WORSHIPPING GOD IN TRUTH AND SPIRIT “The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:19-24 True worship is not based in earthly places e.g. mountains or in Jerusalem, but should be in spirit and truth. Our Jerusalem is in heaven. Only under the blood can we meet and worship God. Many, today, confess that they believe in the blood but they reject the very plan to get to the blood, the Word. Before the MessiYaH was sacrificed all worship was done in Jerusalem. There was only one place that God fellowshipped with man and this was under the blood of the animal sacrifices. That was the reason they had to come to Jerusalem. Today our Jerusalem is heavenly and we only fellowship with God under the shed blood of our Lord and Saviour YaHshua. God will never meet with man anywhere else but under the blood. When you turn down the blood, then your meeting place with God has been taken away. We can only worship God in truth and spirit under the blood of the sacrifice. And that is the only place that God met with man after the fall of man; and that is the only place that God ever did meet with man.; and that is the only place He meets with man today. He does not meet with you because of your denominational names. God will only meet with you under one condition; that is under the shed blood, when your sins have been confessed and expelled in His presence. You can only be forgiven if you have believed all the Word from Genesis to Revelation. And the blood is always before Him, and therefore, He only can see you through that shed blood. And you are white as snow when you have confessed your sins; otherwise you are not there; you cannot fellowship; your sacrifices are an abomination. Proverbs 28:9, 13, Proverbs 21:27; 15:8, 29. YaHshua MesssiYaH is God’s provided Lamb of sacrifice. God met with worshippers under the blood. And today, He will meet with a true worshipper under the blood of YaHshua MessiYaH. Anywhere else it is condemned; God will never hear it. The church of the Lord has a heavenly Jerusalem; not in any place on earth and neither in mountains. Many today have earthly headquarters and make them a Jerusalem for their worldwide convention centres. Religious buildings occupy a special place in the hearts of many who desire to worship God. They think these buildings draw them close to God. Referring to the temple in Jerusalem, YaHshua told His disciples “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matt 24:1-2 The Romans destroyed it later in AD 70 as predicted, and this temple was never rebuilt. Today we have no man made earthly temples. John 4:20-24 Religious buildings of Christendom have no connection with the temple of God in the inspired scriptures. Nevertheless, true believers are commanded to meet together according to Hebrews 10:24-25. They should not meet in an arrangement and in a spirit contrary to the Word of God. The pattern for the scriptural way of meeting together should come from examination of how first century believers met. The scriptures indicate that they usually met together in private homes or any convenient place; they never made temples. Read Rom 16:3,5, Colossians 4:15, Philemon 2. Worship practiced by true believers does not require ornate religious buildings. Places of worship should be simple, and not idols; they should be modesty. (a) IN SPIRIT We should worship YaHWaH in the way He commands us. This may be different from the way you have been taught. It has been the custom for many to use images or physical objects in their worship. They may say that they do not worship the image, but that seeing and touching it helps them to worship God. God is Spirit and hence, He wants us to worship Him in spirit (& truth). He does not want us to worship Him with the aid of images and objects. What image can you make to liken it to the invisible God (Spirit)? Since God does not want to be worshipped with the help of images; it is for this reason Moses told the Israelites that God never appeared to them in any visible form lest they corrupt themselves. “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of anyy winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the Sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.” Deut 4:15-19 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” John 1: 18 Read Matt 11:27 and Colossians 1:15. In obedience to God’s commandments, none of the Lord’s disciples used images or cross signs as aids in worship; not even did they use special religious uniforms. They walked by faith not by sight. “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” II Corinth 5:7 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” I John 5:21 Read Deut 7:25, Jeremiah 14:22, II Kings 17:33-41, I Corinth 10:20 We should avoid worshipping man, man made works and idols like images, objects, man made crosses put in worship buildings and around people’s necks, spiritual towers of Babel, false doctrines, etc. Bow down before YaHWaH our God only, in faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. “For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Philippians 3:3 (b) IN TRUTH God must be worshipped in truth (Word). God rejects any worship outside the Word. The Word (truth) must be in your heart, manifesting in your life in living a righteous life and in the performance of loving deeds to fellowman kind. Your whole life and being must be full of the Word (truth), then you will be like the Lord in character and your worship shall be received by God. Our bodies must be holy (Rom 12:1) and we must be full of love. II Corinth 9:7, Phil 4:18, Heb 13:16. