1. “According to the Scriptures”: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Wednesdays, January 15 th through February 26 th, at 7 o’clock Join with us as explain how our expression of worship is rooted and grounded in the texts of the Holy Bible.

2. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Calendar of the Bible Study January 15 th —The Foundation January 22 nd —“Eat First With the Eyes” January 29 th —“Sweet, Sweet Music”

3. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The Calendar of the Bible Study February 5 th —“The Cheerleading” February 12 th —“Every Week? Really?” February 19 th —“The Eucharist” February 26 th —“Q&A” sjlooker@hotmail.com

4. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Why Does Your Church Look Like It Does? Or “Eat First With the Eyes”

5. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Number One Guiding Principle:

6. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Number One Guiding Principle: As we arrange and order our worship, we want our worship here on earth to reflect, as much as humanly possible, the celestial worship in Heaven!

7. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In case you are not sure about there being “worship in Heaven”:

8. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In case you are not sure about there being “worship in Heaven”: When St. John received his vision of Heaven he saw that “All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God…” Revelation 7:11

9. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship First Question:

10. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship First Question: Why do you have an Altar in front of your church?

11. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship First Question: Why do you have an Altar in front of your church? Why not the pulpit, the choir, the praise team, or a baptistry?

12. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship We have an Altar in our church because there is an Altar in Heaven.

13. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship We have an Altar in our church because there is an Altar in Heaven. It is centrally located and focal point in worship because it has always been that way.

14. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship “And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth.” Reveleation 8:2-5

15. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In fact, Hebrews 9:23-28 tells us that the earthly Tabernacle and Temple were “copies of the things in heaven” in order to show us how much greater Christ’s sacrifice is than was the Levitical priesthood’s sacrifice of calves and goats.

16. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question:

17. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question: Why do you have Jesus on the Cross?

18. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question: Why do you have Jesus on the Cross? He’s not up there anymore, you know.

19. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In His talk with Nicodemus, Jesus said, “ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

20. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Numbers 21:8-9

21. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question:

22. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question: Why do your pastors wear pretty, white dresses?

23. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Next Question: Why do your pastors wear pretty, white dresses? What’s with the pretty colored poncho?

24. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” Revelation 7:9-10

25. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.” Revelation 7:13-15

26. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship “Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him that he may minister to Me as priest,… And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.” Exodus 28:1-4

27. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship What about the different colors?

28. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship What about the different colors? Blue—Advent: Davidic Royalty

29. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship What about the different colors? Blue—Advent: Davidic Royalty White—Christmas, Easter, All Saints’, Feasts of the Lord: Joy, Triumph

30. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship What about the different colors? Blue—Advent: Davidic Royalty White—Christmas, Easter, All Saints’, Feasts of the Lord: Joy, Triumph Purple—Lent: Penitence

31. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship What about the different colors? Blue—Advent: Davidic Royalty White—Christmas, Easter, All Saints’, Feasts of the Lord: Joy, Triumph Purple—Lent: Penitence Red—Holy Week, Pentecost: Blood & the Holy Spirit

32. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship What about the different colors? Blue—Advent: Davidic Royalty White—Christmas, Easter, All Saints’, Feasts of the Lord: Joy, Triumph Purple—Lent: Penitence Red—Holy Week, Pentecost: Blood & the Holy Spirit Green—Ordinary Time: Life, Growth, Blessing

33. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Ever heard of an “icon”?

34. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Ever heard of an “icon”? Today most people think of an icon as the thing on the computer you click to open a computer program. “Want to go on-line? Click the Internet Explorer Icon.”

35. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship In religious context, many people think of icons as highly stylized paintings of Jesus and other saintly figures or events that are meant to somehow serve as spiritual aids for Eastern Orthodox Christians.

36. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship Here is an icon of the “Theotokos” and Christ. Notice the very stylized letters “MP OY” beside Mary and “IC XC” beside Jesus. In Greek you abbreviate a word with the first and last initials of the word! Notice also that Jesus is just a little adult, not a baby.

37. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The “real” meaning of an icon is an image that represents something else and causes one to have a connection to something else.

38. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship The “real” meaning of an icon is an image that represents something else and causes one to have a connection to something else. This is why the term is appropriate in computers. The little button does nothing, but it invokes something much greater.

39. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship It is our intention, that everything that we do in our worship is deliberately “iconic.”

40. According to the Scriptures: The Biblical Basis for Our Worship It is our intention, that everything that we do in our worship is deliberately “iconic.” We do not worship things! We do acknowledge that those items invoke a connection to a spiritual reality that is much greater than any tangible substance or image.