The New Testament Worship (Part 1)

In the Old Testament, they worship by laying a sacrifice on the altar. And another way they worship is bowing. You will never see such statements like, "worship song", or "sing worship". Worship was never about singing. Although one can sing "praise". But when it comes to worship it is about laying a sacrifice on the altar. Today in Christianity we've developed this idea that worship is about singing slow songs. But you will find that nowhere in scripture. To the people in the Bible, whenever the word "worship" is mentioned the thing that comes to mind is "sacrifice"

Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman and she asked, "tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” (John 4:20). Jesus answered and said, "the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem... when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way." (John 4:21-23).

The Old Testament people "worship only at the altar in Jerusalem" (2Kings 18:22). This was the religiously approved way to worship God. Worship was done at the altar in Jerusalem, it was done by setting up sacrifice before the Lord at the altar. But that was the old system, Jesus said we are now in a new system where worship is done by going into the spiritual reality (which is Christ) and worship God the way it is done in this reality. This brings us to the question; how is worship done in this reality?

In the Old Testament worship is about going to Jerusalem and offering sacrifice and bowing down before God. In the New Testament the venue for worship shifted to the spirit. We would see that in Jesus statement to the Samaritan woman. Even Paul teach the same thing, "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh," (Phi 3:3). In the New Testament you won't see anything like, "place of worship". Worship to the New Testament people has nothing to do with a physical place, it is in the spirit.

In the New Testament there is nothing like "house of worship". Worship has nothing to do with a physical place (I am emphazing this because it really needs to sink into our head). We "worship in the spirit", that is what Jesus and Paul taught. But whatever we do in the spirit has an expression or manifestation in the physical. How do you know when someone is worshipping in the spirit? You will see the physical manifestation of that worship. So what are the physical manifestation of our spiritual worship?

That is when we come to holy living, singing, giving aims, etc. They are the physical manifestation of our spiritual worship. They are not the worship in themselves, they are only the physical manifestation of that thing you are doing in the spirit. So what are you doing in the spirit? What is that thing we do in the spirit when we want to worship God?

In the Old Testament, everything is physical. They were spiritually dead men that could only engage God in the physical not in the spirit. But now God has made us alive to him in the spirit. So the Old Testament worship involves laying a sacrifice on the altar. It is not singing, it is not giving money, or whatever. Worship is going to Jerusalem to make a sacrifice. So what we the New Testament people do is that, we are already in the realm of the spirit, so we identify with Christ's sacrifice. It is only in his sacrifice do we truly make sacrifice. We cannot make any other sacrifice other than his sacrifice. We make sacrifice each time we identify with his sacrifice and come into oneness with that sacrifice. How is all this done?

"For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 6:10-11)

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;" (Gal 2:20)

Whenever we reckon ourselves dead or crucified with Christ, then we have offered a sacrifice. And whatever we do by reckoning ourselves dead is the manifestation of that worship.

If you sing, without coming before God in the spirit — coming into Jesus death, laying on the altar and watch yourself die, burning as sweet smelling aroma rises to God — than your singing is not a worship no matter how slow the song may be. If the singing is not coming from a soul that is reckoning herself dead, and pouring out Christ unto God, then that singing is not worship. I might need to go deeper.

Now when you approach God in the spirit and reckon yourself dead in Christ's death, what would happen is that something pure begins to pour out of you. It is not coming from your flesh (it is not coming from you in the flesh) it is coming from Christ in you. In fact, it is Christ pouring out onto God as sweet smelling aroma as your flesh lay dead, burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit on the altar. For example, when you reckon yourself dead to sin and dead to your righteous work, then a pure righteousness begins to pour out of you (you will start doing certain works of righteousness) — a righteousness that is utterly Christ. And it is pouring out unto God, not man. That is worship.

If it is just you singing, if you are not dying to self, and if you are not burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, then that singing is not worship.

If you are only giving because they say you should give. If that giving does not involve you dying to self, and if it is not done by the Spirit, then your giving is not a worship, neither is it a sacrifice, no matter how large that giving may be.

If you are living holy by your own holiness. Then such holy living is not worship.

