Customer Reviews

Tozer on Worship and Entertainment

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Tozer's books are typically insightful and incisive and this book is no exception!

Among the points Tozer covers include:

1. Forms of unacceptable worship.
2. Make pleasing God the priority! God waits for us until we are ready for His manifestations.
3. God wants our worship before our work. Our trust in Him must be so complete that we can be still and quiet before Him for extended periods of time.
4. God must conquer us before He will bless us.
5. Notes on how enertainment has replaced worship in the church.
6. Beware of the danger of being socially acceptable.
7. Do not compromise with the world - there will be times when we will have to travel alone.
8. Excellent notes on meaningless activity in the church. The church has focused too much on the externals and "new" things.

Read and be challenged to consider whether you have allowed the world come between you and God!

Highly recommended read.

A.W. Tozer was never one to mince words. He was a preacher who fervently desired to see people awestruck and amazed by the transcendent God. He preached to the heart and yet maintained a strong emphasis on the head-knowledge that touches the heart.

Tozer on Worship and Entertainment is a compilation of excerpts from many of Tozer's sermons and talks on worship. It begins with Tozer's well-known teaching on worship. Some of Tozer's best quotes are included here. The editor was wise to begin the book with the positive picture of worship that Tozer paints. Tozer describes, defines, and desires true worship. He stresses adoration of God over and over again. His passion for worship is breathtaking at times.

In the second half of the book, Tozer turns his aim to the current state of worship in the church, and mainly the infiltration of "entertainment" into worship services. Most of these excerpts come from Tozer's work in the 1950's and 1960's, which makes one wonder what Tozer would think about the current situation. The most controversial chapter is the book's last - one that declares all drama and acting to be sinful. Surely Tozer has overstated his case at this point, but that does not mean his critique of the current situation is to be dismissed.

Part of the fun in reading Tozer comes from the colorful way in which he talks. Take this quote for instance:

"The church today is suffering from a rash of amateurism. Any untrained, unprepared, unspiritual, empty rattletrap of a fellow who is a bit ambitious can start himself something religious. Then we all listen to him, pay him for it, promote him and work to try to help this fellow who never heard from God in the first place."

This is classic Tozer. Though he is sometimes off base, he's more right than wrong. The second half of the book is more critical than the first, but I actually found myself more convicted by the earlier chapters. Tozer's passion for worship is infectious and his desire to see the Lord high and lifted up reminds me of the Bible prophets who would settle for nothing less than full worship of the heart.

once I got it, it was in excellent condition& am reading it with much prayer & concentration...very good book for anyone wanting to know what worship truly is...thanks And now that I've almost read it all, the author would roll over in his grave if he saw the church in this day & age with all the worldliness in it...but hopefully anyone who wants to read it will have their eyes opened to how Jesus is so little regarded anymore...makes me grieve.

I finished reading the introduction which is from a sermon delivered by Tozer, and that made a lot of sense. However I'm in the middle of the first chapter, and every few paragraphs is from a different Tozer source. While loosely organized by topic, it reads (so far) like a book of random quotes, of which you can expect some will be gems, but you really don't know what to expect next. In short, it doesn't seem there's a storyline or a direction to the organization within each chapter.