When we worship, we become cultural ambassadors of heaven here on earth.

The great theologian A.W. Tozer wrote that mankind’s created purpose is to worship God. If this is true, worship must be something more than just the 20 minutes of music at church before the preacher delivers the sermon. Worship is at the core of what it means to be a Christian, the very heart of discipleship. It should invade and transform every aspect of life. What would it look like if Christians made bringing God glory the central goal of every thought, every word, and every deed?

In the Old Testament, when God revealed Himself to His people, often they would respond by building an altar in His honor. These altars served a dual purpose: both as sanctuaries of worship where God’s glory rested and as monuments to what He had done there. Future generations would see these stone altars and recall the testimonies of God’s miraculous blessings. In the New Testament, the Apostle Peter writes, “We are living stones, being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer sacrifices acceptable to God.” Our lives are now the altars before our Father, ignited by the Holy Spirit, to bring glory to Jesus through sacrificial worship and to be monuments of His grace to the world around us.

In his new book, Monuments of Grace, Wes Pickering explores what it means to embrace worship as a lifestyle. The world is hungry for authentic connection to God’s presence, and the Church has been commissioned to carry His presence everywhere we go, to see heaven invade earth. That kind of breakthrough lifestyle always begins with encountering the Lord in worship.