As I sat to write this devotion, I was listening to K-Love and making plans to go see the beginning of season four of The Chosen at the Buckland Hills Cinemark movie theater in Manchester. It made me pause to consider, I listen to terrestrial radio (K-Love 106.9 FM or WIHS 104.9 FM) in my office, satellite radio (SXM channel 63 – The Message) in my car. I watch movies like His Only Son, Noah (starring Russell Crowe), Miracles From Heaven (starring Jennifer Garner), Nefarious, Blue Miracle, etc. My list is long. I read books like the At Home in Mitford series by Jan Karon, or 42 Faith (by Ed Henry), Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus (by Nabeel Qureshi). That list goes on for a while too. And, today, there are You Tube videos and podcasts. South Church has a website, as well as Instagram, You Tube, and X, accounts, and of course a Facebook page. We livestream our Sunday service along with these “Food 4 Thought” devotionals, “Call 2 Prayer” (on Wednesday’s at 4:00 pm), and Bible Study (Wednesday’s at 6:00 pm).
My point is, we are so blessed that there are so many ways in which we can access faith-filled messages. This is also true with worship. In Psalm 150, we read, “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
A ram’s horn, lyre, harp, tambourine (the Hebrew translates as “hand drum” by the way). As a drummer, I like to point out that drums in worship is in the Bible from the start. So drums, dancing, strings, flutes, and cymbals. God obviously loves variety. He does! There are over 900,000 different kinds insects in the world. Some 17,500 species of butterflies and 33,600 types of fish, and every single one of them (fish) is delicious when deep fried!
If God didn’t like variety, why make so many different types of things? “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind” (Genesis 1:20). “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind – livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals” (Genesis 1:24). We are all different as well. Every one of us has DNA, which makes us utterly unique. As I said, God obviously loves variety.
We worship in different ways too. The Catholic or Orthodox mass is entirely different than a Pentecostal or Congregational service. And within each expression there are nuances as well. Some churches use the organ and traditional hymns. Others, a contemporary worship band and praise music. Here at South Church, we do both in a combined service.
As long as we are genuine, I believe God receives it all. Jesus says in John 4:24, “…those who worship him [the Father] must worship in spirit and in truth.” Yes, God loves variety. I believe if Jesus were here today, He would have a website, You Tube channel, Instagram, X account, and a Facebook page too. He’d probably have a podcast as well. Whatever it took in order to share the life-giving message of the gospel, Jesus would certainly use it.
Perhaps He is. Take a listen to a podcast. Watch a movie, listen to some music, read a book or magazine, and always be aware of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus says, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand” (Mark 4:23).
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Remember you can email praise reports and prayer requests to southchurchprayer@gmail.com. I lift them up every Wednesday at 4:00 pm on Facebook Live.