I hope we understand that what I am trying to correct is the mentality that all you have to do is sing some songs and go to church weekly, and then you have fulfilled your religious duty and you are hereby a good Christian? God doesn't just want your church time, he wants the whole of you. He wants you to worship him with the whole of your life. And worship cannot be done carnally, otherwise it is not worship at all. You can't do these things just for doing sake. You must put your heart into it, press into the spirit, because until it touches the spirit and establish itself in the spirit, then it is not worship.

I once heard a testimony of an atheist who was watching a bunch of teenagers worship. He couldn't help but notice the effort these people were putting into the worship. These teenagers were singing and pressing, trying to touch something in the spirit. As this atheist watch he was astonished at what was happening. Just by looking, he could tell that these people were transacting with another realm. This was an atheist who did not believe that there is a spirit realm. But looking at these teenagers he could tell that this is beyond anything physical. It is not the sweetness of the voice, the soothing sound, or the beauty of the music. It is something utterly heavenly.

Let's not forget that one of the work of a priest is to detect imperfections in sacrifices. The eyes of the priest must be so sharp that it is able to spot faults in sacrifices no matter how small that fault is. This is to ensure that only true and perfect worship are offered to God. As priests we must all know what true worship is, and which worship is not perfect. Our eyes must become so sharp (discerning) that we can easily detect faults in our worship, and then work toward offering a more perfect worship, acceptable unto God.

The New Testament Worship (Part 2)

In the Old Testament, Sacrifices were placed on altar, and the altar represents a reality in Christ. An altar in the Old Testament is usually erected just after an unveiling of a revelation of God. When God reveals Himself and do something miraculous the witnesses are struck in awe, and they immediately errect an altar. It happened with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, etc. We would look closely at some of these instances. The first time the word "altar" was found in the scripture was after the flood of Noah's time.

At that time man had gone astray, they had rebelled against their Creator and they were living their lives for themselves. They had no regard for the One who created them and they did whatever they like with their lives. Then God came and reminded man that He created him and man's lives were in His hands. He did this by wiping those people away from the surface of the earth, sparing only a family to be a witness to this revelation. And upon this revelation Noah erected an altar, and God was appease and he made a promise to never destroy the world by water again (Gen 8:20-21).

The altar was erected out of the revelation of the supremacy of God. Every other altar in the Scripture was erected as a response to the sighting of God. The second time we saw altar in the Scripture, it says, "Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said... And Abram built an altar there" (Gen 12:7). God unveiled himself to Abram, and gave him a word. And upon that revelation an altar was erected. "And the Lord said to Abram, "... all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth;"... There he [Abram] built another altar to the Lord." (Gen 13:14-18).

The last time Abraham built an altar was when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. But then God provided a substitute for the sacrifice; "Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”)." (Gen 22:14). God unveiled to Abraham that He is the great provider, and upon that revelation Abraham built an altar. This brings us to Isaac; "Isaac built an altar" (Gen 26:25), when and where, "the Lord appear to him" (Gen 26:24). Then we come to Jacob as "he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him" (Gen 33:7).

The Israelites were to fight with the Amalekites. This was the battle where Moses raised his rod and the Israelites won the battle. Then the Bible says, "And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-Lord-Is-My-Banner;" (Exo 17:15). You must have gotten my point by now. Altars are built upon the revelation of God. What this means for the New Testament people is that our worship (our sacrifices) are offered on the revelation of God. In order to worship God you need a revelation of God. This is why we pursue a revelation.

We do not pursue the revelation of God in order to add to our head-knowledge. Rather we do so out of a great desire to worship God. You cannot worship on ignorance, for true worship to take place you must get a genuine revelation. The more genuine the revelation is, the more pure the worship would be. When we sing unto God, we do not sing out of ignorance otherwise such singing is not worship at all. We sing out of a revelation of God. You are to pick a revelation of God, fix your eyes on it so intensely that you lose yourself completely upon that revelation. It is when we lose ourselves that we are able to die to self.

When you lose yourself and die to self then you are set on fire by the Holy Spirit, and something so pure and powerful would begin to pour out of you unto God — that is true worship. This is what we do when we are singing. We pick a song, position ourselves and fix our eyes on God through the revelation he has given us. As we sing we are strengthening our gaze until it becomes so intense that we lose ourselves. Yes, we are lost in the gazing of Him, pouring out with adoration, love and appreciation. We are set on fire by the Holy Spirit and the worship becomes so mighty that God comes down in his presence to dwell in that worship

This is pure worship, this is the kind of worship that God comes to manifest His presence. This is the worship where the atmosphere of heaven comes down and angels gather around us. Oh, if only we master this pure worship, not just in singing but in the way we live our lives. So how do we practice this worship in the way we live our lives? How do we live a life of worship?

