"This is a book that every person planning corporate worship and, in fact, every person participating in corporate worship should read—not simply to evaluate, understand, and perhaps refine the various elements of the service of worship but to expand your sense of wonder over what it means that we enter into the worship of heaven when we gather with our brothers and sisters week by week."Nancy Guthrie, author and Bible teacher
"Regular church attendance has fallen on hard times in recent years, and many worship services lack intentionality or a sense of sacredness. I am so thankful for Adriel Sanchez's wise and pastoral summons to a biblical theology of worship! This is a word in season for all Christians today. These ancient truths acutely need to be reiterated right now, and Sanchez has done so in a very clear and accessible way. This book will help Christians be edified by sermons, understand what is happening during Communion, and grow as a faithful church member. Highly recommended!"Gavin Ortlund, president of Truth Unites and author of What It Means to Be Protestant
"Adriel Sanchez helps us recover that worship is an ascent into the presence of the Holy Trinity, 'entering another world' to worship the living God rather than chasing religious inspiration. Drawing on Scripture and the church's liturgical wisdom, he shows that Christian worship is centered around God's promise and action, received week by week through the reading of Scripture, preaching, prayer, confession and absolution, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the blessing that sends us back into the world. This is a timely, gracious, and bracing invitation to be re-formed by the gospel as we gather."Justin S. Holcomb, Episcopal bishop, seminary professor, and author
"This is the go-to book on God's service to his assembled saints. What do we do in church? And why? Adriel Sanchez explores these questions with a rigorously biblical approach, uncommon clarity, and wise application. I can't think of a better book out there on this important topic."Michael Horton, J. G. Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California
“Adriel Sanchez’s Why We Worship is a must-read for both those who lead worship and those in the pew. Drawing from a wide variety of sources, Sanchez makes a compelling case for the necessity of Reformed worship. But this is not a dry historical study. Sanchez also guides the reader through the redemptive-historical narrative of Scripture for why we should do what we do in worship. The result is a book that is at once very readable and expertly presented—a rare combination. Conversational without being irreverent, appropriately balanced between critique and positive commendation, and brimming with Biblical insight, this is a resource I will return to again and again, both in the classroom and the pulpit. The highest commendation I can give is that this book helped me worship God with more love, more devotion, and more urgency!”Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer, senior minister of First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and adjunct professor at Reformed Theological Seminary
“How could I explain that gathering as church is not a task to do but a taste of heaven? How might I pitch this in a manner that is engaging, compelling, and concise? The answer is now obvious! I will hand them Why We Worship by Adriel Sanchez. Here is a book that will edify anyone who knows the privilege of Christian worship and wants to better honor the Triune God with a thoughtful guide. I hope to hear that Christians everywhere are reading this book. I plan to do my part in encouraging a wide readership.”Chad Van Dixhoorn, professor of church history and theology at Reformed Theological Seminary
“The domestication of worship has taken many casualties in our day, even entire churches. More often than not, it is a symptom of our domestication of God himself. Adriel Sanchez is like a surgeon, carefully identifying and extracting the cancerous tumors in our churches—rooting them out!—but all for the sake of restoring worship to the church once again. His retrieval of liturgy, his recovery of communion, and his accent on ascending into the presence of the Holy Trinity are but a few of the ways this book captures the heartbeat of worship according to the Scriptures and exemplified by the Great Tradition.”Matthew Barrett, research professor of theology at Trinity Anglican Seminary and editor-in-chief of Credo Magazine
“I know my heart, and it is always trying to cleverly invent worship that exalts my preferences rather than God’s. But such flimsy worship fails to meet its mark—worship is not about emotional excitement or personal experience; it’s about revering the majesty of almighty God. And it is a large and reverent view of God that transforms the heart so it might give God the honor and glory that is due his name. This is why I am recommending my friend Adriel Sanchez’s new book, Why We Worship. As you sit with each chapter and meditate on its principles, you will understand worship for what it is—a God-centered response to God’s revelation of himself, all of it superintended by his Word and lifted high through Jesus Christ. So, if you have long desired that your soul bow before the breathtaking glory of God, then ask the Spirit to open your eyes as you open this volume. Bring back the beauty and transcendence of praising God with Adriel’s remarkable book.”Joni Eareckson Tada, founder and CEO of Joni and Friends International Disability Center
