Worshipping... in flesh and in fallacy

Jesus: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

The only way to worship in spirit and in truth is to live every moment in an attitude of worship, and this is what Jesus meant when He said those words. Everything we do, every moment of our day, should be an act of worship. When we are faced with overwhelming temptation, we should resist it - and offer THAT to God as worship. That PAIN we feel when we sacrifice something we really want because we know it is a sin - that very pain - is worshipping God. He is pleased when we sacrifice these things for Him. He is pleased when we surrender our own will for His... when we suppress those thoughts and and resist those urges that we really want to give in to... that's worshipping in spirit and in truth.

What we call worship is a sham for the most part because first, it is neither spiritual nor truthful. If we have spent a week disobeying God, making excuses for sin, and giving in to temptation and then we stand before God claiming to WORSHIP Him... what does God think about that? It's probably a lot like the feeling you'd get if you knew your spouse had been cheating on you all week long, but tonight wants to cozy up and pretend like everything is happy and good between the two of you.

I believe worship has fallen victim to the same lack of truth that has caused so many other aspects of church to wither away (prayer, reverence, emphasis on God's Word, etc.) I don't believe any of us will be able to experience true worship until that truth is restored. span>

May the Lamb Who Was Slain Receive the Reward of His Suffering

The attitude of humanism that has invaded the church tells us that it's all about us.

Why do we get saved? Why do we want others to be saved? Is it just so we can all avoid hell and spend eternity in paradise with God? If you believe it's all about you, then that might be what you think.

But that's so far from the truth. Try to think beyond yourself for a moment and answer these questions...

Why does God want you to be saved? Why does He want you to be holy? Why does He want you to be a witness for him so that others can be saved? It's all about Him... not you.

God wants you to be saved because HE deserves the reward of His suffering. Doesn't HE DESERVE those for whom He died? God wants you to be holy because it's the only way HE can get glory out of a human life!

"Christianity says, "The end of all being is the glory of God." Humanism says, "The end of all being is the happiness of man."

Paris Reidhead: What about you? Why did you repent? I’d like to see some people repent on Biblical terms again. George Whitefield knew it. He stood on Boston Commons speaking to twenty thousand people and he said, "Listen sinners – you’re monsters – monsters of iniquity! You deserve Hell! And the worst of your crimes is that criminals though you’ve been, you haven’t had the good grace to see it!" He said, "If you will not weep for your sins and your crimes against a Holy God, George Whitefield will weep for you!" That man would put his head back and he would sob like a baby. Why? Because they were in danger of Hell? No! But because they were "monsters of iniquity", that didn’t even see their sin or care about their crimes. You see the difference? The difference is, here is somebody trembling because he is going to be hurt in Hell. And he has no sense of the enormity of his guilt! And no sense of the enormity of his crime! And no sense of his insult against Deity! He’s only trembling because his skin is about to be singed! He’s afraid and I submit to you that where as fear is good office work in preparing us for grace, it’s no place to stop. And the Holy Ghost doesn’t stop there. That’s the reason why no one can savingly receive Christ until they’ve repented. And no one can repent until they’ve been convicted. And conviction is the work of the Holy Ghost that helps a sinner to see that he is a criminal before God and DESERVES all of God’s wrath. And if God were to send him to the lowest corner of a devil’s Hell forever and ten eternities, that he deserved it all! And a hundred fold more. Because he’s seen his crimes.

There is only one reason for you to go to the Cross, dear young person – and that’s because until you come to the place of union with Christ in death, you are defrauding the Son of God of the glory that He could get out of your life. For no flesh shall glory in His sight. And until you’ve understood the sanctifying work of God by the Holy Ghost taking you into union with Christ in death and burial and resurrection, you have to serve in what you have and all you have which is under the sentence of death: human personality, and human nature, and human strength, and human energy. And God will get no glory out of that! So the reason for you to go to the cross isn’t that you’re going to get victory – you will get victory. It isn’t that you’re going to have joy – you will have joy. But the reason for you to embrace the cross and press through until you know that you can testify with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ.." (Galatians 2:20) It isn’t what you’re going to get out of it, but what He’ll get out of it, for the glory of God. By the same token, why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of Christ? I’ll tell you why – Because the only possible way that Jesus Christ will get glory out of a life that He’s redeemed with His precious blood, is when He can fill that life with His presence and live through it his own life."

Paris Reidhead, Ten Shekels and a Shirt http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=282

Revival Hymn

Do you love and serve God because He is worthy to be loved and served - or for the benefits you receive from loving and serving Him? If you were going to go to hell in the end, would you still love Him?

Walking away sad...

Isn't it strange how nobody in the Bible ever prayed to "receive" Jesus as their Savior? Have you ever thought about that? It's true. I challenge you to find one example in God's Word of a person praying to "receive Him".

If you'll notice, people in the Bible, were saved because they BELIEVED... not because they prayed. They first of all, became humble enough to truly look inside themselves and understand that they really were lost and that they needed Him. This brought about repentance. Then, they believed on Him and they were changed. Then normally, they were baptized.

Is there anything wrong with praying to receive Jesus as our Savior? Not if the believing part and the changing part happened like it was supposed to! But what if there was no humble understanding and no repentance, no believing or trusting in Him... then what have we produced when this person finishes his prayer? A person who thinks he's saved who's really not.
Then we wonder why there's so much sin and corruption and worldliness inside the church? It really is sad. The saddest thing is that it hasn't always been this way. 50 years ago, a Baptist preacher would not assure you that you were saved by asking you if you prayed a prayer one time.

If Jesus operated the way most preachers do today, He would be chasing the Rich Young Ruler down the street, begging him to just make that verbal profession - no matter what was in his heart! But Jesus didn't DO that!

Jesus told Him that if he wasn't willing to give up the things that were seperating him from God, then he couldn't be saved. He was looking for that repentance and that change... and He didn't see it.

You know, the Rich Young Ruler walked away "sad." But at least he didn't walk away deceived into thinking he was saved when he really wasn't.

Guilt is a gift

Have you ever thought about all the extremes people go to sometimes to alleviate that horrible feeling of GUILT they have over sins they've committed? They distract themselves to keep their minds off of it, they mediate or drink themselves into a state of mind where they can't remember it, they seek counseling to "deal with it" - which usually means deferring the blame for it to parents or siblings from their childhood.Obviously we have lost sight of the fact that guilt is a gift from God and it was given for a reason... because we're GUILTY. It is guilt that drives us to repentance. It is guilt that drives us to take what's wrong and make it right. It is guilt that drives us to seek forgiveness and to forgive. There probably aren't too many people out there in the world telling you the truth these days so what the heck, I'll say it: Embrace your guilt! Stop running from it. Think about it. Meditate on it. Pray about it. Bow before God and beg Him to show you what it is that needs to be done for this burden of guilt to be lifted! Then ask for His help and do it!

Saved from WHAT?

The nature of Christ's salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day "evangelist." He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness. The very first thing said of Him in the New Testament is, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people (not "from the wrath to come," but) from their sins." (Matt. 1:21) Christ is a Savior for those realizing something of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, who feel the awful burden of it on their conscience, who loathe themselves for it, who long to be freed from its terrible dominion; and a Savior for no others. Were He to "save from hell" those still in love with sin, He would be a Minister of sin, condoning their wickedness and siding with them against God. What an unspeakably horrible and blasphemous thing with which to charge the Holy One! A.W. Pink