A REAL Worship Service...

Nehemiah 8:1-9 describes an interesting scene that would be quite foreign, and even rejected, in most American churches today.

At the start of the worship service, "the people gathered together as one man (v.1)," a unified body of God's people who came to worship. There was a "platform of wood (v.4)," or great stage, built and Ezra the priest (or preacher) and 13 other worship leaders took the stage. So far, this seems pretty typical of our average church services.

Ezra started preaching from God's Word, preaching expositionally, verse by verse, explaining the text. He and the other leaders preached and taught from the Word, "and they gave sense and helped the people understand the reading (v.8)."
Not only did they preach and teach in this style, but they did it "from morning until midday (v.3)" while the people stood with "attentive ears (v.3, 5)." What we're talking about here is roughly a 6-hour preaching service folks!
Most 'church people' can't bear 30 minutes....

During this preaching service, the people would periodically fall to their knees in prayer and repentance, weeping, and praising God for His mercy (v.6).
They didn't fall asleep.
They weren't checking their watches.
They didn't stop to check Facebook, to post a selfie on Instagram, or to see the score of the Cowboy game on their phones.
They didn't allow their minds to wander.
The worship service was all about God.

How did they do it? They came hungry for the Word, they came with repentant hearts, and they came to encounter their God in the corporate assembly.

Are you prepared to worship like this on Sunday?

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