This will be our final article on Private Worship - The Key to Joy. I pray the Lord has used these articles to stimulate you not only to "do your own homework" in the subject of worship, as my Chuck always says, but also to prompt you to begin your own daily time of intimacy with the Lord.

This month and next, we will be wrapping up our series on Private Worship: The Key to Joy. I pray the Lord has used these articles to encourage you and provide you with practical steps to experiencing His joy through worship.

Last month, we shared a little about spiritual warfare and its connection to worship. We said that if we are going to learn to worship on a daily (and deeper) basis, then we must be knowledgeable in the art of warfare.

Spiritual warfare? What does this have to do with learning to worship the Lord on an intimate basis?

Why is worship the single most important thing a Christian can learn to do? This is the subject we have been exploring over these past several months.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

In the currently popular trend toward mysticisms of various sorts, Jewish mysticism has become popular among many, and this series of articles has been a response for the serious Bible student. In this series we have been reviewing the origin of Talmudic Judaism, the emergence of the Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism, and the derivation of Hasidism which was spawned by it.

Since last summer, we have been exploring the subject of worship and have found it to be one of the most important things a Christian can learn to do. A.W. Tozer said of worship, “Worship is important because it’s the reason Christ came; the reason He was crucified; and, the reason He rose again.”

Whether disillusioned by the self-imposed blinders and myopia of contemporary "science," or frustrated by the moral bankruptcy of unbridled materialism, increasing numbers of desperate people are now seeking "answers" outside the realm of natural phenomena and are pursuing the supernatural.

Over the last several months we have been exploring the subject of worship, its meaning, its application and its implementation in our lives.

Epistemology is the study of knowledge, its scope and limits. As taught within the field of philosophy, it tends to be simply a massaging of verbal definitions, somewhat devoid of any practical tools and suggestions.

Over the many decades that I have enjoyed my love affair with the Bible, I have had the marvelous benefit of many great teachers. I've also had the incredible experience of fellowshipping in one of the most famous churches emphasizing expositional teaching from the Word of God. But I would like to let you in on a precious secret.

We began our articles on worship three months ago by saying that "we become like what we worship." Consequently, if we want to become more Christ-like - more conformed into His image - we must learn to worship more.

Among the many insights provided by the recent election results were the dramatic exposures of duplicity among the major media who attempted to topple the President. The deliberate dissemination of "news" that was knowingly in error exposed their prostitution of their mandate to "'inform the electorate."

Over the past several months, we have been studying why worship is the single most important thing a Christian can learn to do. Worship is critical because it is the "key" to joy and our being able to withstand the trials that God allows into our lives.

Each year at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After the New Year, we struggle to remember to add a year as we date our checks, which should remind us that the entire Western World reckons its calendar from the birth of the One who changed the world more than any other before or since.

There is an old proverb that says, "We only prepare for what we think is important." And, it's so true. If we don't feel that the subject at hand is important, then we certainly won't prepare for it. However, if the issue is something that matters greatly to us, then we'll conscientiously do whatever is necessary to make ready for it.

This month, with our celebration of Thanksgiving, we initiate our holiday season: a time for families and a time of reflection. This unique day reflects - perhaps more than any other - our national religious character.

In our series of articles reviewing some of the background behind Dan Brown's book, The Da Vinci Code, we have explored his deceitful presentation of the so-called "Facts" precedent to the novel itself, the blasphemous heresies regarding Mary Magdalene and the related Merovingian legends, as well as the false representations from the spurious "Gnostic Gospels."

Over the past few months, we have been studying the subject of worship, and we’ve come to the conclusion that worship is the single most important thing a Christian can learn to do. It’s important because it’s the “key” to holiness and God’s presence and the secret to true joy and happiness.

As we've said in our previous two issues, the popular but shamefully blasphemous novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, has raised many troubling questions, particularly among the less informed, and with a major motion picture in the works, this subject will be a popular topic of conversation for months to come.

A partial list of the sites scheduled this year:

Years ago, in one of David Wilkerson's newsletters, there was an article entitled, "The Making of a Man of God." I've never forgotten that intriguing title because, in a nutshell, this is what God is trying to do in all of our lives - make us men and women of God.

The popular but shamefully blasphemous novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, has raised many troubling questions, particularly among the less informed.

We began our exploration of worship a couple of months ago by defining worship as "the means by which we come into the Lord's presence and adore, praise and love Him in the same nature as He - in the spirit." The definition of worship that I really like, however, is that worship means "catching fire with the Love of the Lord."

We continue to get many questions which derive from the popular but shamefully blasphemous novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code. Despite the fact that it is a work of fiction, it has raised many troubling questions, especially among the less informed. Because of our widely distributed text, Cosmic Codes, many continue to turn to us for a response.

For the purpose of new readers just joining us this month, let's review for just a moment. This series began two months ago with my own story of several years ago, where I had become so discouraged and so disheartened at some of the horrific events in my life that I had lost the joy of my salvation.

Last month we began a new journey. A journey that explores the most important thing a Christian can learn to do: worship the Lord.

Beginning this month, we're going to embark on a new journey. A journey that explores the single most important thing a Christian can learn to do, worship. We'll learn exactly what worship is and what it's not; we'll learn how God wants us to worship; and, finally, we'll learn that worship is the only thing that will bring us the joy of the Lord.

For just over a year now, we have been talking about the authority and power that God gives us as Christians to make "faith choices" - choices we make by faith and not our feelings. What's sad is that many Christians still don't realize they have the authority to go against the tide of their emotions, and choose God's will regardless of how they feel.