Worship – Jason's Bible Blog

Giving Thanks Before Eating

Have you ever considered the importance of giving thanks before eating? The practice of giving thanks before meals is rooted in Scripture and demonstrated by faithful children of God, including Jesus and the apostles. Every blessing comes from the Father (James 1:17), and expressing gratitude for God’s blessings should be a fundamental part of the Christian’s life.

1. Jesus Consistently Gave Thanks Before Eating

Jesus gave thanks before distributing food to the four thousand (Matthew 15:36; Mark 8:6).

ChatGPT Recommends Christianity and the Churches of Christ

Question for ChatGPT:

Out of all world religions, which religion is most likely to be true? Please answer in only one word.

ChatGPT said:

Christianity.

Another question for ChatGPT:

You said that out of all world religions, Christianity is most likely to be true. If you could only choose one religious group that is most likely to be following the Bible and pleasing to God, which group would that be? In your answer, please only state that one group.… Read more

What A.I. Says About “Jehovah’s Witnesses”

An Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) chatbot allows people to ask it questions of practically any kind, and it “works by processing large amounts of text data and using patterns in that data to generate responses that are relevant and coherent” (chatgpt.com). The most widely used chatbot is called ChatGPT: “As of September 2024, ChatGPT is the most popular AI tool in the world. The AI chatbot receives 3.1 billion monthly website visits from over 180 million users” (explodingtopics.com).… Read more

Does It Matter Which Church I Attend?

Faithful attendance is a crucial part of Christianity (Hebrews 10:23-31), and many believe that as long as a person believes in Jesus, the church he attends does not matter; but the truth is that the church one attends matters greatly:

It matters because God said there is only one true plan of salvation, and churches teaching conflicting plans of salvation cannot all be correct. The Apostle Paul wrote, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8; cf.

What A.I. Says About the Catholic Church

What A.I. Says About Presbyterian Churches

What A.I. Says About Methodist Churches

What A.I. Says about Baptist Churches

What A.I. Says About Pentecostal Churches

10 Questions for Those Who Doubt God’s Providence

Although we do not understand everything about God’s providence (Esther 4:14; Rom. 11:33), faithful Christians should firmly believe in the non-miraculous providence of God today. We can ask our loving Heavenly Father for anything according to His will, and He hears and grants our requests (1 Pet. 3:12; 1 Jn. 5:14-15). Sometimes we do not know what God’s will is (such as when we are deciding where to live or what job offer to accept), and we simply pray for wisdom and for God’s will to be done (Mt.… Read more

10 Things for Which Christians Can Pray

Those who believe and obey the Gospel of Christ are blessed to have access to God the Father through His Son (Acts 2:36-42), and they may pray for things such as:

1. Forgiveness (Acts 8:22-24; Jam. 5:16; 1 Jn. 1:9)

2. Daily necessities (Matt. 6:11)

3. Deliverance from evil (Matt. 6:13)

4. Strength, boldness (Eph. 3:14-21; 6:18-19)

5. Opportunities (Col. 4:3; cf. 1 Cor. 16:9)

6. Wisdom (Jam. 1:5)

7. Other Christians (1 Thess. 5:25; Heb. 13:18)

8. Government leaders and all men (1 Tim.… Read more

The “Model Prayer” of Matthew 6 (for us)

1. Address the Father

2. Honor His name

3. Pray for the kingdom (the kingdom/church has come, but we can pray for it to spread, pray for the members, congregations, etc.)

4. Pray for God’s will to be done

5. Pray for daily necessities (“daily bread”)

6. Pray for forgiveness

7. Pray for deliverance from the evil one

8. Acknowledge God’s sovereignty and glory

9. Today we pray in Jesus’ name (John 16:23-24)

10. Say, “Amen”

Note: Jesus gave us an example of prayer, not to be quoted verbatim.… Read more

Ten Tips for Leading Public Prayers

1. Speak clearly and respectfully to God the Father in Jesus’ name

2. Use first person plural pronouns (we, us, our), not I, me, my

3. Think about your prayer in advance if possible

4. Honor prayer requests as much as possible (glancing at a note is ok)

5. If you make a mistake, fix it if possible and move on

6. Pray pertaining to the situation (Is this an opening prayer? closing prayer? prayer before communion? prayer before giving? prayer for someone to be forgiven?… Read more

They Don’t Sing on Sundays Anymore

The following is from a blog post called, “Why They Don’t Sing on Sunday Anymore.” It was written by a man named Thom Schultz, who is not a member of the church of Christ. I am not bidding him Godspeed but using his words to show how man’s “innovations” in worship have backfired on them. By the end of the article, Schultz finds himself desiring the kind of music God requires in New Testament worship–corporate, reciprocal singing from the heart (everyone singing together to the Lord while also singing to one another) (Eph.… Read more

God Does Not Owe Us a List of Everything He Does Not Want

Where did God say that using mechanical instruments in New Testament worship is forbidden? If God did not say, “Thou shalt not use mechanical instruments in New Testament worship,” are they automatically authorized? Friends, God has never owed man a list of all the things He does not want (as will be shown). To be faithful to Him, we simply need to know what He does want, and give Him exactly that. We must not presume that something other than what He specified is acceptable to Him, as many people in Bible times learned the hard way by being punished or even killed (Gen.… Read more