Phone: (662)720-6027      Email: oakridgecoc@gmail.com
 
                                              

The Worship of the Lord's Church


When we assemble to worship God, it is to be done in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24) Our worship must be in line with what God has commanded.
It also must be done with the proper attitude.

The Bible contains very straight forward commands and examples concerning worship.  The worship service at the Oak Ridge Church of Christ contains only those avenues found to be acceptable according to God's Word.  We look to the New Testament for our pattern because we are no longer under the Old Covenant. (Galatians 3:24-25) (Hebrews 8:6-13)
  1. We assemble on the first day of the week.  (Acts 20:7)
  2. We sing.  (Ephesians 5:19) (Colossians 3:16) Our singing not only gives God the praises he deserves, it serves to educate and edify those who are worshipping.  When we sing, we are focusing on words that teach Biblical truths.  A song as simple as "Jesus Loves Me" both acknowledges His greatness and teaches us of the relationship God desires to have with man.
  3. We pray.  (James 5:13-16) Jesus not only commanded us to pray and gave us a model prayer to emulate, He was our perfect example for how and when to pray.  God wants us to have prayer lives, not just praying every now and then. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
  4. We give.  (2 Corinthians 9:7) We are commanded to give of our means.  We have an example in the New Testament of the church taking time on the first day of the week to gather funds. (1 Corinthians 16:2)  We take time each Sunday to give as we have prospered and as we have purposed.
  5. We teach and preach. (Acts 20:7) When they came together on the first day of the week, Paul preached to them.  We've been commanded to preach the Gospel to the world and to teach the converted to observe all the things that God has commanded. (Matthew 28:19-20)
  6. We partake of the Lord's Supper. (1 Corinthians 11:24-26)  This memorial was established by Jesus and has been commanded so that we always keep in our minds the sacrifice He gave and what it means for us. (Ephesians 2:12-16)


God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."
"But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:" "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:" "And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest." "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."
"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."
"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:" "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
Pray without ceasing.
"Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."
"Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."
"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
"And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." "After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me." "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."
"That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:" But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;" "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;" "And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:"