Why We Suggest Worship Services for Individuals, Families or Small Groups

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Why We Suggest Worship Services for
Individuals, Families or Small Groups

We are told very little about how people worshipped the Creator God before the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness at the time of Moses. Yet we have many examples in the Book of Genesis that prove people did conduct formal worship before God. There are numerous references to the construction of altars and sacrifices being made to God.

It begins with the story of Cain and Abel. Both appear to have conducted some type of private, yet formal, worship at which time they made offerings to God. We are told that God was present, as he accepted the worship and offering of Abel but rejected that of Cain. Many have taught that Cain’s error was in bringing a bloodless offering instead of sacrificing a lamb or livestock of some kind. There may be some truth in this, as we have come to know that the requirements of the sacrificial history of man were a type or symbol of the larger sacrifice that God would later make through his son Jesus Christ.

However, that may not be the total answer. The scriptures tell us that Cain was a tiller of the ground (Gen. 4:2-5). If he was bringing an offering of the work of his hands, we would expect it to be fruit, vegetables, oil, or grain. Later we find many grain and oil offerings as part of the sacrificial system established at Mount Sinai. So, if God’s rejection was not totally related to the type of offering, perhaps there was something in the type of worship that was not acceptable to God.

As we learn more about Cain, we see that he was defiant and under the influence of Satan. It is not a stretch to draw the conclusion that his attitude and manner at the time of his offering was not worshipful toward God, but rather may have been performed with disdain.

The Bible records other instances, prior to the establishment of the nation of Israel, when people individually and collectively gathered together for formal worship of the Creator God. These examples indicate that they fellowshipped with him through ritual, sacrifice, and prayer.

With the founding of the nation of Israel, God commanded the people to continually worship him and to present themselves at appointed times before him in formal worship (Exodus 4:22; 19:5-6; 34:14; Leviticus 23:1-3). Under the priesthood and sacrificial system of worship, there are many examples of individual and collective formal worship.

So coming before God in worship is not a new idea begun by the churches in the gospel age. It has been a part of mankind’s history from the very beginning. Since the new agreement or covenant between the Father and his elect children, the physical rituals have been replaced with the spiritual reality of what the earlier rituals had prophesied. Today, righteous individuals worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

While these rituals of the past centered at the physical temple at Jerusalem (or wherever God placed his name), today God’s elect worship him in spirit and in truth through the physical temples made of flesh (our body).

The biblical record of the early church shows that God the Father has commanded his elect children—those who are members of his royal family, his personal priesthood, and his temples on earth—to continually worship him and present themselves at appointed times before him in formal worship. Worship and praise of the Father is part of the process of spiritual growth in the family of God. It is the building of a close, loving father-child relationship in much the same way as the child-parent relationship grows in love and to maturity in a physical family.

But what if you can’t get together in a collective worship experience with others of God’s elect family? There are any number of reasons why this could be your situation. Either there are no churches in your area within a reasonable driving distance that are teaching God’s truths or you have become disenfranchised with your church over much of the false teaching that is pervading even God’s church.

Whatever your reasons, the result is you are missing an important aspect of your spiritual life … worshipping God in a formal way. As God commands us to do this, what does one do to fulfill this obligation to observe the Sabbath and God’s special days throughout the year? The only answer is to perform one’s own private, yet formal, worship in your own home.

To help you do that, Sound a Trumpet is offering Sabbath and Holy Day services throughout the year. These are complete services that you can read and participate with online or that you can print and hold your services in a different location away from your computer. The hymns are provided—both the music and the lyrics—as links in the text of the online version of the service. If you opt for printing the service and moving to a different location, you will need to download the music and copy it onto a CD you can also move to a new location. Both options are available for all the services.

If conducting a service, even with a printed script, is too intimidating for you, we are also making links available to online services that are being conducted live on the net by other organizations. To view these services you will, however, need to do it at the times they are being broadcast. As they are live, the links only work during the actual time of the service in the time zone from which it is originating.

While the printed services are designed for use on the seventh-day Sabbath or the Holy Day for which they are written, you can conduct your personal service at any time works best for you. We encourage observance of the Saturday Sabbath, but do recognize that not everyone is convinced of its necessity yet.

The services are written and designed for a family or small group to participate with, but can easily be adapted to the single individual just as well. In all parts that are designed to be spoken out loud, wherever the personal pronouns indicate more than one (“us,” “we,” etc.), simply change it to “I,”, “me,” etc. If speaking or reading something out loud is uncomfortable for the one who is worshipping alone, they may be read silently, but make an effort to pay attention to what you are mentally saying. The same applies for the hymns. If you can’t make a “joyful noise” before the Lord, at least follow along silently and listen carefully to the words being sung.

Small groups and families are unlikely to experience the same level of intimidation that a lone individual may encounter when first beginning to conduct a formal worship service. With time and repeated practice, even the single individual may come to greater measures of comfort and willingness to worship God fully.

For a breakdown and understanding of the different elements of the services contained here on this site, see the next article, The Worship Service Format. It will give the reasoning behind each element and why we have included them.