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.” John 17:17 “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.” Psalms 119:142 “Thou art near, O Lord, and all thy commandments are truth.” Psalms 119:151 All the commandments and law of God are truth. Those who reject a dot of God’s law are not worshipping God in truth because they have rejected His truth (Word). True worshippers live by every Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” John 14:21 Those who keep all of God’s commandments love God and God loves them; their worship is accepted by God. The MessiYaH dwells in them and when they worship God, God sees His beloved Son in them. Their sacrifices become as sweet smelling aroma to God. “And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.” I John 3:24 YaHshua MessiYaH is our sacrifice and our offering to God. Therefore, we have to approach the Father in worship with Him; then the Father will be well pleased. Never worship the Father without His Word in you and your life. The believer’s authority in worship is not the traditions of men, but the clear revelation of God’s Word. He must worship by faith. It must be in response to God’s Word. “And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.” Genesis 22:5 True worship necessitates a deliberate separation unto God. Like Abraham, each believer must say to all his cares, business affairs, etc ‘Abide ye here, while I go yonder and worship.’ Abraham approached God, with his son, to worship; so the believer must learn that, as a worshipper, he must not only come to God in YaHshua, and through YaHshua, but also with YaHshua. God is infinitely delighted with His Son, for He testified, again and again: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt 15:8-9 Read Matt 15:1-9. These peoples’ hearts are far away from God because of false doctrines dwelling in their hearts. God, through His Word, is not in their hearts. Hence, their worship is vain. Anybody who is keeping false doctrines in his heart is a false worshipper. No worship of God can be dictated to the people by earthly law. Every individual must be free to worship God as his own conscience tells him is the right way according to the Word; of course according to the Word. No one who worships God sincerely can harm his neighbour. Any kind of worship, which is enforced by earthly law, becomes an evil thing, because God cannot accept such forced worship. God will accept only the freewill worship from His creatures. Any forced worship therefore becomes a kind of idolatry. Daniel 3:8-12 Babylon is a symbol of confusion in the religious world of these last days, organised to oppose the truth by trying to force the consciences of men. Who is a true worshipper? “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” Isaiah 33:15-17 A true worshipper is he that: (a) walketh righteously (b) speaketh uprightly (c) despiseth the gain of oppressions (d) shaketh his hands from holding bribes (e) stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil When you keep God’s commandments, you shall fulfil all of the above. BE NO PART OF THE WORLD Those desiring to please God and enjoy His blessings avoid idolatry in any form. The inspired scriptures show that it is wrong to make and worship images, including those of the Lord or of the cross, or of YaHshua’ mother, Mary according to Exodus 20:4-5 “Little children, keep yourselves away from idols. Amen.” I John 5:21 So true believers do not worship icons, crosses, and images. They also avoid more subtle forms of idolatry. Matt 4:8-10 “I have given them thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as Iam not of the world.” John 17:14 Being no part of the world also means breaking off all association with ‘Babylon the Great’, the world empire of false religion. Unclean worship spread from ancient Babylon until it held harmful spiritual dominion over people earth wide. Babylon the Great includes all religions whose doctrines and practices are out of harmony with the knowledge of God. Rev 17:1,5,15 “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” II Corinth 6:14 Read Numbers 25:1-9. Some have come out of the false religious organisations to which they belonged. This has brought them closer to the true God, as promised in II Corinth 6:17 Read Rev 18:4-5. “And in all things that I have said unto you to be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.” Exodus 23:13 Amen!
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 19:05:45 +0000
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