that a church which has stick furniture and no modern accoutrements would keep them interested in Jesus and the amazing people called by His name, who do all things with excellence?

[Guest]

Either Way It Is The Same Jesus - Hallelujah!

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Philippians 4:12

And He Is LORD

[alycia]

Those I worship with believe that as God is the God of excellence, He deserves a house of excellence. Those who work in trades and crafts used by God to create a meeting place for His people are blessed to be used in their endeavours.

We live in a part of the world which is rich by world standards. We are accustomed to attending spacious, well-designed venues for secular pursuits such as theatrical productions, musical concerts and sporting events.

How much more does God deserve a good place for His own people to worship, learn, teach and proclaim the truth of Christ to the lost? Think about it: the lost are just like us, used to attending nice venues for their carnal and cultural pursuits. Do you think that a church which has stick furniture and no modern accoutrement would keep them interested in Jesus and the amazing people called by His name, who do all things with excellence?

Ok...this is not directed specifically to FloatingAxe, but this thing about "excellence" in church settings has always irked me a little.

I was a part of a church for several years that stressed "excellence", in terms of the worship service, the music, the people who served/volunteered in various groups/ministries, etc...it became a buzzword--"we must do things with excellence", "God is a God of excellence", so on and so forth. Maybe it was just the setting I was in, but it became almost a snobbish, exclusive attitude--our ministry/church was known for it's "excellence", and those that didn't measure up to the supposed standard of excellence were basically shut out of doing anything within the church.

Yes, I believe in doing things with excellence--to me, doing and being the best you can be with the gifts and talents God has given you--but at the same time, realizing that although man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart--and although we may not measure up by man's standards, God is pleased with our sincere efforts to serve Him.

As far as modernized church buildings--yes, I think we all can say we prefer to have a nice, comfortable building with padded pews, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter, and with the latest in technology to help present the Gospel...but what if all that were taken away for some reason? what if we lost all those "comforts"? Would we say to God, I can't worship You because I don't have the "modern accoutrements" to effectively worship You in Spirit and in truth?

Again, this is not disagreement with FloatingAxe, but this is something that has irritated me for some time...maybe it's the way I've heard it taught and applied, I dunno.

[Guest HIS girl]

I have a funny memory of Church when I was around 10.

I lived in a small country town,and the Church I went to had the Pastor's dog and cats making up the congregation numbers.....

Anyway, the Pastor was praying at the end of the service and as usual myself and some other kids didn't have our eyes closed...we were watching in fascination at the Pastor's cat which was walking genteely across the pulpit and it's tail high up in the air..in fact it was now trailing right under the Pastors nostrils, tickling him....the Pastor hollered and jumped right out of his skin which had me and the other kids bent over in absolute hysterics...the rest of the Church were quite bewildered as to what was going on.....

[Ningning]

[browneyedgirl2]

Maybe they thought he was in the "spirit."

[Guest shiloh357]

I was a part of a church for several years that stressed "excellence", in terms of the worship service, the music, the people who served/volunteered in various groups/ministries, etc...it became a buzzword--"we must do things with excellence", "God is a God of excellence", so on and so forth. Maybe it was just the setting I was in, but it became almost a snobbish, exclusive attitude--our ministry/church was known for it's "excellence", and those that didn't measure up to the supposed standard of excellence were basically shut out of doing anything within the church.

Yes, I believe in doing things with excellence--to me, doing and being the best you can be with the gifts and talents God has given you--but at the same time, realizing that although man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart--and although we may not measure up by man's standards, God is pleased with our sincere efforts to serve Him.

As far as modernized church buildings--yes, I think we all can say we prefer to have a nice, comfortable building with padded pews, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter, and with the latest in technology to help present the Gospel...but what if all that were taken away for some reason? what if we lost all those "comforts"? Would we say to God, I can't worship You because I don't have the "modern accoutrements" to effectively worship You in Spirit and in truth?

The "excellence" justification for spectacular facilities and always having to have "the best" is really just an excuse for materialism.

The excellence with which we are to serve the Lord is in the area of our character.

The world has historically NEVER been impressed with how modern and technologically advanced our facilities are. In fact, if anything unbelievers have been turned off by the way many ministries have decked themselves out in their affluence. I have never seen anyone who was ever very impressed with preachers flying themselves around in private jets and driving a Rolls.

Most people are looking for something real to believe in, something that meets the need of their heart, not that which pets their flesh. They already have money and affluence. They drive the best cars, and have very well paying jobs and own more than one piece of property, but so far, none of that has brought any fulfillment, it has not filled the void in their heart that longs for something more.

When you love someone, when you are truly caught up in your love for another person, does it matter what they drive? Does it matter if they make a lot of money or live in the nicest home in the best part of town? Do you care if their clothes are the best? Love has a tendency to focus on what will matter in the long run. Those who are truly in love with Jesus can worship Him under any condition.

On CBN News, I was watching a segment about Christians in China. Many of them worship in packed, undisclosed facilities for 8-12 hours at a strech standing up the entire time, and without the benefit of air conditioning in the summer. A 3-hour sermon is considered "short." None of them had on a tie or a dress. They are growing and they do this under the threat of imprisonment and other forms of persecution.

Think of what we could do with the money we spend on simply building bigger barns for ourselves. How much money is spent on new sound systems or other nonessentials that could be spent on medicine, food, bibles, and other resources that would actually meet real needs of real people?

I was listening to a missionary talk about a special soup that they were giving to people in places like Kenya, Zimbabwe and other countries in Africa that was curing them of physical ailments that were the product of nothing but vitamin deficiencies. It was high protein, vitamin packed soup that could be bought in bulk quanities and stored indefiniately in dry form. It was actually pretty cheap to get, and was worth more in the long run than new carpet for our sanctuary.

And while I am thinking about it, the Church ought to be funding and subsidising the publishing and printing of Bibles. If we were truly honest with ourselves, Bibles should not even be for sale. Over in China, many congregations only have a few chapters of the Bible, and even those have to be passed around. I was in at a Christian bookstore a while back and this one guy was up in arms because he could not get the type of leather cover he wanted for a particular version. No one should ever have to buy a Bible.

We have become fat, materialistic and selfish over here in the west. We have all the best "stuff" but we lack true spiritual power. In Acts chapter two, 120 disciples saw 3,000 people saved in a day. Today, 3,000 Christians can't reach 120 people in a year.