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