A few thoughts from a very well known passage: May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14, NIV UK We had the unusual privilege yesterday of going to a real service with real… Continue Reading Words and Meditations
Richard Venable
This blog post is just a shout out really to Jack Hayford, and a recommendation to take a look at his website. Not that I would necessarily agree with everything he writes or preaches, but he has some great insights about worship. Worship involves physical expressions founded upon biblical guidelines;… Continue Reading Eleven Hebrew Verbs for Physical Worship
Richard Venable
The news recently has been continually driving home the reality that our society has utterly turned its back on God. Of course we know this, but sometimes it just becomes very blatant. Just in the last few days we have had four reports that show how far we have declined… Continue Reading We Become Like What We Worship
Richard Venable
My reading in Psalm 122 today seemed highly appropriate in the light of the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas. We pray for peace for Jerusalem, and for Gaza, and for Israel, and for its other troubled neighbours, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. But our prayers are for much more… Continue Reading Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
Richard Venable
This week’s blog is simply a recommendation for a great new song. Song Of Heaven by Mack Brock, Stefan Cashwell and Chris Davenport is a beautiful song of praise that echoes the worship of heaven seen in Revelation 4, with references to Romans 1 as it talks about how creation… Continue Reading Song of Heaven – New Song
Richard Venable
The book of Revelation teaches so much about what is real. We mustn’t forget that the life we are living on this earth is a shadow of the heavenly reality, the greatest blessings merely a foretaste of our glorious inheritance, which Jesus says He is going ahead to prepare for… Continue Reading The Most Valuable Currency in the World
Richard Venable
May we in the very gentlest whisper beg you to think very much of God, much of the singing, and extremely little of yourself. The best sermon is that in which the theme absorbs the preacher and hearers, and leaves no one either time or desire to think about the… Continue Reading Spurgeon’s Advice to the Worship Leader
Richard Venable
I am increasingly keen on birds these days. I’m not sure what started it, but moving to our current house sixteen years ago was definitely key. That is because we have house martins and swifts nesting under and in our eaves. Plus some very cheerful sparrows who love to chatter… Continue Reading Preparation and Expectation
Richard Venable
Psalm 84 is one of the best-known and best-loved of all the psalms. It begins “How lovely is Your dwelling place, Lord Almighty!”, and expresses the deep desires of our heart to be in the place of worship, in “the courts of the Lord”. As a bird lover, it also… Continue Reading Ten Titles of God in Psalm 84
Richard Venable
Seems an appropriate day to think a little about what we believe! What we believe about God will have a profound effect on how we worship, and it will have a significant effect on how we lead others in worship. Our worship is a declaration of the worth or value… Continue Reading What We Believe About God – and Why It Matters
Richard Venable