Entering God's presence together requires careful preparation.

Congregational worship isn't as simple as walking through the doors of a church and singing a few songs. In worship we enter the presence of the living God and declare his praises.

While his arms are open to everyone, not just anyone can snuggle up next to him. The psalmist declared, "Who may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies . They alone may enter God's presence and worship the God of Israel." (Psalms 24:3-4, 6 NLT)

Preparing our hearts for community worship requires, first and foremost, that we cleanse ourselves of anything that comes between us and our God. As I've said before, we cannot work our way into holiness - that is the work of God, the spirit of Christ within us.

But part of the Holy Spirit's work is to make us aware of our sins, and once he's done that, our "work" is confessing those sins and jettisoning them from our lives - confession and jettison.

What is sin? Anything that separates you from God; anything the Holy Spirit says is sin; anything that pushes God down in your life or out of your life; anything you wouldn't do with Jesus right by your side. The fact is, of course, he isn't right by your side; the Spirit is inside you, placed there by God at the moment of your salvation.