What was worship like in church when you were growing up? I know we have people at The River who were never raised going to church, except for an occasional wedding or funeral. So for you, what you experience at The River may be all you have ever known.Perhaps you attended a church where you knew what to expect every week. You stood up at the same time, said the same words, and heard a very similar message week in and week out. Or at the other end of the worship spectrum, you may have had a free-flowing worship style with lots of music, teaching, and energy. You never knew what to expect from one week to the next!Regardless of your church history and experience, “worship” can be abstract to understand. What is worship? How do we worship? Why do we worship? If we’re supposed to worship, why does it sometimes seem difficult to engage with God? Starting on November 11 and going through Christmas Eve services, we are going to embark on a journey together. It's a journey toward God. We're going to be focusing on our relationship with him and explore what it means to worship him. The sermon series is called “Draw Near.” The focus of our time will be based on a passage of the Bible from James 4:8 that says,

“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.”

Frankly, there are some people who just seem to be wired to engage with God during the music portion of the service. Others don't engage as much and feel guilty about it. One of the things we're going to be talking about in this series are the different pathways and spiritual temperaments for how a person connects with God. I think you'll find this message incredibly freeing and empowering in the way you draw near to God.I want to encourage you to do your best to be present every week for this series. Why? Because I believe what we are learning will help every single person grow in their intimacy with God. As a result, I expect your peace in life will be deeper in our increasingly unstable world as you (and I!) learn about being able to "draw near." I believe what we are going to study will help you mature in your faith in Jesus Christ.I'm looking forward to our time together as we learn to draw near to God and experience his drawing near to us in a personal and powerful way.