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We must continue comparing scripture with
scripture; line upon line, precept upon precept until we see the accurate
picture of Who Jesus is and what His plan is for the church. We must learn
to worship Jesus in Spirit and in Truth. We must learn that the act
of worship is done in the spirit that comes from learning of Jesus – in
Truth, in the scriptures. As an example, there are some that do not
believe in the doctrine of “One God in three Persons” or also know as
the doctrine of the holy Trinity. When they lift up their hands to worship
Jesus they are at least in part - worshipping a false Jesus because they
are not worshipping Him in truth. Now they not just SEE a
false Jesus but they also WORSHIP a false Jesus. Even the simplest and
most foundational doctrines will be challenged in these last days and many
will abandon them for seducing doctrines. As in the case of the
"trinity" they use man's natural reasoning power to make LOGIC
out of truth. Our natural minds cannot comprehend spiritual things. Try
reasoning that God has never had a beginning. Our minds are boggled,
totally dumbfounded. Try to imagine how God can have counted the hairs on
every head that ever existed, and every time you lost a hair or grew a
hair it did not pass His notice. The scripture teaches that the Father is
God and Jesus is God and yet they were separate Persons capable of having
a relationship with each Other. Jesus did not pray to Himself, He prayed
to His Father. Our mind cannot fathom that God can be three Persons.
Therefore many try to "FIGURE IT OUT" and therefore choose to
combine the Three into One Person. They have abandoned a True knowledge of
God. Are they born-again? I cannot answer, but I will say that when they
come to a worship service and lift up holy hands to heaven that they are
at least in part worshipping a false God. I am making a point - knowing
that as you read this, you do not believe this false doctrine. But please
hear; we all are guilty to a degree - of this same principle! So now let
us examine ourselves by looking to Jesus in light of the scripture.
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Examine the Jesus that you
worship - in light of scripture.
The church has entered into the act of worship
and psalmistry in these last days that have been at many times - GLORIOUS.
The act of worship is important and God wants us to soar to new heights in
the spirit concerning worship. However, worship will be much more glorious
and much higher when you see Him that you are worshipping, as He is - in
Truth!
This is a truth that cannot be ignored; you
can worship the Lord everyday with the most anointed music available and
still grow little or none. How can this be? Because, only the seed
of the Word of God is sown in your heart - therefore only
the Word of God can grow in your heart; fruit is produced from the
Word. <Matt 13:23> <James 1:18 > It is a mind renewed by the Word
of God that is transformed to discern the perfect will of God.
<Romans 12:2> It is the Word of God that cleans you and makes you
one who is holy before God. <Eph. 5:26>
The book of Psalms is the book of worship, yet
one of the longest psalms written was Psalm 119, which is a psalm about
God’s Word. Psalm 119 shows the worshipper in relationship with the
Word. It is a panting, a strong consuming desire, and a passion for
God’s Word. The worshipper of Psalm 119 did not separate God from His
Word, when he desired to worship God in His presence; he desired to
worship God by knowing what God spoke. Why? Because I love God so much, I
want to please God so much, that I will learn what He has spoken from His
heart and I will hide it in my heart. It is in the hiding,
the planting in my heart that causes us to declare, “that I might not
sin against thee” even as the psalmist declared. If we desire God’s
presence, if we desire to worship God in song and yet we have little
desire for what He has said, then something is amiss. If we find ourselves
in this place I am trusting in the faithfulness of our God to cause us to
hunger and thirst for Him in His Word.
In some churches it would be a strange concept
that you can worship God in song, lifting holy hands and yet still have
lost your first Love – Jesus Christ, but yet that is what God says.
Worship is very important, but we are living in a day where the church has
no problem entering into the act of worship and has yet lost a craving for
God’s Word – that they know is the manna from heaven that feeds the
inner man. A mature man is a worshipper, but a worshipper is not
necessarily a mature man – in fact he can be as immature, he can be as
carnal, as the day he was born again. God speaks very loudly in Psalm 51
– “obedience is better than sacrifice”. It is better to obey God’s
Word than to offer the sacrifice of praise and worship, God wants both but
the “more excellent way” is to obey His word that you have hid in your
heart – even as you have meditated on it day and night.