Living a life of worship involves spending your life in the pursuit of the revelation of God. We study, meditate and walk closely with God in order to get this revelation. After getting the revelation we still continue to meditate upon it, but this time not to get more knowledge. This second meditation is to teach our hearts to fall in love with this dimension of God that we now see through revelation. We just fix our eyes and adore him. We fall in love with each dimension of God that is unveiled to us.

We fall in love with all of God, we grow obsessed with his beauty. He suddenly becomes the center of our world. In fact, he is all we see, he is all we want to look upon. We are lost in the gaze of him, we are addicted to the pursuit of him. It is this addiction that makes it difficult to run away when the cross is presented to us. No matter how badly we want to run, no matter how much everything inside of us is begging us to run, we just can't. We know we can't live without him, we are addicted to this reckless pursuit and we cannot even bear taking a break.

So our love and obsession for him humbles us. It compels us, turning us into a gentle and quiet lamb led to its own death. So humbly we lay ourselves on the altar of sacrifice awaiting our inevitable end. It was love that humbled God and brought him down to die for us. It is only love that would bring one so willingly to the cross. We choose the cross cause we've loved too much. We've become so emotional attach that we can't quit anymore, even when death comes knocking at our door. If this love walk with God brings us to the cross, we would rather embrace it than to give up on the walk.

No, we would not allow anything come between us and this walk with God. Even if we have to pass through the cross to secure this walk, we would do it. Anyway, the point I am stressing at is that it is only love that can make us strong enough to face the cross. No, it is not an obligation to religion, it is not a duty to the pastor or your church. In fact, all of that would flee the moment you come face to face with the cross. Those things will abandon you, and leave you overcome with fear. It is only love that can keep you strong, comfort you, and make you bold enough to face the cross

Anyway, it is the sweet smelling aroma that pour out of us as we lay dead on the cross, that God is after. In fact, it is what this world needs, the whole of creation needs it. That pure thing that is Christ himself. That powerful smoke that fills your life with God's presence, cultivating your reality to harbor heaven on earth. As long as you remain on that altar, dead and burning with the fire of the Holy Spirit, sweet fragrance will continue to pour out of your life. Everywhere you go it will just continue to pour, cultivating the environment for the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven on earth

Oh we need these kind of priests walking about our streets, pouring out like incense, terraforming the earth for the invasion of the Kingdom of heaven. This thing is not just about prayer. Yes intercessory is good, but what is coming needs more than intercession if it would fully manifest. What we need are priests who are truly doing their job. Priests all over, filling everything with that thick smoke and sweet fragrance that would lit up the world with God's power. Yes, power exploding at every corner, every little thing leads to the miraculous. Any little prayer and there is a answer. This is beyond having an open heaven, this is an invasion of heaven on earth

Warning: when heaven invade earth like this, it will not just be characterized by quick answers to prayers, but quick judgment on sin. Like what happened to Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to the church (Acts 5:1-11). Heaven cannot stand unholiness, it would judged it, it will consume it. "you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem... You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things... Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a consuming fire." (Heb 12:22,23, 28,29).

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Hiswordxray:
Happy Sunday beloved of God

Beloved of God.
God must love violence to have allowed Boko Haram kill farmers and subject their families to suffering.
It must have been God's will to allow people to suffer when they've done nothing wrong.
Children lost their parents, family lost breadwinners, wives lost husbands and vice versa.
God is very compassionate.

Yes God is very compassionate.

You sound like you are upset with God.
God is not a bank where you deposit all your blames. And he owes you nothing. He owes no one anything. We owe him our lives. We need him, he doesn't need us. We are nothing, insignificant, in comparison with this transcended Being, existing from eternity to eternity. We are alive today and tomorrow we are no more; like flowers that appears so magnificent today and tomorrow it has wither.

We are nothing but mere creation. How many times have you bought a phone and discharge or damage it? It is just a mere creation of man right? How many times have you slaughter a chicken or a fish for food? They are just mere animals right?

So does that mean you are void of love? Or should we conclude that you must a very evil person?

Stop being so full of yourself. Humble yourself. You are nothing, complete nothing. A mere dust of the earth.