Falling
in Love
The more I fall in love with Jesus, the more I
experience intimacy with Jesus - is commensurate to the degree that I
yearn for His Words! Knowing Jesus is - knowing Him Who is the Word of
God. If you do not desire to know His words in scripture and do not submit
yourself to those words then your worship is mere FLATTERY. As Isaiah
declares - Isa 29:13 “Then the Lord said, "Because this
people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, but
they remove their hearts far from me”. The consequences of this
action resulted in these people coming to NOTHING, being CONSUMED, and CUT
OFF. Their wise men shall perish and their prudent men shall be hid.
Now, let us look at how
the Apostle Paul viewed knowing Jesus and the flame burning in him.
Philippians 3:8,10 AMP
I count everything as loss compared to the possession of
the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately
acquainted with Him. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it
all to be mere rubbish in order that I may gain (win) Christ. V10 – For
my determined purpose is that I may know Him!
<concise>
We must consider those things in our life that
are separating us from God’s Word – “as loss” or “as dung” as
King James Version puts it. If we examine our life truthfully, what will
show up is - we do not have the time for reading what God says because
there are many things in our life that we have not considered as dung.
What is more saddening is we have not valued His words as possessing a
priceless privilege. You will never really know Jesus without knowing His
words. Everything between you and Jesus’ words are mere rubbish!
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God sets the order of the
act of worship by prioritizing His word.
Col 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Many of us have become weak in God’s Word;
we must fall in love with the Word, we must have a romance for the “Word
of God” that reveals to us the face of Jesus. In my own life there are
people that “sing my praises” for abilities that I perform and yet
they care nothing for my words of conversation. There are others that do
not outwardly esteem me and yet they listen intently to my conversation
and then order their behavior accordingly. The first group thinks that
they have courted my favor and instead I “do not know them” and I have
no pleasure with being with them. The second group not only knows me but
they have become intimate with me – we are like-minded. Jesus speaks
likewise in John 15; “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
command you.” No one desires to become intimate with someone that
drastically differs in thinking. If you think like Jesus, if you obey
Jesus, if you see Him as He is - then you will be like Him, you will be
intimate with Him. If you desire not His words in scripture, if you
are blinded to the meaning of His words in scripture, if you obey
not His words in scripture, you will not be like Him and no
matter what “manifest presence of God” comes down, your intimacy is
limited. God will let you experience His presence to court you to come
into His chambers of intimacy, but we deceive ourselves if we think we
have arrived there and yet desire not His sayings and do them.
For us to mature any further we must humble
ourselves before God and return to our first Love. How can I get to this
place of longing for God in His Word? If we have found ourselves with a
void of craving God’s Word then read Psalm 119 out loud to God
and have faith that you are touching the heart of God. Substitute the word
“precepts”, “commandments”, etc. for “Your Word” and God will
bring this message to bear. THIS COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Make
special note of Psalm 119:71,92
If we worship Jesus and habitually refuse His
words then a danger lays ahead. We become as one who greets Jesus with a
kiss and an embrace. We become as Judas into the garden of God saying
TEACHER RABBI and we do not choose to do His sayings – we betray Him.
Jesus says His friends are those that hear and DO His sayings. The Greek
definition for worship is “to kiss”. We should kiss our Lord Jesus, we
should show great affection for Him, but we must choose to “kiss Him
most” by finding out what pleases Him and doing it.
I have seen over and over the people of God
falling on their face worshipping, dancing and rejoicing, intensely giving
Glory to God. This is a beautiful thing, but some of them might as well be
ROCKS. Why? They leave the worship service and follow false doctrines,
they serve themselves, and they refuse to hide the Words of Jesus in their
hearts and obey them. I have even seen a practicing homosexual that
refused to renounce his abomination as “even being sin” – and he
l
ed worship in our love feasts. He had no problem expressing outwardly
with the people of God. In fact he was considered to be an anointed
leader; though he served a false God and was not even born again. Surely
this is a drastic scenario, but it is easy to worship to songs and it is
hard to obey His sayings. The bottom line is this; never evaluate your
spiritual progress based on how good your act of worship is.
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